He stooped...we laughed

“Busy are the wise men of this world at this very time all over the world, busy in gathering thorns and twisting them, that they may afflict the Lord’s Anointed.  Some of them cry, “Yes, he was a good man, but not the Son of God” others even deny His superlative excellence in life and teaching; they cavil at His perfection, and imagine flaws where none exist.  Never are they happier than when impugning His character.  Full often have they torn their own hands in in weaving crowns of thorn for Him.”


“Let us remember that our Lord’s weakness was undertaken for the sake of His people; for us He became a lamb, for us He laid aside His glory, and therefore it is the more painful for us to see that this voluntary humiliation of Himself must be made the object of so much derision and scorn, though worthy of the utmost praise.  He stoops to save us, and we laugh at Him as He stoops; He leaves the throne that He may lift us up to it, but while He is graciously descending, the hoarse laughter of an ungodly world is His only reward.  Ah me! Was ever love treated after so unlovely a sort?  Surely the cruelty it received was proportioned to the honor it deserved, so perverse are the sons of men.” 


CH Spurgeon - “Crown of Thorns” 12 Sermons on the Passion and Death of Christ

Be Doers of the Word

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Drops in a Bucket

Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.  (Isa 40:10-15)

Having problems? Concerned about our nation? Discouraged? Wondering how God is going to work in your present situation? Perhaps you have forgotten who God is and need a little reminder.


Read the scriptures above (come on, we all know that you just skimmed through it) and then click HERE. 


HT John Piper
DPN

Of Mice and Testimonies

B.H. Carroll tells of a man who had a wonderful Christian experience that...

"when he joined the church [his particular experience] evoked unusual praise from the pastor and the church. So much was said about it that he, himself, began to glory in it. He carefully wrote it out and would read it to every visitor. He became so complacent over it that he stopped right there - no progress - a cause of arrested development. In the lapse of time the mice got int the drawer where he kept his precious document and ate up his Christian experience! We need and experience that rats cannot eat up - an experience not folded up and put in a drawer, but one that moves forward taking the steps of the faith of Abraham."

Philippians 3:13-14  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.