On Conversion – Thomas Reade

When the Savior was born into the world, there was no room for him in the inn. Just so it is with our depraved hearts. Yet, wonderful condescension! Jesus stands at the door and knocks, saying, “If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

And does not every heart fly open to receive the heavenly visitant? Alas, no! Satan puts on the threefold bar of unbelief, pride, and prejudice; while inbred sin, afraid of losing its darling gratifications, opposes every effort to admit so kind a friend. The flesh pleads hard for self-indulgence; the world spreads its painted baubles, its deceitful riches, its empty honors, its intoxicating pleasures; and thus the sinner is held in vassalage to the powers of darkness.
Is, then, the heart forever barred against the Prince of peace? Forever barred it would be, did not sovereign grace, by its almighty power, drive out the strong man armed, crucify each rebellious lust, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. When grace opens the sinner’s heart, all the powers of the soul are made willing to admit the conquering Savior, and to acknowledge him to be the Lord. Old favorite sins now become hateful; darling lusts appear like inbred vipers. Satan is beheld in all his horrors, and vice in its true deformity. The world loses its charms. Heaven opens on the enraptured eye of faith. Holiness captivates the heart by its celestial beauties. Jesus is beheld with rising admiration, and becomes each day more precious to the soul. Such is the wonderful change wrought in the conversion of a sinner, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Unbelief gives way to faith; pride to humility; anger to meekness; impatience to resignation; hatred to love and sin to universal holiness. The idol, self, falls prostrate before Jesus Christ; and nothing is extolled, or trusted in, or pleaded before the throne of God, but the precious blood and righteousness of Emanuel. All glory is now given to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the Triune God is ALL in ALL.

It is to be feared that thousands, who call themselves Christians, will never be acknowledged as such in that great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, and the real character of every professor of godliness distinctly known. Too many, it is to be feared, substitute a general acknowledgment of the truths of the Bible, for that faith in those truths which purifies the heart, and assimilates the soul to the image of Jesus.

It is no difficult thing to say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord;” But, to feel all the love, reverence, and obedience, which, as creatures and redeemed sinners, we owe to our God and Savior, is not so easy to fallen nature. It is no way contrary to our carnal heart to profess, and even strenuously to contend for, those truths which we have been taught from our infancy to consider as sacred; or to extol that church, in whose bosom we have grown up from earliest years.

But, to exhibit the fruit of those doctrines, and to act agreeably to the spiritual formularies of our venerable establishment, is not so congenial to the natural state of our depraved hearts. So long as thousands, who bear the Christian name, live in all the gayeties and follies of the world; neglecting the Gospel, and manifesting a spirit in direct opposition to it; we cannot wonder that such multitudes, carried away by the potent stream of public example, rest satisfied with a faith which passes current in the world, which attaches no transformation to the character, which requires no self-denial, no painful sacrifices on the part of its possessors.

Many, no doubt, rejoice that they are preserved from such delusions as they suppose the people of God labor under, who debar themselves from what they term the innocent gayeties of life, and the delights of fashionable extravagance. These people pride themselves on their superior wisdom in being able to grasp both worlds at once; to acknowledge the importance of Christianity, and yet to enjoy those carnal gratifications which give such a zest to their existence. Thus they go on, like the rich man in the parable, faring sumptuously every day; and never find out their dreadful mistake, until, like him, they open their eyes in hell, being in torments!

How awfully blinded is the soul of man, until illuminated by the Holy Spirit of truth! Until his glorious light irradiate our minds, we can form no accurate ideas either of God or of ourselves. All is chaos and confusion. We do not even see men as trees walking. We are in a state of complete blindness, and all our conceptions are erroneous. We grope in the dark. We stumble even at noonday.

