tempest and calm

I know, perhaps as well as anyone, what depression means, and what it is to feel myself sinking lower and lower. Yet at the worst, when I reach the lowest depths, I have an inward peace which no pain or depression can in the least disturb. Trusting in Jesus Christ my Savior, there is still a blessed quietness in the deep caverns of my soul, though upon the surface, a rough tempest may be raging, and there may be little apparent calm. (Spurgeon)

It is important for us to make a distinction between the spiritual fruit of joy and the cultural concept of happiness. A Christian can have joy in his heart while there is still spiritual depression in his head. The joy that we have sustains us through these dark nights and is not quenched by spiritual depression. The joy of the Christian is one that survives all downturns in life. RC Sproul

Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.  (Spurgeon)

how would you define Christiantiy?

“The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father…Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption…The truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights the New Testament affords into the greatness of God’s love. Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be – adoption through propitiation.” J.I. Packer

“Observe, concerning the first advent, that the Lord was moving in it towards man. ‘When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son.’ We moved not towards the Lord, but the Lord towards us. I do not find that the world in repentance sought after its Maker. No, but the offended God himself in infinite compassion broke the silence, and came forth to bless his enemies. All good things begin with him.” Charles Spurgeon

“That justification-by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future-is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers before it offers us anything else…But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship-he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.” J.I. Packer

“I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. ‘Oh!’ I said, ‘that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God putting it there.’ You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you, and did not get there by any the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God.” Charles Spurgeon

glitter through the darkness

Charles Spurgeon

“You can’t do this? Are there mercies which you haven’t experienced? Even though you are gloomy now, how can you forget that blessed hour when Jesus met you, and said, ‘Come to me’? Can’t you remember that rapturous moment when He snapped your fetters, dashed your chains to the earth and said, ‘I came to break your bonds and set you free?’ Or if you’ve forgotten the love you felt at your wedding, surely there must be some precious milestone along the road of life not quite grown over with moss on which you can read a happy memorial of His mercy toward you? Don’t forget what your God has done for you; turn over the pages of your mind, and remember the days gone by. Go back, then, a little way to the choice mercies of yesterday, and though all may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past, they shall glitter through the darkness, and you shall trust the Lord until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.”

contemplating Christ

Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influenceof the Holy Ghose, there is a balsam for every sore.  Would you lose your sorrow?  Would you drown your cares?  Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and ingivorated.  I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billowsof sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.  CH Spurgeon

the foundation of our confidence

God said “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

 

“The same God I trust for justification is in control of every single moment, of every single day, and every single circumstance.  The foundation of my confidence could not be in my circumstances which seemed to be out of control or in my income which amounted to very little or my feelings which seemed rockier than the roughest waters.  The foundation of my confidence had to be in God, in who He is and who He had revealed himself to be.  Our struggles are so difficult because the foundation of our confidence rests in the wrong place.  The foundation of our confidence rests in God alone”  Steve Bice

 

Psalm 62:1-2

For God alone, my soul waits in silence.  From Him comes my salvation.  He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.  I shall not be greatly shaken.

 

“There are times that God calls us to have faith for something that we don’t know the outcome of but we are never called to place our faith in something unknown, in someone unknown.  The event may be unknown, but the Someone in the event is never unknown.  Our confidence must be in God who has graciously revealed himself to us.  A still heart before God is one that remembers that our salvation comes from God alone.”  Steve Bice

 

“Regardless of our performance we are always dependent on God’s grace” Jerry Bridges

 

“To preach the gospel to yourself means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in his shed blood and righteous life.  It means that you appropriate again by faith the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God.  In both its precepts and penalty, He fulfilled the law of God in its most exacting requirements and he did this in our place as our representative and our substitute.  He is your propitiation so that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed towards you. 

 

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you take at face value the precious words of Romans 4:7-8.  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”  You believe in the testimony of God that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  You believe that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.  You believe that He forgave you all your sins.  That He reconciled you to present you blameless, holy and above reproach before Him. 

 

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you appropriate by faith the words of Isaiah 53:6 that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all.  It means you dwell on the promise that God has removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. That He has blotted out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more.”  Jerry Bridges

 

That is preaching the gospel to yourself.  That we cannot get tired of, weary of.  It cannot become this mantra “you need to preach the gospel to yourself, you need to preach the gospel to yourself.”  This truth is true in you no matter how you feel, no matter how your week’s been.  There is great confidence there.  There is great peace there. 

