“WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE”

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

John Newton gave us the lyrics to the beautiful hymn, “Amazing Grace”:

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I SEE.” 

THE LIGHT OF THE BIBLE

Robert Murray M’Cheyne:

When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.

THE HUMBLE PERSON

J.C. Ryle:

“‎A humble and prayerful person will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud student will utterly fail to discern.”

A HUMBLE DESIRE

Charles H. Spurgeon:

“A humble desire is one which leaves everything in God’s hands. The man who has it, says, ‘Now, though I desire this, it may be it is not a right desire. Lord, I desire only to desire what I ought to desire! My desire is that Your desire should be written on my heart, that I may desire what You desire.’ Your will be done in my soul, in my body, in my circumstances and in me, in all respects.” (1894, Sermon #2342)

EVANGELISM

George Whitefield:

God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them.

NOT A FAR OFF GOD

Charles Hodge:

“He is not to us a God afar off, with whom we have no immediate concern; but a God who is not far from any one of us, in whom we live, move, and have our being, who numbers the hairs of your head, and without whose notice a sparrow does not fall to the ground.”

GLORIOUS SINS

Thomas Brooks:

“Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.”

 

RESISTING SIN

Jerry Bridges:

“…God has made provision for our holiness. Through Christ He has delivered us from sin’s reign so that we now can resist sin. But the responsibility for resisting is ours. God does not do that for us. To confuse the potential for resisting (which God provided) with the responsibility for resisting (which is ours) is to court disaster in our pursuit of holiness.” (The Pursuit of Holiness, 57)

AVOIDING FALSE PROPHETS

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)

Jesus warned us to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15 ESV) False prophets secretly bring destructive heresies into the church. They often deny Jesus. Because of their fleshly desires, the way of truth is blasphemed. They are covetous and manipulate people with their false words. (2 Peter 2:1-22 ESV) God did not send them nor command them nor speak to them. False prophets speak from the deceit of their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14-16 ESV) “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.” (2 Peter 2:18-19 ESV) They pervert the grace of God into sensuality and teach a false Christ. (Jude 1:4 ESV)

THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS

Sinclair Ferguson:

“When man became the measure of all things what was lost was man.”

GLORY TO GOD ALONE

James Montgomery Boice:

Glory to God alone. Each of the great Solas is summed up in the fifth Reformation motto: soli Deo Gloria, meaning ‘to God alone be the glory.’ It is what the apostle Paul expressed in Romans 11:36 when he wrote, ‘to Him be the glory forever! Amen.’ These words follow naturally from the preceding words, “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (v. 36), since it is because all things really are from God, and to God, that we say, ‘to God alone be the glory.’” (Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? pp. 65-149)

SPURGEON ON HUMILITY

Charles H. Spurgeon:

Observe that we are told to walk humbly with God. It is of no use walking humbly away from God. I have seen some people very proudly humble, very boastful of their humility. They have been so humble that they were proud enough to doubt God! They could not accept the mercy of Christ, they said. They were so humble. In truth, theirs was a devilish humility, not the humility that comes from the Spirit of God.” (1893, Sermon #2328)

PRIORITIES

Dallas Willard:

“King Solomon began well. He knew about God at least, from his association with his father David, and he understood he could not carry out his work by himself. He prayed for wisdom and knowledge. God gave it to him. He became very great … By the time he died, he had evolved a government that was bitterly oppressive, with people ready to rebel, and he had a son to rule after him who was a fool. It is not unreasonable to think that what really happened to Solomon was a building program.” (The Great Omission, pp. 97-98)

HARDSHIP

John Calvin:

Were there no hardship in poverty, no pain in disease, no sting in ignominy, no fear in death, where would be the fortitude and moderation in enduring them? But while every one of these, by its inherent bitterness, naturally vexes the mind, the believer in this displays his fortitude, that though fully sensible of the bitterness and laboring grievously, he still withstands and struggles boldly; in this displays his patience, that though sharply stung, he is however curbed by the fear of God from breaking forth into any excess; in this displays his alacrity, that though pressed with sorrow and sadness, he rests satisfied with spiritual consolation from God. (On the Christian Life)

OPPOSITION

George Whitefield:

If you are going to walk with Jesus Christ, you are going to be opposed … In our days, to be a true Christian is really to become a scandal.