Favorite Pastor Quotes 10
It may be turned to good account--or it may be wasted, or misspent
(Ashton Oxenden, "The Touchstone of Opportunity")
"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16
To use our time well and wisely, is a matter of the greatest importance--for oh, how quickly is it passing away! We should seize our opportunities while they exist, and 'gather up the fragments which remain, that nothing be lost.'
The value of time--its exceeding preciousness--is beyond measure. Our days and hours hasten by, never to return. They are like water, which, when once spilt, cannot be gathered up again. They are like the rays of the sun, which at the moment may warm and invigorate us, but cannot be laid up for future use. Our lives are very short at best--and on the manner in which they are spent, will depend our condition forever.
Who can say how important is every moment which is given to us? It may be turned to good account--or it may be wasted, or misspent. No wonder then that we are charged, 'Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise'--like travelers on a dangerous road, looking around them on every side, and prepared for any difficulty which may suddenly arise. We should live cautiously and carefully, 'making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.'
What shall we say of those who let days, and months, and years pass--without thinking of anything beyond their own ease and enjoyment? Time is to them as a tale that is told, which is soon forgotten. It is like a vapor, which rises before them--but is speedily swept away, and is gone forever. One day is like another--all equally unprofitable--all gone to waste--nothing done for God or for eternity--a number of precious opportunities, but not one of them improved! We have, many of us, done but little in the way of 'redeeming the time.' We have allowed it to pass by unimproved.
Bear in mind then that we all have our opportunities--opportunities of doing good, opportunities of benefitting our fellow-creatures, opportunities of doing some work for God--and for every one of these opportunities, we must give an account.
Again, our time is very, very short--and all depends upon the right employment of it. Remember that our time is becoming shorter every day!
"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
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It is only the humble who can feel the value of a Savior!(Ashton Oxenden, "The Touchstone of Humility")
A humble Christian will feel that he owes everything to God's grace and love. This was Paul's feeling:
'By the grace of God, I am what I am.'
'To me, who am less than the least of all saints--is this grace given.'
No one can be said to be really humble, unless he is fully persuaded that he has no merit whatever of his own. When anyone feels himself to be vile and sinful, and is convinced that he deserves nothing but eternal damnation--then how wonderful and glorious does the love of God appear in providing salvation for him!
Now, can you feel this? Can you say, "Thank God for having taught me this. I see it clearly. I am nothing--and infinite mercy alone can save me from the Hell I so truly deserve!"
I am certain of this--that it is only the humble who can feel the value of a Savior, and who will cordially and thankfully accept His offers of mercy. One of the first things therefore that the gospel of Christ does for us is . . .
to humble us;
to show us what we are--and what we deserve;
to strip us of all our false coverings; and
to place Christ before us as the only refuge for penitent sinners!
Well indeed it is, if your heart has been thus humbled--so that you feel inclined to lie low at the feet of Jesus, and to cling to His precious cross alone for safety.
I need not ask whether Christ is dear to you. He must be--for now that you are enabled to lay hold of Him by faith, you would not for the whole world exchange your treasure! You may be poor--but you can hardly call it poverty if you possess Christ. You may have trialsand sorrows--but how light is every one of them, now that you can feel you have a dear Friend by your side, who can turn all your sorrows into joys!
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I tremble for the amount of worldliness which prevails in some professing Christian families!
(Ashton Oxenden, "Worldliness!")
I tremble for the amount of worldliness which prevails in some professing Christian families! There is a great danger, lest pleasure and excitement should be regarded as the one object to be sought after--lest Jesus should be robbed of His true allegiance, and hearts, born for higher and better things--should be drawn down to earth, and riveted there by a chain which is not easily broken!
Oh, how soon, how fatally soon--we pass, imperceptibly perhaps, from things lawful to those which are doubtful--and then a step further, to those which are positively sinful! How soon does the heart, in which there was once a spark of the love of Christ--become chilled and warped by its contact with the world! How soon does the reading of light and frivolous books take the place of that precious Word, which is truth itself! And how soon is communion with God, exchanged for fellowship with the world!
