Grace Audio Treasures

A great hospitalJ.C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Mark" 1857Mark 14:27, "All of you will desert Me!" Jesus told them. We see in this verse, how well our Lord knew the weakness and infirmities of His disciples. He tells them plainly what they were going to do, "All of you will desert Me!" Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections. He knows exactly what they are. He takes them, as the husband takes the wife, with all their blemishes and defects; and once joined to Him by faith, He will never leave them. He is a merciful and compassionate Savior. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins. He knew what they were before conversion:   wicked, guilty, and defiled--yet He loved them. He knows what they will be after conversion:  weak, erring, and frail--yet He loves them. He has undertaken to save them, notwithstanding all their deficiencies and failings. And what He has undertaken, He will perform.Let us learn to pass a charitable judgment on the conduct of professing believers. Let us not set them down in a low place, and say they have no grace--because we see much weakness and sin in them. Let us remember that our Master in Heaven bears with their infirmities, and let us try to bear with them too. The Church of Christ is little better than a great hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak. We all daily need the skillful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no 'complete cures' until the resurrection day. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but s

Alas! I slander the beasts when I compare them to such men! Charles Spurgeon (You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)Romans 6:16, "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?"There are many whose great object in life is to get money. But is not the greed for wealth one of the most detestable passions that can possess a human bosom? The ant, which labors for its companions, is to my mind up among the angels--when compared with a man who sweats and toils merely for the sake of heaping up for himself a mass of yellow metal! Can I more highly condemn the lover of pleasure? What is pleasure? It is a hollow sham, a thin veneer of mirth which only covers deep dissatisfaction. I often think when I hear worldlings laughing at their nonsensical amusements, that they pull each other's sleeves and say, "Laugh--you ought to laugh!" I cannot see the gratification which their amusements seem to bring to them. They struggle to appear happy, and what emptiness it is to have lived to be amused? To have spent all one's time in killing time--is anything more contemptible?How horrible it is when man lives for lust, and puts forth all his strength to indulge his sinful passions! They live like brutes and beasts! Alas! I slander the beasts when I compare them to such despicable men! "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."Romans 6:17-18

The GospelOctavius WinslowThe gospel is the 'master work' of Jehovah, presenting the greatest display of His manifold wisdom, and the most costly exhibition of the riches of His grace. In constructing it He would seem to have summoned to His aid all the resources of His own infinity . . . His fathomless wisdom, His boundless love, His illimitable grace, His infinite power, His spotless holiness, all contributed their glory, and conspired to present it to the universe as the most consummate piece of Divine workmanship! The revelations it makes, the facts it records, the doctrines it propounds, the effects it produces, proclaim it to be the "glorious gospel of the blessed God." We live encircled by SHADOWS . . . our friends are shadows, our comforts are shadows, our supports are shadows, our pursuits are shadows, and we ourselves are shadows passing away. But in the precious gospel we have SUBSTANCE, we have reality, we have that which remains with us when all other things disappear, leaving the soul desolate, the heart bleeding, and the spirit bowed in sorrow to the dust. But the gospel . . . guides our perplexities, mitigates our griefs, sanctifies our sorrows, heals our wounds, dries our tears, because it leads us to . . . the love, the tenderness, the sympathy, the grace of JESUS. The gospel . . . reveals Jesus, speaks mainly of Jesus, leads simply to Jesus, and this makes it "glad tidings of great joy," to a poor, lost, ruined, tried, and tempted sinner!

That dagger which stabbed the Savior's heart to death!Charles SpurgeonWe never know the full evil of our iniquities--until we see what it cost our precious Redeemer to put them away.The true Christian looks upon sin, as we would regard a knife rusted with gore, with which some villain had killed our mother, our wife, or our child. Could we play with it? Could we wear it as a jewel hung around our necks?Could we even endure it in our sight?No! Accursed thing, stained with the heart's blood of my beloved--I would gladly fling you into the bottomless abyss! Sin is that dagger which stabbed the Savior's heart to death! Henceforth it must be the abomination of every man who has been redeemed by the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus."A bleeding Savior I have viewed, And now I hate my sin!"

"Hold me up--and I will be safe!" Psalm 119:117Every true believer knows the danger of . . . their own deceitful heart, their tendency to wander, the pull of the flesh, and the constant assaults of the world. Were it not for God's restraining grace, we would surely fall into flagrant sin. That is why the psalmist pleads, "Hold me up--and I will be safe!"It is one thing to be saved by grace, but another to be kept by grace. Just as a child walking along a dangerous path needs the firm grip of his father's hand, so too do we need the steadying grasp of God's upholding grace to keep us from stumbling. We are prone to pride, self-reliance, and every other sin--but God, in His mercy, restrains us from going where our sinful nature would lead.Consider Peter--how easily he fell when he boasted, "Even if everyone falls away, I will not!" (Mark 14:29). And left to himself, he denied his Savior three times. But when Jesus prayed for him (Luke 22:32), his faith did not ultimately fail. This is God's gracious, omnipotent, upholding hand--preventing His redeemed people from utterly falling away.How often have we been spared from sin, not because of our own wisdom and strength, but because the Lord upheld us? Perhaps we were tempted by a sin that would have ruined us, but were providentially hindered by God's restraining grace. Christian! We continually need God's upholding grace, as we have a heart that is able to commit every sin that was ever committed in Heaven, Earth or Hell! (Jeremiah 17:9)Paul reminds us, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" (1 Corinthians 10:12). True safety lies not in our resolve, but in God's upholding po

