Grace Audio Treasures

"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears!" Zechariah 7:11Alas, men's ears are still stopped up! An old Puritan has mentioned seven kinds of what he calls "ear stoppers," which need to be taken out of the human ear. They are frequently blocked up by ignorance.They know not the importance and value of the truth, and therefore they refuse to give earnest heed to it. Judging the Gospel to be an idle tale, they go their ways to their farms and to their business. Some ears are stopped up by unbelief.They have heard the glad tidings of salvation, but they have not received it as an infallible revelation from God, a message backed by divine authority.Skepticism and philosophy, falsely so called, barricade the Eargate against the assaults of the Gospel, so that even the great battering-rams of the gospel prove powerless to force an entrance. "He could not do many mighty works, because of their unbelief!" Others ears are stopped up by impenitence.The hardness of the heart, causes a deadness of the ear! You may discharge the great cannons of the law in the ears of some men, but they will not stir. The thunders of God startle the wild beasts of the forest, but impenitence is not moved thereby. The gospel itself sounds upon such ears with no more effect than upon a marble statue. The groans of Calvary are nothing to them. Some ears are stopped by prejudice.They have made up their minds as to what the gospel ought to be, and they will not hear it as it is. They have set up for themselves a standard of what the truth should be, and that standard is a false one, for they have put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." Exodus 20:7How justly will God, the righteous Judge, repay the imprecations into the bosoms of these blasphemers! They sin in sport-but God hears in earnest, and will punish in zeal. They call on God profanely in their words; and God hears, and will answer them in wrath! They swear, and forget-but God has sworn that He will remember. That which they think adds vigor to their words-shall indeed add anguish to their grief, and fierceness to their torments! What shall the swearer say, when tossing on the fiery billows, shrieking under consummate despair! "O miserable state of intolerable torments, which I must endure! How shall I spend this eternity of pain! It was nothing to me in time to hear others curse and blaspheme-and to join in the infernal dialect myself! And now I am encircled with unceasing blasphemies, from all the legions of demons, from all the millions of miserable sinners, suffering under infinite vengeance! And I mingle in the uproar, and join in the terrible tumult against the throne of God, although dreadfully tortured in my rebellion. Then, curses accented every sentence; now, every sentence is one continued curse! I thought God was altogether such a one as myself-and that He would never remember my swearings, which I never minded; nor call me to account for committing what I made no account of. Damn me! damn me! was always on my tongue-and now I am damned forever! The oaths and curses which I sowed in time, have now sprung up into bitter bewailings, and eternal blasphemings! As I took pleasure in cursing, so it is come

The Soul MeltedJoseph SwainWhen on my Beloved I gaze,So dazzling His beauties appear,His charms so transcendently blaze,The sight is too melting to bear.When from my own vileness I turn,To Jesus exposed on the tree,With shame and with wonder I burn,To think what He suffered for me.My sins, how black they appear,When in that dear bosom they meet!My sins were the nails and the spearThat wounded His hands and His feet.Twas justice that wreathed for His head,The thorns that encircled it round;Your temples, Immanuel bled,That mine might with glory be crowned.The wonderful love of His heart,Where He has recorded my name,On earth can be known but in part;Heaven only can bear the full flame.In rivers of sorrow it flowed,And flowed in those rivers for me,My sins are all drowned in His blood;My soul is both happy and free!

Christian! When the Savior was bleeding and suffering on the sin-atoning cross--He specifically thought of you! He particularly bore the Father's wrath for your sins!As Jesus hung on the cross, suffering infinitely beyond what we can comprehend, He was dying for you. Every nail driven into His hands and feet, was for your redemption. Every drop of blood He shed, was to cleanse you from your sin. The eternal wrath that would have fallen upon you, was poured out on Jesus instead. Imagine standing at the foot of the cross, looking up at the suffering sin-atoning Savior, His blood pouring out, and His face twisted in agony. As the sky darkens and the ground trembles, someone asks, "Why would the Son of God endure such suffering?" The answer is both simple and profound: For you, Christian! Yes, as your sin-atoning Savior.While the Savior hung in agony upon the cursed tree, He knew each one of us intimately. He knew your every secret sin--of act, of word, and of thought. And yet, He chose to bear the full punishment for your sins. The Father's wrath, which was rightfully yours because of sin, fell upon Him instead! Jesus bore the eternal punishment that you deserved.Christian! In that moment of excruciating pain, Jesus was thinking of you! Your name was written on His heart, and for you He suffered and died. As Jesus cried out, "It is finished!" He declared that your sin-debt had been paid in full. The Father's righteous wrath was satisfied, and you were set free.Let that sink in. The King of Kings, the Creator of all things--thought of you individually. He did not endure the cross grudgingly, but out of an incomprehensible love for you.To see His hands faste

