All is Ascribed to Grace

"THIS QUICKENING WORK IS WHOLLY SUPERNATURAL; it is the sole and proper work of the Spirit of God. So Christ himself expressly asserts it: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit: the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John, 3:6-8. Believers are the birth or offspring of the Spirit, who produceth the new creature in them in a manner unintelligible even to themselves. So far is it above their own ability to produce, that it is above their capacity to understand the way of its production: as if you should ask, Do you know from whence the wind comes? No. Do you know whither it goes? No. But you hear and feel it when it blows? Yes. So is every one that is born of the Spirit; he feels the efficacy and discerns the effects of the Spirit on his own soul, but cannot understand or describe the manner of their production. This is not only above the carnal, but above the renewed mind to comprehend. We really contribute nothing to the production of this principle of life. We may indeed be said to concur with the Spirit in it; there is found in us a capacity, aptness, or receptiveness of it; our nature is endowed with such faculties and powers as are meet subjects to receive and instruments to act it; but God only quickens the rational nature with spiritual life. "Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 1 Cor. 4 7. The Scriptures not only assert that without him we can do nothing, and that our sufficiency is of God, John, 15:5; Mat. 12:34; 2 Cor. 3:5; but they declare that the carnal mind "is enmity against God ;" and that we were "enemies in our minds by wicked works." Rom. 8:7; Col. 1:21. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, a perishing thing; but this principle of spiritual life is not subject to dissolution, it is the water that springs up into everlasting life, John, 4:14; the seed of God, which remaineth in the regenerate soul. 1 John 3:9. And all this, because it is born not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed. 1 Peter, 1:23. Our new birth is represented to us in the Scriptures as a resurrection from the dead, a new creation; Eph. 5:14; 4:24; and thus all is ascribed to grace." —John Flavel (1627 - 1691)

Excerpt taken from "The Method of Grace" by John Flavel (1627 - 1691)

The Greatest Abasement

"It is against the stream and current of our corrupt nature to come to Christ. Consider from what the soul departs when it comes to Christ. In that day it leaves all its lusts and ways of sin, how pleasant, sweet and profitable soever they have been : "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord." Isa. 55 : 7. His way and thoughts, that is, both the practice of and delight he had in sin must be forsaken, and the outward and inward man must be cleansed from it. Now there are in the bosoms of unregenerate men such darling lusts, which have given them so much pleasure, brought them so much profit, and been born and bred up with them, and which, on all these accounts, are so endeared to their souls, that it is easier for them to die than to forsake them; yea, nothing is more common among such men than to venture eternal damnation rather than suffer a separation from their sins.

And what is yet more difficult in coming to Christ, the soul forsakes not only its sinful self, but its righteous self; not only its worst sins, but its best performances, accomplishments and excellencies. This is one of the greatest straits that nature can be put to. Righteousness by works was the first liquor that ever was put into the vessel, and it still retains the tang and savor of it, and will to the end of the world. "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Rom. 10 : 3. To come naked and empty to Christ, and receive all from him as a free gift, is, to proud corrupt nature, the greatest abasement and submission in the world." —John Flavel (1627 - 1691)

Excerpt taken from "The Method of Grace" by John Flavel (1627 - 1691)

Nothing but Christ

"Look more at justification than sanctification. In the highest commands consider Christ, not as an exacter to require, but as a debtor, and undertaker, to work in you and for you. If you have looked at your resolutions, endeavors, workings, duties, qualifications, etc., more than at the merits of Christ, it will cost you dear. No wonder you go mourning; graces may be evidences, the merits of Christ alone without them, must be the foundation of your hope. Christ only can be the hope of glory.

When we come to God, we must bring nothing but Christ with us. Any ingredients, or any previous qualifications of our own, poison and corrupt faith. He that builds upon duties, graces, etc., knows not the merits of Christ. This makes believing so hard, so far above nature; Hence we see that the great difficulty of believing, lies in the strength of self-righteousness. Ther real difficulty is just the deep unwillingness of the soul to be counted wholly a sinner, and to let Christ be wholly a Saviour. If you believe, you must every day renounce as dung and dross, your privileges, your obedience, your baptism, your sanctification, your duties, your graces, your tears, your meltings, your humbling; and nothing but Christ must be held up. Every day your workings, your self-sufficiency, must be destroyed.

