Classic Christian Authors # 1
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined!
(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!")
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined--what God has prepared for those who love Him!" 1 Corinthians 2:9
The lovers of Christ have great preparations made by God Himself, for their happiness in the eternal world.
For all the lovers of the world, and sin, and vanity--wrath and Hell are prepared!
But for the lovers of Christ, such things are prepared as transcend . . .
the most refined mind to conceive,
the most eloquent tongue to express,
or the ablest pen to describe!
The eye of man has seen admirable things, coasts of pearl, golden mines, stately monuments, kingly palaces--but never has eye seen such things as God has prepared for those who love Him.
The mind of man can conceive more than the eye has seen, or the ear has heard. It can imagine . . .
all pebbles to be pearls,
all the earth to be a silver heap,
the sea to be liquid gold,
the air to be transparent crystal,
and every candle to be a star!
And if all these were so--they would be but as . . .
a grain of sand, compared to a mountain,
a beam of light, compared to the sun,
a drop, compared to the ocean,
a grain, compared to a golden mine--
when compared with the things that are prepared for such as love God and Christ! For those things are . . .
so great--that they cannot be measured;
so many--that they cannot be numbered;
so precious--that they cannot be valued;
so durable and lasting--that they can never be ended!
They exceed our faith! They are beyond our hope--and above our desires! They might be possessed hereafter--but they cannot be comprehended here, because . . .
for sublimity--they are incomprehensible,
for transcendence--they are inexplicable,
for glory--they are unutterable,
for sweetness--they are inconceivable,
for sureness--they are unquestionable,
for fullness--they are immeasurable,
for firmness--they are unmovable,
for lastingness--they are unchangeable!
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Oh, what a blessed formula for us!
(John MacDuff)
"Nevertheless, at Your Word!" Luke 5:5
Oh, what a blessed formula for us!
This path of mine is dark, mysterious, perplexing! Nevertheless, at Your Word I will go forward.
This trial of mine is cutting, sore for flesh and blood to bear! It is hard to breathe through a broken heart, "May Your will be done!"But, nevertheless, at Your word I will say, "Even so, Father--for this is Your good pleasure!"
This besetting sin or bad habit of mine--is difficult to crucify. It has become part of myself--a second nature! To be severed from it would be like the cutting off of a right hand, or the plucking out of a right eye! Nevertheless, at Your Word I will lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles me! This idol, I will utterly abolish!
"You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed!" Psalm 119:4
"Help me understand Your instruction--and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart!" Psalm 119:34
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When the knife cuts deep and the pain is sore!
(J.R. Miller)
"My Father is the gardener!" John 15:1 It is comforting to think of trouble, in whatever form it may come to us--as a heavenly messenger, bringing us blessing from God. In its earthly aspect, it may seem hurtful, even destructive; but in its spiritual outworking, it yields blessing.
Many of the richest blessings which have come down to us from the past, are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing--is the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow.
In every time of sharp pruning, when the knife cuts deep and the pain is sore, it is an unspeakable comfort to read, "My Father is the gardener!"
One tells of being in a great hothouse where luscious clusters of grapes were hanging on every side. The owner said, "When my new gardener came, he said he would have nothing to do with these vines unless he could cut them clean down to the stalk. He did, and we had no grapes for two years--but this is the result."
There is rich suggestiveness in this illustration of the pruning process, as we apply it to the Christian life. Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, the gardener appears to be cutting it all away; but he looks on into the future and knows that the final outcome will be the enrichment of its life and greater abundance of fruit.
In the same way, there are blessings we can never have--unless we are ready to pay the price of pain. There is no way to reach them, but through suffering.
"Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2
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Put it into practice!
(Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice!" Philippians 4:8-9
You see the perfection of the Apostle's method. In verse 8 he has dealt with the realm of thought. Ah, but the Apostle knows the subtle danger that is always confronting us . . .
the danger of being content with theoretical knowledge,
the danger of being satisfied with doctrine only,
the danger of failing to put into practice, that which we know.
You can be a great student even of the Bible--and live a life that is utterly contrary to it!
It is the masterpiece of Satan to make us put theory and practice into separate watertight compartments--to make men so interested in the Book, that they forget to apply its teaching. "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me," says Paul, "put it into practice!"
"If you know these things--blessed and happy are you if you DO them." John 13:17
"It is not the knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man, but the doing man--who at last will be found the happiest man!" Thomas Watson
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The Almost Christian!
(Matthew Mead, "The Almost Christian Discovered; Or, The False Professor Tried!")
"You almost persuade me to become a Christian!" Acts 26:28
How far a man may go in the way to heaven--and yet be but almost a Christian? This shown in twenty various steps:
1. A man may have much knowledge--and yet be but almost a Christian.
2. A man may have great and eminent spiritual gifts--and yet be but almost a Christian.
3. A man may have a high profession of religion, be much in external duties of godliness--and yet be but almost a Christian.
4. A man may go far in opposing his sin--and yet be but almost a Christian.
5. A man may hate sin--and yet be but almost a Christian.
6. A man may make great vows and promises, strong purposes and resolutions against sin--and yet be but an almost Christian.
7. A man may maintain a strife and combat against sin--and yet be but almost a Christian.
8. A man may be a member of a Christian church--and yet be but almost a Christian.
9. A man may have great hopes of Heaven--and yet be but almost a Christian.
10. A man may be under visible changes--and yet be but almost a Christian.
11. A man may be very zealous in matters of religion--and yet be but almost a Christian.
12. A man may be much in prayer--and yet be but almost a Christian.
13. A man may suffer for Christ--and yet be but almost a Christian.
14. A man may be called by God and embrace his call--and yet be but an almost Christian.
15. A man may have the Spirit of God--and yet be but almost a Christian.
16. A man may have faith--and yet be but almost a Christian.
17. A man may have a love to the people of God--and yet be but almost a Christian.
18. A man may obey the commands of God--and yet be but almost a Christian.
19. A man may be sanctified--and yet be but almost a Christian.
20. A man may do all the external duties and worship which a true Christian can--and yet be but almost a Christian.
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