Great is our LORD JESUS to Save Us!
"Persecuted,
but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."
-II
CORINTHIANS
4:9 [KJV]
You
may be cast down by many doubts and fears, and lose the sense of the
Lord's love to your soul, but you cannot lose the reality, nor is
your faith destroyed by the hottest flame. It is like gold; the fire
melts away and separates the dross and tin, but never touches the
gold. In your hottest trials your faith will not have lost a
particle. Neither will your hope be destroyed, however you may be
cast down about your state or standing; for not a particle of hope,
or of any one Christian grace can ever be lost. They may seem to
suffer diminution as the apostle speaks, "If a man's work
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss" [I
CORINTHIANS 3:15];
but it is no real loss,—it is merely the dross taken away, that he
may come forth a vessel for the finer.
The
work of the Holy Spirit is as indestructible as the work of Christ;
and thus every grace which He implants in the soul remains there
untouched, unharmed in all its divine integrity. Love, patience,
submission, and humility all remain unhurt in the flame, though the
dross which is mixed with them is taken from them that they may shine
all the brighter. Thus though you may be plunged into the hottest
fires, you will not be destroyed, any more than the three children
were destroyed in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, or Jonah in the belly of
the whale.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
February
6th,
EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
Comments