"This should be a great encouragement in proclaiming the Gospel, since among the people in our communities---the disinterested, the rebellious, the careless---God has an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ's property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of selfish pleasures and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them, He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price that His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go to them with the quickening Word of God.
~Charles Spurgeon
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Being A Christian When You Are Young
To be a believer in Jesus Christ early in life is to be saved from a thousand regrets! Such a person shall never have to say that they carry in their bones the sins of their youth. The Christian young man will not fall into the common sins of other young men and injure his bodily health by excesses.
He will likely marry a Christian woman and so have a holy companion in his journey towards heaven. The same is true for young women who really follow Christ.
Early godliness helps us to form friendships for the rest of life which will prove helpful and saves us from those which are harmful. The young Christian will select, as his friends, the godly from the church and not the party-goers at the local bar. They will be his helpers in virtue and not his tempters to sin. Depend upon it--a great deal depends upon whom we choose for our companions early in life. If we start in bad company, it is very hard to break away from it.
The man brought to Christ early in life has this further advantage--he is helped to form holy habits and is saved from being the slave of sinful ones. Habits soon become second nature; to form new ones is hard work; but those formed in youth usually remain to old age.
I also notice that very frequently those who are brought to Christ while young grow in grace more rapidly and readily than others do. They have not so much to unlearn and they have not such a heavy weight of old sinful memories to carry. The scars and bleeding sores which come from having spent years in the service of the devil are missed by those whom the Lord brings into His church early, before they have wandered far into the sinful pleasures of this evil world.
I cannot commend early godliness too highly. How attractive it is! Grace looks loveliest in youth! That which would not be noticed in the grown man strikes at once the most careless observer when seen in a child or younger person. Grace then has a convincing force--the infidel drops his weapon and admires. A word spoken by a child abides in the memory and its artless accents touch the heart. Where the minister's sermon fails, the young person's prayer may gain the victory!
C. H. Spurgeon
He will likely marry a Christian woman and so have a holy companion in his journey towards heaven. The same is true for young women who really follow Christ.
Early godliness helps us to form friendships for the rest of life which will prove helpful and saves us from those which are harmful. The young Christian will select, as his friends, the godly from the church and not the party-goers at the local bar. They will be his helpers in virtue and not his tempters to sin. Depend upon it--a great deal depends upon whom we choose for our companions early in life. If we start in bad company, it is very hard to break away from it.
The man brought to Christ early in life has this further advantage--he is helped to form holy habits and is saved from being the slave of sinful ones. Habits soon become second nature; to form new ones is hard work; but those formed in youth usually remain to old age.
I also notice that very frequently those who are brought to Christ while young grow in grace more rapidly and readily than others do. They have not so much to unlearn and they have not such a heavy weight of old sinful memories to carry. The scars and bleeding sores which come from having spent years in the service of the devil are missed by those whom the Lord brings into His church early, before they have wandered far into the sinful pleasures of this evil world.
I cannot commend early godliness too highly. How attractive it is! Grace looks loveliest in youth! That which would not be noticed in the grown man strikes at once the most careless observer when seen in a child or younger person. Grace then has a convincing force--the infidel drops his weapon and admires. A word spoken by a child abides in the memory and its artless accents touch the heart. Where the minister's sermon fails, the young person's prayer may gain the victory!
C. H. Spurgeon
God Hears Prayer
The following is a good reminder from E.M. Bounds that "ask and it will be given to you."
Two cases of unanswered prayer are recorded in the Scriptures in addition to the Gethsemane prayer of our Lord. The first was that of David for the life of his baby child, but for good reasons to Almighty God the request was not granted. The second was that of Paul for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, which was denied. But we are constrained to believe these must have been notable as exceptions to God's rule, as illustrated in the history of prophet, priest, apostle and saint, as recorded in the divine Word.
The Possibilities of Prayer, 105.
(posted by Mason Vann)
Two cases of unanswered prayer are recorded in the Scriptures in addition to the Gethsemane prayer of our Lord. The first was that of David for the life of his baby child, but for good reasons to Almighty God the request was not granted. The second was that of Paul for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, which was denied. But we are constrained to believe these must have been notable as exceptions to God's rule, as illustrated in the history of prophet, priest, apostle and saint, as recorded in the divine Word.
The Possibilities of Prayer, 105.
(posted by Mason Vann)
Monday, July 13, 2009
Robert Chapman: An Apostle of Love
Robert Chapman lived from 1803 to 1902 in England. He was known for living a remarkable life of Christian love (a life he would say was entirely unremarkable).
Here a few choice quotes from his biography (Robert Chapman: A Biography)
"My business is to love others and not to seek that others shall love me."
"There are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim is to live Christ." (p.29)
"Men's books full oft with chaff are stored, God's naught but golden grain afford." (p.142)
"The great cause of neglecting the Scriptures is not want of time, but want of heart, some idol taking the place of Christ." (p.168)
Here a few choice quotes from his biography (Robert Chapman: A Biography)
"My business is to love others and not to seek that others shall love me."
"There are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim is to live Christ." (p.29)
"Men's books full oft with chaff are stored, God's naught but golden grain afford." (p.142)
"The great cause of neglecting the Scriptures is not want of time, but want of heart, some idol taking the place of Christ." (p.168)
A Burden for the Lost
"I remember, when I have preached at different times in the country,
and sometimes here, that my whole soul has agonized over men,
every nerve of my body has been strained and I could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame away in a flood of tears,
if I could but win souls." ~Spurgeon, by Arnold Dallimore
and sometimes here, that my whole soul has agonized over men,
every nerve of my body has been strained and I could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame away in a flood of tears,
if I could but win souls." ~Spurgeon, by Arnold Dallimore
"Are You Bad Enough to Become A Christian?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di5XTs_rcUc
by John Marshall
by John Marshall
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