You must receive all at Gods' hand. Christ is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. Pardon is a free gift. Ah, how nature storms, frets, rages at this; that all is GIFT, and it can purchase nothing with its works, and tears, and duties; that all workings are excluded, and of no value in the justification of the soul." —Thomas Wilcox (1621-1687)

Quote of the Day

"Man lost himself at first by self-exaltation, and he must recover himself by self-denial." —Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

True Reality

"If you talk of reality, it is in the things of religion, if you talk of true nobility, it is to be the child of God. If you talk of true riches, they are those that we carry to our death bed, those that we carry to heaven; those that comfort the soul; those that enrich the soul with grace, and comfort, and peace; that is true riches. If you talk of true beauty, it is to have the image of God stamped upon our souls, to be like Christ, to be new creatures. If we talk of true strength, it is to stand against temptations, to be able to serve God, and to go through the world without polluting our souls, to bear crosses as we should — that is, the true reality." —Richard Sibbs (1573-1635)

Excerpt taken from the "The Works of the Reverend Richard Sibbs" Volume III, p421, 1809

Gifts Without Grace

"Spiritual gifts are for the confirmation of the gospel and the spiritual edification of the church. But gifts do not bring salvation and can be given to those who know nothing of grace in their hearts. So it is incumbent on all who have received spiritual gifts not to look to them as evidences of being truly regenerated, but to spiritual graces. Some have been deceived into thinking they have grace when they only have gifts. So the presence of spiritual gifts can mislead us into thinking that all is well when great apostasy is taking place.

Gifts, without grace, have no influence on the soul and they work only at special times and on special occasions. But grace affects the whole person at all times and in all duties. Grace works holy obedience in the soul. Gifts do not. Gifts are not, and can never be, the measure of our growth in grace..." —John Owen (1616-1683)

Quote taken from "Apostasy from the Gospel" by John Owen, The Banner of Truth Trust; 1992 p. 160

Deceitful Dreamers

I have made comments before related to the video below here and here, but I just wanted to let the words of Thomas Manton address these so called dreamers of God.


Jude 1:8 "In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings."

"Concerning these dreamers pollute, note that the erroneous thoughts of wicked people are but a dream. Wicked people are dreamers. First, they are dreamers in connection with their state and condition. Every worldly person is in a state of "deep sleep" (Isaiah 29:10). They snore on their bed of ease without any sense of their dangerous condition. They are like Jonah in the ship who slept while the storm raged. They sleep, but "their destruction has not been sleeping" (2 Peter 2:3). Second, they are dreamers in the sense that their vain thoughts are aptly compared with dreams. A dream gives a false delight and deceives with a vain hope.

Dreams tickle our fancy. They hug a cloud, as we say, and embrace the pleasures of the world in place of true riches. Worldly people run from pleasure to pleasure as if they are in some sweet dream. "Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it" (Psalm 39:6). They imagine that they are happy and are content with their condition.

Dreams deceive us by giving us false hopes. The prophet Isaiah compares the dream of the enemies of the church to a dream of a night vision. "Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attach her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—as when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion" (Isaiah 29:7-8). So it is with these dreamers—all their hopes are dashed in an instant. The foolish virgins slept (Matthew 25:1-13), and they dreamed that the door of grace would remain open to them, but they found it shut. Many flatter themselves with fair hopes until they awake in flames.

Take heed, then, of being deceived by your own dreams and the imagination of your own brain. There are no dreams as foolish as those we dream while we are awake, as Epiphanus says of the Gnostics. Waking dreams are most pernicious. There are two kinds of such dreams: firs5, dreams of opinion, which hug error instead of truth; and, second, dreams of hope, when we cherish presumption instead of faith.

Dreams of opinion. These are rife today. Idle and ungrounded notions, no matter how plausible they appear, are but the dreams of a misty, sleepy brain. To avoid these you must beware of a blind mind. People sleep in the dark, and in sleep fancy gets the better of reason. Study the Word, or else there will be no light in anything that is brought to you. Many people are perverted by mystical interpretations when people bring to the Word what is not really there.

