40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#10. Study both to live and die in the exercise of repentance and godly mourning for sin. (Matthew 5:4)
Tag Archives: Holy Scripture
#10 40 Scripture Directions…
August 20, 2020 
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#9 40 Scripture Directions…
August 19, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#9. Let the rational soul govern, and the body be subservient to it. (1 Corinthians 9:27)
#8 40 Scripture Directions…
August 18, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#8. Throughout your whole life be mindful of the chief business of life. (Philippians 2:12)
#7 40 Scripture Directions…
August 15, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#7. Allow a little time every day to think upon eternity. (Matthew 25:46)
#6 40 Scripture Directions…
August 14, 2020 2 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#6. Put a high value upon precious time, and lose none of it by sloth. (Ephesians 5:16)
#5 40 Scripture Directions…
August 13, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#5. Shun the company that shuns God, and keep the company that God keeps. (Psalm 119:63)
#4 40 Scripture Directions…
August 12, 2020 1 Comment
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#4. Begin early in the service of God, and give Him the days of your youth. (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
#3 40 Scripture Directions…
August 11, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#3. Be not strangers to yourselves, but often commune with your own hearts. (Psalm 4:4)
#2 40 Scripture Directions…
August 10, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#2. Keep up the same opinion now of things of the world, that you will have when you come to die. (Matthew 16:26)
#1 40 Scripture Directions…
August 9, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#1. Never let the world come into God’s place. (1 John 2:15)
Walk As Children Of Light
March 6, 2020 1 Comment
Ephesians 5:8 (ESV)
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
This morning i was blessed to stumble upon one of my favourite photos of my lovely Wife Sarah. I just had to add the Bible verse to this post as i think this image reflects a little of what it is expressing…Sarah really does bring sunshine, warmth and light to all who know her! ☀️
I hope this post encourages, inspires and brightens up your day…As i know it has mine. 😀
Busy yourselves about toys and trifles!
October 6, 2019 1 Comment
Busy yourselves about toys and trifles!
(“Christ’s Famous Titles!” William Dyer, 1632-1696)
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” John 6:27
Labor more for inward purity–than for outward felicity.
That man who is a laboring bee for earthly prosperity, will be but an idle drone for heavenly felicity.
Gold in your bags will make you greater–but it is grace in your heart that will make you holier.
He is a rich man who lives upon his wealth–but he is a righteous man who lives upon his faith!
A heavenly conversation, is better than any earthly possession.
It is a great mercy to have a portion in the world–but to have the world for a portion, is a great misery.
Our affections were made for things that are above us, and not for things that are below us. “If you have been raised to new life with Christ,” What then? “Set your hearts on things above! Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!” Colossians 3:1-2
But, alas! some men are so in love with their golden bags, that they will ride with all possible haste to Hell–if they are but paid well for their pains! They look upon gain as the highest good, and not upon godliness as the highest gain!
They mind the present world so much–as if it would never have an ending!
They mind the world to come so little–as if it would never have a beginning!
The perishing things of this world–are all the happiness of the men of this world!
Oh, what wretched worldlings!
They are diligent about what is temporal–but negligent about what is eternal!
They are careful about fleeting vanities–but slothful about durable excellencies!
They feast their bodies–but starve their souls!
They lay up treasures on earth–but none in Heaven!
“Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:2. He who knocks at the creature’s door for true happiness–will find but an empty house kept there.
Oh, beloved, what is gold, compared to grace? What is earth, compared to Heaven? that you thus neglect the great things, the weighty things, the eternal things–and busy yourselves about toys and trifles! You have a crown to look after, a Heaven to look after, a kingdom to look after!
I beseech you, beloved, labor more for inward holiness–than for outward happiness!
Labor more for the seed of grace–than for the bag of gold!
Labor more for inward piety–than for outward plenty!
Labor more for a heavenly kingdom–than for an earthly possession!
The earth is a saint’s passage–but Heaven is a saint’s portion!
A holy man!
