“A heavenly conversation brings much glory to the saints” – Jeremiah Burroughs

“A heavenly conversation is one that will bring much glory to yourselves. Though it’s true that the saints should aim at the glory of God most, there will come glory upon themselves whether they wish it or not if their conversations are in heaven. It’s impossible for the consciences of men not to be honored if they are walking in a heavenly conversation. There’s an excellent Scripture that shows that in glorifying God we glorify ourselves. In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, the apostle prays for them:
“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power.”
To what end?
“That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
He prays for the Thessalonians that they might walk so that they might have so much of the grace of God in them, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them. Oh, this is that which all the saints should desire and endeavor after, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ should be glorified in them, and you in Him, he says. Labor that Christ may have glory in our glory, and then we shall have glory in Christ’s glory. This is a sweet and blessed life when the saints have such hearts that they can say, “Lord, let me have no glory, but that you may have glory in.” Then God says, “Is it so? Do you desire no further glory in this world but that I may have glory in? Then I will have no glory in this world but what you shall have glory in!” Christ will make us partakers of His glory as well as we shall make Him partaker of our glory. Oh, heavenly conversation that glorifies God will glorify the saints, too!”

– Jeremiah Burroughs, A treatise on earthly-mindedness

"Traders for heaven trust God much" - Jeremiah Burroughs

“Tradesmen who trade for great matters must trust much. They cannot expect to have present pay in great sums. It’s true, men who trade for little matters trade by retail. They usually take in their pence and two pence as their commodities go forth. But it’s not so with merchants who trade for great things in wholesale. Traders for heaven trust much and, indeed, the grace of faith is the great grace that helps in the trading for heaven; they have a little earnest for the present.

You who are traders and go to exchange and sell bargains for many thousands, you may not have more than twelve pence or a crown for the present, the first fruits of the Spirit, or a bare promise from Christ. This is that which binds the whole bargain, and they expect to have the full pay hereafter when they come to heaven. It is a happy thing when God gives men and women hearts to be willing to trust God for eternity; and if they have just a little comfort and grace now, they ought to look at that as an earnest penny of all the glory that Jesus Christ has purchased by His blood and that God has promised in His Word. You are not fit to be a tradesman for heaven if you cannot trust, if you cannot be content that great bargains should be bound with a little earnest. But that’s the soul that trades in heaven, that can be content to wait for the fulfilling of the promises, and to take what they have from God for the present, though it is but a very little, as an earnest to bind all those glorious things that God has promised in His Word.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise on earthly-mindedness

http://www.puritanlibrary.com

"Look to God and the record of what He has done in Jesus Christ" - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“If you regard the gospel merely as a plan and scheme of life, whether social or personal; if you regard it merely as something that calls you to the high and the heroic and to a certain order of morality; you will never know the joy and the happiness which it offers. Regard the Christian life as being something primarily that you have to do and far from making you happy it will make you miserable, for you will be constantly aware of your own failure. But the glory of the gospel is that it is based upon something that God has done once and for all in Christ. What has He done?...God has acted. He has sent His only begotten Son into the world to live and die and rise again for us and for our salvation. ‘How can I feast and rejoice?’ Look unto Jesus Christ on the cross and see your guilt borne by Him and wiped out by Him. ‘How can I be happy’, you say, ‘when I am so filled with a sense of shame because of what I have been?’ To which the gospel answers:

The past shall be forgotten,
A present job be given.

In Christ there is a new beginning and you are no longer the slave of sin. And, in like manner, it tells you that your whole status and your situation are also changed. In Christ you become a child of God and are regarded as such by Him. You have been an enemy and an alien but now you are a son. Do not look to your own feelings, or your own record. Look to God and the record of what He has done in Jesus Christ. Rejoice, sing, cry aloud, be glad, Christ has cleansed away your sin and restored you to the favour of God which you had lost. Yes, the rejoicing is based purely upon what God has done.”

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons,
No Feasting: No Christianity

http://www.monergismbooks.com/Old-Testament-Evangelistic-Sermons-p-18605.html

“Pass me not, O gentle Savior” - Fan­ny Cros­by

“Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Let me at Thy throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief,
Kneeling there in deep contrition;
Help my unbelief.

Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace.

Thou the Spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me,
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in Heav’n but Thee?”