I do indeed tremble for those who are dreaming away the best portion of their lives, who are spending them in vanity and emptiness--and will one day wake up with the miserable feeling that they have lived to no real purpose!
Did our Lord live thus, when here on earth? Did the early Christians live thus? Then we cannot live thus. No, unless we are willing to give up the Savior, whom we have pledged ourselves to follow, and the glorious inheritance we profess to be living for!
The question is: Are we candidates for everlasting happiness? If we are--then we must live, not for this world, but for eternity. Our hearts and our treasure must be there!
But there is a danger into which some fall. There are some people who imagine that they are giving up the world--when, in fact, they are merely transferring their attachment from one class of worldliness to fix it upon another. Parties and theaters are perhaps put aside--when other amusements of a kindred nature, and scarcely less attractive, are indulged in. This however is not self-denial--it is still enjoying the world, though in another shape--it is turning aside from one kind of self-pleasing, that we may indulge in another.
How sad to think that our best and truest Friend should ever be forcibly excluded from our hearts--and the world with all its trifles let in!
Ought we not then, as followers of Christ, to stand aside from a thoughtless, trifling world? Is not the beaten path, sometimes an unsafe path? Is not the stream that flows the smoothest, sometimes nearest to the precipice? Take care lest you are gliding down the stream of this world--lest you are walking in the broad road which hundreds walk in, and then suddenly find out that it is the way of eternal destruction!
Another reason why we should not love the world, is because its joys are at best unsatisfying. They are like alcohol to a thirsty man, which only make him thirst the more. They will never satisfy his desire, but only feed it. The worldly man, whether he is seeking after earthly pleasures, or earthly gains--is ever seeing a paradise in the distance; but the nearer he approaches it, the more sure it is to vanish, like an optical illusion, from his sight.
There is another reason why you should not love the world--and that is because it is only temporary--its joys and gains are merely for a time. There is a shifting, fleeting, fading character about them.
This world is but a tent, spread out for our present abode--Heaven is a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This world is but a passing shadow--Heaven an enduring substance.
This world a pilgrimage--Heaven is a home.
This world is a desert--Heaven a paradise.
This world is a strange land--Heaven is the place of our citizenship.
This world abounds with storms--Heaven is a universal calm.
This world is full of changes--in Heaven our lot will be forever fixed.
This world is the abode of sin, and shame, and sorrow--Heaven is a scene of holiness, of glory, and of God.
It is not, I know, easy to take a decided and unworldly course. It will cost you much. Your conduct will be carped at, and counted as folly. Yes, the stream is strong--and you must stem it. The way is steep and narrow--we do not deny it. But then how blessed it is to be following Christ! How safe are those who are walking closely by His side!
No, we cannot serve two masters! We cannot drink the cup of the Lord--and yet quaff the sweet but poisonous cup of the world!
Oh, remember, the world may be in your heart--though not in your actions! You may love the world, and secretly pine after it--though you have outwardly renounced it. It is a great thing to be honest with ourselves--for God is not mocked. If you really desire to follow Jesus and to renounce the world, you must mortify your earthly affections--and raise them to things above. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ--set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above--not on earthly things!" Colossians 3:1-2
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Favorite Pastor Quotes 9
Favorite Pastor Quotes 9
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Christian! Your trials, crosses, and conflicts are all temporary.
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I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains.
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There are no lessons so useful--as those learned in the school of affliction.
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Christ is never fully valued--until sin is clearly seen.
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Our Lord has . . .
many weak children in his family,
many dull pupils in his school,
many raw soldiers in his army,
many lame sheep in his flock.
Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.
Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.
many weak children in his family,
many dull pupils in his school,
many raw soldiers in his army,
many lame sheep in his flock.
Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.
Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.
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A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross--will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown.
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That preaching is sadly defective, which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of Heaven--yet never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of Hell.
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Sin forsaken--is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.
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The Prayer of the Backslider
Francis Bourdillon
Jeremiah 14:7-9.
"Though our iniquities testify against us — act, O LORD, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. O you hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble — why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name — do not leave us."
