Author Archives: gatekeeper

The Unchanging Christ

by J. C. Ryle

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

Always the same! unchanging! —that is a glorious character; a character which belongs to nothing that is of the earth; a character which He alone deserves, who is the Lord from heaven.

What of this present world in which we live and move and have our being? It has stamped upon it the marks of a tremendous change; it is no longer the same as it was in the beginning, it cannot be that fair creation of which God pronounced every part and portion to be very good. Doubtless we see that it is still a beautiful world, clothed with all that is lovely to the eye, furnished with all that is necessary to our comfort, stored with everything that can make life enjoyable.

You may see everywhere the traces of a bountiful Father’s hand. But still, we repeat, this world is not what it once was: it is no longer the same —no more the same than the gallant ship which yesterday did walk the waters like a thing of life, and today is dashed high on the beach and lies there a wreck, dismasted, shattered, and forsaken. This world is no more the same than the ruin of some ancient magnificent temple, which now stands desolate and silent and alone, with weeds and briars creeping over its floor, and ivy hanging about its broken walls like a widow’s garment. Continue reading →

Reading Good Sermons

The reading of good sermons is the most underrated kind of Christian literature on the market today. In former centuries, the reading of sermons was the bulk of the mature Christian’s reading diet.

Most Puritan books, for example, are sermons edited for print. Sermon reading keeps believers in the Word, matures the soul, and whets the appetite for good preaching. It promotes Christ-centered thinking, healthy self-examination, and godly piety in every sphere of life.

Though nothing can replace the Word preached, sermon reading has one advantage over preaching—the sermons that made it into print are usually the minister’s best!

Tolle Lege—”pick up and read” great sermon books, especially those of past centuries that are packed with spiritual meat.” — Joel Beeke

Joel Beeke is the chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

The Pilgrim’s Longings

Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

“And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
Hebrews 11:15-16.

BRAHAM left his country at God’s command, and he never went back again. The proof of faith lies in perseverance. There is a sort of faith which does run well, but it is soon hindered, and it doth not obey the truth. That is not the faith to which the promise is given.

The faith of God’s elect continues and abides. Being connected with the living and incorruptible seed, it lives and abides for ever. Abraham returned not; Isaac returned not; Jacob returned not. The promise was to them as “strangers and sojourners,” and so they continued.

The apostle tells us, however, that they were not forced so to continue; they did not remain because they could not return. Had they been mindful of the place from whence they came out, they might have found opportunities to go back. Continue reading →

The Shadow of the Almighty

Newman Hall

“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” – Psalm 91:1.

The desert is dreary. The way is long. Heavily burdened, a weary traveler slowly drags onward his wounded feet. Faint by reason of the fiery blaze which smites him from the unclouded sky and the scorching sand, he eagerly looks around for shelter. He pants for even the muddiest pool where he may quench his raging thirst. In such “a weary land,” how welcome “the shadow of a great rock,” and the clear, cool fountain gushing up within its rugged clefts! But where can such a refuge be found for the soul—weary with wandering, crushed by care, groaning under guilt? Where can its burden be taken off, its sorrows soothed, its mighty thirst assuaged?

A trembling fugitive, long the victim of robbery and violence, has vainly run here and there in quest of a hiding-place from his cruel enemies, who, with threatening gestures and words of hate, are in full pursuit. Now he hears their voices clamoring for his blood, as they press more closely upon his track. Each moment he expects the fatal shot. How joyful, as it suddenly bursts upon him, is the sight of the friendly fortress whose open portal bids him enter, and then shuts impregnably! Beneath the shadow of those strong towers, he may now rest both from his toils and his terrors!

But where for me, pursued by my relentless enemy, the devil, entangled by doubts, haunted by fears, with many a barbed and poisoned arrow rankling in my conscience—where for me is the privileged retreat which no hostile foot may enter, where all my wounds may be healed, and where, taking up my abode, I may be henceforth both safe and happy? Continue reading →

Election Unto Holiness

Charles Spurgeon

God neither chose them nor called them because they were holy, but He called them that they might be holy, and holiness is the beauty produced by His workmanship in them.

Grace does not choose a man and leave him as he is.

There is no man in this world chosen to go to heaven apart from being made fit to go there.

Foreordination to holiness is indissolubly joined to foreordination to happiness.

God’s choice of us was not because we were holy, but to make us holy; and God’s purpose will not be fulfilled unless we are made holy.