"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" Numbers 23:10John Trapp: Some faint desires, and short-winded wishes, may be sometimes found in carnal men--but the mischief is that they would break God's chain, and would sunder . . . holiness, from happiness; sanctification, from salvation and the means, from the end.They would dance with the devil all day--and then dine with Christ at night! They would live all their lives in Delilah's lap--and then go to Abraham's bosom when they die! ~ ~ ~ ~Matthew Henry: "There are many who desire to die the death of the righteous--but do not endeavor to live the life of the righteous. Gladly would they have their end like theirs--but not their way. They would be saints in Heaven--but not saints on earth. If you resolve to serve God--you must renounce all competitors with Him!" ~ ~ ~ ~Edward Taylor: "I hope none of you calculate on serving the devil all your lives--and cheating God with your dying breath. You can't cheat God by giving him the last snuff of an expiring candle!" (Edward Taylor) ~ ~ ~ ~Adam Clarke:"He who would die well, should live well; for a bad death must be the outcome of a bad life!" ~ ~ ~ ~Brownlow North: "A Christian is not afraid of death--but of sin! An unconverted man is not afraid of sin--but of death!""It is appointed unto men once to die--but after this the judgment!" Hebrews 9:2"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money!" Matthew 6:24

1 Co. 16:22, "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed!"If you do not love the Lord Jesus--then you are on the way to judgment, and then to eternal condemnation.If you do not love the Lord Jesus--then you are going as fast as time can carry you--away, away, away to the gloomy land where not a single ray of hope will ever pierce the midnight darkness. Away, away, away, to the place of eternal despair! If you do not love the Lord Jesus--then you are now in awful peril. You stand over the mouth of Hell upon a single plank, and that plank is rotten. You hang over the jaws of perdition by a slender thread, and the angel of justice is waiting to cut that thread in sunder! Oh, how dreadful to live and die in this cursed state! And then to wake up on the resurrection morning and see the King in His beauty on the throne, and to know that you are eternally cursed! You will cry to the rocks to hide you, and to the hills to cover you, for you are cursed! Then to be brought out before the great white throne resplendent in its holiness, and hear the fact announced so that all may know that you are eternally cursed! Ah, what will it be to see the bottomless pit open its mouth to devour you, and descending forever, to understand that you are not only cursed, but damned!"Then He will say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41Do I love You, O my Lord? Behold my heart, and see; And turn each cursed idol out, That dares to rival Thee. You know I love You, dearest Lord; But O, I long to soar, Far from the sphere of mortal joys, And learn to love You more!

Christ is Himself the vital thing Don FortnerChrist is Himself the vital thing.We must, we must have Him!My God, deny me anything,But give, oh give me Him!Christ in you, is what free grace brings,God's giving Gift of gifts!With Christ he gives us everything.With hope our souls He lifts.Christ in you, is the hope bestowed,The hope of glory, He.He paid all that to God I owed,And gives glory to me!

God Has Not PromisedAnnie Flint, 1919God has not promised, skies always blue;Flower-strewn pathways, all our lives through.God has not promised, sun without rain;Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.God has not promised, we shall not know,Toil and temptation, trouble and woe.He has not told us we shall not bear,Many a burden, many a care.God has not promised, smooth roads and wide,Swift, easy travel, needing no guide.Never a mountain, rocky and steep,Never a river, turbid and deep.But God has promised, strength for the day,Rest for the labor, light for the way.Grace for the trials, help from above,Unfailing kindness, undying love.

"All whom the Father gives Me will come to Me; and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out." John 6:37I believe the doctrine of election to be as certainly true as the doctrine of the existence of God. I am not about to attempt to clear up all of the endless philosophic difficulties which could be suggested by a subtle thinker. If I were to venture upon such a labor, I would only be like Sisyphus who rolled a large round rock uphill, which always rolled down again. The difficulties about the compatibility free agency and predestination have existed, do exist, and will exist to the world's end. To my mind both facts are certain--but where they meet, none knows but God Himself. Yet there is a practical, common sense way out of the difficulty. I do not know any better way of practically treating the matter, than of saying, "I will go to Jesus because He bids me, and because He has said, 'Whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out.' If I sincerely go to Him and He casts me out, then He has broken His promise; but He never can do that. So now I venture to trust in His sin-atoning death, and leave my soul's salvation in His hands." In all other matters you act so:When you are sick, you do not know whether you are ordained to get well, but you send for the doctor.You cannot tell whether you are predestined to be rich, but you endeavor to make money.You do not know whether God has decreed that will live through the day, but you work to provide food for yourself.Thus common sense cuts the knot which mere theory can never untie! Leave the philosophic arguments alone, and act as sensible men. Go to Jesus, and you will be saved!

And Did the Holy and the JustAnne Steele, 1859And did the Holy and the Just, The Sovereign of the skies,Stoop down to wretchedness and dust, That guilty worms might rise?Yes the Redeemer left His throne,His radiant throne on high,Surprising mercy! Love unknown!To suffer, bleed, and die!He took the dying traitor's place, And suffered in his stead; For man, O miracle of grace! For man, the Savior bled!Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell,In Your sin-atoning blood!By this are sinners snatched from Hell,And rebels brought to God! What glad return can I impart,For favors so divine? O take my all, this worthless heart,And make it wholly Thine!