"Now dear reader, seek grace to honestly measure yourself by these criteria. Do such heavenly graces adorn your soul? Are these marks of those whom the Son of God pronounces "blessed" stamped upon your character?
Are you truly "poor in spirit"? We say "truly": for it is easy to adopt expressions and call ourselves names—if you are offended when someone else applies them to you, it shows you do not mean what you say. Do you "mourn" over your lack of conformity to Christ, the feebleness of your faith, the coldness of your love?
Are you "meek"? Has your will been broken and your heart made submissive to God? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness?—do you use the means of grace, your searching of the Scriptures, your prayers, evince it?
Are you "merciful," or censorious and harsh? Are you "pure in heart"? grieved when an impure imagination assails? If not, you have no right to regard yourself as "blessed"; instead you are under the curse of a holy and sin-hating God.
It is not, Are these spiritual graces fully developed within you—they never are in this life. But are they truly present at all?" (A.Pink)
Rylefan wrote:'Ullo John me ole cocker spaniel;Now John, Tis with ease we change our mind. Tis with ease we change our doctrines. (same thing really). Tis with ease we change our thoughts. Tis wiv ease we peels our turnips.BUT. The heart is a differentological matter.The heart is where the Holy Spirit works faith.
Rylefan wrote:Thats why I like the term that Ryle uses "heart;" - It's the heart of the matter. So John, me ole bucket; - Ow does ye change yer heart, mate? And does the Holy Spirit allow you to make changes??? You being a sinner and all!!
Rylefan wrote:BTW Is your laptop fixilated now?
John UK wrote:"And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all!"And the heart IS a faculty!
BUT. The heart is a differentological matter.The heart is where the Holy Spirit works faith.
Thats why I like the term that Ryle uses "heart;" - It's the heart of the matter.
So John, me ole bucket; - Ow does ye change yer heart, mate? And does the Holy Spirit allow you to make changes??? You being a sinner and all!!
BTW Is your laptop fixilated now?
Rylefan wrote:John 8:21 "Then said Jesus again unto them I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins:"A man may have many religious feelings about Christ, without any saving religion. Sickness, sudden affliction, the fear of death, the failure of usual sources of comfort--all these causes may draw out of a man a good deal of "religiousness." Under the immediate pressure of these he may say his prayers fervently, exhibit a strong spiritual feelings, and profess for a season to "seek Christ," and be a different man. And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all! Take away the peculiar circumstances that affected him, and he may possibly return at once to his old ways. He sought Christ "IN VAIN," because he sought Him from false motives, and not with his whole heart." (J.C Ryle)# Thus faith is a gift not a human faculty! Eph 2:8.
A man may have many religious feelings about Christ, without any saving religion. Sickness, sudden affliction, the fear of death, the failure of usual sources of comfort--all these causes may draw out of a man a good deal of "religiousness." Under the immediate pressure of these he may say his prayers fervently, exhibit a strong spiritual feelings, and profess for a season to "seek Christ," and be a different man. And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all! Take away the peculiar circumstances that affected him, and he may possibly return at once to his old ways. He sought Christ "IN VAIN," because he sought Him from false motives, and not with his whole heart." (J.C Ryle)# Thus faith is a gift not a human faculty! Eph 2:8.
And faith is not a faculty.
"And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all!"
And the heart IS a faculty!
Good ol' Ryle, always helpful, always relevant, always simple enough, always edifying, warm-hearted.
Thanks for the quote, bro!
"We learn, for one thing, that it is possible to SEEK CHRIST IN VAIN. Our Lord says to the unbelieving Jews, "You shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins." He meant, by these words, that the Jews would one day seek Him in vain.
The lesson before us is a very painful one. That such a Savior as the Lord Jesus, so full of love, so willing to save, should ever be sought "IN VAIN," is a sorrowful thought. Yet so it is! A man may have many religious feelings about Christ, without any saving religion. Sickness, sudden affliction, the fear of death, the failure of usual sources of comfort--all these causes may draw out of a man a good deal of "religiousness." Under the immediate pressure of these he may say his prayers fervently, exhibit a strong spiritual feelings, and profess for a season to "seek Christ," and be a different man. And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all! Take away the peculiar circumstances that affected him, and he may possibly return at once to his old ways. He sought Christ "IN VAIN," because he sought Him from false motives, and not with his whole heart." (J.C Ryle)
# Thus faith is a gift not a human faculty! Eph 2:8.
"Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: Rom 9:27
"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace Rom 11:5
Thus only the remnant are elect!
A remnant is only a very small part of the whole visible church.
Nathan wrote:What I find most disconcerting regarding the Letter to church of Laodicea is the fact that Jesus stands OUTSIDE knocking. Jesus is not in the midst of the church. They're inside having a whale of a time and Jesus is outside banging on an old fashion lump of tree for a door trying to get their attention. Sounds like the church today with all its entertainment and psychology. All the worlds riches yet no Christ.
To the angel of the church at Sardis:
"Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead...hold fast and repent...he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name from the book of life..."
It sounds like there were professing, baptized church members at Sardis who will not wear white robes and whose names will not appear in the Book of Life. These are sobering words.
St Jeremiah wrote:Acts 8:4-13The way is narrow with Jesus as the only gate and Shepherd; Matthew 7:13-14 & John 10:1 & 7, John 10:2
Many Christians are no better than baptized heathens. - Thomas Watson (Puritan)
The way is narrow with Jesus as the only gate and Shepherd; Matthew 7:13-14 & John 10:1 & 7, John 10:2
DJC49 wrote:_____Read the rest of the chapter.
Yes, he who has an ear (inside or outside of the churches), let him be sure to hear. And, he who does not have an ear to hear, let him seek spiritual gold and spiritual rainment (clothing) and spiritual eyesalve. Let him or her seek to be zealous and repent and open the door to Christ.
nl wrote:To the church of Laodicea, presumably full of baptized believers with credible professions of faith, Jesus Christ says (Revelation 3:16): "So then, because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth".It sound like these professing, baptized church members will not be eternally saved from the wrath and darkness to come.
Read the rest of the chapter.
It sound like these professing, baptized church members will not be eternally saved from the wrath and darkness to come.
That is interesting. Praise God for His wonderful salvation. I think not all churches think of salvation as a sudden conversion experience. I noticed that in a Reformed church I attended in the 1990s. I had a similar experience to you in about 1980 and when I mentioned it at a Reformed bible study, I heard a kind of negative comment. Someone said that it didn't sound right to them. We see that on the forum here from time to time.
There are those who are skeptical of those who profess conversion experiences. They think one somehow becomes a christian without knowing it and then follows the ritual of a church such as confirmation. If you go outside that set ritual, they think you are an eccentric of some kind, although they will usually accept you as a brother in Christ.
It is sporadic and evanescent at first. We, the observers, become excited, wondering if our friend is already born again; but we learn by many disappointments to be cautious and not prematurely hopeful. But we ought to be hopeful!
It may not be birth but conception that has taken place and these are the twistings and turnings of a healthy but yet unborn organism which God has engendered and which in due time He will bring to birth.
