Grace Community Church, Milwaukee, WI

How many today would answer the question like this:

“The gospel of Christ in general is this: It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ. More largely it is this: As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in the chains of eternal darkness, yet He has thought upon the children of men and has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again…Namely, the second person of the Trinity takes man’s nature upon Himself, and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with sin. He answers for it by suffering what the law and divine justice required, and by making satisfaction by keeping the law perfectly, which satisfaction and righteousness He tenders up to the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls that are given to Him…And now this mediation of Christ is, by the appointment of the Father, preached to the children of men, of whatever nation or rank, freely offering this atonement unto sinners for atonement, requiring them to believe in Him and, upon believing, promising not only a discharge of all their former sins, but that they shall not enter into condemnation, that none of their sins or unworthiness shall ever hinder the peace of God with them, but that they shall through Him be received into the number of those who shall have the image of God again to be renewed unto them, and they they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, 1600 – 1646 

Grace and Peace,

Elder Dale

Here is another great devotional from the the pen of Richard Sibbes:

“As the sun is on its course though we cannot see it move, and as plants and herbs grow though we cannot perceive them to grow, even so it does not follow that a Christian grows not because he cannot see himself grow. Nay, if believers decay in their first love, or in some other grace, yet another grace may grow and increase, such as their humility, their broken-heartedness; they sometimes seem not to grow in the branches when they may grow at the root; upon a check grace breaks out more; as we say, after a hard winter there usually follows a glorious spring.

It is not sufficient for a Christian to have habitual grace; there is no vine can bring forth fruit without the fresh influences of heaven, though it be planted and well rooted in a good soil; so we cannot bring forth fruit unless God assists us; our former strength will not serve when a new temptation comes.

As men cherish young plants at first and fence them about with hedges to keep them from hurt, but when they are grown they remove these things and leave them to the wind and weather, so God sustains His children at first with props of inward comforts, but afterwards He exposes them to storms and winds because they are better able to bear them. Therefore let no man think himself the better because he is more free from troubles than others; it is because God sees him not fit to bear greater.”

Grace and Peace,
Elder Dale
The Shepherd’s Crook
The Old Paths

A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth.
Isaiah 42 : 3

These days, it is pretty easy to get caught up in the bad news of the day whether it is local, national, or global. Personal circumstances have a way of bringing us down when they are not going well. If this would be the case for you, please be encouraged by this excerpt from “The Bruised Reed” by Richard Sibbes. In his day, his teachings were referred to as a “balm for the soul”. I trust they will be for you, too!

“The sighs of a bruised heart carry in them a report, both of our affection to Christ, and of His care to us. The eyes of our souls cannot be towards Him unless He has cast a gracious look upon us first. The least love we have to Him is but a reflection of His love first shining upon us. As Christ did, in His example to us, whatever He charges us to do, so He suffered in His own person whatever He calls us to suffer, so that He might the better learn to relieve and pity us in our sufferings. In His desertion in the garden and on the cross He was content to be without that unspeakable solace which the presence of His Father gave, both to bear the wrath of the Lord for a time for us, and likewise to know the better how to comfort us in our greatest extremities. God sees fit that we should taste of that cup of which his Son drank so deep, that we might feel a little what sin is, and what his Son’s love was. But our comfort is that Christ drank the dregs of the cup for us, and will succor us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of His displeasure which we may feel. He became not only a man but a curse, a man of sorrows, for us. He was broken that we should not be broken; He was troubled, that we should not be desperately troubled; He became a curse, that we should not be accursed. Whatever may be wished for in an all sufficient comforter is all to be found in Christ:

1. Authority from the Father. All power was given to Him (Matt. 28:18).
2. Strength in Himself. His name is `The mighty God’ (Isa. 9:6).
3. Wisdom, and that from His own experience, how and when to help (Heb. 2:18).
4. Willingness, as being bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh (Gen. 2:23; Eph. 5:30).”

Grace and Peace,

Elder Dale
The Shepherd’s Crook
The Old Paths