Grace Audio Treasures

All saints, give honor to the Lord, For all He is and does. Praise Him in times of blessedness, And in your earthly woes. Your Father is too wise to err; He's too good to do wrong. His omnipotence is strong to save; So lift to Him your song. Are you downcast? Then lift your eyes, To God upon His throne. He will sufficient grace supply, To every needy one. If by His grace you have been raised, From death to life in Christ, Then set your love on things above, And find your joy in Christ.

Lured and dazzled, the worldling pursues the phantom! by John MacDuff Psalm 16:11, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Fullness of joy! Can that be said of anything on this side of Heaven? There is a restless craving in the human bosom for something better than this poor world can give. There are aching voids--deep, yawning chasms in the soul of man, which the world and all its tinsel pleasures can never fill. The worldling will cleave to worldly vanities as the apex of its pursuits. He imagines that happiness consists in gathering up earthly trifles. Lured and dazzled, the worldling pursues the phantom! But each successive failure more painfully convinces him that all worldly joy is a vain delusion. Happiness, the object of his life search, is as far from him as ever! Only in Heaven will the soul have, in the enjoyment of God, the perfection of bliss. All earthly happiness has its bounds and limits. It is only in Heaven and in God's presence, that bliss will be unbounded and eternal! "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11

O wondrous Man! Various authors Isaiah 32:2 "A MAN will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." This glorious verse speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ--the Man of sorrows, yet the mighty Savior--who alone is the refuge and refreshment of His redeemed people. The Spirit here foretells a time when, amid judgment and desolation, a Man will arise as unspeakable consolation for His redeemed people. Jesus is not only God manifest in the flesh, but He is also that chosen Man, raised up by the Father to be all that His people need in time and eternity. 1. Jesus is "A hiding place from the wind." Jesus is a shelter from the chilling winds of temptation, affliction, and satanic assault. The believer is often battered by the sharp winds of this wicked world. But Christ is a hiding place. He stood exposed to the full fury of God's wrath in our stead, so that we might hide ourselves in Him. When we flee to Jesus, we are safe beneath the cover of His righteousness and love, shielded from the condemning power of sin, and the storms of conscience. "You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance!" (Psalm 32:7). 2. Jesus is "A cover from the tempest." This speaks of the violent storm--the tempest of divine wrath and judgment. At Calvary, Jesus stood as our Cover from the fiercest tempest ever unleashed--the holy vengeance of God upon sinners. He bore the storm in His own body, so that not a drop would fall upon His people. In Him, we are covered from the eternal wrath due to us. What peace to know that "there is now no conde

The blessedness of contemplating Jesus Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!" There is no sweeter occupation for the soul than to set its gaze steadily upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He who was once despised and rejected by men, is now exalted in the heavens. The heart that contemplates His beauty, drinks deeply of Heaven's own joy. The world seeks gratification in a thousand fleeting things, but the believer finds his satisfaction in contemplating Jesus. This contemplation is not mere wandering thoughts--it is a sanctifying gaze that changes the heart. "I meditate on You through the watches of the night." (Psalm 63:6). In the silence of the night, when all earthly distractions fade, the soul communes with its Savior--and finds in Him a peace which surpasses all understanding. The Scriptures declare that the man is blessed whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night!" (Psalm 1:2) Even more so, what joy is found when the soul meditates upon the living Word Himself, Jesus Christ! To fix our eyes upon Him, is to behold the fountain of mercy, and the King of glory. This world with all its vanities beckons us to fix our minds below. But the Spirit calls us higher: "Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!" (Colossians 3:1-2) True blessedness is not found by looking within or around--but by looking upward to the Savior who reigns. To meditate upon Jesus, is to be transformed into His likeness! (2 Corinthians 3:18) As we contemplate His lov

James 4:14, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes!" Time is but the narrow porch to eternity. Life is a candle soon extinguished, a flower soon withered, a dream soon ended. The Lord calls us not to presume on tomorrow, but to live this fleeting day in the fear of God, and in preparation for the eternal world to come. Man is born to die. His cradle rocks upon the brink of the grave. His pulse beats a funeral march to the tomb. "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble!" Job 14:1. He comes up like the grass in the morning, but before the evening he is cut down and withers. The world lives in a delusion. They build Babels of ambition, dig cisterns that hold no water, and heap up treasures for time--though eternity hastens toward them like a rushing flood. "This world in its present form is passing away!" 1 Corinthians 7:31. Yet who lays it to heart? David prayed, "Show me, O Lord, my life's end, and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is!" Psalm 39:4. The godly wisely weigh time in the scales of eternity, and number their days as steps toward the day of judgment. Oh, how uncertain is our last hour on earth! Youth is no shield against God's summons to death. Strength cannot barter with the grave. Riches are no ransom. A thousand may fall at your side in a moment. You do not know what a day may bring forth. Lost sinner, what will you do when your hour comes? The clock of mercy now ticks--soon it will cease. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!" 2 Corinthians 6:2. Tomorrow is the devil's day--today is God's day. Thanks be to God, there is One who co

When the offspring is so hideous and so dreadful! John Angell James, "Sorrow for the Death of Friends" How dreadful is the nature of sin! Sin is the parent of death. Death is the first-born of sin. What must be the parent--when the offspring is so hideous and so dreadful! Who can have watched the harbingers of death--the groans, the pains, the dying strife--without being struck with the fearful nature of man's revolt from God? Death in itself, and by itself--is horrid and revolting! To see all this inflicted upon a Christian, a child of God, an heir of glory; to see no way even to the kingdom of God, to the realms of immortality, but this dark valley of corruption, earth, and worms--this gives us a most impressive idea of the dreadful nature of sin! How such scenes should enlarge our views of the malignity of sin, and embitter our hearts against it! O sin--sin! What have you done!

