"...Christ meets the Pharisee, and pays no honour to his phylactery; He confronts the Sadducee, and yields not to his cold philosophy, neither does He conceal the difficulties of the faith to escape his sneer; and He braves also the Herodian, who is the worldly politician, and He gives him an unanswerable reply.He is the same before them all, master in all postions, overcoming the world's wisdom and supposed intelligence by His own simple testimony to the truth.
And He overcame the world in His life best of all by the constancy of His love. He loved the most unlovely men, He loved those who hated Him, He loved those who despised Him. You and I are readily turned aside from loving when we receive ungrateful treatment, and thus we are conquered by the world; but He kept to His great object--'He saved others, Himself He could not Save;' and He died with this prayer on His lips, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Not soured in the least, thou blessed Saviour, thou art at the last just as tender as at the first. We have seen fine spirits, full of generosity, who have had to deal with a crooked and perverse generation, until they have at last grown hard and cold. Nero, who weeps when he signs the first death warrent of a criminal, at last comes to gloat in the blood of his subjects. Thus do sweet flowers wither into noxious corruption. As for Thee, precious Saviour, Thou art ever fragrant with love. No spot comes upon Thy lovely character, though Thou dost traverse a miry road. Thou art as kind to men at Thy departure as Thou wast at Thy coming, for Thou hast overcomw the world." -CH Spurgeon
Love surely is the greatest of all these. But this love must not be a humanistic love, but a divine love; the fruit bore only through the Spirit of love, the Spirit of Christ Himself.
For one can give all his goods to the poor, and do tremendous things in this world, but without the love of Christ as the motive, it is in vain, and without reward. Truth and love must be mingled, and become a mixture within the heart, as if one substance has formed from truth and love.
The heart cannot produce love without truth, nor speak true truth without love. And only the Sprirt of Christ, by His gracious grace can accomplish the bearing of this fruit in a believers life. May the Lord grant us much fruit in our lives. For His glory. Amen.
4 comments:
"As for Thee, precious Saviour, Thou art ever fragrant with love. No spot comes upon Thy lovely character, though Thou dost traverse a miry road. Thou art as kind to men at Thy departure as Thou wast at Thy coming, for Thou hast overcome the world."
Spurgeon was undoubtedly the most gifted poet of all the great preachers through the ages. You have a gift for finding those gems, brother! Keep 'em coming, again and again. I love the way such words exalt Christ.
Me too Greg.
Brother, Patti and I just prayed for you, Lisa and the fam to have a wonderful, wonderful, and peaceful time in Christ.
Awesome quote! And good thoughts, too on truth and love, Don. And I believe it is quite applicable to the church in its search for both unity and purity.
The purity of the church is its degree of freedom from wrong doctrine and conduct, and its degree of conformity to God’s revealed will. The unity of the church is its degree of freedom from divisions among true Christians. Our goal should always be increased purity; the balance is the need for unity\love for fellow Christians.
Amen Triston.
"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Eph. 4:3
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