Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

Yes, you are unworthy!

by

I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

—Luke 7:7

You are much more sinful than you think you are, much more unworthy than you know yourself to be. Instead of attempting a soothing of your dark thoughts, I pray you believe that yours is a hopeless case apart from Christ. This disease is not skin deep. It lies in the source and fountain of your life and poisons your heart. The flames of hell must wrap themselves about you certainly unless Christ interposes to save you. You have not nor will you ever have merit of any sort. And more, you have no power to escape from your lost condition unaided by the Savior’s hand. No words can exaggerate your deplorable condition, and no feelings can ever represent your real state in colors too alarming. You are not worthy that Christ should come to you. You are not worthy to draw near to Christ.

But—and here is a glorious contrast—never let this for a single moment interfere with your full belief that he who is God but who took our nature, who suffered in our stead on the cross, who now rules in heaven is able and willing to do for you immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. Your inability does not prevent the working of his power. Your unworthiness cannot put fetters to his bounty or limits to his grace. You may be an ill-deserving sinner, but that is no reason why he should not pardon you. Jesus Christ is able and willing to save those who come to God through him. Your emptiness does not affect his fullness. Your weakness does not alter his power. Your inability does not diminish his omnipotence. Your undeserving does not restrain his love.

Your troubled hearts, your sense of your unworthiness should drive you to Christ. You are unworthy, but “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). He gave himself for our—what? Excellences and virtues? No, he “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4), according to the Scriptures. We read that he “died for sins … the righteous for the”—righteous? No, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18), to bring us to God. Gospel pharmacy is for the sick; gospel bread is for the hungry; gospel fountains are open to the unclean; gospel water is given to the thirsty. Let your huge and painful wants impel you to fly to Jesus. Let the vast cravings of your insatiable spirit compel you to go to him. Your unworthiness should act as a wing to bear you to Christ, the sinner’s Savior.

—C. H. Spurgeon

 Diana Wallis, Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church’s Great Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2001), 47.

Margaret Clarkson on Human Weakness and the Power of God

by

“God teaches His children that human strength offers less security than spiritual strength, for the weakness of God is stronger than men’s strength, and His strength is perfected in our weakness. No man will prevail by mortal strength, He tells us, but we are able to do all things through the strengthening of Christ. The race is not won by the swift, not the battle by the strong, but by the power of God those who stumble are girded with strength. Mighty men are no delivered by much strength, but Scriptural story abounds with the exploits of those “who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong.” Since God is the God of our strength, why should even the weakest of saints go mourning because of the oppression of his soul? (1 Corinthians 1:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Samuel 2:9; Philippians 4:13; Ecclesiastes 9:11; 1 Samuel 2:4; Psalms 33:16; Hebrews 11:33-34; Psalms 43:2)”

“Paul tells us one reason why God allows the pressures of weakness to bear down on us. “We were pressed out of measure, above strength,” he writes, “. . . that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God.” As long as we have one ounce of our own strength in which to trust, our human hearts will place our confidence there, even through we sometimes do it unconsciously; but God wants us to prove Him, to be strengthened with all might by His Spirit according to His glorious power. When we truly realize it is God who has girded us for the battles of life, we are able to cry exultantly, “O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength!” for we know that in Him we have not only strength for our needs, but strength to spare. And it is so that His people may glorify Him in learning these truths and living triumphantly by His power that sometimes takes our human strength away.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9; Colossians 1:11; Ephesians 3:16; 2 Samuel 22:40; Judges 5:21). ” 

My God Shall Be My Strength
Isaiah 49:5

My God shall be my strength
Throughout my pilgrim way;
My sure defence, my guard, my guide
 My shield and stay; 
Secure in Him my heart is strong
And lifts aloft faith's triumph-song.

My God shall be my strength
Though fierce may be the foe; 
No hosts of hell my trusting soul
Shall overthrow:
Through Christ I conquer: by His power
I triumph in the evil hour.

My God shall be my strength
Though flesh and heart may fail; 
O'er want and weakness by His might
I shall prevail. 
In Christ I triumph over pain
And rise to face the foe again. 

My God shall be my strength
In sorrow's bitter hour; 
In loneliness and loss I plead
His sovereign power.
No harm can pass His perfect will,
And in His love my heart is still. 

My God shall be my strength
When death shall press his claim,
When languishing in weakness lies
This mortal frame:
Through Christ triumphant I shall rise
To sing His grace in Paradise.

Source: Margaret Clarkson, Grace Grows Best in Winter, Grand Rapids Michigan, WM B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984. (pages 166; 170-171)

Crisis, Christ, and Confidence Episode 5: Coronavirus – A Call for the Church to Rise

by

Watch as Drs. Gregory Poland, David Garner, and Peter Lillback discuss how God’s people are called to love, and show compassion during this time of uncertainty. As Christians, we dare not let suffering pass by without pointing to the reality of Christ’s saving grace over sin and death.

Man is not destroyed by suffering. He is destroyed by suffering without meaning. – Viktor Frankl

Source: Westminster Theological Seminary

O For A Faith That Will Not Shrink

by

Margaret Clarkson was a gifted Christian writer who penned hundreds of poems, articles, and hymns. Her name was mentioned in one of the episodes of the “Crisis, Christ, and Confidence” series that I have been sharing here. I was compelled to find out more about her after Dr. Peter Lillback shared a quote which, to me, revealed a woman of strong faith and a high regard for the sovereignty of God.

In the preface to her book, “Grace Grows Best in Winter“, which I have just started, she writes, “This is a book of help for those who must live with a continuing problem of suffering, of whatever kind. It seeks to lead sufferers so to discover and to embrace the character of God that they will be enabled to live triumphantly within the hedge of suffering wherein He has placed them, and from which in His inscrutable sovereignty He has not yet seen fit to release them.” I’ve only just started and had to stop and share this poem. I hope to share more about her, and her work in the near future. 

O for a faith that will not shrink
  Tho pressed by many a foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
  Of any earthly woe; 

That will not murmur nor complain
  Beneath the chast'ning rod,
But in the hour of grief or pain
  Can lean upon its God; 

A faith that shines more bright and clear
  When tempests rage without, 
That, when in danger, knows no fear, 
  In darkness feels no doubt; 

A faith that keeps the narrow way
  Til life's last spark is fled,
And with a pure and heavenly ray
  Lights up a dying bed; 

Lord, give me such a faith as this, 
  And then, whate'er may come, 
I'll taste e'en now the hallowed bliss
  Of an eternal home.

Margaret Clarkson, “Grace Grows Best in Winter”, Grand Rapids, Michigan. WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, page 23.