“True Christian Love” by A. W. Pink

Love is the Queen of the Christian graces. It is a holy disposition given to us when we are born again by God. It is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. True spiritual love is characterized by meekness and gentleness, yet it is vastly superior to the courtesies and kindnesses of the flesh.

We must be careful not to confuse human sentimentality, carnal pleasantries, human amiability and affability with true spiritual love. The love God commands, first to Himself and then to others, is not human love. It is not the indulgent, self-seeking love which is in us by nature. If we indulgently allow our children to grow up with little or, no Scriptural discipline, Proverbs plainly says we do not love them, regardless of the human sentimentality and affection we may feel for them. Love is not a sentimental pampering of one another with a loose indifference as to our walk and obedience before the Lord. Glossing over one another’s faults to ingratiate ourselves in their esteem is not spiritual love.

The true nature of Christian love is a righteous principle which seeks the highest good of others. It is a powerful desire to promote their welfare. The exercise of love is to be in strict conformity to the revealed will of God. We must love in the truth. Love among the brethren is far more than an agreeable society where views are the same. It is loving them for what we see of Christ in them, loving them for Christ’s sake.

The Lord Jesus Himself is our example. He was not only thoughtful, gentle, self-sacrificing and patient, but He also corrected His mother, used a whip in the Temple, Severely scolded His doubting disciples, and denounced hypocrites. True spiritual love is above all faithful to God and uncompromising towards all that is evil. We cannot declare, ‘Peace and Safety’ when in reality there is spiritual decay and ruin!

True spiritual love is very difficult to exercise because it is not our natural love. By nature we would rather love sentimentally and engender good feelings. Also many times true spiritual love is not received in love, but is hated as the Pharisees hated it. We must pray that God will fill us with His love and enable us to exercise it without dissimulation toward all.

 

Advertisement

Spiritual Liars by A. W. Pink

I came across this in my reading and knew I had to share it.

Spiritual Liars
Arthur Pink, 1937

“Remove from me the way of lying” (Psa_119:29). How we should be humbled by such a prayer as this, for it is evidently an appropriate one for all the Lord’s people. The fact that it is not only recorded in Holy Writ—but here in the 119th Psalm, rather than in the prayer of a particular individual on some special occasion, plainly intimates this.

There is nothing in all the Old Testament of wider latitude and of more general application, than the various petitions found in this Psalm—each of them is pertinent to the experiences and exigencies of all the saints, and the one now before us is certainly no exception, no matter how hesitant we may be to acknowledge the truth of it. Reader and writer alike are spiritual liars, guilty of dissembling before both man and God.

There are different kinds of lies; some are spoken—others are acted; some are intentional—others involuntary. We often pretend to be what we are not, and are indictable with much formality. We are guilty of making promises to God which we break; of uttering penitential confessions while our hearts are hard and unaffected; of asking for spiritual blessings for which we have no felt need; or returning thanks for mercies which have made no impression upon us. All of this is a species of abominable dissimulation.

When we are convicted and made conscience of the same we cry, “Remove from me the way of lying!” Below is a message recently sent to two dear souls who enjoy little assurance; may it please the Lord to make the same a blessing unto others of His distressed family.

“Remove from me the way of lying.” How well suited is this petition to the quickened child of God, who is often made painfully conscious of how much insincerity and hypocrisy is mixed up with his worship, supplications, repentance, and thanksgivings! When an honest heart examines his religious life, reviews his prayers, and ponders his character and conduct, he perceives how little reality and how much dissimulation characterizes all his spiritual exercises, until at times it seems that he himself and all pertaining to his solemn profession is only a sham. If it were not so it would be quite useless for him to pray.

“Remove from me the way of lying.” Observe how strongly this is expressed—not simply “deliver me from lying,” but “the way of lying”—a regular course, a confirmed habit.

Now the very fact that we find this petition so well-suited to our case, supplies clear evidence that we must be among those who are enabled to see themselves in God’s light, for no Satan-blinded and sin-deceived soul feels and knows himself to be a spiritual liar.