May 23, 2019 0 Comments
A holy man!
(J.C. Ryle)
Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of . . .
agreeing with God’s judgment,
hating what He hates,
loving what He loves, and
measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.
A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live a life of faith in Him and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength, but he will also labor to have the mind that was in Him and to be conformed to His image!
We need the teaching of the Great Expositor!
May 15, 2019 0 Comments
We need the teaching of the Great Expositor!
(“Every Day!” Author unknown, 1872)
“Lead me in Your truth–and teach me!” Psalm 25:5
What a mercy it is, in the midst of prevailing errors, to possess the truth of God–the sure word of His testimony–the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truth–that we may find it profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness.
Too frequently the Word of God is read with little profit, because it is read with little prayer. We need Divine illumination! We need the teaching of the Great Expositor, in order rightly to understand the Word of God, and to receive it in the love of it.
May the prayer of the psalmist be my prayer: “Lead me in Your truth–and teach me!”
Lead me into the knowledge and experience of it–let it dwell in my heart, and influence my life.
Lead me into the enjoyment of it–may I find Your Word, and eat it; may it be sweet to my taste, yes, sweeter than honey–than honey from the comb.
And lead me into the practice of it–may my ways be directed to keep Your statutes, and may I be a living epistle, read and known by all men.
May Your Word come to me with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction!
“When He, the Spirit of truth, comes–He will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13
People never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it
March 19, 2019 2 Comments
People never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it
(J.C. Ryle, “Thoughts For Young Men“)
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed!” John 3:19-20
Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well! They understand that it condemns their own behavior. They understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment! They try to believe it is false and useless–because they don’t like to believe it is true.
An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this holy book.
Men question the truth of Christianity–because they hate the practice of it!
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
The Bible is always a new book to those well acquainted with it!
March 17, 2019 1 Comment
The Bible is always a new book to those well acquainted with it!
(Arthur Pink, “The Divine Inspiration of the Bible“)
Although one may know, word for word, the entire contents of some chapter of Scripture; and although he may have taken the time to thoughtfully ponder every sentence therein–yet, on every subsequent occasion, provided one comes to it again in the spirit of humble inquiry, each fresh reading will reveal new gems never seen there before and new delights will be experienced never met with previously. The most familiar passages will yield as much refreshment at the thousandth perusal–as they did at the first!
The Bible has been likened to a fountain of living water–the fountain is ever the same, but the water is always fresh!
A man who hears many sermons
February 6, 2019 0 Comments
A man who hears many sermons
“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long!” Psalm 119:97
It is well to meditate upon the things of God–because it is only by pondering the Scriptures, that we get the real nutriment out of them. A man who hears many sermons–is not necessarily well-instructed in the faith. We may read so many religious books that we overload our brains, and they may be unable to work under the weight of the great mass of paper and of printer’s ink.
The man who reads but one book, and that book his Bible, and then meditates much upon it–will be a better scholar in Christ’s school than he who merely reads hundreds of books, and does not meditate at all!
Oh, that we might get into the very heart of the Word of God–and get that Word into ourselves!
As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord–not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it until we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetic expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models–and, what is better still, your spirit is redolent with the words of the Lord!
“Your words were found, and I devoured them, and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart!” Jeremiah 15:16
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful!” Joshua 1:8
The error of textualism
October 2, 2018 0 Comments
The error of textualism
(A.W. Tozer)
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name–He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26
“When He, the Spirit of truth comes–He will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13
The doctrine of the inability of the human mind to understand divine teaching and the need for divine illumination, is so fully developed in the New Testament, that it is nothing short of astonishing that we should have gone so far astray concerning the whole issue.
Evangelicalism has stood aloof from Liberalism in self-conscious superiority, and has on its own part fallen into the error of textualism–which is simply orthodoxy without the Holy Spirit.
Everywhere among Conservatives we find people who are Bible-taught, but not Spirit-taught. They conceive truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind. If a man holds to the fundamentals of the Christian faith–then he is thought to possess divine truth.
