MARANATA !!!

MARANATA !!!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

FORGOTTEN THANKSGVINGS you have probably never heard about!


FORGOTTEN THANKSGVINGS you have probably never heard about!

American Minute By Bill Federer

After the victory of the Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress proclaimed the first National Day of

Thanksgiving

, November 1, 1777:”The grateful feeling of their hearts… join the penitent confession of their manifold sins… that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance…

and… under the providence of Almighty God… secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, independence and peace.”

After John Paul Jones, commanding theBonhomme Richard, captured the British ship HMS Serapis, the Continental Congress declared a Day of Thanksgiving, which Governor Thomas Jefferson chose to proclaim for Virginia, November 11, 1779:

“Congress… hath thought proper… to recommend to the several States… a day of public and solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of Prayer, for the continuance of his favour…

That He would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory;

That He would grant to His church, the plentiful effusions of Divine Grace, and pour out His Holy Spirit on all Ministers of the Gospel;

That He would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth…

I do therefore… issue this proclamation… appointing… a day of public and solemn Thanksgiving and Prayer to Almighty God… Given under by hand… this 11th day of November, in the year of our Lord, 1779… Thomas Jefferson.”

After traitor Benedict Arnold’s plot to betray West Point was thwarted, the Continental Congress proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving, October 18, 1780:

“In the late remarkable interposition of His watchful providence, in the rescuing the person of our Commander-in-Chief and the army from imminent dangers, at the moment when treason was ripened for execution…

it is therefore recommended… a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer… to confess our unworthiness… and to offer fervent supplications to the God of all grace… to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth.”

After British General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Congress proclaimed aDay of Thanksgiving, October 11, 1782:

“It being the indispensable duty of all nations… to offer up their supplications to Almighty God…

the United States in Congress assembled… do hereby recommend it to the inhabitants of these states in general, to observe… the last Thursday… of November next, as a Day of Solemn Thanksgiving to God for all his mercies.”

After the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War, John Hancock, the former President of the Continental Congress now Governor of Massachusetts, proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving, November 8, 1783:

“The Citizens of these United States have every Reason for Praise and Gratitude to the God of their salvation… I do… appoint… the 11th day of December next (the day recommended by the Congress to all the States) to be religiously observed as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer,

that all the people may then assemble to celebrate… that he hath been pleased to continue to us the Light of the Blessed Gospel…

That we also offer up fervent supplications… to cause pure Religion and Virtue to flourish… and to fill the world with his glory.”

After the U.S. Congress passed the First Amendment, it requested President George Washington issue a National Day of Thanksgiving, which he did, October 3, 1789:
“Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me
‘to recommend to the People of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness;’
Now, therefore, I do recommend…Thursday, the 26TH DAY of NOVEMBER … to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…
That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere andhumble Thanks… for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government…
particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed… to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.”

After the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, President James Madison proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving, March 4, 1815:
“The Senate and House of Representatives…signified their desire that a day may…be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity as a Day of Thanksgiving and of devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for His great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of peace.
No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.
His kind Providence originally conducted them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the human race.
He protected…them under all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in their early days…
In the arduous struggle…they were distinguished by multiplied tokens of His benign interposition…
He…enabled them to assert their national rights and to enhance their national character in another arduous conflict, which is now so happily terminated by a peace and reconciliation with those who have been our enemies.
And to the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land…
I now recommend…a Day on which the people of every religious denomination may in their solemn assemblies unite their hearts and their voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly Benefactor of their homage of Thanksgiving and of their songs of praise.
Given…in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifteen… James Madison.”

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THE TRUE STORY OF THANKSGIVING !


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Come Thanksgiving Day each year, many of us give the nod to Pilgrims and Indians and talk of making ready for a harsh first Winter in the New World.
But for the Christian, the deepest roots of our thanksgiving go back to the Old World, way back before the Pilgrims, to a story as old as creation, with a two-millennia-old climax. It’s a story that keeps going right on into the present and gives meaning to our little lives, even when we’re a half a globe removed from history’s ground zero at a place called Golgotha.
You could call it the true story of thanksgiving — or you could call it the Christian gospel viewed through the lens of that often undervalued virtue known as “gratitude.” It opens up a few biblical texts we otherwise may be prone to downplay.
Here’s the true story of thanksgiving in four stages.

Created for Thanksgiving

First, God created humanity for gratitude. You exist to appreciate God. He created you to honor him by giving him thanks. Appreciating both who God is and his actions for us — in creating us and sustaining our lives — is fundamental to proper human life in God’s created world.
As he describes in Romans 1 what’s gone wrong with the world, the apostle Paul gives us this glimpse of the place of appreciation in the created order:
Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Part of what the first man and woman were created to do is honor God by being thankful. And part of what we exist to do is honor God by being thankful — and thus the numerous biblical commands enjoining gratitude.
Humanity was created to appreciate God. But as we’ve already seen from Romans 1, ingratitude wasn’t far away.

