A Crown of Glory

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,  Isa.28:5

The characters here spoken to are the residue of his people. Men speak of us as being a narrow-minded, contracted, and bigoted people; people that think no one is going to heaven but themselves. But are we more narrow than the Word of God allows, when here we have the word "residue," the same word in the original signifying, "remnant," the poor despised remnant? Sometimes, when you go to the draper's shop, the man shows you a remnant of cloth, or linen, or of any other kind or quality of material, at a smaller price or lower rate. "O," says he, "it is a mere remnant; you can have it for little money, as it is a small odd piece left off the whole bale." So here the people of God are represented as a small remnant; and Paul calls them a "remnant according to the election of grace." 

In another place they are represented as being only like a few odd berries left on the uppermost and outer branches of a tree, and that there is but one of a city and two of a family (or tribe) that the Lord brings unto Zion. Seeing these are scriptural declarations, would it not be much the wiser way in man, instead of venting all his spleen and malice against those who are enabled faithfully and honestly to declare these things as contained in the Word of God, if they were to ask themselves whether they bore any marks as belonging to such a kind of people, and that, if there are so few for which the Lord has such a special regard, just an odd berry or two on a straggling bough, whether or not they belonged to that few? 

What man despises, the Lord of heaven and earth has chosen. This you see in his conduct towards the sons of men throughout the Sacred Page; and you may see it now as plainly in every city, town, village, or hamlet where the Lord has a vessel of mercy. In whatever society, they cannot stand on a level with others of their fellow mortals. This difference in time has been irrevocably fixed from all eternity. 

To this despised remnant the Lord is here declared to be a "crown of glory;" not like the poor crowns made of perishing leaves of flowers, vain baubles, at a drunken feast; but a "crown of glory that fadeth not away." And who is this crown of glory? Why, it is the Lord of hosts, or God of armies.

You have a most beautiful account of this King of glory, and how he is worshipped by all the hierarchy of heaven and glorified spirits before the throne in Psalm 24. When they shouted, so as to make heaven's high arches ring, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Then the question is asked. "Who is this King of glory?" The answer is, "The LORD strong and mighty; The LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." The question is again asked, "Who is this King of glory?" And the answer comes again, "The LORD of hosts. He is the King of glory." He crowns you with goodness, mercy, and forgiveness, and you crown him with praise; and if you had a thousand crowns you would cheerfully put them all on his blessed head, as he so richly deserves; and if you had a thousand tongues they would all speak his praise.

~excerpt from a sermon Preached by J. C. Philpot at Providence Chapel, Oakham, February 24th, 1861

Spiritual Delight!

Psalm 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Whence the Saint's Spiritual Delight Springeth.

The saint's delight in the law of God proceeds,

1.  From soundness of judgment.  The mind apprehends a beauty in God's law.  Now the judgment draws the affections, like so many orbs, after it; "the law of God is perfect,"  Psalm 19:7.  It needs not be eked out with traditions.  The Hebrew word for perfect, seems to allude to a perfect, entire body, that wants for none of the members or lineaments.  God's law must needs be perfect, for it is able to make us wise unto salvation, 2 Tim. 3:15.  The Septuagint renders it:  "the law of the Lord is pure," like beauty that hath no stain, or wine that is clarified and refined.  The soul that looks into this law, seeing so much lustre and perfection, cannot but delight in it.  The middle lamp of the sanctuary being lighted from the fire of the altar, gave light to all the other lamps.  So the judgment being lighted from the word, it sets on fire the lamps of the affections.

2.  This holy delight arises from the predominance of grace.  When grace comes with authority and majesty upon the heart, it fills it with delight.  Naturally we have no delight in God. "Therefore they say unto God depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways," Job 21:15.  Nay, there is not only a dislike, but an antipathy.  Sinners are called haters of God, Romans 1:30. But when grace comes into the heart, O what a change is there!  Grace preponderates, it files off the rebellion of the will. It makes a man of another spirit, Numbers  14:24.  It turns the lion-like fierceness into a dove-like sweetness, it changes hatred into delight.  Grace puts a new bias into the will, it works a willingness and cheerfulness in God's service.  "Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power."  Psalm 110:3.

3.  This holy delight in religion is from the sweetness of the end.  Well may we with cheerfulness let down the net of our endeavour when we have so excellent a draught.  Heaven at the end of duty causes delight in the way of duty.

