Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

Morning Prayer

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It is still dark here in NYC. The sun has not yet emerged and aside from the whirling sirens of the occasional fire truck or police car, I am content in the stillness of early morning in Brooklyn. Did I mention the car alarms?  😉 I hesitated to post this Puritan prayer from The Valley of Vision.  Lately I’ve had nagging thoughts that Heavenly Springs was becoming a clearinghouse for recycled material.  But the truth is: “Does anyone ever grow tiered of hearing the Puritans?”  I think not.

The Puritans knew a thing or two about heart corruptions. Like the apostle Paul, they rightly perceived that in this unredeemed flesh “lies no good thing.” Though the devil and the world each have a hand in  beguiling us, the real problem is not outside, it’s inside. Let us not be deceived. James said, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”  The origin of every evil and temptation is the human heart. But the Puritans apprehended something else, too. The One with the power to save us from sin is also the One who keeps us from sin. The honesty of this Puritan prayer will stir the weakest soul to faith.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. Psalms 130:1-2

A brand new day awaits. May the heart of this prayer be yours, just as it is mine.

“Compassionate Lord, Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day. Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace, increase in knowledge, ripen for spiritual harvest. Let me this day know Thee as Thou art, love Thee supremely, serve Thee wholly, admire Thee fully. Through grace let my will respond to Thee, knowing that power to obey is not in me, but that Thy free love alone enables me to serve Thee. Here then is my empty heart, overflow it with Thy choicest gifts; here is my blind understanding, chase away its mists of ignorance.

O ever watchful Shepherd, lead, guide, tend me this day; without Thy restraining rod I err and stray. Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure, and drink its poisonous streams; direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares, nor fall into his hidden traps. Defend me from assailing foes, from evil circumstances, from myself. My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature; they cling to me as my very skin; I cannot escape their contact. In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me; they entice with constant baits; my enemy is within the citadel. Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death, and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day.”

May God keep you strong today and by His grace, may we walk by the Spirit and not the flesh.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

Temptation Reveals What is Already in the Heart

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But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. – James 1:14.

“Temptation were no temptation, if our hearts were not wicked hearts. Nay, many of us are ready to tempt temptations, to provoke the devil to temptations; we cast ourselves open to temptations. Temptations find lust within, and lust within is the mother to conceive sin, if temptation be the father.

Times do not bring evils along with them, they do but discover what was hid before. All the evils and corruptions you now see among us, where were they in the day of our first love, when we were as a loving and beloved child? Have all these risen up of late? No certainly, all that you have seen and found were before, though they did not appear; before they were in the root, now you see the fruit.

All the apostacy and profanity that hath been vented in these days, was all shut up within the corners of men’s hearts at the beginning. Time and temptation hath but uncovered the heart, and made the inside out, hath but opened a sluice to let out this sea of corruption. It is not bred since, but seen since.”

Hugh Binning, Heart Humiliation

HT:  Hail and Fire

The Bunyan of Brooklyn on Enduring Temptations

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Ichabod Spencer, affectionately regarded by many as “The Bunyan of Brooklyn” has become a spiritual hero of mine for more than a few reasons.

For starters, he’s from Brooklyn.  Fuhgeddaboudit! In fact, his former church is located on the corners of two streets that my family called home for many years (Remsen and Clinton). Little did I know that I was walking on the very pavement that this faithful herald of the Gospel also once traveled. Sadly the church has since been converted to condos.

Spencer upheld and preached  the doctrines of grace. Otherwise known as Calvinism, these doctrines teach that every aspect of salvation is from the Lord, and ultimately for His glory. These precious doctrines are woven throughout each page of the Bible — from Genesis to Revelation. Spencer is but one of many in a long succession of godly men who knew the life changing power of these glorious truths and  was not ashamed to proclaim it.

Ichabod Spencer was a caring shepherd with a broken heart.  Despite constant bouts with sickness and pain, he made approximately 700 home visits per year. He was the kind of pastor who was not afraid to enter the messy lives of the sheep.  He labored, with all his strength, not for a great name or a great ministry but that Christ would be formed in the souls entrusted to his care.  Would to God that there were more shepherds like this.