Fallen from Thanksgiving

Second, we all have failed miserably in appreciating God as we should. In her book on gratitude, Ann Voskamp gives memorable expression to the failure of the first man and woman — and the devil before them — to rightly experience and express gratitude.
From all of our beginnings, we keep reliving the Garden story.
Satan, he wanted more. More power, more glory. Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave.
Isn’t that the catalyst of all my sin?
Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives.  We hunger for something more, something other. (One Thousand Gifts, 15)
Satan the ingrate spawns unthankfulness in Adam and Eve, who pass it along to all of us. Both before our conversion and after, we are unthankful people. This is so painfully true.
And we not only fail to be thankful like we ought, but we also fail to get the balance right between physical and spiritual. Two obstacles often stand in our way to God-exalting gratitude. You could call them “hyperspirituality” and “hyperphysicality.”
Perhaps hyperphysicality is all too well known in 21st-century Western society at large. A milieu of materialists is so unaware of spiritual reality that even when there is gratitude for the physical, the spiritual is neglected, if not outright rejected. We can be thankful for the temporal, even while we couldn’t care less about the eternal.
But hyperspirituality is often particularly dangerous among the so-called “spiritual” types, even in the church. We can be prone to mute God’s physical goodness to us out of fear that appreciation for such would somehow detract from our thanksgiving for spiritual blessings.
In our sin, we fail again and again to get the proportions right. Only with divine redemption are we able to grow toward a balance that goes something like this: Christians are thankful for all God's gifts, especially his eternal gifts, and especially the surpassing value of knowing his Son (Philippians 3:8), the Spirit-become-physical.

Redeemed by Thanksgiving

Third, God himself, in the person of his Son, Jesus, entered into our thankless world, lived in flawless appreciation of his Father, and died on our behalf for our chronic ingratitude. It is Jesus, the God-man, who has manifested the perfect life of thankfulness. If you’ve ever tracked the texts where Jesus gives his Father thanks, you’ll know it’s quite an impressive list.
Matthew 11:25 [also Luke 10:21]: “At that time [note the context of unrepentant and unthankful “cities where most of his mighty works had been done,” verse 20] Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will . . .’” John 11:41: “…they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me…’” [Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead.]
Matthew 15:36 [also Mark 8:6]: Jesus “took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples…” [See also John 6:11 and John 6:23 which refers to the location as “the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks”]
Luke 22:17–20 [also Matthew 26:27 and Mark 14:23]: “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” [And so following Jesus’s pattern, Paul in Acts 27:35 “took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it…”]
1 Corinthians 11:23–24: Our “Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it . . .”
Jesus is not only God himself but also the quintessentially thankful human. The God-man not only died to forgive our failures in giving God the thanks he’s due, but also lived the perfect life of appreciation on our behalf toward his Father.

Freed for Thanksgiving

Finally, by faith in Jesus, we are redeemed from ingratitude, and its just eternal penalty in hell, and freed to enjoy the pleasure of being doubly thankful for God’s favor toward us — not only as his creatures, but also as his redeemed.
It is fitting for a creature to be in a continuous posture of gratitude toward his creator. And it is even more fitting for a redeemed rebel to be in an ongoing posture of gratitude toward his redeemer. The kind of life that flows from such amazing grace is the life of continual thankfulness. This is the kind of life in which the born-again Christian is being continually renewed, progressively being made more like Jesus.
And so the apostle Paul encourages Christians to have lives characterized by thanksgiving.
Colossians 1:11–12: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 2:6–7: “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 3:15–17 [note the hat trick (3x) in this one text]: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Ephesians 5:20: “…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Only in Jesus, the paragon of creaturely appreciation, are we able to become the kind of persistently thankful people God created us to be and fulfill the human destiny of thanksgiving. For the Christian, with both feet standing firmly in the good news of Jesus, there are possibilities for a true thanksgiving which we otherwise would never know.
by David Mathis | November 22, 2012
Thanksgiving posts from David Mathis:
Topic: The Gospel  
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THANKSGIVING -MULTUMIRE !

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28 Noiembrie
Mulțumind totdeauna Celui care este Dumnezeu și Tatăl, pentru toate, în Numele Domnului nostru Isus Hristos. Efeseni 5:20.
Cât despre zilele sărbătorii naționale a recunoștinței (din SUA, n.t.), noi, ca cetățeni ai împărăției cerești, nu avem nevoie deosebită de aceasta; pentru că fiecare zi ar trebui să fie pentru noi o zi a recunoștinței pentru toate lucrurile — pentru prosperitatea “poporului nostru sfânt" sub autoritatea dreaptă a Regelui nostru Cristos, pentru pacea, bucuria și speranța lui glorioasă, pentru privilegiile iluminării și binecuvântării lui spirituale, pentru perfecțiunea legilor lui, pentru dezvoltarea cursului și destinului lui, și, la fel, pentru disciplinarea necesară, care este pentru a-l pregăti pentru viitoarea înălțare și glorie. Fie ca oamenii acestei lumi și creștinii mai puțin luminați să aducă mulțumiri, după cum fără îndoială mulți dintre ei o fac, dintr-o inimă sinceră, pentru binecuvântările comune ale acestei vieți prezente — pentru aerul și lumina soarelui și pentru ploaie, pentru secerișurile îmbelșugate și pentru timpurile de pace în comparație cu națiunile dimprejur. Da, binecuvântat fie Dumnezeu, din a cărui milă bogată aceste binecuvântări îmbelșugate sunt comune — pentru cei drepți și pentru cei nedrepți — și este bine ca atenția tuturor oamenilor să fie îndreptată pentru a le observa și pentru a le aprecia … . Și, după cum lumea le sărbătorește și se bucură de ele, și în anumite privințe aduce mulțumiri lui Dumnezeu pentru adevăratele, glorioasele binecuvântări comune, pe care Tatăl nostru iubitor și binevoitor le revarsă la fel asupra celor răi și asupra celor drepți, fie ca inimile noastre să nu se bucure numai de aceste lucruri, ci de mai înaltele favoruri spirituale acordate fiilor lui Dumnezeu, aducând mulțumiri lui Dumnezeu Tatăl totdeauna și pentru toate în numele Domnului nostru Isus Cristos. W. T. 1893-12 (R 1490:1) 
http://www.adevarprezent.com/manaseara/11.php
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving.!!