~excerpt from "The Saint's Spiritual Delight" by Thomas Watson

Holy Meditation

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

"Birds are seldom taken in their flight;  the more we are upon the wing of heavenly thoughts, the more we escape snares."

O that we would remember this, and never tarry long on the ground lest the fowler ensnare us.  We need to be much taken up with divine things, rising in thought above these temporal matters, or else the world will entangle us, and we shall be like birds held with limed twigs, or encompassed in a net.  Holy meditation can scarcely be overdone; in this age we fear it never is.  We are too worldly, and think too much of the fleeting trifles of time, and so the enemy gets an advantage of us, and takes a shot at us.  O for more wing and more use of the flight we have! 

Communion with Jesus is not only sweet in itself, but it has a preserving power by bearing us aloft, above gun-shot of the enemy.  Thoughts of heaven prevent discontent with our present lot, delight in God drives away love to the world, and joy in our Lord Jesus expels pride and carnal pleasure:  thus we escape from many evils by rising above them.

Up, then, my heart!  Up from the weedy ditches and briery hedges of the world into the clear atmosphere of heaven.  There where the dews of grace are born, and the sun of righteousness is Lord paramount, and the blessed wind of the Spirit blows from the everlasting hills, thou wilt find rest on the wing, and sing for joy where enemies cannot even see thee.

C. H. Spurgeon from "Flowers From A Puritan's Garden"

Men Ought Always To Pray

Colossians 4:2

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

 

O God,

Praise waiteth for thee,

                and to render it is my noblest exercise;

This is thy due from all thy creatures,

                for all thy works display thy attributes

                and fulfil thy designs;

The sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat,

                morning light, evening shade are full of thee,

                and thou givest me them richly to enjoy.

Thou art King of kings and Lord of lords;

At thy pleasure empires rise and fall;

All thy works praise thee and thy saints bless thee;

                Let me be numbered with the thy holy ones,

                resemble them in character and condition,

                sit with them at Jesus' feet.

May my religion be always firmly rooted in thy Word,

                my understanding divinely informed,

                my affections holy and heavenly,

                my motives simple and pure,

                and my heart never wrong with thee.

Deliver me from the natural darkness of my own mind,

                from the corruptions of my heart,

                from the temptations to which I am exposed,

                from the daily snares that attend me.

I am in constant danger while I am in this life;

Let thy watchful eye ever be upon me for my defence,

Save me from the power of my worldly and spiritual enemies

                and from all painful evils to which I have exposed myself.

Until the day of life dawns above

                let there be unrestrained fellowship with Jesus;

Until fruition comes, may I enjoy the earnest of my inheritance

                and the firstfruits of the Spirit;

Until I finish my course with joy may I pursue it with diligence,

                in every part display the resources of the Christian,

                and adorn the doctrine of thee my God in all things.

~The Valley of Vision

 Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Joyful Submission

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

He who loves God finds sweetness in every dispensation.

What an infinite pleasure it must be, as it were, to lose ourselves in Him, and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of His goodness, to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, always ascending unto Him in flames of love!  Never does a soul know what solid joy and substantial pleasure are till once, being weary of itself, it renounces all property, gives itself up to the Author of its being, feels itself become a hallowed and devoted thing, and can say from an inward sense and feeling, "My Beloved is mine.  I account all His interest my own, and I am His.  I am content to be anything for Him, and do not care for anything for myself but that I may serve Him."

A person molded into this temper would find pleasure in all the dispensations of providence.  Temporal enjoyments would have another relish when he would taste the divine goodness in them, and consider them as tokens of love sent by his dearest Lord and Master.  And chastisements, though they are not joyous but grievous, would hereby lose their sting; the rod as well as the staff would comfort him; he would snatch a kiss from the hand that was smiting him, and would gather sweetness from that severity. Nay, he would rejoice that though God did not do the will of such a worthless and foolish creature as himself, yet He did His own will and accomplished His own designs, which are infinitely more holy and wise.

an excerpt from "The Works of Henry Scougal"

A Poem of Praise

Sometimes a light surprises

The Christian while he sings;

It is the Lord who rises

With healing in his wings:

When comforts are declining,

He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining,

To cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation,

We sweetly then pursue

The theme of God's salvation,

And find it ever new:

Set free from present sorrow,

We cheerfully can say,

E'en let th' unknown to-morrow

Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing

But he will bear us through;

Who gives the lilies clothing,

Will clothe his people too:

Beneath the spreading heavens,

No creature but is fed;

And he who feeds the ravens,

Will give his children bread.

