Where was love born? — C.H. Spurgeon

“We love him, because he first loved us.”— 1 John 4:19

“…And if love grow sick and cold, there is no place so fit for it to go to as the place where it was born, namely, the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Where was love born?… Let me tell you where love was born. Love was born in the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus sweat great drops of blood, it was nurtured in Pilate’s hall, where Jesus bared his back to the ploughing of the lash, and gave his body to be spit upon and scourged. Love was nurtured at the cross, amid the groans of an expiring God, beneath the droppings of his blood — it was there that love was nurtured. Bear me witness, children of God. Where did your love spring from, but from the foot of the cross? Did you ever see that sweet flower growing anywhere but at the foot of Calvary? No; it was when you saw “love divine, all loves excelling,” outdoing its own self; it was when you saw love in bondage to itself, dying by its own stroke, laying down its life, though it had power to retain it and to take it up again; it was there your love was born; and if you wish your love, when it is sick, to be recovered, take it to some of those sweet places; make it sit in the shade of the olive trees, and make it stand on the pavement and gaze, while the blood is still gushing down. Take it to the cross, and bid it look and see afresh the bleeding lamb; and surely this shall make thy love spring from a dwarf into a giant, and this shall fan it from a spark into a flame.”

— C.H. Spurgeon, A Sermon # 229, Love

going home — C.H. Spurgeon

“Going home the other night I noticed the difference between the horse’s pace in coming here and going home, and I thought to myself, “Ah! the horse goes well, because he is going home;” and the thought struck me, “How well a Christian ought to go, because he is going home.” You know, if we were going from home, every rough stone in the road might cheek us, and we might need a good deal of whip to make us go. But it is going home. Bless God, every step we take is going home. It may be knee-deep in trouble, but it is all on the road; we may be ancle-deep in fear, but it is going home; I may stumble, but I always stumble homewards. All my afflictions and griefs, when they cast me down, but cast me onwards towards heaven. The mariner does not mind the waves, if every wave sends him nearer his haven, and he does not care how loudly howl the winds, if they only blow him nearer port. That is the Christian’s happy lot: he is going homeward. Let that cheer thee, Christian, and make thee travel on joyfully, not needing the whip to urge thee to duty, but always going on with alacrity through duty and through trial, because thou art going homeward.”

— C.H. Spurgeon, The Feast of the Lord

The greatness of God – John Bunyan

“…the breadth and length and height and depth (Ephesians 3:18)…
But, [sometimes these words are used] most properly to show us the infinite & unsearchable greatness of God, (Job 11:7,8,9, Rom 11:33)… He is an eternal being, an everlasting being, & in that respect He is beyond all measures, whether they be of breadth, or length, or depth, or height. In all His attributes He is beyond all measure: whether you measure by words, by thoughts, or by the most enlarged & exquisite apprehension; His greatness is unsearchable; His judgments are unsearchable (Job 5:9); He is infinite in wisdom (Rom 11:33)…

The greatness of God, of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that, if rightly considered, which will support the spirits of those of His people that are frighted with the greatness of their adversaries. For here is a greatness against a greatness. Pharaoh was great, but God more great, more great in power, more great in wisdom, more great every way for the help of His people; wherein they dealt proudly, He was above them…

Greatness should beget fear, greatness should beget reverence: Now who so great as our God; & so, who to be feared like Him! …Oh! that a great God should be a good God; a good God to an unworthy, to an undeserving, & to a people that continually do what they can to provoke the eyes of His glory; this should make us tremble…

We naturally love greatness; & when the glorious beauty of the King of glory shall be manifest to us, & we shall behold it, we shall say as Joshua did; Let all men do as seems them good; but I, and my house will serve the Lord (Josh 24:15).”

– John Bunyan, The saint’s knowledge of Christ’s love

How do you know you have met with God? – Martin Lloyd-Jones

“So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.” – Genesis 32:30-31

“How do you know you have met with God? You limp. You know you have met God when you limp, you’ve been hurt, you’ve been broken by God…
Jacob after Penuel was never the same again. He was lame, he had a mark upon him, & his name was changed from Jacob to Israel… Jacob, the old Jacob, was no more. Now he is a cripple in a sense but a new man & living a different life… Jacob, the strong self-reliant Jacob, is gone and the crippled Jacob – Israel – relying upon God, halts upon his thigh.” – Martin Lloyd-Jones

One of the main purposes of the doctrines of grace - Arthur W. Pink

“The doctrines of grace are intended for a further purpose than that of making up a creed. One main design of them is to move the affections; and more especially to reawaken that affection to which the heart oppressed with fears, or weighed down with cares, is wholly insufficient—even the love of God. That this love may flow perennially from our hearts, there must be a constant recurring to that which inspired it and which is calculated to increase it; just as to rekindle your admiration of a beautiful scene or picture, you would return again to gaze upon it. It is on this principle that so much stress is laid in Scripture on keeping the truths which we believe in memory: "By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you" (1 Cor. 15:2). "I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance," said the apostle (2 Pet. 3:1). "Do this in remembrance of me" said the Saviour. It is, then, by going back in memory to that hour when, despite our wretchedness and utter unworthiness, God called us, that our affection will be kept fresh. It is by recalling the wondrous grace that then reached out to a hell-deserving sinner and snatched you as a brand from the burning, that your heart will be drawn out in adoring gratitude. And it is by discovering this was due alone to the sovereign and eternal "purpose" of God that you were called when so many others are passed by, that your love for Him will be deepened.”

Arthur W. Pink, Comfort for Christians