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Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving.
Wishing you and your loved ones

a Happy Thanksgiving.
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CHARLES SPURGEON-Special Thanksgiving to the Father (audio video))

 
Spurgeon at age 23.
Spurgeon at age 23. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
C. H. Spurgeon, "The Prince of Preachers&...
C. H. Spurgeon, “The Prince of Preachers” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Charles Spurgeon Sermon – Special Thanksgiving to the Father (audio video and transcript)

in C H Spurgeon
spurgeonCharles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 January 31, 1892) was a British
Reformed Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among
Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as
the “Prince of Preachers.” In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around
10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times a week at different places. His
sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was the
pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38 years. In 1857, he
started a charity organization called Spurgeon’s which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon’s College, which was named after him after his death.
Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a commentary, books on prayer,
a devotional, a magazine, and more. Many sermons were transcribed as he
spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime.
Arguably, no other author, Christian or otherwise, has more material in
print than C.H. Spurgeon.

Special Thanksgiving to the Father

This message was preached on February 15,
1860. The sermon is prefaced by a letter, which Mr. Spurgeon wrote in
June of that same year, as he was on the continent. This is the letter:
MY DEAR BRETHREN,
I have journeyed happily to the borders of Switzerland, and already feel
that the removing of the yoke from the shoulder is one of the readiest
means of restoring the metal powers. Much of Popish superstition and
idolatry has passed under my observation, and if nothing else could make
me a Protestant, what I have seen would do so. One thing I have learned
anew, which I would have all my brethren learn, the power of a personal
Christ. We Protestants are too apt to make doctrine everything, and the
person of Christ is not held in sufficient remembrance; with the Roman
Catholic doctrine is nothing, but the person is ever kept in view. The
evil is, that the image of Christ before the eye of the Papist is carnal
and not spiritual; but could we always keep o’er Lord before our eyes,
his spiritual sense, we should be better men than any set of doctrines
can ever make us. The Lord give to us to abide in him and so to bring
forth much fruit.
Baden-Baden, June 15th, 1860                     C. H. Spurgeon
You can read the sermon, from Spurgeon.org below this video, or you can listen to the sermon being read here, on this VIDEO by Christian Praise and Worship in Songs, Sermons, and Audio Books
There is also a video playlist of Spurgeon sermons available here -
 
Charles Spurgeon Sermons Playlist 2: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

A Sermon(No. 319)
Delivered on Sabbath Evening, January 15th, 1860, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

Published on Nov 26, 2013

Charles Spurgeon Sermon – Special Thanksgiving to the Father
Charles Spurgeon Sermons Playlist 2: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…
Link to my “Christian Devotional Readings” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christ…
http://www.sermonaudio.com/main.asp
Colossians 1:12
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his
dear Son
Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 January
31, 1892) was a British Reformed Baptist preacher who remains highly
influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he
is still known as the “Prince of Preachers.” In his lifetime, Spurgeon
preached to around 10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times a week at
different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages.
Spurgeon was the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38
years. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon’s
which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon’s College, which was
named after him after his death.
Spurgeon was a prolific author
of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a
commentary, books on prayer, a devotional, a magazine, and more. Many
sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many
languages during his lifetime. Arguably, no other author, Christian or
otherwise, has more material in print than C.H. Spurgeon.