How different from that cold assent of the understanding to the general truths of the Gospel, which satisfies an unbelieving world, is the faith which the Spirit of God works in the hearts of his people. The believer in Jesus is the new creation of God. His mind is enlightened from above. His heart is made to feel its guilt and misery. He reads the word of God with an interest unfelt before. He reads it as a revelation of love from the God of mercy, proclaiming pardon to the guilty, peace to the miserable, and purity to the polluted. Every declaration bears, to his mind, the stamp of truth. He requires no other sanction than “thus says the Lord;” and, finding this, he reads with reverence, and seeks for grace to receive with all meekness the engrafted word which is able to save his soul. He finds his own character exactly portrayed in its sacred pages. He looks within, and is able to trace sin through the dark recesses and secret windings of his heart. He discovers those latent seeds of evil, those bitter springs of misery, unbelief, and pride and lust, and covetousness, which are continually pouring forth their deadly streams into his outward life. He traces all this evil to the fall of man, and finds that the deadly poison has contaminated the whole posterity of Adam. He owns himself a sinner, both by nature and practice. He justifies the righteous judgment of God, whose law he has broken, and whose tremendous curse he has so awfully incurred. He no longer tries to palliate his offenses, or invent soft names whereby to varnish over the deformity of sin. He frankly and fully confesses himself a rebel, guilty of death, and deserving of nothing less than eternal damnation.

Into this humble, broken, contrite state of heart, he is brought by the deep convictions of that Holy Spirit, whose office it is “to convince the world of sin.” But does this divine agent leave him in this awakened state of agony and despair? Ah, no! How good, how gracious, how merciful is God! He wounds in order to heal; he kills in order to make alive!

When a person labors under a violent fever, every expedient is tried to reduce the wasting malady. The means used, seem, for a time, to increase the weakness and debility of the patient: but he is thus weakened only that he may eventually become strong. No sooner is the consuming fever abated, than cordials and restoratives are freely administered, which, given before, would have augmented the dangerous symptoms, and thus have hastened on the fatal consequences of the disease. Thus, our heavenly Physician humbles and subdues the proud heart of the sinner, and destroys the feverish thirst and burning desire after sinful gratifications, before he imparts the reviving cordials of pardon and peace to restore the sin-sick soul to spiritual strength and vigor.

Then the bloom of health begins to appear in the sweet tints of peace and joy, of love and humility, of meekness and heavenly-mindedness, which beautify the soul, and cause the believer to shine in the image of his divine Redeemer.
The happy believer now knows his malady and his remedy. He takes with gratitude those medicines which Infinite Wisdom prescribes. He daily feeds upon Christ by faith, and daily derives strength from this gracious source of blessedness. He feels his own weakness, and experiences the power of Jesus. He loathes himself and truly loves his Savior, in whose righteousness he appears all lovely in the eyes of his heavenly Father. As a pilgrim, he journeys onwards under the guidance of that Holy Spirit who dwells in him as in a temple, and who has promised to keep him by his mighty power through faith unto salvation. The world fascinates no longer. The mask falls from its face, and he beholds the idol in its natural deformity. He sees the emptiness of human applause; the madness of ambition; the deceitfulness of riches; the folly of extravagance. Every thing beneath the sun assumes its true character while he views it through the medium of God’s holy word.

He learns to form a proper estimate of temporal things. He prays for grace to use the world as not abusing it; to be moderate in the enjoyment of all created good; knowing that the fashion of this world passes away. Has the believer no enjoyment of life? Is he destitute of all rational delights because he makes the Lord his portion? It would be an impeachment of the goodness of God, to suppose his service a mere Egyptian bondage.

The true believer in Jesus has the sweetest enjoyment of life. He can eat his food with singleness of heart, praising God. He can taste the sweets of Christian friendship and domestic life; he can enjoy all the endearing charities of husband, father, brother; he can feel his heart expanding towards the poor; and find his joy in pouring the balm of consolation into the troubled breast; he can delight in all the beauties of natural scenery, and relish all the charms of sound philosophy; he can rejoice in every opening prospect for the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom, through institutions devised by Christian wisdom and conducted in Christian simplicity; he can weep in his best moments over the ruins of the fall, not only as felt in his own heart, but as beheld in the abject condition of the millions of mankind; he can rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Say, then, can such a man be miserable? can such a man be destitute of sources of real enjoyment? He lives by faith; he longs for heaven; he desires to be daily conformed to Jesus, and to glorify him more, whether it be by life or death. To him, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Such is the character of the converted sinner. Oh how precious, how divine, how rare a character!

“Lord, impart this grace unto me, who am less than the least of all your mercies, until faith shall end in the glorious fruition of yourself in your everlasting kingdom of light and glory.”