Dreams of hope. People dream about external happiness in temporal enjoyments (Psalm 49:11; Luke 12:19; Revelation 18:9). Others dream about attaining an end without using the means. They live in sin and yet hope to die comfortably and at last go to heaven, as if it were an easy thing to leap from Delilah's lap to Abraham's side. If you do not want to dream like this, examine your heart. Examination is like rubbing your eyes after sleeping. People laugh at their dreams when they are awake. When we confess our sin, we are telling our dreams to wake up, and we come to ourselves." —Thomas Manton (1620 - 1677)

Quote of the Day

"Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine...lest you unsay with your lives what you say with your tongues, and be the greatest hinderers of the success of your own labors." —Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Quote of the Day

"You can never magnify Christ enough, and you can never abase yourself enough, and, Christ is most exalted when you are most abased... And if Christ is to be precious to you, you must be vile in your own sight." —Thomas Manton (1620 - 1677)

God's Electing Love

"God’s thus electing a certain definite number from among fallen men from all eternity, is a manifestation of his glory. It shows the glory of the divine sovereignty. God hereby declares himself the absolute disposer of the creature. He shows us how far his sovereignty and dominion extend, in eternally choosing some and passing by others, and leaving them to perish. God here appears in a majesty that is unparalleled. Those who can see no glory of dominion in this act, have not attained to right apprehensions of God, and never have been made sensible of his glorious greatness. And here is especially shown the glory of divine grace: in God’s having chosen his people to blessedness and glory long before they are born, in his choosing them out of the mass of mankind from whom they were not distinguished, and in his love to them being prior to all that they have or do, being uninfluenced by any excellency of theirs, by the light of any labors or endeavors of theirs, or any respect of theirs towards him.

The doctrine of election shows that if those who are converted have earnestly sought grace and holiness, and in that way have obtained it, their obtaining it is not owing to their endeavors, but that it was the grace and mercy of God that caused them earnestly to seek conversion, that they might obtain it. It shows also that faith itself is the gift of God, and that the saints persevering in a way of holiness unto glory, is also the fruit of electing love. Believers’ love to God is the fruit of God’s love to them, and the giving of Christ, the preaching of the gospel, and the appointing of ordinances, are all fruits of the grace of election. All the grace that is shown to any of mankind, either in this world, or in the world to come, is comprised in the electing love of God." —Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Quote of the Day

Dare ye then to confess our blessed Master before men, and to shine as lights in the world, amidst a crooked and perverse generation? Let us not be content with following him afar off; for then we shall, as Peter did, soon deny him; but let us be altogether Christians, and let our speech, and all our actions declare to the world whose disciples we are, and that we have indeed "determined not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." —George Whitefield (1714-1770)

The Best Jewel

"This being a grand article (Christ Deity) of our faith I shall amplify it. I know the Arians, Socinians, and Ebionites would rob Christ of the best jewel of his crown, his Godhead; but the Apostolic, Nicene, Athanasian creeds, affirm Christ's Deity. The Scripture is clear for it. He is called "the mighty God." "And in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead." He is of the same nature and essence with the Father. Is God the Father called Almighty? So is Christ. "The Almighty." Rev 1:8. Is God the Father the heart-searcher? So is Christ. "He knew their thoughts." John 2:25. Is God the Father omnipresent? So is Christ. "The Son of Man who is in heaven." John 3:13. Christ as God was then in heaven, when as man he was upon the earth.

Is Christ eternal? Christ is the everlasting Father, Isa 9:6, may be urged against the Cerinthian heretics, who denied the pre-existence of Christ's Godhead, and held that Christ had no being until he derived it from the Virgin Mary.

Does divine worship belong to the first person in the Trinity? So it does to Christ. John 5:23. "Let all the angels of God worship him." Heb 1:6. Is creation proper to the Deity? this is a flower of Christ's crown. "By him were all things created." Col 1:16. Is prayer proper to the Deity? this is given to Christ. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Is faith and trust peculiar to God the Father? this is given to Christ. "You believe in God, believe also in me." Christ must needs be God, not only that the divine nature might support the human from sinking under God's wrath—but also to give value and weight to his sufferings.

