One Step from Prison to Glory

Posted on by under Samuel Rutherford

When we shall come home, and enter into the possession of our Brother’s fair kingdom, and when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory, then we shall look back to pains and sufferings and then we will see life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to glory. Our little inch of time-suffering is not worthy of our first night’s welcome-home to heaven.

Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)

Do We Get on in Spiritual Things?

Posted on by under J. C. Ryle

A Saturday night, a communion Sunday, the return of a birthday, the end of the year — all these are seasons that ought to set us thinking and make us look within. Time is flying. Life is fast ebbing away. The hour is daily drawing nearer when the reality of our Christianity will be tested, and it will be seen whether we have built on ‘the rock’ or ‘the sand.’ Surely it becomes us from time to time to examine ourselves and take account of our souls? Do we get on in spiritual things? Do we grow?

J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Carlisle, PA: EP Books, 2011), 81.

How Does the Lord Jesus Work?

Posted on by under Donald Grey Barnhouse

How does the Lord Jesus work? He works by His truth. He works by his love. He works by His Holy Spirit. Now, how can a truth operate within an individual if the truth is not believed? Unbelief blocks the advance of the power of God in a person. The same is true of His love. How can His love bless and cherish if it’s not trusted? You may have someone who loves you profoundly and who does everything for you. But if you look with suspicion at every act he does, that love can never really become operative for you. Suspicion of love is the end of loves working.

Donald Grey Barnhouse, Mark: The Servant Gospel (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1988), 60.