O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your Name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You. O the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should You be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your Name; leave us not.The prophet Jeremiah speaks here in the name of his people. He himself had not gone astray like them. Amid all the wickedness of Israel, he was the faithful servant of God. But he here pleads with God on their behalf, putting himself in their place, and making himself one of them. He begins with confession of sin: "Though our iniquities testify against us."We must never try to hide our sins when we pray. We must approach God as sinners, with words of humble confession; owning all, seeking to keep nothing back. In drawing near to God, we must take our right place before Him. "Our iniquities testify against us." They do testify or bear witness against us continually. They are written in God's book of remembrance. There they stand against us in the sight of God, as so many witnesses that we are sinners. Whether we remember them or not, whether we are concerned for them or not — there they are. We ourselves cannot blot them out.When a man is convinced of sin, then his iniquities testify against him also in his own heart. He never used to feel them — but now he feels them deeply. They come back to his mind, one by one. Old sins, long forgotten — he now remembers. Things that he did years ago — seem fresh in his memory. He sees how wrong, how ungrateful, he has been. He wonders that he has been spared. His sins are like a great burden — too heavy for him to bear.Oh, the comfort of prayer to such a one! While David kept silence and made no confession of his sin — he was miserable. It was only when he acknowledged his sin unto God, that he found comfort (Psalm 32:3-5). How happy for us, that, notwithstanding our sins — we may yet seek mercy! "Though our iniquities testify against us — act, O LORD, for your name's sake." We may go to God in the depth of our distress. With all the weight of our sins upon us, we may seek relief from Him. "Sinner as I am — Lord have mercy upon me! As often as I have transgressed — yet forgive me Lord!" Do all that my case requires. Grant me pardon and peace. Take away my heavy sin burden. Forgive my sins. Comfort me, help me, and strengthen me."For Your Name's sake." This is our only plea. We cannot say, "Do it for my sake" — for we deserve nothing. We cannot even say, "Do it because I am miserable— do it because I am in great need of it — do it because I am lost without it." That may be all true — yet it forms no reason in itself why God should hear us.But when we can say, "Act for Your Name's sake" — then we have a ground of hope; for then we rest our hope not upon ourselves or upon our misery and need — but upon God Himself.The prayer of Jeremiah was before gospel days. We to whom the gospel has come, are encouraged to draw near to God in the Name of His dear Son Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator and Advocate. In His Name, all our prayers are to be made. It is not as a mere form that we are accustomed to end our prayers with the Name of Jesus, "through Jesus Christ our Lord," or "for Jesus Christ's sake." We are really to pray through Him — to rest our case upon His merits and mediation."For His sake" is to be the feeling of our hearts when we pray. We are to feel that in those words is contained the only reason why we may pray at all — and the only plea that gives us a hope of being heard!Jesus Himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life — no man comes unto the Father but by Me." Happy for us that He said also, "If you shall ask anything in My Name — I will do it" (John 14:6, 14).But the prophet in his prayer mentions backslidings as well as iniquities. Now there is something in backslidings that makes them seem to us even more hard to be forgiven than common sins. A backslider is one who once walked with God, but has now forsaken Him, or at least has grown cold and careless toward Him. A backslider is one who formerly sinned, repented, and was forgiven — but has now sinned again, and that worse perhaps than before.It may be that this has happened repeatedly. It was so in Israel's case, for the prophet says, "Our backslidings are many." Will God forgive the backslider? Hear His own words: "Return, O backsliding Israel,' says the Lord; 'and I will not cause My anger to fall upon you — for I am merciful,' says the Lord, 'and I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God" (Jeremiah 3:12-13).And again: "I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely — for My anger is turned away from him" (Hosea 14:4).Even the backslider then may draw near to God in the Name of Jesus Christ. His backslidings are a fresh reason for pleading that Name alone. He cannot plead that he will now serve God better and never fall away again — his past backslidings forbid it. He has nothing of his own to plead. He can but place his whole hope in his Savior's merits. "Act for Your Name's sake — for our backslidings are many — we have sinned against You."How full of comfort are the names by which the prophet calls upon God! "O the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble!" God is our only hope — and Jesus is our only Savior. We may go astray from God and