Nick Roark's Blog, page 56
March 18, 2022
“A glorious endless state of happiness and holiness” by John Newton
“I often think of you, and I think of you as burdened, but I know there is a might arm near to support you, and to sanctify all your trials.
The Lord will do you good by them, both as a Christian, and as a minister. When the shepherd is much exercised it is usually well for the flock (2 Cor. 1:3-6).
And some of our afflictions perhaps befall us for the sake of our people, that we may be reminded and enabled to speak their feelings, by what we feel ourselves.
In this way the tongue of the learned is acquired and skill to speak a word in season to the weary (Isa. 50:4).
Settle it in your heart, my friend, that the Lord does all things well, all for the best.
Believe it now, and in due time you shall plainly see it, and praise Him equally for giving and taking away (Job 1:21).
Time is short and the nature of our employment while it lasts, is well suited to raise our thoughts above the little concerns of such a life as this, to fill us with great ideas, to inspire with great aims, to animate us with great prospects:
The love of Christ; the worth of souls, the honour of being instrumental in their recovery; a glorious endless state of happiness and holiness.
How light must our present sufferings appear, when weighed in the scales of the Sanctuary against these things.
‘Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.’ (Galatians 6:9)”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 192.
March 17, 2022
“He is indeed able to save to the uttermost” by John Newton
“Precious Bible, what a treasure!
Blessed be the Lord, I can see that my acceptance, and perseverance, do not depend upon my frames or feelings, but upon the power, compassion, care and faithfulness of Him, who in the midst of all the changes to which we are exposed in this wilderness state, is unchangeably the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
O what a horrid wretch was I when on board the Harwich, on the coast of Africa, and too long afterwards. Surely no one who did not finally perish was ever more apparently given up to a reprobate mind!
I am a singular and striking proof, that the atoning blood of Jesus can cleanse from the most enormous sins, that His grace can soften the hardest heart, subdue the most obstinate habits of evil, and that He is indeed able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25).
Lord I believe, O help me against my unbelief (Mark 9:24).
I have been, yea to this day, I am a chief sinner, and yet I am permitted to preach the truth I once laboured to destroy.”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 396-397.
March 16, 2022
“The Lamb upon the throne” by John Newton
“The Lord reigns; our Lord who so loved us, as to wash us from our sins in His own blood. (Revelation 1:5)
The Lamb once upon the cross is now the Lamb upon the throne. (Revelation 5:6, 13)
With infinite wisdom, love, and power on our side we may rejoice. The sea is rough and stormy, but the pilot is infallible.
See Psalm 46, 76, and 93.”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 386.
March 15, 2022
“Grace has long and strong arms” by John Newton
“Grace has long and strong arms.”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 364.
March 14, 2022
“We must be content to do what we can” by John Newton
“When it is impracticable to do all that we wish, we must be content to do what we can (Mark 14:8), and wait till the Lord by His providence clears the way for doing more.”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 328.
March 12, 2022
“Lord God of ineffable goodness” by John Chrysostom
“Lord God,
of might inconceivable,
of glory incomprehensible,
of mercy immeasurable,
of goodness ineffable;
O Master, look down upon us
in Your tender love,
and show forth towards us
Your rich mercies and compassions.
In Christ’s name, Amen.”
—John Chrysostom, as quoted in Jonathan Gibson, Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 112.
March 11, 2022
“Salvation flows from its deep source in the triune God” by Fred Sanders
“Salvation flows from its deep source in the triune God, who is the fountain of salvation.
This phrase, fountain of salvation, goes back at least to a Latin hymn from the sixth century that praises God as fons salutis Trinitas. As one English translation renders the lines, ‘Blest Trinity, salvation’s spring, may every soul Thy praises sing.’
The sense that the nature of salvation is only understood properly when it is traced back into its principle in the depth of God’s being is evoked by Scripture’s own way of speaking.
The Old Testament bears witness to it in an intensely personal idiom, as for instance in Isaiah 12:2’s confident boast, ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.’
The connection here between God and salvation is direct: He is it.
When Isaiah goes on to spell out an implication of salvation being in God, that is, that there is exuberant resourcefulness to be drawn from, then he uses our fontal image: ‘With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.’ (Isaiah 12:3)
According to Christian teaching, salvation’s source is God, and the manifestation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the gospel is what opens up that fountain in its fullness and depth.”
–Fred Sanders, Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2021), 14-15, 17.
March 10, 2022
“Wonderful sweetness of pity and love” by Richard Sibbes
“God hath laid up all grace and comfort in Christ for us, and planted a wonderful sweetness of pity and love in His heart towards us.
As God His Father hath fitted Him with a body, (Heb. 10:5), so He hath fitted Him with a heart to be a merciful Redeemer.”
–Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 38.
March 9, 2022
“The infinite goodness of God” by Richard Sibbes
“In all storms there is sea room enough in the infinite goodness of God for faith to be carried with full sail.”
–Richard Sibbes, “The Soul’s Conflict,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 126.
March 8, 2022
“Exceedingly great and precious promises” by John Bunyan
“O how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul! O how much virtue dost thou see in such a promise, in such an invitation!
They are so large as to say, Christ will in no wise cast me out! (John 6:37) My crimson sins shall be white as snow!
I tell thee, friend, there are some promises that the Lord hath helped me to lay hold of Jesus Christ through and by, that I would not have out of the Bible for as much gold and silver as can lie between York and London piled up to the stars; because through them Christ is pleased by his Spirit to convey comfort to my soul.
I say, when the law curses, when the devil tempts, when hell-fire flames in my conscience, my sins with the guilt of them tearing of me, then is Christ revealed so sweetly to my poor soul through the promises that all is forced to fly and leave off to accuse my soul.
So also, when the world frowns, when the enemies rage and threaten to kill me, then also the precious, the exceeding great and precious promises do weigh down all, and comfort the soul against all.
This is the effect of believing the Scriptures savingly; for they that do so have by and through the Scriptures good comfort, and also ground of hope, believing those things to be its own which the Scriptures hold forth (Rom 15:4).”
–John Bunyan, Some Sighs from Hell, The Works of John Bunyan, Volume 3 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1991), 3: 721-722.