https://www.youtube.com/user/stack45ny
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son.”—Colossians 1:12, 13.
THIS PASSAGE IS A MINE of riches. I can anticipate the difficulty in
preaching and the regret in concluding we shall experience this evening
because we are not able to dig out all the gold which lies in this
precious vein. We lack the power to grasp and the time to expatiate upon
that volume of truths which is here condensed into a few short
sentences.
We are exhorted to “give thanks unto the Father.” This counsel is at once
needful and salutary. I think, my brethren, we scarcely need to be told
to give thanks unto the Son. The remembrance of that bleeding body
hanging upon the cross is ever present to our faith. The nails and the
spear, his griefs, the anguish of his soul, and his sweat of agony, make
ouch tender touching appeals to our gratitude—these will prevent us
always from ceasing our songs, and sometimes fire our hearts with
rekindling rapture in praise of the man Christ Jesus. Yes we will bless thee, dearest Lord; our souls are all on fire. As we survey the, wondrous cross, we cannot but shout—
“O for this love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior’s praises speak.”
It is in a degree very much the same with the Holy Spirit. I think we
are compelled to feel every day our dependence upon his constant
influence. He abides with us as a present and personal Comforter and
Counsellor. We, therefore, do praise the Spirit of Grace, who hath made
our heart his temple, and who works in us all that is gracious,
virtuous, and well-pleasing in the sight of God. If there be any one
Person in the Trinity whom we are more apt to forget than another in our
praises, it is God the Father. In fact there are some who even get a
wrong idea of Him, a slanderous idea of that God whose name is LOVE.
They imagine that love dwelt in Christ, rather than in the Father, and
that our salvation is rather due to the Son and the Holy Spirit, than to
our Father God. Let us not be of the number of the ignorant, but let us
receive this truth. We are as much indebted to the Father as to any
other Person of the Sacred Three. He as much and as truly loves us as
any of the adorable Three Persons. He is as truly worthy of our highest
praise as either the Son or the Holy Spirit.
A
remarkable fact, which we should always bear in mind, is this:—in the
Holy Scriptures most of the operations which are set down as being the
works of the Spirit, are in other Scriptures ascribed to God the Father.
Do we say it is God the Spirit that quickens the sinner who is dead in
sin? it is true; but you will find in another passage it is said “The
Father quickeneth whom he will.” Do we say that the Spirit is the
sanctifier, and that the sanctification of the soul is wrought by the
Holy Ghost? You will find a passage in the opening of the Epistle of St.
Jude, in which it is said, “Sanctified by God the Father.” Now, how are
we to account for this? I think it may be explained thus. God the
Spirit cometh from God the Father, and therefore whatever acts are
performed by the Spirit are truly done by the Father, because he sendeth
forth the Spirit. And again, the Spirit is often the instrument—though I
say not this in any way to derogate from his glory—he is often the
instrument with which the Father works. It is the Father who says to the
dry bones, live; it is the Spirit who, going forth with the divine
word, makes them live. The quickening is due as much to the word as to
the influence that went with the word; and as the word came with all the
bounty of free grace and goodwill from the Father, the quickening is
due to him. It is true that the seal on our hearts is the Holy Spirit,
he is the seal, hut it is the Eternal Father’s hand that stamps the
seal; the Father communicates the Spirit to seal our adoption. The works
of the Spirit are, many of them, I repeat it again, attributed to the
Father, because he worketh in, through, and by the Spirit.
The
works of the Son of God, I ought to observe are every one of them in
intimate connection with the Father. If the Son comes into the world, it
is because the Father sends him; if the Son calls his people, it is
because his Father gave this people into his hands. If the Son redeems
the chosen race, is not the Son himself the Father’s gift, and doth not
God send his Son into the world that we may live through him? So that
the Father, the great Ancient of Days, is ever to be extolled; and we
must never omit the full homage of our hearts to him when we sing that
sacred doxology,
“Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
In order to excite your gratitude to God the Father to-night, I propose to
dilate a little upon this passage, as God the Holy Spirit shall enable
me. If you will look at the text, you will see two blessings in it. The
first has regard to the future; it is a meetness for the inheritance of
the saints in light. The second blessing, which must go with the first,
for indeed it is the cause of the first, the effective cause, has
relation to the past. Here we read of our deliverance from the
power of darkness. Let us meditate a little upon each of these
blessings, and then, in the third place, I will endeavor to show the relation which exists between the two.
I.
The first blessing introduced to our notice is this—”God the Father has
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light.” It is a PRESENT BLESSING. Not a mercy laid up for us in the
covenant, which we have not yet received, but it is a blessing which
every true believer already has in his hand. Those mercies in the
covenant of which we have the earnest now while we wait for the full
possession, are just as rich, and just as certain as those which have
been already with abundant lovingkindness bestowed on us, but still they
are not so precious in our enjoyment. The mercy we have in store, and
in hand is after all, the main source of our present comfort. And oh
what a blessing this! “Made meet for the inheritance of the saints in
light.” The true believer is fit for heaven; he is meet to be a partaker
of the inheritance—and that now, at this very moment. What does this
mean? Does it mean that the believer is perfect; that he is free from
sin? No, my brethren, where shall you ever find such perfection in this
world? If no man can be a believer but the perfect man, then what has
the perfect man to believe? Could he not walk by sight? When he is
perfect, he may cease to be a believer. No, brethren, it is not such
perfection that is meant although perfection is implied, and assuredly
will be given as the result. Far less does this mean that we have a
right to eternal life from any doings of our own. We have a fitness for
eternal life, a meetness for it, but we have no desert of it. We deserve
nothing of God even now, in ourselves. but his eternal wrath and his
infinite displeasure. What, then, does It mean? Why, it means just this:
we are so far meet that we are accepted in the Beloved, adopted into
the family, and fitted by divine approbation to dwell with the saints in
light There is a woman chosen to be a bride; she is fitted to be
married, fitted to enter into the honorable state and condition of
matrimony; but at present she has not on the bridal garment, she is not
like the bride adorned for her husband. You do not see her yet robed in
her elegant attire, with her ornaments upon her, but you know she is
fitted to be a bride, she is received and welcomed as such in the family
of her destination. So Christ has chosen his Church to be married to
him; she has not yet put on her bridal garment, beautiful array in which
she shall stand before the father’s throne, but notwithstanding, there
is such a fitness in her to be the bride of Christ, when she shall have
bathed herself for a little while, and lain for a little while in the
bed of spices—there is such a fitness in her character, such a grace
given adaptation in her to become the royal bride of her glorious Lord,
and to become a partaker of the enjoyments of bliss—that it may be said
of the church as a whole, and of every member of it, that they are “meet
for the inheritance of the saints in light.”
The Greek word, moreover, bears some such meaning as this though I cannot
give the exact idiom, it is always difficult when a word is not used
