Blessed be God for ever!
"And
this is life eternal,
that
they might know Thee
the
only true God, and Jesus
Christ,
Whom
Thou
hast sent."
-JOHN 17:3 [KJV]
How
many are anxious to know what is the way of salvation, how eternal
life is to be obtained, and how to "flee from the wrath to
come." But the Lord Jesus has shewn in one short sentence in
what eternal life consists, that it is in the knowledge of the "only
true God, and of Jesus Christ, Whom He
has sent." He therefore that knows the Father and the Son
has eternal life in his soul. The Lord Jesus, in the sixth chapter of
John, quoted this amongst other passages of the Old Testament, and
says, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all
taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned
of the Father, cometh unto Me."
He lays this down, then, as one especial fruit of divine teaching, that it produces a coming unto Him. The Spirit, Who teacheth to profit, holds up before the eyes of the soul, the Person, work, blood, love, grace, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shews the soul that He is just such a Saviour as it needs. He opens up the dignity of His Person, and shews that He is God-man. He makes known in the conscience that He has offered up Himself a sacrifice for sin; that He has shed His atoning blood so that the sin of the Church is for ever put away from the sight of a just God.
He lays this down, then, as one especial fruit of divine teaching, that it produces a coming unto Him. The Spirit, Who teacheth to profit, holds up before the eyes of the soul, the Person, work, blood, love, grace, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shews the soul that He is just such a Saviour as it needs. He opens up the dignity of His Person, and shews that He is God-man. He makes known in the conscience that He has offered up Himself a sacrifice for sin; that He has shed His atoning blood so that the sin of the Church is for ever put away from the sight of a just God.
He
opens up before the eyes of the mind His glorious righteousness, as
that in which the Father is well pleased, and in which if the soul
has but an interest, it is secure from the wrath to come. He unfolds
to the heart the willingness of Christ to receive every coming
sinner; he shews the treasures of mercy and grace which are locked up
in Him; and brings down in the heart the comforting words that He
spake in the days of His flesh, such as, "Come
unto Me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
"Him that cometh to Me
I will in no wise cast out." "If any man thirst, let him
come unto Me
and drink."
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
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