 

“If God were to change, it would be the worst possible news imaginable.  He could not be trusted.  Our salvation would be called into question because we wouldn’t know if God would change his mind at any time.  We would have no rest in a changing God.  There would be no rest, no confidence whatsoever.  If God were a changing God, we may as well just pick another source of confidence.  But the one thing that sets God apart is that He never ever changes.”  Steve Bice

 

“If God varied as we do -  if he willed one thing today and another tomorrow – if he were controlled by impulse, who could confide in Him?  But all praise to his glorious name, He is ever the same.  His purpose is fixed, His will is stable, His word is sure. Here then is a Rock on which we may fix our feet while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us.  The permanence of God’s character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises.  For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed by my kindness will not depart from the neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed says the Lord that has mercy on you.” AW Pink – The Attributes of God

 

“Other men build as best they may but true believers rest upon the Rock of Ages.  Their confidence is altogether beyond themselves.  Though the earth gives way and it will give way and feels that it gives way daily the believer does not fear.”  CH Spurgeon

 

“We never know what strength is till our own weakness drives us to trust Omnipotence.  We never know how safe our Refuge is till all other refuges fail us.”  CH Spurgeon

Faith when Fear comes Knocking

Tonight I attended a ladies meeting at Crossway church in Charlotte.  The topic was “Faith when Fear comes Knocking.”  I’m sure I’ll post more on this at a later time, when I’ve had more time to process through my notes.  But here are some things to chew on in the meantime…

“Knowing and understanding the kind of God we serve is crucial in our battle against fear.”

So, then the question is… what kind of God do we serve?  The God that is revealed to us in Scripture is a just God full of steadfast love and unending faithfulness. 

Who is He?  He is the God that, as I was walking in my own ways, ignoring Him, was rich in mercy, full of great love for me.  As He saw me dead in my sins, He offered me mercy and made me alive in Him by the death of Jesus Christ, His Son (Eph 2:4-5).  He was the God who sacrificed so that I can call Him Father  (1 John 3:1).  He is a very present help in my times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).  He is the God who will complete what He, by His grace, began (Phil 1:6).  He is the God that has promised freedom from fear (and other sins) as I come to know who He is through His Word (John 8:31-32, Galatians 5:1).  He is a God of amazing power (Exodus 14).  He is faithful, even through my afflictions, which He ordained for me (Psalm 119:75). 

That’s my God.  Knowing Him and seeing His faithfulness is the reason I don’t need to fear.  He is full of compassion for me.  He knows my weakness, remembers my frame of dust (Psalm 78) and offers fresh mercies every morning (Lam.3).  His faithfulness is always there (Psalm 139).

He has been faithful in my past.  He is being faithful right now, even in the midst of terrible and hard circumstances.  And He has promised to sustain me each day… He will never ever ever stop being faithful. 

“As for God’s failing you, never dream of it… the God who has been faithful until now will be sufficient to the end.”  Spurgeon

i will help thee

“I will help thee, saith the Lord.”  Isaiah 41:14

This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: “I will help thee.” “It is but a small thing for Me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside my glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. ‘Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. ‘Help thee?’ Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. ‘I will help thee.’”

O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them here—thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!

“Fear not, I am with thee, O, be not dismayed!
I, I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.”

Charles Spurgeon, Morning, January 16th

i will help thee

“I will help thee, saith the Lord.”  Isaiah 41:14

This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: “I will help thee.” “It is but a small thing for Me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less?

Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside my glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already.

If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. ‘Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. ‘Help thee?’ Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. ‘I will help thee.’”

O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit?

Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them here—thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!

“Fear not, I am with thee, O, be not dismayed!
I, I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.”

“I will praise thee, O Lord.” Psalm 9:1

Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee, and inclined his ear to the voice of thy supplication? Then praise him as long as thou livest. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Deny not a song to him who hath answered thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy heart.

To be silent over God’s mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master’s service.

To bless God for mercies received is also the way to benefit our fellow-men; “the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Others who have been in like circumstances shall take comfort if we can say, “Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” Weak hearts will be strengthened, and drooping saints will be revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They too shall “sing in the ways of the Lord,” when they hear us magnify his holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”

terror?

“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night.”  Psalm 91:5

What is this terror? It may be the cry of fire, or the noise of thieves, or fancied appearances, or the shriek of sudden sickness or death. We live in the world of death and sorrow, we may therefore look for ills as well in the night-watches as beneath the glare of the broiling sun. Nor should this alarm us, for be the terror what it may, the promise is that the believer shall not be afraid. Why should he? Let us put it more closely, why should we? God our Father is here, and will be here all through the lonely hours; he is an almighty Watcher, a sleepless Guardian, a faithful Friend. Nothing can happen without his direction, for even hell itself is under his control. Darkness is not dark to him. He has promised to be a wall of fire around his people—and who can break through such a barrier? Worldlings may well be afraid, for they have an angry God above them, a guilty conscience within them, and a yawning hell beneath them; but we who rest in Jesus are saved from all these through rich mercy. If we give way to foolish fear we shall dishonor our profession, and lead others to doubt the reality of godliness. We ought to be afraid of being afraid, lest we should vex the Holy Spirit by foolish distrust. Down, then, ye dismal forebodings and groundless apprehensions, God has not forgotten to be gracious, nor shut up his tender mercies; it may be night in the soul, but there need be no terror, for the God of love changes not. Children of light may walk in darkness, but they are not therefore cast away, nay, they are now enabled to prove their adoption by trusting in their heavenly Father as hypocrites cannot do.

“Though the night be dark and dreary, Darkness cannot hide from thee; Thou art he, who, never weary, Watchest where thy people be.”