seek happiness from other sources; but if ever we would find true happiness and safety — then we must come back to God.Trouble often brings the heart back to God and leads us again to cry to Him as our only hope and our only Savior. Often, in the day of adversity — we are led to see how vain are all other hopes — how little the world can do for us — and how poor is the comfort which the thought of our own doings can bring. Thus we are brought to our God and Savior, as our only refuge. He never fails those who trust in Him. He never turns away from those who earnestly seek Him. Even the backslider, taught by sad experience the evil of his backsliding — is not rejected when he again seeks God. Again he is allowed to call upon Him as his only hope. When all other help and comfort has failed — again he may seek help and comfort in Him.Yet the prophet seems to address God as if He had become estranged from His people: "Why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save?" Truly our sins and backslidings do make a distance and a strangeness between us and God. One who has left off walking with God feels this. He cannot pray as he used to pray. He no longer feels God near. He has no comforting sense of His grace and help. He knows that God is almighty — yet has no happy belief that God's power is put forth on his behalf. And even when he turns and seeks God again — he does not at once get back those happy feelings toward Him which once he had. Some comfort he finds, some sense of the mercy and love of his Savior — but not yet a settled peace. He has but a visit, a glimpse, a momentary comfort — "like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night"; he has not yet Christ abiding with him by the Spirit.But we, like the prophet, may seek this abiding presence. We may plead with God that, as unworthy as we are — He will yet give us again the comfort of His help continually. He has promised to dwell with the contrite of heart. We may be sure that when, after all our backslidings, we draw near to Him in the Name of Jesus, with a penitent and contrite heart — He will hear us and bless us with His presence.The prophet ventures to plead with God, the very name by which Israel was called, as the people of God; and even the tokens of His presence among them, though shown in displeasure. "Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name — do not leave us!"The worst, the saddest thing that could happen to any would be that God should leave them — that He should cease to call them, leave off rebuking and chastising them, and give them up to follow their own way.O God, our God, do not leave us! Rather than this, humble us, chastise us, afflict us — yet let us see some token of Your love; let us see that You have not given us up — do not leave us, neither forsake us, O God of our salvation. We have deserved to be left, for we have left You — yet do not leave us! We have not walked in a manner worthy of that holy Name by which we are called; yet it has pleased You in Your great goodness that we should be called Christians — by that sacred Name, and for His sake whose Name it is, because of His precious blood that was shed for us, and for His gracious intercession on our behalf — hear us and forgive us! Blot out our sins from Your book of remembrance — receive us, save us, and bless us. Amen.
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Favorite Pastor Quotes 8
Favorite Pastor Quotes 8
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Saturday, March 3, 2018
Favorite Pastor Quotes 7
Favorite Pastor Quotes 7
A Living Christ!
It has been suggested that one of the faults of much evangelical preaching is the too exclusive presentation of a suffering, dying, dead, and buried Christ — rather than of a risen, living, ever-sympathizing, ever-helping Christ. This fault results from the desire to hold forth "Christ crucified" as the one and only ground of salvation. But the consequence too often is, that the only conception of the Savior produced in the minds of the people, is that of One who suffered and died. They are led to trust for salvation to the one past act of redemption — rather than to the power of an ever-present Savior. Their eyes are turned back to the cross— rather than up to the throne.
A little reflection will satisfy anyone that the conception of a living Christ is not a vivid and powerful one in the minds of the mass of Christians. Somehow they read the beautiful and tender gospel story, and look back upon it as something in the far past, which belongs to them only as a bundle of sweet and fragrant memories. They think of Jesus very much as of a dear friend they have lost, or as one who lived centuries ago a noble life of self-sacrifice — but who lives no longer. His history is all they have. They read his tender words of love, follow him in his gentle ministries, and learn to love him.
Then they come to his cross, and that seems to be the end. His voice is heard no more. His hand no longer ministers in homes of need. His feet no longer come on love errands. They gather up the precious memories and cherish them most sacredly. They wish that they had lived when he was on the earth, or that he would come again and repeat that wondrous life that they might enjoy its blessings. But to them he is dead. They have not the consciousness of his living presence with them.
