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Overdenking & Bezinning

Philpot’s Pearls — Part 3: All True Religion and This Hard School of Painful Experience (Part 1 of 2)

J.C. PhilpotOverdenking & Bezinning

21 min. read

NLEN

Jesus is . . . our sun, and without Him all is darkness; our life, and without Him all is death; the beginner and finisher of our faith; the substance of our hope; the object of our love. It is the Spirit who quickens us . . . to feel our need of Christ; to seek all our supplies in Him and from Him; to believe in Him unto everlasting life, and thus live a life of faith upon Him. By His . . . secret teachings, inward touches, gracious smiles, soft whispers, sweet promises, manifestations of Christ’s glorious Person and work, Christ’s agonizing sufferings and dying love, the Holy Spirit draws the heart up to Christ. He thus wins our affections, and setting Christ before our eyes as “the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely One,” draws out that love and affection towards Jesus which puts the world under our feet. All true religion flows from the Spirit’s grace, presence and power.

The regenerating operations of the Holy Spirit

From the very nature of the fall, it is impossible for a dead soul to . . . believe in God, know God, or love God. It must be quickened into spiritual life before it can savingly know the only true God. And thus there lies at the very threshold—in the very heart and core of the case—the absolute necessity of the regenerating operations of the Holy Spirit upon the soul. The very completeness and depth of the fall render the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit as necessary, as indispensable as the redeeming work of the Son of God.

This hard school of painful experience

In times of trial and darkness, the saints and servants of God are instructed. They see and feel what the flesh really is, how alienated from the life of God—they learn in whom all their strength and sufficiency lie—they are taught that in them, that is, in their flesh, dwells no good thing—that no exertions of their own can maintain in strength and vigor the life of God—and that all they are and have, all they believe, know, feel, and enjoy, with all their ability, usefulness, gifts, and grace—flow from the pure, sovereign grace—the rich, free, undeserved, yet unceasing goodness and mercy of God. They learn in this hard school of painful experience their emptiness and nothingness—and that without Christ indeed they can do nothing. They thus become clothed with humility, that lovely, becoming garb—cease from their own strength and wisdom—and learn experimentally that Christ is, and ever must be, all in all to them, and all in all in them.

Many difficulties, obstacles, and hindrances

“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him!” Hosea 6:3 The expression, “press on,” implies that there are many difficulties, obstacles, and hindrances in a man’s way, which keep him back from “knowing the Lord.” Now the work of the Spirit in his soul is to carry him on in spite of all these obstacles—to lead him forward—to keep alive in him the fear of God—to strengthen him in his inner man—to drop in those hopes—to communicate that inward grace—so that he is compelled to press on. Sometimes he seems driven, sometimes drawn, sometimes led, and sometimes carried, but in one way or another the Spirit of God so works upon him that, though he scarcely knows how—he still “presses on.” His very burdens make him groan for deliverance—his very temptations cause him to cry for help—the very difficulty and ruggedness of the road make him want to be carried every step—the very intricacy of the path compels him to cry out for a guide—so that the Spirit working in the midst of, and under, and through every difficulty and discouragement, still bears him through, and carries him on—and thus brings him through every trial and trouble and temptation and obstacle, until He sets him in glory. It is astonishing to me how our souls are kept alive. The Christian is a marvel to himself. Carried on, and yet so secretly—worked upon, and yet so mysteriously; and yet led on, guided, and supported through so many difficulties and obstacles—that he is a miracle of mercy as he is carried on amid all . . . difficulties, obstacles, trials, and temptations.

The poison fang of sin!

We must go down into the depths of the fall to know what our hearts are, and what they are capable of—we must have the keen knife of God to cut deep gashes in our conscience and lay bare the evil that lies so deeply imbedded in our carnal mind—before we can enter into and experience the beauty and blessedness of salvation by grace. “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it—but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores—they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isaiah 1:6 When the Church of God fell in Adam, she fell with a crash which broke every bone and bruised her flesh with wounds which are ulcerated from head to toe. Her understanding, her conscience, and her affections were all fearfully maimed . . . her understanding was blinded; her conscience stupefied; her affections alienated. Every mental faculty thus became perverted and distorted. When Adam fell into sin and temptation—sin rushed into every faculty of body and soul—and penetrated into the inmost recesses of his being. As when a man is bitten by a poisonous serpent, the venom courses through every artery and vein, and he dies a corrupted mass from head to foot; so did the poison fang of sin penetrate into Adam’s inmost soul and body, and infect him with its venom from the sole to the crown. But it is only as sin’s desperate and malignant character is opened up by the Holy Spirit that it is really seen, felt, grieved under, and mourned over as indeed a most dreadful and fearful reality. “The whole head is sick—and the whole heart faint.” Every thought, word, and action is polluted by sin.