often. This word is only used twice that I am aware of, in the New
Testament. The word may be employed for “suitable,” or, I think,
“sufficient” “He hath made us meet”—sufficient—”to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light.” But I cannot give my idea without
borrowing another figure. When a child is born, it is at once endowed
with all the faculties of humanity. If those powers are awanting at
first, they will not come afterwards. It has eyes, it has hands, it has
feet, and all its physical organs. These of course are as it were in
embryo. The senses though perfect at first, must be gradually developed,
and the understanding gradually matured. It can see but little, it
cannot discern distances. it can hear, but it cannot hear distinctly
enough at first to know from what direction the sound comes; but you
never find a new leg, a new arm, a new eye, or a new ear growing on that
child. Each of these powers will expand and enlarge, but still there is
the whole man there at first, and the child is sufficient for a man. Let but God in his infinite providence cause it to feed, and give it strength and increase, it has sufficient
for manhood. It does not want either arm or leg, nose or ear. you
cannot make it grow a new member; nor does it require a near member
either; all are there. In like manner, the moment a man is regenerated,
there is every faculty in his new creation that there shall be, even
when he gets to heaven. It only needs to be developed and brought out:
he will not have a new power, he will not have a new grace, he will have
those which he had before, developed and brought out. Just as we are
told by the careful observer, that in the acorn there is in embryo every
root and every bough and every leaf of the future tree, which only
requires to be developed and brought out in their fullness. So, in the
true believer, there is a sufficiency or meetness for the inheritance of
the saints in light. All that he requires is, not that a new thing
should be implanted, but that that which God has put there in the moment
of regeneration, shall be cherished and nurtured, and made to grow and
increase, till it comes unto perfection and he enters into “the
inheritance of the saints in light.” This is, as near as I can give it
to you, the exact meaning and literal interpretation of the text, as I
understand it.
But
you may say to me, “In what sense is this meetness or fitness for
eternal life the work of God the Father? Are we already made meet for
heaven? How is this the rather’s work?” Look at the text a moment, and I
will answer you in three ways.
What is heaven? We read it is an inheritance. Who are fit for an inheritance? Sons. Who makes us sons? “Behold what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” A son
is
fitted for an inheritance. The moment the son is born he is fitted
to be an heir. All that is wanted is that he shall grow up and be
capable of possession. But he is fit for an inheritance at first. If he
were not a son he could not inherit as an heir. Now as soon as ever we
become sons we are meet to inherit. There is in us an adaptation, a
power and possibility for us to have an inheritance. This is the
prerogative of the Father, to adopt us into his family, and to “beget us
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.” And do you not see, that as adoption is really the meetness for
inheritance, it is the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light?”
Again, heaven is an inheritance; but whose inheritance is it? It is an inheritance of the saints.
It is not an inheritance of sinners, but of saints—that is, of the holy
ones—of those who have been made saints by being sanctified. Turn then,
to the Epistle of Jude, and you will see at once who it is that
sanctified. You will observe the moment you fix your eye upon the
passage that it is God the Father. In the first verse you read, “Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are
sanctified by God the Father.” It is an inheritance for saints: and who
are saints? The moment a man believes in Christ, he may know himself to
have bean truly set apart in the covenant decree; and he finds
consecration, if I may so speak, verified in his own experience, for he
has now become “a new creature in Christ Jesus,” separated from the rest
of the world, and then it is manifest and made known that God has taken
him to be his son for ever. The meetness which I must have, in order to
enjoy the inheritance of the saints in light, is my becoming a son. God
hath made me and all believers sons, therefore we are meet for the
inheritance; so then that meetness has come from the Father. How meetly
therefore doth the Father claim our gratitude, our adoration and our
love!
You will however observe, it is not merely said that heaven is the
inheritance of the saints, but that it is “the inheritance of the saints
in light.” So the saints dwell in light—the light of knowledge,
the light of purity, the light of joy, the light of love, pure ineffable
love, the light of everything that is glorious and ennobling. There
they dwell, and if I am to appear meet for that inheritance, what
evidence must I have? I must have light shining into my own soul. But
where can I get it? Do I not read that “every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and Cometh down”—yea verily, but from whom?
From the Spirit? No—”from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning.” The preparation to enter into
the inheritance in light is light. and light comes from the Father of
lights; therefore, my meetness, if I have light in myself, is the work
of the Father, and I must give him praise. Do you see then, that as
there are three words used here—”the inheritance of the saints in light,”
so we have a threefold meetness? We are adopted and made sons. God hath
sanctified us and set us apart. And then, again, he hath put light into
our hearts. All this, I say, is the work of the Father, and in this
sense, we are “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light.”
A few general observations here. Brethren, I am persuaded that if an
angel from heaven were to come to-night and single out any one believer
from the crowd here assembled, there is not one believer that is unfit
to be taken to heaven. You may not be ready to be taken to heaven now;
that is to say, if I foresaw that you were going to live, I would tell
you you were unfit to die, in a certain sense. But were you to die now
in your pew, if you believe in Christ, you are fit for heaven. You have a
meetness even now which would take you there at once, without being
committed to purgatory for a season. You are even now fit to be
“partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” You have but to
gasp out your last breath and you shall be in heaven, and there shall
not be one spirit in heaven more fit for heaven than you, nor one soul
more adapted for the place than you are. You shall be just as fitted for
its element as those who are nearest to the eternal throne.
Ah! this makes the heirs of glory think much of God the Father. When we
reflect, my brethren, upon our state by nature, and how fit we are to be
fire-brands in the flames of hell—yet to think that we are this night,
at this very moment if Jehovah willed it, fit to sweep the golden harps
with joyful fingers, that this head is fit this very night to wear the
everlasting crown, that these loins are fit to be girded with that fair
white robe throughout eternity, I say, this makes us think gratefully of
God the Father; this makes us clap our hands with joy, and say, “thanks
be unto God the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light.” Do ye not remember the penitent
thief? It was but a few minutes before that he had been cursing Christ. I
doubt not that he had joined with the other, for it is said, “They that were crucified with him reviled him.” Not one, but both; they
did it. And then a gleam of supernatural glory lit up the face of
Christ, and the thief saw and believed. And Jesus said unto him, “Verily
I say unto thee, this day,” though the sun is setting, “this day
shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” No long preparation required, no
sweltering in purifying fires. And so shall it be with us. We may have
been in Christ Jesus to our own knowledge but three weeks, or we may
have been in him for ten years, or threescore years and ten—the date of