But that is an incorrect assumption. The Bible is a supernatural book–and can be understood only by supernatural aid!
Conservative Christians in this day are stumbling over this truth. We need to re-examine the whole thing. We need to learn that truth consists not in correct doctrine–but in correct doctrine plus the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. A re-preachment of this vital truth could result in a fresh breath from God upon a stale and suffocating orthodoxy.
Most Christians see Bible knowledge as something to be stored away in the mind, along with an inert mass of other facts.
The modern scientist has lost God, amid the wonders of His world.
And we Christians are in real danger of losing God, amid the wonders of His Word!
Scripture truths must be experienced–before we can really know them.
“Lord, I do believe in the authority of the Scriptures, and thank You for that foundation of truth. But I need to remember that even the inspired text is not alive–until the Holy Spirit takes it and enlightens the recipients. May the Spirit indeed take what I teach and embed it in the hearts and minds of my hearers. Amen.”
The Trojan horse
May 14, 2018 2 Comments
The Trojan horse
(Thomas Watson, “The Lord’s Prayer“)
“Deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:13
In this petition, we pray to be delivered from the
evil of our heart, that it may not entice us to sin.
The heart is the poisoned fountain, from whence
all actual sins flow. “For from within, out of the heart
of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.”
Mark 7:21-22.
The cause of all evil lies in a man’s own bosom—all
sin begins at the heart. Lust is first conceived in the
heart—and then it is midwifed into the world. Whence
comes rash anger? The heart sets the tongue on fire.
The heart is the shop where all sin is contrived and
hammered out.
The heart is the greatest seducer “Each one is
tempted when he is carried away and enticed by
his own lust.” James 1:14. The devil could not hurt
us—if our own hearts did not give consent. All that
he can do is to lay the bait—but it is our fault to
swallow it! How needful, therefore, is this prayer,
“Deliver us from the evil of our hearts!”
It was Augustine’s prayer, “Lord, deliver me from
that evil man—myself!”
Beware of the bosom traitor—the flesh. The heart
of a man is the Trojan horse—out of which comes
a whole army of lusts! O let us pray to be delivered
from the lusts and deceits of our own heart!
Her ways lead down to Hell
May 12, 2018 2 Comments
Man loves his own ruin. The cup of pleasure is so sweet that though he knows it will poison him—yet he must drink it. And the harlot is so lovely, that though he understands that her ways lead down to Hell—yet like a bullock he follows to the slaughter until the dart goes through his liver! Man is fascinated and bewitched by sin.
Charles H Spurgeon
You Have Kept Me Alive
May 30, 2017 0 Comments
Psalm 30:3-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Do not be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings!
May 16, 2017 3 Comments
Do not be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings!
(J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900)
“Do not be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings!” Hebrews 13:9
Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.
There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error–and their ‘earnestness’ makes many think they must be right.
There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge–and many imagine that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.
There is a general tendency to free thought in these latter days–many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.
There is a wide-spread desire to appear tolerant and liberal-minded–many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.
There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers–they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.
There is a morbid craving in the public mind for the more sensational and showy–men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.
There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly and earnestly–and a determination to forget that Satan is often “transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 2:14
There is a wide-spread ‘gullibility’ among professing Christians–every heretic who tells his story plausibly, is sure to be believed. Anyone who questions him, is called a bigot and a narrow-minded man.
All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing man to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be led astray by all kinds of strange teachings!”
An ignorant laity will always be the bane of a Church! A Bible-reading laity may save a Church from ruin.
Let us read the Bible regularly, daily, and with fervent prayer, and become familiar with its contents.
Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing–which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.
Let our rule of faith, our touchstone of all teaching–be the written Word of God!
“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word–it is because there is no light in them!” Isaiah 8:20
Bible reading…
April 2, 2017 0 Comments
Bible reading…
by Thomas Brooks–
“Remember that it is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.
It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet.
It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.”
Read Your Bible!