Now the Scriptures are at great pains to present Christ as a living Savior. The infinite importance of his death is everywhere recognized; but mark how all the New Testament writers labor to remove every shadow of doubt from the fact that he rose again, and how his resurrection is held forth as the most important fact in his history, the very foundation of all gospel truth and of all Christian hope.
His frequent appearances after his resurrection were meant to produce and confirm in the minds of his disciples — a most vivid conception of himself as living again. He sought to blot out of their minds the thought of a dead Master, which had so filled their hearts with despair while he lay in the grave, and to impress upon them by never-to-be-forgotten incidents the truth that he was really alive. And the apostles carried that conception, that glorious consciousness, with them into all their work and all their perils. To them Jesus was as truly alive and as really with them while they preached and suffered — as he ever was during the brief years of his human presence.
Then all the presentations of the epistles and especially of the Book of Revelation are most vivid pictures of a living Christ. Very little is said about a dying Christ — but a great deal about him who "ever lives."
Now, no one believes or preaches that he is now dead. I am only speaking of the way he is held forth as a Savior, saving men by his death on the cross, rather than by the power of his life.
Is Christ presented so as to produce in the minds and hearts of believers a vivid conception of a living person, ever caring for them, ever with them? Do they think of him as a Savior who performed the whole of their salvation-work nineteen centuries ago when he gave his life for them — or as a Savior who is saving them by his strong arm, moment by moment?
A vivid realization of Christ as living — is essential to noble Christian life. How easy it is to go to the throne of grace when we feel that on that throne sits that same Jesus whose tender and beautiful life is delineated on the gospel pages! We remember how compassionate, how pitiful, how kind he was, and how easy it was to go to him, and how lovingly he received all who came unto him, never turning one away unblest. If he is the God who hears our prayers and listens to the recital of our griefs and cares — then how boldly we can come to him! The thought of that "same Jesus" on the heavenly throne, as the God with whom we have to do, is a precious one.
He is there as our advocate to manage all our affairs for us; he is there to prepare a place for us, and to receive us when we go home. It is a comforting thought when things seem to go wrong with you — that it is the Jesus of Bethany and Calvary who presides over the affairs of providence. It was a glorious joy when Stephen was dying to see that "same Jesus" standing with open arms to receive him. And his eyes merely saw what is real with every dying believer. These joys are lost, when there is not a clear consciousness of a living Christ in the heart.
Then there is still a further blessing which springs out of the faith that realizes a living Christ. It is the consciousness of that Savior's presence with each believer all the time. Many people realize that he lives in Heaven, and manages their affairs for them, and will receive them at last; but they fail to realize the glorious truth of his abiding presence with them. There is no promise of the Scriptures repeated over and over again so often as this: "I will be with you — I am with you always." Jesus has not left the earth. He never will leave it for a moment until his last redeemed one has reached the heavenly Father's home. More precious still — he never for a moment leaves the side of any one believer, from the hour of his conversion until he enters Heaven to go no more out forever. That is the way Jesus preserves his people in this life — by his abiding presence with them.
It is the consciousness of his abiding presence that we need. It is true, but how many realize it? And if not realized it avails us nothing in our hours of need. Mary's heart was breaking in the garden while Jesus stood close beside her, because she did not know that he was with her. What a world of comfort and joy came into her heart, with the consciousness that Jesus stood by her side!
In the same way, in all the Christian's sorrows and trials — Jesus is with him. What he needs is to believe this, to realize it. Faith makes it a real presence, and what more does any Christian need?
For three years, the veil that hid God from our eyes was lifted to give us a manifestation of his perpetual presence and ministry of love among men. The gospel record is but a few pages torn out of the history of a life that has been going on upon the earth since the creation, and will go on until the end. We have Christ with us — as really as the disciples had.
The sinner who comes fresh from his sins can find, not merely atonement for his sins — but the bosom of divine love! The mourner can find, not words of comfort only — but the sympathy and tender heart of the Comforter. The tempted, fainting believer can find, not promises of strength merely — but the same living, mighty hand that Peter found when he began to sink in the waves. The lost sinner, crying out, finds not merely the assurance of pardon and life — but he finds himself lifted up by the Good Shepherd and borne gently along to the fold.
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