Moreover, the petitions which the Spirit of Truth has so graciously recorded in this 119th Psalm are most obviously neither designed for nor suited, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Should not this very consideration at least revive the spark of assurance which so often waxes dim in your breasts? Furthermore, the very fact that you can, from the depths of your soul, feelingly pray, “Remove from me the way of lying” is clear proof that you are not among those who love darkness rather than light. You want to be genuine with God, to be delivered from all insincerity, and this evidences an honest root amid the rank weeds and thistles of deception and formality.

Perhaps you answer, I follow you thus far—but alas, I have not the ear of God. Countless times have I confessed to Him my lack of sincerity, and begged Him, (in substance at least, if not in those identical words) to “Remove from me the way of lying”; but so far from my prayer being answered, I am conscious of increasing unreality in my devotions.

Thank God that you are so conscious, dear brother and sister—if God had given you up “to a reprobate mind” (as He had the sovereign right to do, and as He has countless millions of our fellow creatures), then you would be quite unconscious of “the deceitfulness of sin,” quite indifferent to the unreality of your devotions. I ask you, frankly, Is it not so? Yet, perhaps, that hardly removes your difficulty.

But this does, “Remove from me the way of lying,” like many another prayer, awaits its answer until the life to come! We were born in “the way of lying”—it is the very sphere in which “the flesh” lives, moves and has its being; the way of lying ends only when the flesh itself is removed. Until then, the quickened soul is burdened, exercised, shocked, plagued, grieved by it—by the unreality and formality of his devotions—and that very grief finds expression in this prayer which is so well suited to some exercises of soul.

Then step out of your mental gloom for a moment, into the warm sunshine of the clear implications of this verse, and thank God for having placed in your hands, yes, and put into your mouths—such a prayer as this, which, because it is so well suited to your case, denotes that you are entitled to make use of the same; which, in turn, proves you belong to that quickened company who are painfully aware of the plague of their own hearts.

 

From the “Writings of A.W. Pink”

      In a world full of many supposed truths there is only one.

 

What is Truth?

 

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?”

Joh_18:37-38

What is Truth?

 

“What is Truth?”

asked Pilate. Men have asked this question from generation to generation without hope of an answer, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2Ti_3:7

Jesus Christ is the truth, but men do not except Him as truth, and therefore continue in darkness. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Joh_14:6

 

The Truth comes to a man only through the Holy Spirit, no man can of himself find it out. “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”

1Jn_5:6. “And when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:“ Joh_16:13

 

Truth must be sought after, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Mat_7:7-8

Truth can be attained, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Joh_8:31-32

 

Truth is a hard way to follow, therefore few men go on to perfection. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Mat_7:13-14

Truth is infinite, it is deeper than you know. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Rom_11:33-36

A warning for those who would reject truth, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Who changed the truth of God into a lie…”

Rom_1:18; Rom_1:25. “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth…” 2Th_2:12. “…men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth…” 1Ti_6:5

.

　

 

 

From the “Writings of A.W. Pink”

     Among the many failings of the christian church today there is none greater than the failure to teach and to proclaim the Sovereignty of God.  It is this failure, above all others, that has given rise to many of the false beliefs people have about God.  God is not the weak, ambivalent, fickle entity that so many people make Him out to be.  It is a failure to teach the Bible – God’s Holy Word – and it’s doctrines with absolute truth, and without compromise and dissimulation that has led people to think that our God is like we are with all our foibles, flaws and inconsistencies.  Nothing, and I mean, nothing is more dishonoring to God than for people to think that He is like them, or that He isn’t fully in control of everything, and I mean everything, that happens in this world and in the lives of people.  Do I know what I’m saying?  Yes, absolutely, and a careful study of the scriptures bears this out.  
     To say there are things in the Bible that are hard to understand is an understatement, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be understood.  Foreordination, Election, and predestination are difficult concepts to understand, but they are not beyond the comprehension of human intellect when guided and taught by the Holy Spirit.  The Bible is it’s own best commentary; yet, many people fail to benefit from it simply because they don’t take the time to study it.  No one single verse or section of scripture can be fully understood without it being studied in the context in which it is written, and in light of what other scriptures reveal in relationship to it.
     The Bible is the Word of God; His revelation of Himself to man so that man can understand himself and his role in relation to his Creator.   There are many men behind the pulpits of todays churches who quite frankly are false teachers, whether by intention, or ignorance, is not for me to judge, but the results are the same.  Whenever and wherever people teach that God is love, and fail to teach that He is holy, just, and hates sin they are NOT teaching the truth as the Bible reveals it.
     A proper attitude toward the sovereignty of God is essential to comprehending and experiencing the promises and blessings of Almighty God. 