March 30, 2017 0 Comments
Read Your Bible
by Spurgeon
You know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your magazines and novels than what God has written; many of you will read a novel from the beginning to the end, and what have you got? A mouthful of foam when you are done. But you cannot re ad the Bible; that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect; while anything that a man writes, a best seller of the day, is greedily devoured.
“I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”
Job 23:12
A Caged Lion
January 16, 2017 0 Comments
“The gospel is like a caged lion,’ said the great baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon. ‘It does not need to be defended, it simply needs to be let out of it’s cage’ Today, the cage is our accommodation to the secular/sacred split that reduces Christianity to a matter of personal belief. To unlock the cage, we need to become utterly convinced that, as Francis Schaeffer said, Christianity is not merely religious truth, it is total truth- truth about the whole of reality.”
Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity
The evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf Christianity!
November 20, 2016 10 Comments
The evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf Christianity!
Any objection to the evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf Christianity, is met with the triumphant reply, “But we are winning the lost!”
And what are you winning them to?
To true discipleship?
To cross-carrying?
To self-denial?
To separation from the world?
To crucifixion of the flesh?
To holy living?
To nobility of character?
To a despising of the world’s treasures?
To total committal to Christ?
Of course, the answer to all these questions is NO!
(A.W. Tozer)
Abandon The Quarrel
November 17, 2016 0 Comments
Proverbs 17:14 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The beginning of strife is like letting out water [as from a small break in a dam; first it trickles and then it gushes];
Therefore]abandon the quarrel before it breaks out and tempers explode.
The “Hell Fire Club”
November 16, 2016 4 Comments
The “Hell Fire Club”
“Means for Restoring the Banished” )
Mr. Thorpe was a member of an ‘infidel’ club. In those days infidelity was more blasphemous than now. This infidel society took the name of the “Hell Fire Club”. Among their amusements was that of holding imitations of religious services, and exhibiting mimicries of popular ministers.
Thorpe went to hear George Whitfield preach, that he might caricature him before his profane associates. He listened to Whitfield so carefully that he caught his tones and his manner, and somewhat of his doctrines.
When the “Hell Fire Club” met to see his caricature of Whitfield, Thorpe opened the Bible that he might take a text to preach from it after the manner of Whitfield. His eye fell on the passage, “Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” As he spoke upon that text he was carried beyond himself, lost all thought of mockery, spoke as one in earnest, and was the means of his own conversion!
He was carried by the force of truth beyond his own intention, like one who would play in a river, and is swept away by its current.
Even the scoffer may be reached by the arrows of truth! Scripture has often been the sole means in the hands of its divine Author of converting the soul.
“For the Word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.” Hebrews 4:12
“After his amazing conversion, Thorpe became a noted preacher of the gospel.”
(edited from Spurgeon’s sermon, #950
Feeding Sheep, or Amusing Goats?
October 19, 2016 6 Comments
Feeding Sheep, or Amusing Goats?
An evil is in the ‘professed’ camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted Christian can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years this evil has developed at an alarming rate. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments!
The devil has seldom done a more clever thing, than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out the gospel, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses!
My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel’.
No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people, or because they confronted them? The ‘concert’ has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the apostolic Church to the world? “You are the salt of the world”, not the sugar candy; something the world will spit out, not swallow.
Had Jesus introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His teaching, He would have been more popular. When “many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him,” I do not hear Him say, ‘Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow; something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it! Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!’
No! Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them!
In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of the ‘gospel of amusement’. Their message is, “Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them… Don’t touch their filthy things…” Anything approaching amusement is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.
After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, ‘Lord, grant unto your servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are’.
No! They did not cease from preaching Christ. They had no time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down; that is the only difference from today’s church.
Lastly, amusement fails to effect the end desired. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God’s link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer! The mission of amusement produces no converts!
The need of the hour for today’s ministry is earnest spirituality joined with Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.
Archibald Brown, “The Devil’s Mission of Amusement” 1889
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