God never clothes men until He has first stripped them, nor does He quicken them by the gospel till first they are slain by the Law. When you meet with persons in whom there is no trace of conviction of sin, you may be quite sure that they have not been wrought upon by the Holy Spirit; for ‘when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.’
-C.H. Spurgeon
1834-1892
HT-Tony Miano
Amen! How true this is!
That is a Great quote!
“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.” Jn. 12:24
As God forms, molds and squeezes us into the mold of Jesus Christ, try not to focus on the pieces falling to the floor, focus instead on the end result. Focus on what we are gaining, not what we are losing. For that which we are losing was only there to weigh us down anyway, through the conforming to the image of Jesus, it may be painful, it may be hard, but this is the only way we will truly be free. Sometimes I wish Spurgeon lived today…
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the for of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
…He humbled Himself… Philppians 2v7-8.
If our Lord and Saviour would do that, where do we suppose we stand?
/sarc/ – Why let the Word of God get in the way of building self esteem? Spurgeon never met Robert Schuller! There’s a fellow who knows how to build a person up! Pish-posh: every emergent goat knows there’s a spark of the divine in every human and all one has to do is either “toke the Holy Ghost” or imitate mystics monks until your mind turns to mush and your inner being takes control of your trip to Hell. /sarc off/
Amen and amen – to C.H. and those who posted Scripture to fill in the picture a wee bit more.
The Lord is truly righteous. In Him is no sin at all. He desires to look at His creatures with love. But therein lies the problem. Human beings, created by God, are sinful. How does a completely righteous God look with favor upon an unrighteous people? The answer is that He doesn’t. Instead he first makes His people righteous.
“For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.” Psalm 11:7
God’s creatures also reach a point (deep down, whether they admit it or not) where they desire to know that God’s countenance is facing toward them, and not away from them. Therefore, they ask, what does God require of us that he may look upon us in love?
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8
If God will look with favor upon a man, He first requires that that man treat people fairly and obey God’s laws. However, man can never do this in and of himself. He can only love mercy if he himself has experienced the mercy of God. He can only walk humbly with God if he has first humbled himself before God. God requires righteousness, and God-pleasing righteousness can never be achieved by man until it has been imparted to him by God Himself.
If you have received Christ Jesus as your Savior, you have humbled yourself before God, and experienced His mercy. Now you are righteous in God’s sight, and may “do justly,” with God’s help and with His loving eyes upon you.
Amen!