Every mental faculty is depraved . . .

the will chooses evil; the affections cleave to earthly things; the memory, like a broken sieve, retains the bad and lets fall the good; the judgment, like a bribed or drunken judge, pronounces heedless or wrong decisions; the conscience, like an opium eater, lies asleep and drugged in stupefied silence.

A penitent backslider and a forgiving God!

“And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20 After a child of God has enjoyed something of the goodness and mercy of God revealed in the face of His dear Son, he may wander from his mercies—stray away from these choice gospel pastures—and get into a waste howling wilderness, where there is neither food nor water—and yet, though half starved for poverty, has in himself no power to return. But in due time the Lord seeks out this wandering sheep, and the first place he brings him to is the mercy seat—confessing his sins and seeking mercy. O what a meeting!

A penitent backslider and a forgiving God!

O what a meeting! A guilty wretch drowned in tears—and a loving Father falling upon his neck and kissing him! O what a meeting for a poor, self-condemned wretch, who can never mourn too deeply over his sins, and yet finds grace super-abounding over all his abounding sins—and the love of God bursting through the cloud, like the sun upon an April day—and melting his heart into contrition and love!

Salvation!

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now has come the salvation.” Rev. 12:10 The sweetest song that heaven ever proclaimed, the most blessed note that ever melted the soul, is “salvation.” To be saved from . . . death and hell; the worm which dies not; the fire which is not quenched; the sulphurous flames of the bottomless pit; the companionship of tormenting fiends; all the foul wretches under which earth has groaned; blaspheming God in unutterable woe; an eternity of misery without hope; and saved into . . . heaven; the sight of Jesus as He is; perfect holiness and happiness; the blissful company of holy angels and glorified saints! And all this during the countless ages of a blessed eternity! What tongue of men or angels can describe the millionth part of what is contained in the word salvation!

A peculiar people

“But you are . . . a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” 1 Peter 2:9 May we never forget that the suffering Son of God gave Himself to purify unto Himself a peculiar people . . . a people whose thoughts are peculiar, for their thoughts are the thoughts of God, as having the mind of Christ; a people whose affections are peculiar, for they are fixed on things above; a people whose prayers are peculiar, for they are wrought in their heart by the Spirit of grace and supplication; a people whose sorrows are peculiar, because they spring from a spiritual source; a people whose joys are peculiar, for they are joys which the stranger cannot understand; a people whose hopes are peculiar, as anchoring within the veil; a people whose expectations are peculiar, as not expecting to reap a crop of happiness in this marred world—but are looking for happiness in the kingdom of rest and peace in the bosom of God. They make it manifest that they are a peculiar people by . . . walking in the footsteps of the Lord the Lamb, taking up the cross, denying themselves, and living to the honor, praise, and glory of God.

Softened, broke, and melted your heart

“I drew them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” Hosea 11:4 When God draws His people near unto Himself, it is not done in a mechanical way. They are drawn, not with cords of iron, but with the cords of kindness; not as if God laid an iron arm upon His people to drag them to Himself—whether they wished to come or not. God does not so act in a way of mechanical force. We therefore read, “Your people shall be made willing in the day of Your power.” He touches their heart with His gracious finger, and he communicates to their soul both faith and feeling. He melts, softens, and humbles their heart by a sense of His goodness and mercy—for it is His goodness, as experimentally felt and realized, which leads to repentance. If you have ever felt any secret and sacred drawing of your soul upward to heaven—it was not compulsion, not violence, not a mechanical constraint—but an arm of pity and compassion let down into your very heart, which, touching your inmost spirit, drew it up into the bosom of God. It was some view of His goodness, mercy, and love, with some dropping into your spirit of His pity and compassion towards you, which softened, broke, and melted your heart. You were not driven onward by being flogged and scourged, but blessedly drawn with the cords of kindness, which seemed to touch every tender feeling and enter into the very depths of your soul.

Fixed and fastened by an Almighty hand.