Christ being God, his death and passion are meritorious. Christ's blood is called sanguis Dei, the blood of God, in Acts 20:28, because the person who was offered in sacrifice was God as well as man. This is an invincible support to believers; it was God who was offended, and it was God who satisfied. Thus Christ's person is in two natures." —Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

Excerpt taken from the Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson

Living in Sin

"Living in any known sin is a great impediment to a heavenly life. If this be your situation, I dare say that heaven and your soul are strangers. These beams in your eye (Matthew 7:4) will not let you look to heaven. They will be a cloud between you and God. When you attempt to study eternity and gather refreshment from the life to come, your sin will look you in the face and say, "These things do not belong to you." How can you take comfort from heaven when you take so much pleasure in the lusts of the flesh? Every intentional sin will be to your happiness as water to the fire. It will quench your joy. It will disable you, so that you can no more ascend in divine meditation than a bird can fly with clipped wings. We surely need to pray daily, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matt. 6:13)." —Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Excerpt taken from The Saints' Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter

Quote of the Day

"If we are satisfied with vague ideas about Him (Christ) we shall find no transforming power communicated to us. But when we cling wholeheartedly to Him and our minds are filled with thoughts of Him and we constantly delight ourselves in Him, then spiritual power will flow from Him to purify our hearts, increase our holiness, strengthen our graces, and sometimes fill us 'with joy inexpressible and full of glory'." —John Owen (1616-1683)

Quote of the Day

"The first work necessary for true religion is to be convinced of our dreadful state without Christ." —John Owen (1616-1683)

Fides Radicata

Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

"What some say of rooted faith, fides radicata, that it continues, while weak faith may come to nothing, seems to be contradicted by this Scripture; for, as the strongest faith may be shaken, so the weakest, where truth is, is so far rooted that it will prevail. Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. Weakness, with acknowledgement of it, is the fittest seat and subject for God to perfect his strength in; for consciousness of our infirmities drives us out of ourselves to him in whom our strength lies.

From this it follows that weakness may be consistent with the assurance of salvation. The disciples, notwithstanding all their weaknesses, are bidden to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. Failings, with conflict, in sanctification should not weaken the peace of our justification and assurance of salvation. It matters not so much what ill is in us, as what good; not what corruptions, but how we regard them; not what our particular failings are so much as what the thread and tenor of our lives are, for Christ's dislike of that which is amiss in us turns not to the hatred of our persons but to the victorious subduing of all our infirmities." —Richard Sibbes (1577-1635)

Excertp taken from The Bruised Reed, The Banner of Truth Trust. First published 1630, revised edition 1998. p. 96

Mysterious and Glorious

I am reading The Glory of Christ by John Owen and I am finding it a wonderful study of the depths of Christ and His Glory. Here is what I read this morning in chapter six.

The glory of his obedience becomes more wonderful when we realize who he was who thus obeyed God. He was none other than the Son of God made man. He who was in heaven, above all, Lord of all, lived in the world, having no earthly glory or reputation, obliged to obey the whole law of God perfectly. He, to whom prayer was made, prayed himself night and day. He, whom all the angels of heaven and all creatures worshipped, fulfilled all the duties which the worship of God required. He who was Lord and master of the house became the lowliest servant in the house, performing all menial duties. He that made all men in whose hand they are all as clay is in the hand of the potter, observed among them the strictest rules of justice, in giving to everyone his due, and out of love giving good things to the undeserving. This is what makes the obedience of Christ so mysterious and glorious. —John Owen (1616-1683)

Quote taken from The Glory of Christ by John Owen, The Banner of Truth Trust; 1994 p. 54

Cheat Not The Gospel

"This is the misery of most Christians, that they mislay their justification. They lay it partly upon their faith, and partly upon their holiness. And this is the reason that, when a poor soul is tempted to some sin, he loseth his faith, his assurance, and his peace of conscience; because he grounds his saintship and justification upon his holiness. I am a just man only by the righteousness that is in Christ; the law is perfectly fulfilled for me by Jesus Christ, and not partly by Him and partly by me. Be not cheated of the Gospel; it is a precious pearl." —Walter Cradock (1600-1660)

Quote of the Day

"Neither the acts of love, or zeal, or repentance, or fear, or worship, or any other acts of obedience, are appointed as the means of our justification, because these actions carry in them an appearance of our doing something for God, our answering the demands of some law; and this would make our justification by a law of works: but faith is that act of soul whereby we renounce our own works as the ground of our acceptance; acknowledging our own unworthiness, and giving the entire honour to Divine grace. We are saved by grace, that God may have the glory of all." —Isaac Watts (1674-1746)

Quote of the Day

"The devil knoweth that he hath a foul cause to manage, and therefore will get the fairest hand he can to manage it, with the less suspicion. —John Flavel (1627-1691)