No love but the love of Jesus

“There existed no love but the love of Jesus equal to the work of salvation.
Love less divine, less strong, less gentle, could never have won your heart, uprooted your enmity, tore you from your idols; enthroning Christ, all of Christ, Christ only, Christ supremely, Christ forever!

"Beloved, nothing shall take the love of Christ from you, or separate you from it. It does not ebb with the ebbing of your feelings; it does not chill with the chill of your affections; it does not change with the changing scenes and circumstances of your life.”

—Octavius Winslow, The Sympathy of Christ

HT: Of First Importance

Preaching the Gospel to yourself

Tim Challies:

In his book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges writes about the important discipline of preaching the gospel to yourself every day. Realizing that many people have heard of this discipline but do not know how to practice it, he provides an overview of how he does so. I found it helpful and trust you will too. What could be more important than beginning each day with a fresh understanding of the great work of the gospel and its application to your life?

*****

Since the gospel is only for sinners, I begin each day with the realization that despite my being a saint, I still sin every day in thought, word, deed, and motive. If I am aware of any subtle, or not so subtle, sins in my life, I acknowledge those to God. Even if my conscience is not indicting me for conscious sins, I still acknowledge to God that I have not even come close to loving Him with all my being or loving my neighbor as myself. I repent of those sins, and then I apply specific Scriptures that assure me of God’s forgiveness to those sins I have just confessed.

I then generalize the Scripture’s promises of God’s forgiveness to all my life and say to God words to the effect that my only hope of a right standing with Him that day is Jesus’ blood shed for my sins, and His righteous life lived on my behalf. This reliance on the twofold work of Christ for me is beautifully captured by Edward Mote in his hymn “The Solid Rock” with his words, “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Almost every day, I find myself going to those words in addition to reflecting on the promises of forgiveness in the Bible.

What Scriptures do I use to preach the gospel to myself? Here are just a few I choose from each day:

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

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. (Romans 4:7-8)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

There are many others, including Psalm 130:3-4; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 38:17; Micah 7:19; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 8:12; and 10:17-18.

Whatever Scriptures we use to assure us of God’s forgiveness, we must realize that whether the passage explicitly states it or not, the only basis for God’s forgiveness is the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us. As the writer of Hebrews said, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (9:22), and the context makes it clear that it is Christ’s blood that provides the objective basis on which God forgives our sins.

God Honoured

Here's a prayer titled "God Honoured" from "Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions" edited by Arthur Bennett (pages 24-25):

O GOD,

Praise waiteth for thee,
and to render it is my noblest exercise;
This is thy due from all thy creatures,
for all thy works display thy attributes
and fulfil thy designs;
The sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat,
morning light, evening shade are full of thee,
and thou givest me them richly to enjoy.

Thou art King of kings and Lord of lords;
At thy pleasure empires rise and fall;
All thy works praise thee and thy saints bless thee;
Let me be numbered with thy holy ones,
resemble them in character and condition,
sit with them at Jesus' feet.

May my religion be always firmly rooted in thy
Word,
my understanding divinely informed,
my affections holy and heavenly,
my motives simple and pure,
and my heart never wrong with thee.

Deliver me from the natural darkness of
my own mind,
from the corruptions of my heart,
from the temptations to which I am exposed,
from the daily snares that attend me.

I am in constant danger while I am in this life;
Let thy watchful eye ever be upon me
for my defence,
Save me from the power of my worldly and
spiritual enemies
and from all painful evils to which I have
exposed myself.

Until the day of life dawns above
let there be unrestrained fellowship with Jesus;
Until fruition comes, may I enjoy the earnest
of my inheritance
and the firstfruits of the Spirit;
Until I finish my course with joy may I pursue
it with diligence,
in every part display the resources of the Christian,
and adorn the doctrines of thee my God
in all things.

Man's Great End

Here's a prayer titled "Man's Great End" from "Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions" edited by Arthur Bennett (pages 22-23):

LORD OF ALL BEING,

There is one thing that deserves my greatest care,
that calls forth my ardent desires,
That is, that I may answer the great end for which
I am made -
to glorify thee who hast given me being,
and to do all the good I can for my felllow men,
Verily, life is not worth having
if it be not improved for this noble purpose.