- Fan­ny Cros­by

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/p/a/passment.htm

"What is a true Christian?" - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“The man who is truly Christian is the man who has come to realize that God is the most important Person in all his life. What is a Christian? I define him as the man who has come to realize he has a soul and that he has lost that soul in a spiritual sense. He is a man who realizes he is guilty before God. He is a man who has come to see that what matters is the destiny of his soul. He was interested in other things, but he knows they will all disappear when the soul still goes on. He sees judgment to come, and because of all this, he now sees the most important thing of all – ‘I need salvation, I need forgiveness, I need a new life, I need to be reconciled to God!’ Is there anyone who can help? Yes, there is, and he turns to Christ and says, ‘I will not let Thee go, I must have this blessing.’ For this he pleads, for this he cries – it is now the supreme interest in his life. May I again put my simple question. Is this the biggest thing in your life? If I ask tonight from this pulpit what is the one thing to which you would hold if everything else has to go, what would you say? Would you hold on to Christ at the expense and the cost of everything else? That is the mark of the Christian. He sees that it is Christ dying on the cross that alone can give him forgiveness of sin. He sees it is in Christ alone he is given a new life and a new nature and a new standing before God. He sees it is in Christ, who has conquered death and the grave, that he is given an eternal and glorious inheritance. He sees all that in Christ and he says, ‘Though I am bereft of everything, as long as I have him all is well.’ Is Christ supreme in our lives? Do we know that this is the most vital thing and would we gladly sacrifice everything else for the sake of this? That is what Jacob came to feel. It has always been the feeling of every true Christian.”

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons,
Before and After Penuel: The Evidence of True Conversion

http://www.monergismbooks.com/Old-Testament-Evangelistic-Sermons-p-18605.html

“Be meditating on the death of Christ in order to get your heart free from earthly-mindedness” – Jeremiah Burroughs

“But above all, set Jesus Christ before you and be meditating on the death of Jesus Christ. That’s the great thing that will take the heart from the things of the earth. Be looking upon Christ crucified, how He who was the Lord of heaven and earth put Himself into such a low condition merely to redeem us! Conversing much with the death of Jesus Christ deadens the heart much to the world. In Philippians 3 we have a notable text for that, in the example of Paul. He counted all things as dung and dross for Jesus Christ. Verse 8: “I account all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.” Then in verse 10: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.”
Paul desired to be so conformable to the very death of Christ, that he counted all things in the world but as dung and dross in comparison of that. Paul had the death of Christ before his eyes, and meditated much on the death of Christ: and that meditation had a great impression upon his spirit. That made him count all these things as dross, as dog’s meat by comparison, that he might have fellowship with the death of Christ.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise on earthly-mindedness

http://www.puritanlibrary.com/

"I fear a great many Christian people do not think much about their religion" - C H Spurgeon

"I fear to a very large extent in this age the minds even of good people are empty, and void, and waste. Years ago, when the influence of the Puritan age yet lingered among us, the female members of Christian churches were generally women of very considerable education, whose range of reading was very different from that of their sisters in these days, and whose theological knowledge was profound; while the men who were members of our Nonconformist churches, were as a rule persons of very clear doctrinal knowledge - perhaps rather too much given to controversy, and to pushing their own views without sufficient tolerance for the views of others - and on the whole, Nonconformist Christianity was highly intelligent, thoughtful, and meditative. Men and women then when they joined the church, knew what they believed, and believed what they knew; they were prepared to be counted singular for their belief, but were equally prepared to justify themselves for talking up so separated a position. They were students of the word of God and of such books as opened up to them the word of God; so that our armies of believers, if they were fewer than now, were nevertheless very strong, because the warriors handled their weapons well, were well drilled, and at home in the holy war. I fear a great many Christian people do not think much about their religion. They give their guinea subscription, they occupy their seat at the meetinghouse, they attend the prayer meetings, but they are little given to thinking out a system of doctrines, or to ransacking the weaning of Scripture. Contemplative pursuits are not so general among Christian professors as I could wish."

- C. H. Spurgeon, Think well and do well

http://www.recoverthegospel.com/Old%20Recover%20the%20Gospel%20Site/Spurgeon/Spurgeon%201-1000/956.pdf

"My sins, my sins, my Saviour!" - Monsell

"My sins, my sins, my Saviour!
They take such hold on me,
I am not able to look up,
Save only, Christ, on thee;

In thee is all forgiveness,
In thee abundant grace,
My shadow and my sunshine
The brightness of thy face.

My sins, my sins, my Saviour!
Their guilt I never knew
Till with thee in the desert
I near thy passion drew;

Till with thee in the garden
I heard thy pleading pray'r,
And saw the sweat-drops bloody
That told thy sorrow there.