our conversion makes no difference in our meetness for heaven, in a
certain sense. True indeed the older we grow the more grace we have
tasted, the riper we are becoming, and the fitter to be housed in
heaven; but that is in another sense of the word,—the Spirit’s meetness
which he gives. But with regard to that meetness which the Father gives,
I repeat, the blade of corn, the blade of gracious wheat that has just
appeared above the surface of conviction, is as fit to be carried up to
heaven as the full-grown corn in the ear. The sanctification wherewith
we are sanctified by God the Father is not progressive, it Is complete
at once, we are now adapted for heaven, now fitted for it, and we shall
enter into the joy of our Lord.
Into
this subject I might have entered more fully; but I have not time. I am
sure I have left some knots untied, and you must untie them if you can
yourselves; and let me recommend you to untie them on your knees—the
mysteries of the kingdom of God are studied much the best when you are
in prayer.
II.
The second mercy is A MERCY THAT LOOKS BACK. We sometimes prefer the
mercies that look forward, because they unfold such a bright prospect.
“Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood.”
But here is a mercy that looks backward; turns its back, as it were,
on the heaven of our anticipation, and looks back on the gloomy past,
and the dangers from which we have escaped. Let us read the account of
it—”Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” This verse is an
explanation of the preceding, as we shall have to show in a few minutes.
But just now let us survey this mercy by itself. Ah! my brethren, what a
description have we here of what matter of men we used to be. We were
under “the power of darkness.” Since I have been musing on this text, I
have turned these words over and over in my mind—”the power of
darkness!” It seems to me one of the most awful expressions that man
ever attempted to expound. I think I could deliver a discourse from it,
if God the Spirit helped me, which might make every bone in your body
shake. “The power of darkness!” We all know that there is a moral
darkness which exercises its awful spell over the mind of the sinner.
Where God is unacknowledged the mind is void of judgment. Where God is
unworshipped the heart of man becomes a ruin. The chambers of that
dilapidated heart are haunted by ghostly fears and degraded
superstitions. The dark places of that reprobate mind are tenanted by
vile lusts and noxious passions, like vermin and reptiles, from which in
open daylight we turn with disgust. And even natural darkness is
tremendous. In the solitary confinement which is practiced in some of
our penitentiaries the very worst results would be produced if the
treatment were prolonged. If one of you were to be taken to-night and
led into some dark cavern, and left there, I can imagine that for a
moment, not knowing your fate, you might feel a child-like kind of
interest about it;—there might be, perhaps, a laugh as you found
yourselves in the dark; there might for the moment, from the novelty of
the position, be some kind of curiosity excited. There might, perhaps,
be a flush of silly joy. In a little time you might endeavor to compose
yourself to sleep; possibly you night sleep; but if you should awake,
and still find yourself down deep in the bowels of earth, where never a
ray of sun or candle light could reach you; do you know the next feeling
that would come over you? It would be a kind of idiotic
thoughtlessness. You would find it impossible to control your desperate
imagination. You heart would say, “O God I am alone, alone, alone, in
this dark place.” How would you cast your eyeballs all around, and never
catching a gleam of light, your mind would begin to fail. Your next
stage would be one of increasing terror. You would fancy that you saw
something, and then you would cry, “Ah! I would I could see something,
were it foe or fiend!” You would feel the dark sides of your dungeon.
You would begin to “scribble on the walls,” like David before king
Achish. Agitation would cease hold upon you, and it you were kept there
much longer, delirium and death would be the consequence. We have heard
of many who have been taken from the penitentiary to the lunatic asylum;
and the lunacy is produced partly by the solitary confinement, and
partly by the darkness in which they are placed. In a report lately
written by the Chaplain of Newgate, there are some striking reflections
upon the influence of darkness in a way of discipline. Its first
effect is to shut the culprit up to his own reflections, and make him
realize his true position in the iron grasp of the outraged law.
Methinks the man that has defied his keepers, and come in there cursing
and swearing, when he has found himself alone in darkness, where he
cannot even hear the rattling of carriages along the streets, and can
see no light whatever, is presently cowed; he gives in, he grows tame.
“The power of darkness” literally is something awful. If I had time, I
would enlarge upon this subject. We cannot properly describe what “the
power of darkness” is, even in this world. The sinner is plunged into
the darkness of his sins, and he sees nothing, he knows nothing. Let him
remain there a little longer, and that joy of curiosity, that hectic
joy which he now has in the path of sin, will die away, and there will
come over him a spirit of slumber. Sin will make him drowsy, so that he
will not hear the voice of the ministry, crying to him to escape for his
life. Let him continue in it, and it will by-and-bye make him
spiritually an idiot. He will become so in sin, that common reason will
be lost on him. All the arguments that a sensible man will receive, will
be only wasted on him. Let him go on, and he will proceed from bad to
worse, till he acquires the raving mania of a desperado in sin; and let
death step in, and the darkness will have produced its full effect; he
will come into the delirious madness of hell. Ah! it needs but the power
of sin to make a man more truly hideous than human thought can realize,
or language paint. Oh “the power of darkness!”
Now, my brethren, all of us were under this power once. It is but a few
months—a few weeks with some of you—since you were under the power of
darkness and of sin. Some of you had only got as far as the curiosity of
it; others had got as far as the sleepiness of it; a good many of you
had got as far as the apathy of it; and I do not know but some of you
had got almost to the terror of it. You had so cursed and swore; so
yelled ye out your blasphemies, that you seemed to be ripening for hell;
but, praised and blessed be the name of the Father, he has “translated
you from the power of darkness, into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
Having
thus explained this term, “the power of darkness,” to show you what you
were, let us take the next word, “and hath translated us.” Whet a
angular word this—”translated”—is. I dare say you think it means the
process by which a word is interpreted, when the sense is retained,
while the expression is rendered in another language. That is one
meaning of the word “translation,” but it is not the meaning here. The
word is used by Josephus in this sense—the taking away of a people who
have been dwelling in a certain country, and planting them in another
place. This is called a translation. We sometimes hear of a bishop being
translated or removed from one see to another. Now, if you want to have
the idea explained, give me your attention while I bring out an amazing
instance of a great translation. The children of Israel were in Egypt
under taskmasters that oppressed them very sorely, and brought them into
iron bondage. What did God do for these people? There were two millions
of them. He did not temper the tyranny of the tyrant; he did not
influence his mind, to give them a little more liberty; but he
translated his people; he took the whole two millions bodily, with a
high hand and outstretched arm, and led them through the wilderness, and
translated them into the kingdom of Canaan; and there they were
settled. What an achievement was that, when, with their flocks and their
Spurgeon near the end of his life.
Spurgeon near the end of his life. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

