by G. D. Watson
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.
God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.
God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.
Pink was a great Christian writer, and if you read some of the comments below the article you will see some never heard of him and some actually argue with his teaching. They’ve heard of Robertson, Hinn, Schuller, Warren, but not Pink. Of course no one has ever experienced perfection(not even my friend Finney no matter what he claims!) but are we suppose to bring the Word down to mirror our experience or hold God’s Word high and lifted up as a goal for our lifelong journey? No one wants to read Pink, Nettleton, Stoddard, Edwards, Whitefield, Wesley, Moody, and even some of Finney(that’s for you Mike, ha!) because their writings seem absolutely incongruous with today’s Christian experience. Most of the mature Christians today would not even be considered converted 300 years ago. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
This is right on! I’ve heard a little about Pink via other people. I have never read his writings…not a big reader. He sounds good though. I know some people actually put Spurgeon’s sermons on audio via their voice…I wonder if they do the same with Pink? Anyway, inward examination of our condition compared with Christ’s commands is always a must to advance forward to the mark. Thanks!
Rick and Sarah,
I read THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD by AW Pink a year or so ago. He died about the time the great apostasy really became rooted. I hardly ever read modern Christian writers. I do read some, but most of what I study was from the Reformation and the Puritan era. Pink would have qualified as a Puritian I think. My Grandfather was a contemprary with him. Those preachers didn’t mess around with the Gospel. They preached a straight up, right from the Bible Gospel with full contrast between God and His holiness, rightesousness and justice and our total lack thereof.
Sady, the type of Christian I was for the first twenty years of my walk would probably have disqualified me from being a Christian in John Bunyan’s Church. However, praise the Lord, He has changed me. He has opened my eyes. Will I ever be perfect? Not in this life. The Wesleyians who say perfection is obtainable are preaching a doctrine that is based in moralism. It is rooted in Pelagianism. This is why I have rejected Arminianism, semi-Pelagianism, etc.; because they are too wrapped up in humanism. I didn’t become reformed because I liked it. I became reformed because of it’s stance on being totally devoted to the Sovereignty of God and the utter depravity of Man outside of God’s grace.
What me must devote our lives to is abiding in Christ. No other motives. No other dreams or anything that would interfere with our abiding in Him. Anything that comes between us and our abiding in Him must be resisted and rejected. Rick mentioned that most of the mature Christians today would not even be considered converted 300 years ago. I would say that my Grandfather’s and A.W Pink’s generation would look on our humanistic Christianity today and not call it Christian at all. In fact, when AW Pink wrote THE SOVEREINTY OF GOD, it was right after WWI and many Christian leaders were abandoning sound Christian doctrine for Modernism. I believe that that move even went further back to the Humanism of the Spurgeon’s day. All of that was the roots of the Apostasy we are seeing now. We are reaping the results of their bad seeds.
There is absolutley no reason why the remnant, whether they be 5 point Calvinists like me or Free Willers like Rick or anyone in between, cannot devote itself to living for God’s glory alone, rejecting all humanistic pollution in our faith and moving forward with our Lord in Spirit-led obedience. Let us pray for God to wake up His people to the these truths.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Mike, I must comment on your comment because as a writer(I guess) one of your statements is absolutely breathtaking and most meaningful to one who will hear it. I don’t like certain labels, but, if you visit some Armenian blogs they curse all Calvinists and if you visit some Calvinistic blogs they curse all Armenians. This is from your pen and I wish those blogs could read it – “There is absolutely no reason why the remnant, whether they be 5 point Calvinists like me or Free Willers like Rick or anyone in between, cannot devote itself to living for God’s glory alone, rejecting all humanistic pollution in our faith and moving forward with our Lord in Spirit-led obedience”. That came directly from the Holy Spirit, may our Savior be praised for a man of God such as yourself. All for His glory!
I must also say, “Amen!”
You guys…I can barely type because my eyes are all tear filled or as John Bunyan would say it–water stood in his eyes. Yes, we have got to stop the labeling and start living for His glory alone. I count my friends who come here and read what comes from my heart and the hearts of all who comment here as seeing this truth very clearly. God saves His people. They are His forever. They (us) must forget about religion as what defines us, but instead, the remnant are followers of the Lamb who was slain. They are born again believers. I cannot believe that we are going to be seperated by Him into Calvinists or Arminians or Baptists, or whatever. Let’s worship God in spirit and truth and obey Him in all things. Rick and Sarah–my brother and sister in Christ, you are answers to prayer to someone who gets tired and worn out at times. It is as if God has handed me an ice cold glass of water as I trudge through a dry and hot place. Thank you both for your kind and encouraging words.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
AMEN!