Grace Gems for March 2005
Sovereign, supreme disposal
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on Ephesians")
"And God has put all things under the authority of Christ,
and He gave Him this authority for the benefit of the
church." Ephesians 1:22
God has put all things, events, and circumstances
under the authority of Christ! How vast, how numerous,
how complicated are the various events and circumstances
which attend the children of God here below, as they travel
onward to their heavenly home! What an intricate maze
they often seem, and how much they appear opposed to
us, as if we never could get through them, or scarcely live
under them!
Yet, there cannot be a single circumstance over which
Jesus has not supreme control. Everything in providence
and everything in grace are alike subject to His disposal.
There is not . . .
a trial,
a temptation,
an affliction of body or soul,
a loss,
a cross,
a painful bereavement,
a vexation,
a grief,
a disappointment,
a case, state, or condition,
which is not put under Jesus' authority!
He has sovereign, supreme disposal over all events
and circumstances! As possessed of infinite knowledge,
He sees them. As possessed of infinite wisdom, He can
manage them. As possessed of infinite power, He can
dispose and direct them for our good and His own glory!
How much trouble and anxiety we would save ourselves,
could we firmly believe, realize, and act on this! If we
could see by the eye of faith that . . .
every foe and every fear,
every difficulty and perplexity,
every trying or painful circumstance,
every looked-for or unlooked-for event,
every source of anxiety, whether at present or in prospect,
are all under His dominion, and at His sovereign disposal—what
a load of anxiety and care would be taken off our shoulders!
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me."
Matthew 28:18
Pride, worldliness, and covetousness
(J. C. Philpot, "Contemplations & Reflections")
Pride, worldliness, and covetousness may reign
rampant, where grosser sins are not committed,
or kept hidden from observation.
"The human heart is most deceitful and desperately
wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I know!
I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret
motives." Jeremiah 17:9-10
All of us used to live that way
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on Ephesians")
"Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your
many sins! You used to live just like the rest of the
world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince
of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the
hearts of the children of disobedience. All of us used
to live that way, following the passions and desires
of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature,
and we were under God's wrath just like everyone
else!" Ephesians 2:1-3
Paul reminds us of the state and condition in which we
used to live, that he may thereby magnify the riches of
God's grace, and bring before us what should be a matter
of the deepest humiliation and self-abhorrence. How clearly
does he show that there is no difference between the
saved and the lost—except what grace makes between
them; that all, elect and non-elect, are equally dead in
sin; that all equally live according to the ways of this
world in their unregenerate condition; and that all are
equally led and acted upon by Satan, that foul and
accursed spirit which we see now working everywhere
around us in the children of disobedience.
If we view the children of God only as they are by nature,
there is no difference between them and the lost. Their sins
are as great, if not greater; their nature as corrupt; their
hearts as evil; the whole bent and course of their thoughts,
words, and works, were as saturated with sin and crime. And
all these things deserve wrath, and would draw down wrath
as their everlasting portion—but for the sovereign grace of
God! The very sweetness of grace lies in this—that it has put
away deserved wrath!
Paul's object is to remind us of our obligations to distinguishing,
sovereign grace, by showing us that we deserve nothing at God's
hands but wrath; and that had we our just due, wrath would be
poured out upon us to the uttermost! Surely every one who has
felt anything of the wrath of God as his just due, on account of
his personal sins, will freely acknowledge that he is by nature a
child of wrath, and that there are thousands in hell who have
not sinned as great as he has!
"But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much, that
even while we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life
when He raised Christ from the dead. It is only by grace that
you have been saved!" Ephesians 2:4-5
Fall down in reverent astonishment
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on Ephesians")
"His great love for us." Ephesians 2:4
"You love them as much as You love Me." John 17:23
The love of God to His dear Son must be so infinite
as to exceed all conception of men or angels. Now,
that He should love the people of His choice with the
same love—the same in nature, the same in degree
as that with which He loves His dear Son—is one of
the most overwhelming thoughts which can move
and stir a human bosom! Indeed, so overwhelming
is it in its sublime mystery and unapproachable depth,
that as it can only be received by faith! Faith itself
can only fall down in reverent astonishment and
admiration before it, and cry out, "O the depth!
O the blessedness of this love!"
"I love you the same way as My Father has loved Me."
John 15:9
Don't you realize!
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on Ephesians")
"Don't you realize that you are God's temple and
that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16
Alas! how little is this truth contemplated and acted upon!
Were we more deeply and powerfully impressed with the
solemn truth that God Himself dwells in us through the
Spirit, how much more careful we would be to maintain . . .
truth and reality,
life and power in experience,
godliness and holiness in life!
What a reverential fear would possess our minds, that
we might not defile the Lord's temple, or sin against
and before, so holy and all-seeing a Guest!
If we realized this, and lived under its solemn weight and
influence, how careful we would be not to defile that body
which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. How desirous and
anxious we would be not to pollute . . .
our eyes by wandering lusts;
our ears by listening to worldly and carnal conversation;
our lips by speaking deceit, or light and frothy talk;
our hands by putting them to anything that is evil;
our feet by running on errands of vanity and folly.
We are to view our body as God's temple, and therefore
sanctified to His service and to His glory!
"God bought you with a high price! So you must honor
God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:20
Strangers!
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on 1 Peter")
"To God's elect, strangers in the world." 1 Peter 1:1
"I am a stranger with you and a sojourner, as all
my fathers were." Psalm 39:12
"I am but a stranger here on earth." Psalm 119:19
"They confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13
The main character of a child of God is that he is a
stranger upon earth. One of the first effects of the
grace of God upon our soul was to separate us from
the world, and make us feel ourselves strangers in it.
The world was once our home—the active, busy center
of all our thoughts, desires, and affections. But when
grace planted imperishable principles of life in our bosom,
it at once separated us from the world in heart and spirit,
if not in actual life and walk. We are strangers inwardly
and experimentally, by the power of divine grace making
this world a wilderness to us.
Money!
(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on 1 Peter")
"People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money."
Grace Gems for March 2005
By Grace Gems