herds, and their little ones, the whole host of Israel went out of
Egypt, crossed the Jordan, and came into Canaan! My dear brethren, the
whole of it was not equal to the achievement of God’s powerful grace,
when he! brings one poor sinner out of the region of sin into the
kingdom of holiness and peace. It was easier for God to bring Israel out
of Egypt, to split the Red Sea, to make a highway through the pathless
wilderness, to drop manna from heaven, to send the whirlwind to drive
out the kings; it was easier for Omnipotence to do all this, than to
translate a man from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
Son. This is the grandest achievement of Omnipotence. The sustenance of
the whole universe, I do believe, is even less than this—the changing of
a bad heart, the subduing of an iron will. But thanks be unto the
Father, he has done all that for you and for me. He has brought us out
of darkness, he has translated us, taken up the old tree that has struck
its roots never so deep—taken it up, blessed be God, roots and all, and
planted it in a goodly soil. He had to cut the top off, it is true—the
high branches of our pride; but the tree has grown better in the near
soil than it ever did before. Who ever heard of moving so huge a plant
as a man who has grown fifty years old in sin? Oh! what wonders hath our
Father done for us I He has taken the wild leopard of the wood, tamed
it into a lamb, and purged away its spots. He has regenerated the poor
Ethiopian—oh, how black are were by nature—our blackness was more than
skin deep; it went to the center of our hearts; but, blessed be his
name, he hath washed us white, and is still carrying on the divine
operation, and he will yet completely deliver us from every taint of
sin, and will finally bring us into the kingdom of his dear son. Here,
then, in the second mercy, we discern from what we were delivered, and
how we were delivered—God the Father hath “translated” us.
But
where are we now? Into what place is the believer brought, when he is
brought out of the power of darkness? He is brought into the kingdom of
God’s dear Son. Into what other kingdom would the Christian desire to be
brought? Brethren. a republic may sound very well in theory, but in
spiritual matters, the last thing we want is a republic. We want a
kingdom. I love to have Christ an absolute monarch in the heart. I do
not want to have a doubt about it. I want to give up all my liberty to
him. for I feel that I never shall be free till my self-control is all
gone; that I shall never have my will truly free till it is bound in the
golden fetters of his sweet love. We are brought into a kingdom—he is
Lord and Sovereign, and he has made us “kings and priests unto our God,”
and we shall reign with him. The proof that we are in this kingdom must
consist in our obedience to our King. Here, perhaps, we may raise many
causes and questions, but surely we can say after all, though we have
offended our King many times, yet our heart is loyal to him. “Oh, thou
precious Jesus! we would obey thee, and yield submission to every one of
thy laws, our sins are not wilful and beloved sins, but though we fall
we can truly say, that we would be holy as thou art holy, our heart is
true towards thy statutes; Lord, help us to run in the way of thy
commandments.”
So,
you see, this mercy which God the Father hath given to us, this second
of these present mercies, is, that he hath “translated us out of the
power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son.” This is the
Father’s work. Shall we not love God the Father from this day forth?
Will we not give him thanks, and sing our hymns to him, and exalt and
triumph in his great name?
III. Upon the third point, I shall be as brief as possible; it is to SHOW THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO VERSES.
When
I get a passage of Scripture to meditate upon, I like, if I can, to see
its drift, then I like to examine its various parts, and see if I can
understand each separate clause; and then I want to go back again, and
see what one clause has to do with another. I looked and looked again at
this text, and wondered what connection there could be between the two
verses. “Giving thanks unto God the Father, who hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Well, that is
right enough; we can see how this is the work of God the Father, to make
us meet to go to heaven. But has the next verse, the 13th, anything to
do with our meetness?—”Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Well, I
looked it over and I said I will read it in this way. I see the 12th
verse tells me that the inheritance of heaven is the inheritance of
light. Is heaven light? Then I can see my meetness for it as described
in the 13th verse.—He hath delivered me from the power of darkness. Is
not that the same thing? If I am delivered from the power of darkness,
is not that being made meet to dwell in light? If I am now brought out
of darkness into light, and am walking in the light, is not that the
very meetness which is spoken of in the verse before? Then I read again.
It says they are saints. Well, the saints are a people that obey the
Son. Here is my meetness then in the 13th verse, where it says “He hath
translated me from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
Son.” So that I not only have the light, but the sonship too, for I am
in “the kingdom of his dear Son.” But how about the inheritance? Is
there anything about that in the 13th verse? It is an inheritance; shall
I find anything about a meetness for it there? Yes, I find that I am in
the kingdom of his dear Son. How came Christ to have a kingdom? Why, by
inheritance. Then it seems I am in his inheritance; and if I am in his
inheritance here, then I am meet to be in it above, for I am in it
already. I am even now part of it and partner of it, since I am in the
kingdom which he inherits from his Father, and therefore there is the
meetness.
I
do not know whether I have put this plainly enough before you. If you
will be kind enough to look at your Bible, I will just recapitulate. You
see, heaven is a place of light; when we are brought out of darkness,
that, of course, is the meetness for light. It is a place for sons; when
