Bible Study Man's religion & God's religion

[JM]

from the works of J. C. Philpot

"That no flesh should glory in His presence."
1 Corinthians 1:29

Man's religion is to build up the creature.
God's religion is to throw the creature down in
the dust of self-abasement, and to glorify Christ.

What a mystery are you!

"So I find this law at workâ€â€When I want to do
good, evil is right there with me." Rom. 7:21

Are you not often a mystery to yourself?

Warm one momentâ€â€cold the next!

Abasing yourself one hourâ€â€
exalting yourself the following!

Loving the world, full of it, steeped up to
your head in it todayâ€â€crying, groaning, and
sighing for a sweet manifestation of the love
of God tomorrow!

Brought down to nothingness, covered with
shame and confusion, on your knees before
you leave your roomâ€â€filled with pride and self
importance before you have got down stairs!

Despising the world, and willing to give it all
up for one taste of the love of Jesus when in
solitudeâ€â€trying to grasp it with both hands
when in business!

What a mystery are you!

Touched by loveâ€â€and stung with hatred!

Possessing a little wisdomâ€â€and a great deal of folly!

Earthly mindedâ€â€and yet having the affections in heaven!

Pressing forwardâ€â€and lagging behind!

Full of slothâ€â€and yet taking the kingdom with violence!

And thus the Spirit, by a process which we may feel
but cannot adequately describeâ€â€leads us into the
mystery of the two natures perpetually struggling
and striving against each other in the same bosom.
So that one man cannot more differ from another,
than the same man differs from himself.

But the mystery of the kingdom of heaven is thisâ€â€
that our carnal mind undergoes no alteration, but
maintains a perpetual war with grace. And thus,
the deeper we sink in self abasement under a
sense of our vileness, the higher we rise in a
knowledge of Christ, and the blacker we are in
our own viewâ€â€the more lovely does Jesus appear.




What stupid blockheads!

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
Matthew 15:16

What lessons we need day by day to teach
us anything aright, and how it is for the most
part, "line upon line, line upon lineâ€â€here a
little, and there a little." O . . .
what slow learners!
what dull, forgetful scholars!
what ignoramuses!
what stupid blockheads!
what stubborn pupils!

Surely no scholar at a school, old or young,
could learn so little of natural things as we seem

to have learned of spiritual things after . . .
so many years instruction,
so many chapters read,
so many sermons heard, so many prayers put up,
so much talking about religion.

How small, how weak is the amount of
growthâ€â€compared with all we have read
and heard and talked about!

But it is a mercy that the Lord ses whom
He will saveâ€â€and that we are saved by free
graceâ€â€and free grace alone!

 

[stranger]

Man's religion - lifetime doctrinal pardon & God's relig

from the works of J. C. Philpot

refer to entire passage above , , ,

Hi JM,

I offer another testimony alongside Philpot's. That I know you are Calvinist and I selected 'Wesley' is a secondary issue to me - both are mere men and I trust that you will see them as such.

Charles Wesley wrote:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night,
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

The testimony of Philpot is very much like that of Wesley 'fast bound in sin and nature's night' and living in chains in a dungeon. I would even say that both are 'Christian' and experiencing what can be called the 'vicious circle or cycle'.

As we read on something happened to Wesley (don't fall into the Armenian / reformed debates over this one JM - too much is at stake) - I think it is safe to say he met the Living God and glory filled his soul - and there and then the old man was put to death (put off) and the new man in Christ arose (put on).

The dead bones in the graves of many a Christian are rattling today in the face of such testimony - and this is the heart of the Gospel appropriated in four simple verses in Romans 6:1-4. Either the old man is put to death or he continues to mock God (and us) in full knowledge and consent that he is not only alive and well - but untouchable and has been given a lifetime 'doctrinal pardon'. This is so devastating that the warning 'game over' should flash in our stricken consciences. We did not so learn Christ.

Call the following the heart of the gospel appropriated and ask yourself the question in reference to Romans 6:1-4:

Can the old man survive crucifixion?

blessings: stranger

 

[JM]

I've read John Wesley's works and sang many of Charles Wesley's songs. Both were men of God.

~JM~

 

[Bick]

Man's religion and God's religion

I wonder if Philpot or Charles Wesley ever experienced 'the peace of God which passes all undrstanding'.
I know Paul wrote 'For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do,' but I think it was like a flashback before he was converted.
Read in Philippians how he encourages them: "Being confidant of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" Phil. 1:6. Look how many times Paul uses 'Joy' or 'Rejoice' in this epistle.
We are certainly encouraged to "put off" the old humanity, and "put on" Christ, as you pointed out, Stranger.

Bick

 

[JM]

If you were to continue to read J. C. Philpot you would probably find the answer.

~JM~