HeadTheology

Ch. 15 - The Righteous And The Wicked Discerned
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“Christ said of his suffering on the cross, ‘It is finished’; but sinners shall never say of their sufferings in hell, they are finished.” -p.153

“Oh, that the eyes of sinners may be speedily opened, that they may in time see the difference of things, the beauty that is in holiness, and the astonishing madness that is sin.” -p.153

Ch. 16 - A Consolation In Affliction

“God’s people often fail to respond to his love; but though they deal badly with God, God deals well with them.” -p.155

“David does not say, ‘It is good for me that I have been in prosperity’, but ‘that I have been afflicted’.” -p.157

“When prosperity makes grace rust, God scours us with affliction.” -p.157

“Either he will make our yoke lighter, or our faith stronger.” -p.158

“Prosperity, like opium, is ready to make men fall asleep in sin.  God awakens them by the voice of the rod, and so prevents a spiritual lethargy.” -p.158

“The godly have Christ to pray for them, in their afflictions; but the impenitent when in torment, are shut out of Christ’s prayer, ‘I pray not for the world’ (John 17:9).” -p.162

“But this is our sin, we grieve more for one loss than we are for a hundred mercies.” -p.162

“God never promised us a charter of exemption from trouble, but he has promised to be with us in trouble.” -p.163

“When saints taste most of the wrath of men, they shall feel most of the love of God.” -p.164

“God will love forever, but not afflict forever; he will before long give his people a writ of ease.  A sinner’s best, and a saint’s worst, are but short.” -p.164

“Oh, let us take heed of having harsh thoughts of God.  The patient has no cause to think badly of the physician when he prescribes him a bitter potion, seeing it is in order to a cure.  God’s afflictive providences are the strokes of a father, not the wounds of an enemy.  Out of the bitterest drug God distills his glory, and our happiness.” -p.165

Some may think this is horrendous but I have taken the liberty to start to rewrite the Valley of Vision prayer which I read in the Community Group which I lead just to get rid of the ‘thees’ and ‘thou’ and make it a little more hearable and understandable. If you haven’t read of any of these prayers they are a treasure to read and be encouraged by. Check out the book here.

Crucifixion and Resurrection – p172

O, Lord

I marvel that you should become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried.

The grave calls my adoring wonder,

For it is empty and you are risen;

The four gospels attest it,

The living witnesses prove it,

My heart’s experience knows it.

Give me to die with you that I may rise to new life,

For I wish to be dead and buried to sin, to selfishness, to the world;

That I might not hear the voice of the charmer, and might be delivered from his lusts.

O Lord, there is much evil within me – crucify it,

Much flesh within me – mortify it.

Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approval,

The shame of being thought old-fashioned, the desire to be cultivated or modern.

Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion, and never feed it as a living thing

Grant me to stand with my dying Savior, to be content to be rejected,

to be willing to take up unpopular truths, and to hold fast despised teachings until death.

Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.

Never let me wander from the path of obedience to your will.

Strengthen me for the battles ahead.

Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.

Help me to be a holy, happy person,

Free from every wrong desire,

From everything contrary to your mind.

Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:

May it rule me,

May I walk in its power,

And be strengthened through its influence.

Ch. 13 - God Rewards His People By Honouring Them
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“A sinner is the most contemptible thing in nature; there is no worth in him while he lives and no loss of him when he dies.” -p.129

“The saints are precious, for they are God’s lesser heaven.” -p.130

“The wicked think the godly are not worthy to live in the world and God thinks the work is not worthy of them.” -p.132

“God’s people should be known by the sparkling of their graces.  Shall there be no difference on behaviour between the wicked and the godly, between a clod of earth and a diamond?” -p.133

“Discord among Christians brings a reproach upon religion, advances Satan’s kingdom, and hinders the growth of grace.” -p.136

“Sin so mixes with and dwells within a Christian that he cannot write a copy of holiness with blotting it.  Grace, though it abates, yet it does not abolish corruption.” -p.137

Ch. 13 - God Rewards His People By Sparing Them

“All God’s children resemble him, though some are more like him than others.” -p.141

“The compassions of a parent are steel and marble compared with God’s, ‘the tender mercy of our God’.” -p.142

“God’s eye upon the wicked is an eye of revenge, but his eye upon his children is an eye of benediction.” -p.144

“No prince goes so well guarded as God’s child, for he has a guard of angels about him.” -p.144

“Three things may cause boldness in prayer; the saints have a Father to pray to, the Spirit to help them to pray, and Jesus Christ as their Advocate to present their prayers.” -p.145

“a son cannot enjoy the inheritance till his father is dead; but every adopted child of God may at once enjoy both the inheritance and the father, because God is both father and inheritance.” -p.145

“The best obedience is what is voluntary, as that is the best honey which drops from the comb.  God sometimes accepts of willingness without the work, but never of the work without the willingness.” -p.147

“As the needle points the way that the magnet draws, so a gracious heart inclines to those things which the word suggests.” -p.147

“It is the note of a hypocrite to be discriminating in obedience; some sin he will indulge, some duty he will dispense with; his obedience is lame on one foot.” -p.147

“It is natural for children to imitate their parents; what the father does, the child is apt to learn the same.” -p.148

“He spares us, and shall not we be sparing to others.” -p.148

“I know not a greater rock of support for a fainting Christian than this; God will abate the severity of the law; though we come short in our duty, he will not fail of his mercy, but will spare us as a father spares his son.” -p.149

Ch. 10 - God Records The Piety Of His People
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“We may be losers for him, but we shall not be losers by him.”  -p.  106

“God will not upbraid his people with their former offenses.” -p. 107

“A mother may sooner be unnatural than God forgetful.” -p. 109

Ch. 11 - God Rewards The Piety Of His People

“It is better to lie prostrate at God’s feet, and to meet him with tears in our eyes rather than weapons in our hands.  We overcome God, not by resistance, but by repentance.” -p.116

Ch. 12 - God Rewards His People By Owning Them

“Many failings do not invalidate the covenant of grace.  I grant the least sin makes a trespass upon the covenant, but it does not cancel it.” -p. 119

“The Lord may give a man riches and not love him.” -p. 121

“We are not free from God’s anger as a Father. but as a Judge.” -p. 122

“Indeed if salvation has no better pillar to rest upon than man’s will (as the Arminians hold) no wonder if there is falling away; but a Christian’s stability in grace is built upon a surer basis, namely, God’s ‘everlasting (or inviolable) covenant.” -p. 123

“A star may sooner fall out of its place than a true believer be plucked away from God.” -p.123

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