Truth, as it stands in the naked word of God, is lifeless and dead—and as such, has no power to communicate what it has not in itself—that is, life and power to the hearts of God’s people. It stands there in so many letters and syllables, as lifeless as the types by which they were printed. But when the incarnate Word takes of the written word, and speaks it home into the heart and conscience of a vessel of mercy, whether in letter or substance—then He endues it with divine life—and it enters into the soul, communicating to it a life that can never die. Eternal realities are then brought into the soul, fixed and fastened by an Almighty hand.

The conscience is made alive in the fear of God; and the soul is raised up from a death in sin, to a heavenly, new, and supernatural life.

When we are reduced to poverty and beggary

How often we seem not to have any real religion, or enjoy any solid comfort! How often are our minds covered with deep darkness! How often does the Lord hide Himself, so that we cannot behold Him, nor get near to Him! What a painful path is this to walk in, but how profitable! When we are reduced to poverty and beggary, we learn to value Christ’s glorious riches. The worse opinion we have of our own heart, and the more deceitful and desperately wicked that we find it—the more we put our trust in His faithfulness. The more black we are in our own esteem—the more beautiful and lovely does He appear in our eyes. As we sink—Jesus rises. As we become feeble—He puts forth his strength. As we come into danger—He brings deliverance. As we get into temptation—He breaks the snare. As we are shut up in darkness and obscurity; He causes the light of His countenance to shine. Now it is by being led in this way, and walking in these paths, that we come rightly to know who Jesus is; and to see and feel how suitable and precious such a Savior is to our undone souls! We are needy, He has in Himself all riches. We are hungry—He is the bread of life. We are thirsty—He says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” We are naked—and He has clothing to bestow. We are fools—and He has wisdom to grant. We are lost, and He speaks— “Look unto Me, and be saved.” Thus, so far from our misery shutting us out from God’s mercy—it is the only requisite for it. So far from our guilt excluding His pardon, it is the only thing needful for it. So far from our helplessness ruining our souls, it is the needful preparation for the manifestation of His power in our weakness. We cannot heal our own wounds and sores. That is the very reason why He should stretch forth His arm. It is because there is no salvation in ourselves, or in any other creature, that He says, “Look unto Me, for I am God, and there is no other.”

Not a grain! Not an atom!

What am I? What are you? Are we not filthy, polluted, and defiled? Do not we, more or less, daily feel altogether as an unclean thing? Is not every thought of our heart altogether vile? Does any holiness, any spirituality, any heavenly- mindedness, any purity, any resemblance to the divine image dwell in our hearts by nature?

Not a grain! Not an atom!

How then can I, a polluted sinner, ever see the face of a holy God? How can I, a worm of earth, corrupted within and without by indwelling and committed sin, ever hope to see a holy God without shrinking into destruction? When we view the pure and spotless holiness of Jesus imputed to His people, and view them . . . holy in Him, pure in Him, without spot in Him, how it does away with all the wrinkles of the creature, and makes them stand holy and spotless before God.

They will come with weeping

“They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back.” Jeremiah 31:9 As they come, they weep. They mourn . . . over their base backslidings, over the many evils they have committed, over the levity of mind which they have indulged, over the worldliness of spirit, over the— pride, presumption, hypocrisy, carnality, carelessness, and obstinacy of their heart. They go and weep with a broken heart and softened spirit—seeking the Lord their God—seeking the secret manifestations of His mercy, the visitations of His favor, the “lifting up of the light of His countenance”— seeking after a revelation of the love of Jesus—to know Him by a spiritual discovery of Himself. Being thus minded . . . they seek not to establish their own righteousness; they seek not the applause of the world; they seek not the good opinion of professors; they seek not the smiles of saints. But they . . . seek the Lord their God, seek His face day and night, seek His favor, seek His mercy, seek His grace, seek His love, seek His glory, seek the sweet visitations of His presence and power, seek Him until they find Him to be their covenant God, who heals all their backslidings.

This is the saint’s inheritance!

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:17 This is the especial blessedness of being a child of God: that death, which puts a final extinguisher on all the hopes and happiness of all the unregenerate—gives him the fulfillment of all his hopes and the consummation of all his happiness—for it places him in possession of “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven.” In this present earthly life, we have sometimes sips and tastes of sonship, feeble indeed and interrupted; yet are they so far pledges of an inheritance to come. But this life is only an introduction to a better. In this life we are but children—but in the life to come, we shall be put into full possession of the eternal inheritance. And what is this? Nothing less than God Himself. “Heirs of God!” says the Apostle. God Himself is the inheritance of His people—yes, He Himself in all His glorious perfections . . . all the love of God, all the goodness of God, all the holiness of God, all His happiness, bliss, and blessedness, all His might, majesty, and glory, in all the blaze of one eternal, unclouded day!

