The worst thing in Christianity is better than the best thing out of Christ.
HT: @nickroark
Category Archives: Richard Sibbes
Winter Prepares Us for Spring
The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.
HT: @cslchsnmore
The Only Legitimate Contest in a Church
It would be a good contest among Christians, one to labor to give no offense, and the other to labor to take none.
HT: challies.com
Christ Drank the Dregs for Us
God sees fit that we should taste of that cup with his Son drink so deep, that we might feel a little what sin is, and what his Son’s love was. But our comfort is that Christ drink the dregs of the cup for us, and will succour us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of his displeasure which we may feel. He became not only as a man but a curse, a man of sorrows, for us. He was broken that we should not be broken; he was troubled, that we should not be desperately troubled; he became a curse, that we should not be accursed. Whatever may be wished for in an all-sufficient comforter is all to be found in Christ.
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 66.
The Church Is a Hospital Where Everyone Is Sick
Grace, while we live here, is in souls which, because they are imperfectly renewed, dwell in bodies subject to several humours, and these will incline the soul sometimes to excess in one passion, sometimes to excess in another…. We must supply out of our love and mercy that which we see wanting in them. The church of Christ is a common hospital, wherein all are in some measure sick of some spiritual disease or other, so all have occasion to exercise the spirit of wisdom and meekness.
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 33-34.
Christ Is a Strong Savior
Let us think we when we are troubled with our sins that Christ has this in charge from his Father, but he still not ‘quench the smoking flax’ until he has subdued all. This puts a shield in our hands to beat back ‘all the fiery darts of the wicked’ (Eph. 6.16). Satan will object, ‘You are a great sinner.’ We may answer, ‘Christ is a strong Savior.’ But he will object, ‘You have no faith no love.’ ‘Yes, a spark of faith and love.’ ‘But Christ will not regard that.’ ‘Yes, he will not quench the smoking flax.’ ‘But this is so little and weak that it will vanish and come to nought.’ ‘Nay, but Christ will cherish it, until he has brought judgment to victory.’ And this much we have already for our comfort, that, even when we first believed, we overcame God himself, as it were, by believing the pardon of all our sins, notwithstanding the guilt of our own conscience and his absolute justice. Now, having been prevailers with God, what shall stand against us if we can learn to make use of our faith?
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 123.
Measuring God’s Love
Measure not God’s love and favour by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof.
Man’s Day and God’s Day
Man has a day now, which Paul calls ‘man’s day’ (1 Cor. 4.3 [margin]), in which he gets on his throne bench and usurps a judgment over Christ and His ways; but God has a day in which He will set everything straight, and His judgment shall stand. And the saints shall have their time, when they shall sit in judgment on those that judge them now (1 Cor. 6.2). Christ will rule in the midst of His enemies (Psa. 110.2), even in the midst of our hearts.
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 120.
Going Backward in Order to Go Forward Better
Christ’s work, both in the Church and in the hearts of Christians, often goes backward so that it may go forward better. As seed rots in the ground in the winter time, but after comes up better, and the harder the winter the more flourishing the spring, so we learn to stand by falls, and get strength by weakness discovered…. We take deeper root by shaking. And, as torches flame brighter by moving, thus it pleases Christ, out of His freedom, in this manner to maintain His government in us. Let us herein labour to exercise our faith, so that it may answer Christ’s way of dealing with us. When we are foiled, let us believe we shall overcome when we have fallen, let us believe we shall rise again.
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 95.
Mercy Is Part of the Church’s Inheritance
Mercy is a part of the Church’s marriage inheritance. Christ betroths her to Him ‘in mercy’ (Hos. 2.19). The husband is bound to bear with the wife, as being the ‘weaker vessel’ (1 Pet. 3.7), and shall we think Christ will exempt Himself from His own rule, and not bear with His weak spouse?
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 58.
