Hellish sin! Stupendous wickedness! Monstrous impiety!
(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!")
"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--he shall be accursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22
What! not love the Lord! Hellish sin!
What! not love Jesus! Stupendous wickedness!
What! not love Christ! Monstrous impiety!
Not love Him who is both Lord, and Jesus, and Christ! What name might we call him by?
Is he a man--or a beast?
Is he a man--or a devil?
Do you love the world--and not Him? Do you love sin--and not him? This may be . . .
the astonishment of the heavens,
the amazement of the earth,
the wonder of angels,
the joy of devils,
the burden of the creation of God.
The earth groans to bear them;
the sun is grieved to give light unto them;
the air laments to be sucked into sin-filthy bodies, wherein are more filthy souls--because they are void of the love of Christ! Yes, all this world looks more like Hell than Heaven, because of the swarms of men therein who have no sincere love to Jesus Christ.
Let all who are not sensual beasts, or incarnate devils--who have the understanding and hearts of men--stand and wonder--that a man should deny Christ his love. Good Lord! What a thing is this! What cursed wickedness is this! What wonder that you behold such a sight as this--a man without love unto your Son--and allow him to continue to be a man; or do not make him . . .
a sick man,
a poor man,
a tormented pained man on earth,
or a damned man in Hell!
Oh what punishment waits for him! How do devils hope for his death, that they might drag him down to that hellish crew, where there is not one lover of Christ among them all!
"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--he shall be accursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22
"If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ--he shall be accursed!" 1 Corinthians 16:22
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When once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness!
(Thomas Doolittle, "Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at His Coming!")
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of graceless men as disliking, not desiring, nor loving Christ--brings them in as saying, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him!" Isaiah 53:2
What! No loveliness in Him who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person!" Yes! there was, there is--but they had no eyes to see it! It is as if a blind man should say that the sun is dark, because he has no eyes to behold it's light. It was, because in seeing--they did not see. How could they look upon Him with an eye of love--when they did not discern Him with an eye of faith?
But a holy soul, whose eyes are divinely opened, so sees that superlative goodness, beauty, and excellency in Christ--that all other things, which are good with an inferior goodness, seem to him as dross and dung! "But whatever was to my profit, I now consider lossfor the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things! I consider them rubbish," things cast to dogs, or dog's-food, "that I may gain Christ!" Philippians 3:7-8
The holy man, whose mind is savingly enlightened, can say: I see that goodness in the Savior, which far surpasses all the goodness of the creature! Though the stars in the coldest night might be seen--yet when the sun arises, they all disappear. Just so, in the night of ignorance, when my mind was blind, my heart hard, and my affections frozen--I was bewitched with the goodness of riches, of honors, and of worldly pleasures. Yet when the Sun of righteousness with His radiant rays shined into my soul, and with His warming influences thawed my benumbed frozen heart--when Christ the day-star arose in my soul--then, O then, the glory of these things which once dazzled my eyes, presently vanished and withered away! When once I had got a view of Christ's transcendent loveliness--then in comparison to Christ, I saw . . .
an emptiness and vanity--in all the creature's fullness;
beggary--in all the world's nobility;
shame--in all the world's glory;
poverty--in all the world's riches;
the world's greatest resplendent luster--to be darkness;
the world's wisdom--to be folly;
the world's beauty--appeared to me no better than deformity!
Yes, the soul whose love is fixed upon Christ, sees the superlative goodness, beauty, and excellency in Christ.
"Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" Song of Songs 5:16
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Moral and spiritual parasites!
(Frederick Marsh)
There are moral and spiritual parasites which throttle, kill, injure, or retard the growth of the spiritual life!
1. The parasite of sloth will hinder the grace of watchfulness, as it did the five virgins. Matthew 25:5
2. The parasite of worldliness will kill the grace of devotion, as it did in Demas. 2 Timothy 4:10
3. The parasite of pride will devastate the grace of humility, as it did with the Devil. 1 Timothy 3:6
4. The parasite of unbelief will keep down the grace of faith, as is seen in the children of Israel. Hebrews 3:17-19
5. The parasite of prestige will kill the grace of self-denial, as is stated of Diotrephes. 3 John 9
6. The parasite of covetousness will strangle the grace of generosity, as is evidenced in Achan. Joshua 7:21
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Worldliness!
(Frederick Marsh)
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17
1. Worldliness is evil in its nature. Galatians 1:4
2. Worldliness is downward in its tendency. Ephesians 2:1-4
3. Worldliness is contaminating in its influence. James 1:27
4. Worldliness is antagonistic to God. James 4:4
5. Worldliness is corrupting in its association. 2 Peter 4:1; 2 Peter 2:20
6. Worldliness is unsatisfying in its pleasures. 1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 2:17
7. Worldliness is hateful in its opposition. 1 John 3:13
Separation from the world is the Lord's clear and definite direction. To be specific in our desires and efforts to be separate from the world--the following rules should be followed:
(Frederick Marsh)
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17
1. Worldliness is evil in its nature. Galatians 1:4
2. Worldliness is downward in its tendency. Ephesians 2:1-4
3. Worldliness is contaminating in its influence. James 1:27
4. Worldliness is antagonistic to God. James 4:4
5. Worldliness is corrupting in its association. 2 Peter 4:1; 2 Peter 2:20
6. Worldliness is unsatisfying in its pleasures. 1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 2:17
7. Worldliness is hateful in its opposition. 1 John 3:13
Separation from the world is the Lord's clear and definite direction. To be specific in our desires and efforts to be separate from the world--the following rules should be followed:
1. Go to no place where the Lord would not take you.
2. Be found in no company that is not helpful to your Christian life.
3. Be no party to any transaction upon which you cannot seek your Lord's approval.
4. Listen to no voice which would lead you away from the truth of God's Word.
5. Allow no pleasure to interfere with your attendance at the means of Grace.
6. Whatever you do--do all to the glory of God!
Strive to do the will of God, as found in His Word--nothing less, nothing more, nothing else!
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