What Ought to be Our Attitude Toward the Sovereignty of God?

Arthur W. Pink

It has been well said that “true worship is based upon recognized greatness, and greatness is superlatively seen in Sovereignty, and at no other footstool will men really worship.” In the presence of the Divine King upon His throne even the seraphim ‘veil their faces.’ Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical Despot, but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good! Because God is infinitely wise He cannot err, and because He is infinitely righteous He will not do wrong. Here then is the preciousness of this truth. The mere fact itself that God’s will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good. My heart is made to rejoice. Here then is the final answer to the question (concerning our attitude toward God’s sovereignty)—What ought to be our attitude toward the sovereignty of God? The becoming attitude for us to take is that of godly fear, implicit obedience, and unreserved resignation and submission. But not only so: the recognition of the sovereignty of God, and the realization that the Sovereign Himself is my Father, ought to overwhelm the heart and cause me to bow before Him in adoring worship. At all times I must say, “Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.”

From the Writings of A.W. Pink

     Often what we lack in life is a proper perspective toward the trials, struggles, and obstacles that come to us in living our lives in this world.  It’s not the problems we face that are the issue for most of us.  It’s how we face them, our attitude toward them, and our ability to look beyond them.  The problem for most of us is that we have poor vision; we don’t see very well.  As people who have poor eyesight go to the eye doctor and get glasses and find their vision much improved by the lens they look through, so does our when we look at things with a heavenly perspective.

Affliction and Glory

“For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2Co_4:17)

These words supply us with a reason why we should not faint under trials nor be overwhelmed by misfortunes. They teach us to look at the trials of time in the light of eternity. They affirm that the present buffetings of the Christian exercise a beneficent effect on the inner man. If these truths were firmly grasped by faith they would mitigate much of the bitterness of our sorrows.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” This verse sets forth a striking and glorious antithesis, as it contrasts our future state with our present. Here there is “affliction,” there “glory.” Here there is a “light affliction,” there a “might of glory.” In our affliction there is both levity and brevity; it is a light affliction, and it is but for a moment; in our future glory there is solidity and eternity! To discover the preciousness of this contrast let us consider, separately, each member, but in the inverse order of mention.

1. “A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” It is a significant thing that the Hebrew word for “glory”-kabod-also means “weight.” When weight is added to the value of gold or precious stones this increases their worth. Heaven’s happiness cannot be told out in the words of earth; figurative expressions are best calculated to convey some imperfect views to us. Here in our text one term is piled up on top of another. That which awaits the believer is “glory,” and when we say that a thing is glorious we have reached the limits of human language to express that which is excellent and perfect. But the “glory” awaiting us is weighted, yea it is “far more exceeding” weighty than anything terrestrial and temporal; its value defies computation; its transcendent excellency is beyond verbal description. Moreover, this wondrous glory awaiting us is not evanescent and temporal, but Divine and eternal; for “eternal” it could not be unless it were Divine. The great and blessed God is going to give us that which is worthy of Himself, yea that which is like Himself-infinite and everlasting.

2. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment.”