Although his brilliant mind and powerful preaching could have opened many opportunities to travel and speak, he was known to decline (except in rare instances) most of the invitations he received.  This is probably why his name is not as well-known as some of his contemporaries. Instead Spencer sought to serve God faithfully in the very place God put him.

Lastly, Ichabod Spencer is buried in Brooklyn’s historic Greenwood Cemetery alongside some pretty famous people…not the least of which is my grandma! Well, what can I say?  She’s famous in my book!

With all of that said, I never tire of reading the works of Ichabod Spencer. How evident it is that he gloried in nothing but the cross of Christ! Oh, how the church needs this kind of preaching today.

In the following excerpt, from his sermon, “Enduring Temptation” Spencer expounds upon James 1:12 which says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  

I pray that it challenge and comfort your soul at once — just as it did mine. Trials and temptations of all kinds are to be expected in this life.  Yet, our “only wise method of resistance” is the anticipation of the promise that God, “has provided something better for us” (Heb 11: 39). Listen…

“Is it not true that some of you, who at times attempt to seek God, have very little idea of encountering difficulty? Do you not stop and turn back when some unwelcome doctrine, opposed to pride, or some severe duty opposed to carnality, meets you?  You can never become Christians in this way.  You may be deceived, but you can not be saved!

If you think to get to heaven without trouble, you are mistaken! It will cost you many a struggle!

That depraved heart will bleed before it will relinquish sin! It must break before it will be bound up and healed by the balm of Gilead!

Salvation is indeed free; the blood that bought it flowed freely from the offered heart of the Son of God.  Pardon is easy, but the repentance and faith that embrace it must surmount many obstacles. Never was striving more requisite than in a sinner with a wicked heart in a wicked world, endeavoring to lay hold of eternal life.”  

Oh dear, can anyone relate?  But, here is the encouragement:

“In Scripture times believers found difficulties.  Temptations assailed them, hard to overcome. Their eye was cheered with nothing in this world. They were only comforted by the promises, and promises which they could not inherit till they were dead and gone!

And has religion changed its nature-or the heart its sin-or Heaven its mercy?…But if you are enduring temptation, take the consolation of the promise. You shall not endure in vain.  The day dawneth. Its light breaks upon your eye afar off. It shall light your pilgrim steps till it has lighted you down into the sepulcher-nor be extinguished there! It shall brighten up the dark valley-for the grave is Christ’s.

Fear not, then. If you do love God and live upon His promises, and by doing so, are held above the world and enabled to endure temptation, go on – go and prosper – go, mortify the flesh – go, resist the devil – go, vanquish the world – go,endure temptation, and, when you are tried, go and receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 

Oh God, grant it to us all, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” 

The Bunyan of Brooklyn: The life and Practical Sermons of Ichabod Spencer by Rev. J. M. Sherwood, Solid Ground Christian Books, (Vestavia Hills, AL), 2003, pages 214-215.

These days of sin and temptation

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“Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!” (1 Peter 2:7)

“I daily search for Jesus in my retired devotions. There I tell Him all my heart—in secret groans and cries. He knows what my sighs mean, and what are my fears, and my painful sorrows. There I blush before Him—for my secret sins, and pour out the tear of penitential sorrow. There I utter my bitter complaints—of the disorderly passions I daily feel within me. I lament over the vanity of my thoughts, and spread before His eyes—all my soul’s sores and diseases. I lay myself low in the dust at His feet, and tell Him with humble confusion of face—how much I have done to dishonor Him, how unworthy I am of His notice, and yet how I long for communion with Him.

O when shall these days of sin and temptation, these tedious seasons of absence and distance from my God and Savior—have an end? I breathe out from time to time, the most earnest desires after Him, and after the endearing sensations of His love.”

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1-2)

John Fawcett, “Christ Precious”