Blest Savior, condescend
To dwell within my heart;
Oh, be my advocate and friend;
Bid every sin depart.
Incline my soul to love
The path of life divine;
In concord let my passions move,
Let all my heart be thine.
Preserve me by your care;
Protect me, lest I stray;
Keep me from Satan’s’ deadly snare,
From every devious way.
Let angel-guards surround,
And shield my soul from ill;
While traveling over temptation’s ground,
To Zion’s holy hill.
When death the message brings
To call me hence away,
O may I stretch my joyful wings

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From living by own merit to living by Christ’s merit – JC Philpot

“If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” – 1 Corinthians 3:18

The fruit and effect of divine teaching is, to cut in pieces, and root up all our fleshly wisdom, strength, and righteousness. God never means to patch a new piece upon an old garment; he never intends to let our wisdom, our strength, our righteousness have any union with his; it must all be torn to pieces, it must all be plucked up by the roots, that a new wisdom, a new strength, and a new righteousness may arise upon its ruins. But till the Lord is pleased to teach us, we never can part with our own righteousness, never give up our own wisdom, never abandon our own strength. These things are a part and parcel of ourselves, so ingrained within us, so innate in us, so growing with our growth, that we cannot willingly part with an atom of them till the Lord himself breaks them up, and plucks them away.

Then, as he brings into our souls some spiritual knowledge of our own dreadful corruptions and horrible wickedness, our righteousness crumbles away at the divine touch; as he leads us to see and feel our ignorance and folly in a thousand instances, and how unable we are to understand anything aright but by divine teaching, our wisdom fades away; and as he shews us our inability to resist temptation and overcome sin, by any exertion of our own, our strength gradually departs, and we become like Samson, when his locks were cut off. Upon the ruins, then, of our own wisdom, righteousness, and strength, does God build up Christ’s wisdom, Christ’s righteousness, and Christ’s strength: as Jesus said to his servant Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness;” and this brought him to that wonderful conclusion, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9). But only so far as we are favoured with this special teaching are we brought to pass a solemn sentence of condemnation upon our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness, and feelingly seek after the Lord’s.

JC Philpot

Seeing ourselves in the thief on the cross – Arthur Pink

“Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.” — Matthew 27:41-44

Terrible indeed was the condition and action of this robber. On the very brink of eternity he unites with the enemies of Christ in the awful sin of mocking him. This was unparalleled turpitude. Think of it – a man in his dying hour deriding the suffering Saviour! O what a demonstration of human depravity and of the native enmity of the carnal mind against God! And reader, by nature there is the same depravity inhering within you, and unless a miracle of divine grace has been wrought upon you there is the same enmity against God and his Christ present in your heart. You may not think so, you may not feel so, you may not believe so. But that does not alter the fact. The word of him who cannot lie declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). That is a statement of universal application. It describes what every human heart is by natural birth. And again the same scripture of truth declares, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). This, too, diagnoses the state of every descendant of Adam. “For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). Unspeakably solemn is this: yet it needs to be pressed. It is not until our desperate condition is realized that we discover our need of a divine Saviour. It is not until we are brought to see our total corruption and unsoundness that we shall hasten to the great physician. It is not until we find in this dying thief a portrayal of ourselves that we shall join in saying, “Lord, remember me“.

We have to be abased before we can be exalted. We have to be stripped of the filthy rags of our self-righteousness before we are ready for the garments of salvation. We have to come to God as beggars, empty-handed, before we can receive the gift of eternal life. We have to take the place of lost sinners before him if we would be saved. Yes, we have to acknowledge ourselves as thieves before we can have a place in the family of God. “But,” you say, “I am no thief! I acknowledge I am not all I ought to be. I am not perfect. In fact,! will go so far as to admit I am a sinner. But I cannot allow that this thief represents my state and condition.” Ah, friend, your case is far worse than you suppose. You are a thief, and that of the worst type. You have robbed God! Suppose that a firm in the East appointed an agent to represent them in the West, and that every month they forwarded to him his salary. But suppose also at the end of the year his employers discovered that though the agent had been cashing the cheques they sent him, nevertheless, he had served another firm all that time. Would not that agent be a thief? Yet this is precisely the situation and state of every sinner. He has been sent into this world by God, and God has endowed him with talents and the capacity to use and improve them. God has blessed him with health and strength; he has supplied his every need, and provided innumerable opportunities to serve and glorify him. But with what result? The very things God has given him have been misappropriated. The sinner has served another master, even Satan. He dissipates his strength and wastes his time in the pleasures of sin. He has robbed God. Unsaved reader, in the sight of Heaven your condition is as desperate and your heart is as wicked as that of the thief. See in him a picture of yourself. . .