 

(1) “Affliction” is the common lot of human existence; “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward”

 

(Job_5:7)  This is part of the entail of sin. It is not meet that a fallen creature should be perfectly happy in his sins. Nor are the children of God exempted; “Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Act_14:22).

 By a hard and rugged road does God lead us to glory and immortality.

 

(2) Our affliction is “light.” Afflictions are not light in themselves for ofttimes they are heavy and grievous; but they are light comparatively! They are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us. As said the same apostle in another place, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”

 (Rom_8:18).

 

(3) “Which is but for a moment. Should our afflictions continue throughout a whole lifetime, and that life be equal in duration to Methuselah’s, yet is it momentary if compared with the eternity which is before us. At most our affliction is but for this present life, which is as a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Oh that God would enable us to examine our trials in their true perspective.

3. Note now the connection between the two. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, “worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The present is influencing the future. It is not for us to reason and philosophize about this, but to take God at His Word and believe it. Experience, feelings, observation of others, may seem to deny this fact. Ofttimes afflictions appear only to sour us and make us more rebellious and discontented. But let it be remembered that afflictions are not sent by God for the purpose of purifying the flesh: they are designed for the benefit of the “new man.” Moreover, afflictions help to prepare us for the glory hereafter. Affliction draws away our heart from the love of the world; it makes us long more for the time when we shall be translated from this scene of sin and sorrow; it will enable us to appreciate (by way of contrast) the things which God had prepared for them that love Him.

Here then is what faith is invited to do: to place in one scale the present affliction, in the other, the eternal glory. Are they worthy to be compared? No, indeed. One second of glory will more than counterbalance a whole lifetime of suffering. What are years of toil, of sickness, of battling against poverty, of persecution, yea, of a martyr’s death, when weighed over against the pleasures at God’s right hand, which are for evermore! One breath of Paradise will extinguish all the adverse winds of earth. One day in the Father’s House will more than counterbalance the years we have spent in this dreary wilderness. May God grant unto us that faith which will enable us to anticipatively lay hold of the future and live in the present enjoyment of it.

 

 

 

　

 

 

 

 

 

Taken from “The Sermons of A.W. Pink”

 

 

     I came across this tonight as I was reading.  I often find it difficult to sleep, so I tend to read a lot.  I found this through E-Sword which is a free bible study program created by Rick Meyers.  You can find it here http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html  I highly recommend it.  1 Peter 4:12-18 and this word from Mr. Pink really spoke to my heart tonight.  Perhaps it will speak to yours as well.

 

Suffering Saints

 

 by Arthur W. Pink

 

 

“Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (

1Pe_4:19). As the nature of fallen man is very backward to do good, so likewise to suffer evil; and hence it is there are so many exhortations in the Word both to the one and to the other. There is not a little in this Epistle on the subject of “suffering” (which has prime reference to opposition from the world), and many are the inducements advanced for the bearing of it in a God-honouring way. Varied indeed are the grounds for patience mentioned and the streams of comfort therein opened to the persecuted people of God—read through the Epistle with that particular thought in mind. Limiting ourselves to the more immediate context: the Christian is not to be unduly perplexed at his troublous lot (v. 12), rather is he to rejoice because it brings him into fellowship with Christ (vv. 13, 14). Yet we must carefully see to it that our afflictions are not incurred through our own wickedness or folly (vv. 15, 16). Vastly different is the end of a Christian from that of the wicked (vv. 17, 18). (1Pe_4:12-18)

“Wherefore—in view of all the reasons and encouragements given in the context—let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” In different ways and in various degrees the Christian is bound to meet with trying opposition: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (

2Ti_3:12). No matter where they reside, the saints live among those who cannot but cause them suffering: and as Scripture makes abundantly clear, our worst afflictions are to be expected from those who profess to be our brethren and sisters in Christ. Moreover, there is much within the saint himself which cannot but be the cause and occasion of suffering: indwelling corruptions which ever resist the actings of grace, lusts which have to be mortified, a conscience which accuses us when we displease God.