Therefore my songs, my Saviour,
E'en in this time of woe,
Shall tell of all thy goodness
To suff'ring man below;

Thy goodness and thy favor,
Whose presence from above
Rejoice those hearts, my Saviour,
That live in thee and love."

- Monsell

http://www.opc.org/hymn.html?hymn_id=475

"Thank you God for the finished work of Christ" - Francis Schaeffer

“I have found it extremely helpful that when a man has accepted Christ as his Savior, he should bow his head and say “Thank you” to the God who is there – “Thank you for the completed work.” Undoubtedly men have been saved & have gone away not consciously saying “Thank you” but how wonderful it is when a man has seen himself as a sinner, & has understood his lostness, for that man to have accepted Christ as his Savior and then to have bowed his head consciously to say “Thank you” for a work that is absolute and complete. It is usually when the newly-born one thanks God that the assurance comes, that he comes to rest in certainty and in peace.

It is the same in restoration. There is a continuing parallel here. If we have sinned, it is wonderful consciously to say, “Thank you for a completed work” after we have brought that specific sin under the finished work of Christ. While not absolutely necessary for restoration, the conscious giving of thanks brings assurance and peace. We say “Thank you” for work completed upon the cross, which is sufficient for a completely restored relationship. This is not on the basis of my emotions, any more than in my justification. The basis is the finished work of Christ in history and the objective promises of God in the written Word.”

-Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

"simply to believe in Jesus" ~Charles H. Spurgeon

"And I know that many a troubled conscience thinks that simply to believe in Jesus is too little a thing. The deceitful heart suggests a course which looks to be more effectual. “Do some penance: feel some bitterness; weep a certain amount of tears. Goad your mind, or break your heart”: so cries carnal self. Jesus simply commands, “Believe.” It does appear to be too little a thing to be done, as if it could not be that eternal life should be given upon putting your trust in Jesus Christ: but this is the principle we want to teach you that when Jesus Christ is about to give a blessing he issues a command which is not to be questioned, but to be at once obeyed. If ye will not believe, neither shall ye be established; but if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”

The third principle is this-that whenever we get a command from Christ it is always wisdom to carry it out zealously. He said, “Fill the waterpots with water,” and they filled them up to the brim. You know there is a way of filling a waterpot, and there is another way of filling it.It is full, and you cannot heap it up; but still you can fill it up till it begins almost to run over: the liquid trembles as if it must surely fall in a crystal cascade. It is a filling fullness. In fulfilling Christ’s commands, my dear brethren and sisters, let us go to their widest extent: let us fill them up to the brim. If it is “Believe,” oh, believe him with all your might; trust him with your whole heart. If it is “Preach the gospel,” preach it in season and out of season; and preach the gospel-the whole of it. Fill it up to the brim. Do not give the people a half gospel. Give them a brimming-over gospel. Fill the vessels up to the very brim. If you are to repent, ask to have a hearty and a deep repentance-full to the brim. If you are to believe, ask to have an intense, absolute, childlike dependence, that your faith may be full to the brim. If you are bidden pray, pray mightily: fill the vessel of prayer up to the brim. If you are to search the Scriptures for blessing, search them from end to end: fill the Bible-reading vessel up to the brim. Christ’s commands are never meant to be done in a half-hearted manner."

Charles H. Spurgeon, The Waterpots at Cana

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1556.htm

"God’s way of salvation" ~ Charles Spurgeon

“Here is God’s way of salvation, and He demands that I do trust His dear Son, who died for sinners. I perceive that Christ is worthy to be trusted, for He is the Son of God, so that His sacrifice must be able to put away my sin; I perceive also that He laid down his life in the room, place, and stead of his people, and therefore I heartily trust Him. God bids me trust Him, and I do trust Him without any further question. If Jesus Christ satisfies God, He certainly satisfies me; and, asking no further question, I come and trust myself with Him…

…You are to feast on Christ at once; you need not fast till you turn yourself into a living skeleton, and then come to Christ. I am sent with no such message as that, but this is my word of good cheer: “Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; let Him come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.” Freely take what God freely gives, and simply trust the Savior. Is not that the gospel?... Trust yourself with your Savior, and He is your Savior.”

~ Charles H. Spurgeon, The Plain Man's Pathway To Peace

http://www.recoverthegospel.com/Old%20Recover%20the%20Gospel%20Site/Spurgeon/Spurgeon%201001-2000/1560.pdf