. . .Here we see that man has to come to the end of himself before he can be saved.

Above we have contemplated this dying robber as a representative sinner, a sample specimen of what all men are by nature and practice – by nature at enmity against God and his Christ; by practice robbers of God, misusing what he has given us and failing to render what is due him. We are now to see that this crucified robber was also a representative case in his conversion. And at this point we shall dwell simply upon his helplessness.

To see ourselves as lost sinners is not sufficient. To learn that we are corrupt and depraved by nature and sinful transgressors by practice is the first important lesson. The next is to learn that we are utterly undone, and that we can do nothing whatever to help ourselves. To discover that our condition is so desperate that it is entirely beyond human repair, is the second step toward salvation – looking at it from the human side. But if man is slow to learn that he is a lost sinner and unfit for the presence of a holy God, he is slower still to recognize that he can do nothing towards his salvation, and is unable to work any improvement in himself so as to be fit for God. Yet, it is not until we realize that we are “without strength” (Rom. 5:6), that we are “impotent” (John 5:3), that it is not by works of righteousness which we do, but by his mercy God saves us (Titus 3:5), not until then shall we despair of ourselves, and look outside of ourselves to the one who can save us.

The great scripture type of sin is leprosy, and for leprosy man can devise no cure. God alone can deal with this dreadful disease. So it is with sin. But, as we have said, man is slow to learn his lesson. He is like the prodigal son, who when he had squandered his substance in the far country in riotous living and began to be “in want”, instead of returning to the father straightaway, he “went and joined himself to a citizen of that country” (Luke 15:15) and went to the fields to feed swine; in other words he went to work. Likewise the sinner who has been aroused to his need, instead of going at once to Christ, he tries to work himself into God’s favour. But he will fare no better than the prodigal – the husks of the swine will be his only portion. Or again, like the woman bowed down with her infirmity for many long years. She tried many physicians before she sought the great physician: so the awakened sinner seeks relief and peace in first one thing and then another, until he completes the weary round of religious performances, and ends by being “nothing bettered, but rather grows worse” (Mark 5:26). No, it is not until that woman had “spent all she had” that she sought Christ: and it is not until the sinner comes to the end of his own resources that he will betake himself to the Saviour.

Before any sinner can be saved he must come to the place of realized weakness. This is what the conversion of the dying thief shows us. What could he do? He could not walk in the paths of righteousness for there was a nail through either foot. He could not perform any good works for there was a nail through either hand. He could not turn over a new leaf and live a better life for he was dying. And, my reader, those hands of yours which are so ready for self-righteous acting, and those feet of yours which are so swift to run in the way of legal obedience, must be nailed to the cross. The sinner has to be cut off from his own workings and be made willing to be saved by Christ. A realization of your sinful condition, of your lost condition, of your helpless condition, is nothing more or less than old-fashioned conviction of sin, and this is the sole prerequisite for coming to Christ for salvation, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

– A.W. Pink (1886-1952)

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God is not bound to give an account of his actions to his creatures – Thomas Watson

“God is not bound to give an account of his actions to his creatures. If none may say to a king, ‘What doest thou?’ Eccles 8:4, much less to God. It is sufficient, God is Lord paramount; he has a sovereign power over his creatures, therefore can do no injustice. ‘Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour?’ Rom 9:21. God has liberty in his own breast, to save one, and not another; and his justice is not at all impeached or blemished. If two men owe you money, you may, without any injustice, remit the debt to one, and exact it of the other. If two malefactors ¹ be condemned to die, the king may pardon the one and not the other: he is not unjust if he lets one suffer, because he offended the law; nor if he save the other, because he will make use of his prerogative as he is king.