PLEASURE, shaking her delights in her hands, cries, "Come over with me!" MAMMON, clinking his bags of gold, cries, "Come over with me!" AMBITION, pointing to the hazy mountaintop, and her coveted palace gleaming in the sun, cries, "Come over with me!" The day will come when these things will yield no pleasure; when they shall be seen in their true light, as the empty baubles of an hour! Oh, what though you may have all that now caters to the pride of life . . .   affluence,   prosperity,   success in business, gaining the whole world? Are you imperiling, or impoverishing, your immortal soul? But Barzillai answered the king: "How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?" 2 Samuel 19:34 What a solemn question for us all, amid the daily occurring proofs of our frailty and mortality. Oh, what a motto to continually consider, amid the wear and tear of life! Young man, with the flash of young hope in your eye; life extending in an interminable vista before you--ever pause on the enchanted highway, and put the solemn question to yourself: "How many more years will I live?" Man of business, in availing yourself of new openings in trade, accepting new responsibilities and concerns, involving yourself in new entanglements--have you stopped and probed yourself with the question: "How many more years will I live?" Lover of pleasure, plunging into the midst of foolish excitement; the whirl of intoxicating gaiety--have you ever, in returning, jaded, and weary, and worn from the heated ballroom--flung yourself on your pillow, and sunk into a feverish dream, with the question haunting you: "How many more years will I live?" Fruitless

Jeremiah 12:9, "Has not My inheritance become to Me like a speckled bird of prey, that other birds of prey surround and attack?" The imagery used in this verse is striking. A "speckled bird"--conspicuous, isolated, and targeted. This is how God described His people in the days of Jeremiah, and it remains a fitting picture of the true Christian in this Christ-rejecting world. Spurgeon, with his usual spiritual insight, applies this to the believer who has been redeemed by sovereign grace: He will soon become a speckled bird in the midst of this wicked world! Why is this so? Because the believer is no longer of the world. Though still in it, he is transformed by sovereign grace. The Holy Spirit has renewed his mind, opened his understanding, and given him a new heart with new desires. The result is inevitable: the Christian will think differently, live differently, and aspire after different things. The world will not understand him--nor will it welcome him. The Apostle Paul declared, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2. This is not a mild suggestion, but a divine command. The world marches to the rhythm of pride, lust, greed, and self-glory. The believer walks to the beat of a very different drum--Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ exalted. The child of God does not conform to the world in its pleasures, pursuits, or values. Certain things that are perfectly acceptable--even celebrated by society--the Christian must abhor. Why? Because he is governed by a higher standard: the Word of God. He is not concerned with appearing "normal" to the crowd, but with being pleasing to his Savior.

Matthew 23:28, "... on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness!" "... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God: having a form of godliness but denying its power." 2 Timothy 3:4 There is a solemn and searching truth that must be proclaimed with boldness and trembling: External religiousness, unattended by heart piety, has filled Hell with inhabitants! Multitudes have gone to the grave cloaked in the garments of religion, yet are now perishing in eternal fire—because their religion was but a form, void of the power of godliness. They claimed to know God, but in works they denied Him (Titus 1:16). Their profession was showy, but their hearts were dead. The danger is not with open atheism, but with a dead orthodoxy that lacks inward piety. Reader beware! Hell is filled with religious people. The Spirit of God declares that the one who says, "I know God!" but does not do what He commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:4). Such people may have been baptized, and admired by men—yet they were never regenerated by the Spirit, and hence they never submitted to the Lordship of Christ. They . . . never came as helpless beggars to the cross, never mourned over their sin, never rejoiced in Christ alone as their righteousness. They knew about God, but they did not know Him. Their empty religion was the cause of their damnation. Hell will be filled with religionists who tithed, and fasted, and attended church--but whose hearts loved sin. True piety begins in the heart. It is wrought by the Holy Spirit, rooted in saving union with Christ, and evidenced by obedience. It is humble, broke

So deplorable a state! Charles Spurgeon 1 Corinthians 2:1, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God." Many pastors have grown 'professional' in their service, and preach like automatons, wound up for a sermon, to run down when the discourse is over. They have little more care for the souls of men, than if they were so much dirt! Too many pastors are fascinated with . . . technical trifles about words, fancies of speculation, or fopperies of oratory. God forgive us if we have fallen into so deplorable a state! "For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people." Romans 16:18