Though vine nor fig-tree neither

Their wonted fruit shall bear,

Though all the field should wither,

Nor flocks nor herds be there:

Yet God the same abiding,

His praise shall tune my voice;

For while in him confiding,

I cannot but rejoice.

Written by John Newton

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

When the Spirit's seal of adoption is impressed upon the heart, there is a loosening of the bonds of legality in which so many of God's children are held.  How jealous is the Holy Ghost of the glory and enjoyment of our Sonship!  Listen to His language:  'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'  (Romans 8:14-16)

Do you ask, my reader, what is a legal spirit from which the Spirit of adoption frees us?  I answer, it is that bondage which springs from looking within yourself for evidences, for comfort, and for motives which only can be found in looking to Jesus.  It is that spirit of legality which prompts you to be incessantly poring over your works, instead of dealing simply and solely with the finished work of Christ.  That is a spirit of bondage which makes a Christ of duties and labours and sacrifices, of tears and confessions and faith, rather than directly and supremely dealing with Him 'who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.'  (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Beloved, your works, your doing, your sacrifices, as means of comfort and as grounds of hope, are nothing but filthy rags, the bones of the skeleton, the chaff which the wind scatters.  Why have you not joy and peace and hope in believing?  Simply because, unsuspected by yourself, you are putting your own work in the place of Christ's work.  Oh that you may be led to cast yourself more entirely upon the atoning sacrifice of Jesus; to believe that God looks not at a single work you do as justifying you in His sight, but that He looks only to the divine, sacrificial, flawless, perfect work of His beloved Son!  If He is pleased to accept you in His Son, are you not satisfied so to be accepted?  If the blood and righteousness of Emmanuel are enough for God, are they not enough also for you?  Away, then, with your fears and distrust and bondage, and enter fully into Christ!  Then shall you exclaim, 'Thou hast loosed my bonds.'

Excerpt from 'Help Heavenward' by Octavius Winslow

http://fsiarchive1.familyradio.org/mp3/hymnal/not_what_my_hands_have_done.mp3

Reflections on Psalm 9: 1-2 from Charles H. Spurgeon:

I will praise thee, O Jehovah, with my whole heart;  I will shew forth thy marvellous works.  I will be glad and rejoice in thee:  I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.  

"With a holy resolution the songster begins his hymn:  I will praise thee, O Jehovah.  It sometimes needs all our determination to face the foe and bless the Lord in the teeth of His enemies;  vowing that whoever else may be silent we will bless His name.  Here, however, the overthrow of the foe is viewed as complete, and the song flows with sacred fulness of delight.  It is our duty to praise the Lord; let us perform it as a privilege.  Observe that David's praise is all given to the Lord.  Praise is to be offered to God alone.  We may be grateful to the intermediate agent, but our thanks must have long wings and mount aloft to heaven.  

With my whole heart.  Half heart is no heart.  I will shew forth.  There is true praise in the thankful telling forth to others of our heavenly Father's dealings with us. This is one of the themes upon which the godly should speak often to one another, and it will not be casting pearls before swine if we make even the ungodly hear of the lovingkindness of the Lord to us.  

All thy marvellous works.  Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousands of others.  One silver link in the chain draws up a long series of tender remembrances.  Here is eternal work for us, for there can be no end to the showing forth of all His deeds of love.  If we consider our own sinfulness and nothingness, we must feel that every work of preservation , forgiveness, conversion, deliverance, and sanctification which the Lord has wrought for us or in us is a marvellous work.  Even in heaven, divine lovingkindness will doubtless be as much a theme of surprise as of rapture!

Gladness and joy are the appropriate spirit in which to praise the goodness of the Lord.  Birds extol the Creator in notes of overflowing joy, the cattle low forth His praise with tumult of happiness, and the fish leap up in His worship with excess of delight.  He whose name is Love is best pleased with the holy mirth, and sanctified by the gladness of His people. "

Let the tuning begin!  Mmmmm. Ready?  Sing!