Yet, Lord, how little is this the thought of mankind!
Most men seem to live for themselves,
without much or any regard for thy glory,
or for the good of others;
They earnestly desire and eargerly pursue
the riches, honours, pleasures of this life,
as if they supposed that wealth, greatness,
merriment,
could make their immortal souls happy;

But, alas, what false delusive dreams are these!
And how miserable ere long will those be that
sleep in them,
for all our happiness consists in loving thee,
and being holy as thou are holy.

O may I never fall into the tempers and vanities,
the sensuality and folly of the present world!
It is a place of inexpressible sorrow, a vast empty
nothingness;

Time is a moment, a vapour,
and all its enjoyments are empty bubbles,
fleeting blasts of wind,
from which nothing satisfactory can be derived;

Give me grace always to keep in covenant with thee,
and to reject as delusion a great name here
or hereafter,
together with all sinful pleasures or profits.

Help me to know continually
that there can be no true happiness,
no fulfilling of thy purpose for me,
apart from a life lived in and for
the Son of thy love.

Believing lies, rejecting truth

Horatius Bonar:

In all unbelief there are these two things—a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy Spirit’s work (in convincing of sin) is to alter the sinner’s opinion of himself, and so to reduce his estimate of his own character that he shall think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by an excellency of his own. The Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace.

But the inquirer denies that he has a good opinion of himself and owns himself a sinner. Now a man may SAY this, but really to KNOW it is something more than SAYING. Besides, he may be willing to take the name of sinner to himself, in common with his fellow-men, and yet not at all own himself such a sinner as God says he is—such a sinner as needs the cross, and blood, and righteousness of the Son of God. It takes a great deal to destroy a man’s good opinion of himself; how difficult it is to make a man think of himself as God does! What but the almightiness of the Divine Spirit can accomplish this?

Unbelief, then, is the belief of a lie and the rejection of the truth. Accept, then, the character of God as given in the gospel; the Holy Spirit will not give you peace irrespective of your views of God’s character. It is in connection with THE TRUTH concerning the true God, “the God of all grace,” that the Spirit gives peace. That which He shows us of ourselves is only evil; that which He shows us of God is only good!

(HT: Tim Challies)

He is working on our behalf

“We are always looking inwards and pitying ourselves and being sorry for ourselves, and looking for something to help us. Get rid of that outlook, forget yourself for a moment; the battle is the Lord’s! Salvation is His. It is for the honor of His great and holy Name. But go further and realize that because it is God’s battle this almighty power is being exercised on our behalf even when we do not realize it. Things are being done in this great campaign of which we are not aware. We may perhaps be half-asleep at our post, and we do not realize that the great Captain is planning something with repsect to us. We are unconscious of it. We would all be lost were it not for that. He, I say, is exercising this power on our behalf.” - Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Solider (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977), 30.

(HT: Of First Importance)

A Present Salvation

Here's a prayer titled "A Present Salvation" from "Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions" edited by Arthur Bennett (pages 20-21):

CREATOR AND REDEEMER GOD,

Author of all existence, source of all
blessedness,
I adore thee for making me capable of knowing thee,
for giving me reason and conscience,
for leading me to desire thee;

I praise thee for the revelation of thyself in
the gospel,
for thy heart as a dwelling place of pity,
for thy thoughts of peace towards me,
for thy patience and thy graciousness,
for the vastness of thy mercy.

Thou hast moved my conscience to know how
the guilty can be pardoned,
the unholy sanctified,
the poor enriched.

May I be always amongst those who not only
hear but know thee,
who walk with and rejoice in thee,
who take thee at thy word and find life there.

Keep me always longing
for a present salvation in Holy Spirit comforts
and rejoicings,
for spiritual graces and blessings,
for help to value my duties as well as my privileges.
May I cherish simplicity and godly sincerity
of character.