This is the saint’s inheritance!

Let us press on by faith and prayer to win this eternal and glorious crown!

Savory food such as their soul loves

“For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.” John 6:55 This food is specially for the elect . . . blood shed for their sins, and for their sins only; righteousness brought in for them, and for them only; love bestowed upon them, and upon them only; promises revealed for their comfort, and for their comfort only; an eternal inheritance reserved in heaven for them, and for them only.

The elect are the only people . . .

who hunger after it, who have an appetite for it, who have a mouth to feed upon it, who have a stomach to digest it. They are the only people whose eyes are really open to see what “food” is. All others feed upon shadows—they know nothing of the savory food of the gospel. “I have food to eat which you know not of.” Jesus’ food was . . . the hidden communications of God’s love, the visitations of His Father’s presence, the divine communion that He enjoyed with His Father. So, for the children of God, there is food in Christ; and this food the Lord gives them a hunger after. He not only sets before their eyes what the food is, but He kindles inexpressible longings in their soul to be fed with it.

God’s people cannot feed . . .

upon husks, nor upon ashes, nor upon chaff, nor upon the wind, nor upon grapes of gall and the bitter clusters of Gomorrah. They must have real food, “savory food such as their soul loves,” that which God Himself communicates, and which His hand alone can bring down, and give unto them, so that they may receive it from Him as their soul- satisfying portion. “For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.”

A smoother way to glory?

“They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that they MUST enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations.” Acts 14:22 The Lord has chosen that His people should pass through deep and cutting afflictions, for it is “through many tribulations” they are to enter the Kingdom of God above, and into the sweetness and power of the Kingdom of God below. But every man will resent this doctrine, except God has led him experimentally into it. It is such a rough and rugged path—it is so contrary to flesh and blood —it is so inexplicable to nature and reason—that man, proud, rebellious man, will never believe that he must “enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations.” And this is the reason why so many find, or seek to find, a smoother way to glory than the Lord has appointed His saints to walk in. But shall the Head travel in one path—and the members in another? Shall the Bridegroom walk and wade through seas of sorrow—and the bride never so much as wet her feet with the water? Shall the Bridegroom be crucified in weakness and suffering—and there be no inward crucifixion for the dearly beloved of His heart? Shall the Head . . . suffer, grieve, agonize, groan, and die— and the members dance down a flowery road, without inward sorrow or outward suffering? But, perhaps, there are some who say in their heart, “I am well convinced of this—but my coward flesh shrinks from it. I know if I am to reach the Canaan above, I must pass through the appointed portion of tribulation. But my coward flesh shrinks back!” It does! it does! Who would willingly bring trials upon himself? Therefore the Lord does not leave these trials in our hands—but He Himself appoints a certain measure of tribulation for each of His people to pass through. They will come soon enough; you need not anticipate them; you need not wish for them. God will bring them—in His own time and in His own way. And what is more, God will not merely bring you into them, but God will bring you through them, and God will bring you out of them! It will be our mercy if enabled to ask the Lord . . . to bless us with faith and patience under tribulation; to give us strength to bear the storm; to lie as clay in His hands; to conform us to the image of His Son; to guide us through this valley of tears below; and eventually to take us to be with Him above!

Should you then seek great things for yourself? “Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.” Jeremiah 45:5 Ministers often seek . . . great gifts, great eloquence, great congregations, great popularity. They are wrong in seeking these so-called great things. Let them rather seek real things, gracious things, things that will make their souls blessed here and hereafter.

We stand upon slippery places!

“The Lord keep you.” Numbers 6:24 How we need the Lord to keep us!

We stand upon slippery places!

Snares and traps are laid for us in every direction. Every employment, every profession in life, from the highest to the lowest—has its special temptations. Snares are spread for the feet of the most illiterate as well as the most highly cultivated minds. Nor is there anyone, whatever his position in life may be, who has not a snare laid for him—and such a snare as will surely prove his downfall if God does not keep him. Well, then, may it be the desire of our soul, “The Lord keep me” . . . keep me in His providence, keep me by His grace; keep me by planting His fear deep in my soul, and maintaining that fear alive and effectual in my heart; keep me waking, keep me sleeping; keep me by night, keep me by day; keep me at home, keep me abroad; keep me with my family, keep me with my friends; keep me in the world, and keep me in the church.

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