But the grand thing in which we are here to take to heart is the fact that the suffering of saints is “according to the will of God.” Those oppositions he encounters, the injuries done to him are not fortuitous: they are not the result of blind chance or fickle fortune, but are according to Divine ordination and ordering. How inexpressibly blessed to be assured of that! Does it not at once remove the bitterest ingredient from our cup of trouble? The saint never suffers except by the will of God. He who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind is the One who mixes the medicine and hands it to us. If only we could always realize this, how many rebellious repinings would be silenced, and the rod meekly borne. True, we do not suffer all the time, for God tempers the wind according as our case requires, and graciously grants us brief respites.

 

Now in view of the fact that suffering is inevitable as long as we are on earth, and particularly because it is “according to the will of God,” our gracious Father, what is the Christian’s duty in connection therewith? To commit the keeping of his soul to Him in well doing. The manner of this committal is “in well doing.” And this, first, before suffering comes upon us. When some worker of iniquity afflicts a child of God, what a comfort it is if he has the testimony of a good conscience that he is suffering for “well doing” and not because he has wronged his persecutor. How watchful we should be in seeing to it that none can justly speak evil of us and that we do nothing to warrant our enemies hurting us. Then let us follow a course of “well doing” continually. Second, in the suffering itself. No matter how unprovoked the opposition, we must carry ourselves rightly under persecution: so far from harbouring a spirit of retaliation, we are required to do good unto those who do us evil.

 

Not only are we to be active in “well doing” unto those who cause us suffering, but our carriage is also to be good with respect to God: there must be a meek behaviour under His afflicting hand, with no murmuring against Him. This is of vast importance in connection with the cause of God on earth: that we betray it not through fear or cowardice, and dishonour it not by base retaliation against our oppressors. When we display a Christ- like spirit under afflictions, conducting ourselves in the fear of God and make conscience of our duty, it will exert a strong influence on those who wrong us: touching the hearts of the indifferent and closing the mouths of the obstinate. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. Far more will be accomplished by prayer, than by taking things into our own hands and seeking to avenge ourselves.

 

We are not only to commit our souls unto God as to a faithful Creator, but this duty is to be performed “in well doing.” In the suffering itself we should have an eye to God, an eye on ourselves, and an eye to the cause in hand. We must not commit our souls to God in idleness: it is not sufficient that we abstain from evil doing, we are to be active in well doing. Nor may we resort to ungodly compromises in order to escape suffering, for that would be evil, and sin is far, far worse than to have suffering inflicted upon us. Whatever may be the present gain of pleasing men at the expense of displeasing God, the future loss will be immeasurably greater: prayerfully ponder

Mar_8:38.

And what is it we are to “commit to God in well doing”? Our name, our estate, our bodies, our friends; but chiefly and above all, the keeping of our souls. The soul is our most excellent part. Though the body be burned at the stake, that is a trifle if our soul be preserved unto everlasting glory. Though all our earthly goods be taken from us, what is that if the inestimably precious jewel of our soul is safe in the hands of God? The value of our souls is to be gauged by the price which Christ paid for their redemption. Therefore, whatever trouble or peril we be in at the hands of the wicked, let our first concern be our souls, that it may be well with them. When a man’s house is on fire, he naturally seeks to rescue first that on which he sets the most store; let it be so with the Christian when fiery trials are his portion.

 

And what is it that we should desire our souls to be kept from? Why, from sin, from doing evil, from not only failing to be profited from the suffering but to be spiritually injured thereby. It is when we are slandered, ill treated, wronged, unjustly persecuted, that we most need God’s preserving grace, for it is natural for us to want to “get our own back.” But when we truly comply with the injunction of Christ’s “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (

Mat_5:44), then has grace triumphed over the flesh and God is greatly glorified. Nor is it a difficult matter to commit our souls unto God when our hearts are impressed with His faithfulness. If He unfailingly supplies the temporal needs of all His creatures, will He fail to minister to the spiritual wants of His children? No indeed.