we are brought into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, we are of course
made sons, so that there is the meetness for it. It is an inheritance;
and when we are brought into the inherited kingdom of God’s dear Son, we
enjoy the inheritance now, and consequently are fitted to enjoy it for
ever.
Having
thus shown the connection between these verses, I propose now to close
with a few general observations. I like so to expound the Scripture,
that we can draw some practical inferences from it. Of course the first
inference is this: let us from this night forward never omit God the
Father in our praises. I think I have said this already six times over
in the sermon. Why I am repeating it so often, is that we may never
forget it. Martin Luther said he preached upon justification by faith
every day in the week and then the people would not understand. There
are some truths, I believe, that need to be said over and over again,
either because our silly hearse will not receive, or our treacherous
memories will not hold them. Sing, I beseech you, habitually, the
praises of the Father in heaven, as you do the praises of the Son
hanging upon the cross. Love as truly God, the ever-living God, as you
love Jesus the God-man, the Savior who once died for you. That is the
great inference.
Yet
another inference arises. Brothers and sisters, are you conscious
to-night that you are not now what you once were? Are you sure that the
power of darkness does not now rest upon you, that you love divine
knowledge, that you are panting after heavenly joys? Are you sure that
you have been “translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son?” Then
never be troubled about thoughts of death, because, come death whenever
it may, you are meet to be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints
in light.” Let no thought distress you about death’s coming to you at an
unseasonable hour. Should it come to-morrow should it come now, if your
faith is fixed on nothing less than Jesu’s blood and righteousness, you
shall see the face of God with acceptance. I have that consciousness in
my soul, by the witness of the Holy Spirit, of my adoption into the
family of God, that I feel that though I should never preach again, but
should lay down my body and my charge together, ere I should reach my
home, and rest in my bed, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and more,
that I should be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
It is not always that one feels that but I would have you never rest
satisfied till you do, till you know your meetness, till you are
conscious of it; until, moreover, you are panting to be gone, because
you feel that you have powers which never can be satisfied short-of
heaven—powers which heaven only can employ.
One
more reflection lingers behind. There are some of you here that cannot
be thought by the utmost charity of judgment, to be “meet for the
inheritance of the saints in light.” Ah! if a wicked man should go to
heaven without being converted, heaven would be no heaven to him. Heaven
is not adapted for sinners; it is not a place for them. If you were to
take a Hottentot who has long dwelt at the equator up to where the
Esquimaux are dwelling, and tell him that you would show him the aurora,
and all the glories of the North Pole, the poor wretch could not
appreciate them; he would say, “It is not the element for me; it is not
the place where I could rest happy! And if you were to take, on the
other hand, some dwarfish dweller in the north, down to the region where
trees grow to a stupendous height, and where the spices give their
balmy odours to the gale, and bid him live there under the torrid zone,
he could enjoy nothing; he would say, “This is not the place for me,
because it is not adapted to my nature.” Or if you were to take the
vulture, that has never fed on anything but carrion, and put it into the
noblest dwelling you could make for it, and feed it with the daintiest
meals, it would not be happy because it is not food that is adapted for
it. And you, sinner, you are nothing but a carrion vulture; nothing
makes you happy but sin, you do not want too much psalm singing, do you?
Sunday is a dull day to you; you like to get it over, you do not care
about your Bible; you would as soon there should be no Bible at all, You
find that going to a meeting-house or a church is very dull work
indeed. Oh then you will not be troubled with that in eternity; do not
agitate yourself. If you love not God, and die as you are, you shall go
to your own company, you shall go to your jolly mates, you shall go to
your good fellows; those who have been your mates on earth shall be your
mates for ever; but you shall go to the Prince of those good fellows,
unless you repent and be converted. Where God is you cannot come. It is
not an element suited to you. As well place a bird at the bottom of the
sea, or a fish in the air, as place an ungodly sinner in heaven. What is
to be done then? You must have a new nature. I pray God to give it to
you. Remember if now you feel your need of a Savior, that is the
beginning of the new nature. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;” cast
yourselves simply on him, trust in nothing but his blood, and then the
new nature shall be expanded, and you shall be made meet by the Holy
Spirit’s operations to be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints
in light.” There is many a man who has come into this house of prayer,
many a man is now present, who has come in here a rollicking fellow,
fearing neither God nor devil. Many a man has come from the ale house up
to this place. If he had died then, where would his soul have been? But
the Lord that very night met him, There are trophies of that grace
present here to-night. You can say, “Thanks be to the Father, who hath
brought us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son.” And if God has done that for some, why cannot
he do it for others? Why need you despair, O poor sinner? If thou art
here to-night, the worst sinner out of hell, remember, the gate of mercy
stands wide open, and Jesus bids thee come, Conscious of thy guilt,
flee, flee to him. Look to his cross, and thou shalt find pardon in his
veins, and life in his death.
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