O Thou Afflicted James Grant, 1784O Zion, afflicted with wave upon wave,Whom no man can comfort, whom no man can save;With darkness surrounded, by terrors dismayed,In toiling and rowing thy strength is decayed.Loud roaring, the billows now nigh overwhelm;But skilful's the Pilot who sits at the helm;His wisdom conducts thee, his power thee defends,In safety and quiet thy warfare he ends."O fearful, O faithless!" in mercy he cries;"My promise, my truth, are they light in thy eyes?Still, still I am with thee; my promise shall stand;Through tempest and tossing, I'll bring thee to land."Forget thee I will not, I cannot; thy nameEngraved on my heart does for ever remain;The palms of my hands while I look on I seeThe wounds I received when suffering for thee."I feel at my heart all thy sighs and thy groans,For thou art most near me, my flesh and my bones;In all thy distresses thy Head feels the pain;Yet all are most needful; not one is in vain."Then trust me, and fear not; thy life is secure;My wisdom is perfect, supreme is my power;In love I correct thee, thy soul to refine,To make thee at length in my likeness to shine."

You sell them to be slaves of Satan! Charles Spurgeon: Parents! Your children need to be saved! Their salvation should be a subject of your incessant prayer. You must make earnest endeavors that your children would be converted to God. There must be pleading with, and praying for, the conversion of your children unto the Lord Jesus Christ.Parents! What have you done for the conversion of your children? Father, do you ever put your arms around your boy's neck and pray for him, and with him? Mother, do you ever talk to your little children about Christ and Him crucified? Under God's blessing, you may be a spiritual as well as a natural mother to that beloved child of yours! Richard Baxter:Parents! Your children have an everlasting inheritance of happiness to attain--and it is that which you must bring them up for. They have an endless misery to escape--and it is that which you must diligently teach them. If you don't teach them to know God, and how to serve Him, and be saved, and to escape the flames of Hell--you teach them nothing, or worse than nothing.Parents! It is in your hands to do your children the greatest kindness--or cruelty, in all the world! Help them to know God and to be saved--and you do more for them than if you helped them to be kings or princes. If you neglect their souls, and breed them in ignorance, worldliness, ungodliness, and sin--then you betray them to the devil, the enemy of souls, even as truly as if you sold them to him. You sell them to be slaves of Satan! You betray them to him who will deceive them and abuse them in this life, and torment them in eternity!

"Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you." 2 Corinthians 6:17As a Christian, I am to be separated from the sinful world around me. Separated in actual character and conduct, by the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and life. I have come out from them, for my lot is no longer with them. I cannot walk in their paths. I cannot pursue their objects. I cannot partake of their pleasures. While they reject the gospel, my heart thankfully embraces it. While they live without Christ, it is my desire and delight to live for Him and with Him. While they are earthly in all their plans and objects, I am to seek the things which are above. There is my treasure, and there my heart must be also. Their opinions, and maxims, and plans are of no consequence to me. I cannot yield . . . to their judgments, nor to their examples, nor to their authority. I cannot find my pleasures in this wilderness world!I must not run out for the trifling vanities of the world around me.I must not form a part of its foolish passing pageant."Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, 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"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." James 4:4"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If

When grace subdues the heart, a wondrous change ensues! Earth knows no greater change--but words are too weak to picture it. Here is a feeble outline of the new creation: Light shines, where once night brooded. Satan's chains no more enslave. The prison bars are broken. Holy principles direct. Holy ends are sought. Holy means are used. Life is now life indeed, for the man lives for God. But is SIN therefore dead? Indeed it is wounded, but it retains power to sting. Sometimes it revives in fearful strength. Though crippled, it strives to conquer. It may seem for a season to regain its hold, and win brief victory. It may roll the new man in the mire. But it cannot keep him down. Sin's real dominion is gone. Its existence only lingers, until full escape from this world delivers wholly from its touch.Where is the saint who is not conscious that the foe still lives? Witness the secret prayers of the man of God: What bitter humblings! What smitings of the bosom! What sensitive laments! What writhing under the motions of corruption's filth! Tears, sobs, and cries are frequent. "When I would do good, evil is present with me." "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Faithful Scripture warns of this constant conflict. It tells that the heavenward march is over treacherous roads, where many pilgrims slip and stumble!"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." Galatians 5

One incessant fight!Henry Law The life of faith is one incessant fight. Beneath the cross a sword is drawn, of which the scabbard is cast far away. Until the victor's crown is won, unflinching combat must go on. Our foes are . . . many, mighty, wily, restless, malicious, diabolic. They meet us at each step. They lurk in every corner. They infest our public life. They enter our closed doors. They are outside us--around us--within us! Count, if you can, the hateful legions who compose Hell's hosts. They all rush at the soul. Survey the WORLD . . . its snares, its foul seductions, its enticing arts, its siren calls, its deceitful smiles, its envenomed sneers, its terrifying threats. Each in its turn assails us. And each, when foiled, renews the assault. Behold the HEART, and all its brood of lusts and raging passions. How often it betrays us! Yes, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked!Believer go forth in faith and hope! You have a Captain, by whose side no battle can be lost; beneath whose banner, no warrior was ever slain.Face all your foes. Grasp manfully your sword. Use skillfully your shield. Lift up your head, safe in salvation's helmet. The fight will soon be over. The victor's song will soon be on your lips!"To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." Jude 24-25