Help me to be in reality before thee
as in appearance I am before men,
to be religious before I profess religion,
to leave the world before I enter the church,
to set my affections on things above,
to shun forbidden follies and vanities,
to be a dispenser as well as a partaker of grace,
to be prepared to bear evil as well as to do good.
O God, make me worthy of this calling,
that the name of Jesus may be glorified in me
and I in him.

The one true worshiper

“Since our salvation is received in union with Christ, what is his by nature is ours by grace. Thus, in his self-offering to the Father, he offers us his people in him. We are thereby enabled to share in the relation he has with the Father . . .. Thus, Christ is, in reality, the one true worshiper, and our worship is a participation in his.” - Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2004), 416-417.

(HT: Of First Importance)

The only fruit that will last is the fruit that grows on the cross

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. (John 15:16)

On the day after the night in which Jesus spoke these words to the eleven and to you, Glen, he laid himself down on the cross and bought you with his blood. You are now his fruit and his fruit-bearer. The only fruit that will ever endure to eternal life is fruit which grows out of the cross. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23, 24). We are Christ’s fruit because he died for us. We are his fruit-bearers if we are willing to take up our cross and die with him. Never forget the setting of your text, Glen. It is no accident that when Jesus had commanded you to go and bear fruit, he went and died. Your call and your ministry must always stand in the shadow of the cross of Christ. The only fruit that will last is the fruit that grows on the cross.

(The quote above is from an Oct. 11, 1981, sermon titled "I Chose You to Bear Fruit: Ordination of Glen Bloomstrom" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The work of the Holy Spirit

“It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us pay attention to ourselves instead of to Christ. He insinuates, ‘Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you do not have the joy of His children; you have such a weak hold of Jesus.’ All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self. He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is all in all.’” - Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001), 188.

(HT: Of First Importance)

The power that frees us from holding grudges

Satan aims to make the cross of Christ look weak and foolish. Notice Ephesians 4:32–5:2. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” The power that frees us from holding grudges is that in the cross of Christ God satisfied his grudge against us and dropped it. So Paul says, forgive as God in Christ forgave you. When we hold a grudge, we cancel out the cross. We act as though God did a foolish thing on the cross, since he dropped his infinite grudge against us, but we are going to hold on to our little grudge against so and so. And thus Satan brings the cross of Christ into contempt.

(The quote above is from a Dec. 16, 1984, sermon titled "Satan Seeks a Gap Called Grudge" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

God Enjoyed

Here's a prayer titled "God Enjoyed" from "Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions" edited by Arthur Bennett (pages 18-19):

THOU INCOMPREHENSIBLE
BUT PRAYER-HEARING GOD,

Known, but beyond knowledge,
revealed, but unrevealed,
my wants and welfare draw me to thee,
for thou hast never said, 'Seek ye me in vain'.

To thee I come in my difficulties, necessities,
distresses;
possess me with thyself,
with a spirit of grace and supplication,
with a prayerful attitude of mind,
with access into warmth of fellowship,
so that in the ordinary concerns of life
my thoughts and desires may rise to thee,
and in habitual devotion I may find a resource
that will soothe my sorrows,
sanctify my successes,
and qualify me in all ways for dealings
with my fellow men.

I bless thee that thou has made me capable
of knowing thee, the author of all being,
of resembling thee, the perfection of all excellency,
of enjoying thee, the source of all happiness.

O God, attend me in every part of my arduous
and trying pilgrimage;
I need the same counsel, defence, comfort
I found at my beginning.

Let my religion be more obvious to my conscience,
more perceptible to those around.
While Jesus is representing me in heaven,
may I reflect him on earth,
While he pleads my cause, may I show forth
his praise.

Continue the gentleness of thy goodness
towards me,
And whether I wake or sleep, let thy presence
go with me,
thy blessing attend me.

Thou hast led me on and I have found thy
promises true,
I have been sorrowful, but thou hast been my help,
fearful, but thou hast delivered me,
despairing, but thou hast lifted me up.

Thy vows are ever upon me,
And I praise thee, O God.