Though some are saved and others perish, yet there is no unrighteousness in God; because, whoever perishes, his destruction is of himself. ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.’ Hos 13:9. God offers grace, and the sinner refuses it. Is God bound to give grace? If a surgeon comes to heal a man’s wound, and he will not be healed, is the surgeon bound to heal him? ‘I have called, and ye refused.’ Prov 1:24. ‘Israel would none of me.’ Psa 81:11: God is not bound to force his mercies upon men. If they wilfully oppose the offer of grace, their sin is to be regarded as the cause of their perishing, and not God’s justice.”

Source: A body of divinity, by Thomas Watson

A mystery to yourself – JC Philpot

“I find then, the law that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.” Romans 7:21

Are you not often a mystery to yourself? Warm one moment—cold the next! Abasing yourself one hour—exalting yourself the following! Loving the world, full of it, steeped up to your head in it today—crying, groaning, and sighing for a sweet manifestation of the love of God tomorrow! Brought down to nothingness, covered with shame and confusion, on your knees before you leave your room—filled with pride and self-importance before you have got down stairs! Despising the world, and willing to give it all up for one taste of the love of Jesus when in solitude—trying to grasp it with both hands when in business! What a mystery are you! Touched by love—and stung with hatred! Possessing a little wisdom—and a great deal of folly! Earthly-minded—and yet having the affections in heaven! Pressing forward—and lagging behind! Full of sloth—and yet taking the kingdom with violence!

And thus the Spirit, by a process which we may feel but cannot adequately describe—leads us into the mystery of the two natures perpetually struggling and striving against each other in the same bosom—so that one man cannot more differ from another, than the same man differs from himself. But the mystery of the kingdom of heaven is this—that our carnal mind undergoes no alteration, but maintains a perpetual war with grace. And thus, the deeper we sink in self-abasement under a sense of our vileness, the higher we rise in a knowledge of Christ, and the blacker we are in our own view—the more lovely does Jesus appear.

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Evolution is voodoo science

Wretched man that I am – JC Philpot

“O wretched man that I am!” Romans 7:24

Now, these feelings which the Apostle groaned under are experienced by all the quickened family. Blessed then be the name of God most High, that he inspired him to trace out and leave upon record his experience, that we might derive comfort and relief from it. What should we otherwise have thought? We should have reasoned thus: ‘Here is an apostle perfectly holy, perpetually heavenly-minded, having nothing but the image of Christ in him, continually living to the Lord’s glory, and unceasingly enjoying communion with him!’ We should have viewed him as a perfect saint, if he had not told us what he was; and then, having viewed him as a perfect saint, we should have turned our desponding eyes into our own bosom, and seen such an awful contrast, that we should despair of ever being saved at all! But seeing the soul conflict which the Apostle passed through, and feeling a measure of the same in our own bosom, it encourages, supports, and leads the soul on to believe that this is the way in which the saints are called to travel, however rough, rugged, and perplexing it may be to them. Be assured, then, if you have never cried out from the depths of your soul, “O wretched man that I am!” you are dead in sin, or dead in a profession. If internal guilt, misery, and condemnation never forced that cry from your bosom, depend upon it, the life and power of God is not in your soul. But if there has been, and still is, from time to time, this cry in your breast, forced out of it by the pressure of sin and guilt, you have a testimony that the same Lord who taught Paul is teaching you.

JC PHILPOT – 1802-1869

Hindrances – JC Philpot

“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:79

What was it that moved the divine Father to send his own Son into the world? Was it not the free mercy of God flowing forth from his bosom to his family? Then, what merit, what claim can his family ever have? Their misery is their claim. Their worthlessness, their sunken state, the depth of their fall–these things call forth God’s compassion. It is not what I have done for the glory of God; not what I am doing, or trying to do; not my wisdom, my strength, my resolutions, my piety, my holiness. No; my misery, my helplessness, my worthlessness, my deeply sunken state, my fallen condition; which I feel only because of interest in the blood and love of the Lamb–this it is that makes me need God’s mercy; and this it is that qualifies me to go to God through Jesus to receive mercy: for “he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.” Are you sitting in darkness and the shadow of death–far from the way of peace, troubled, perplexed, exercised, confused? You are the very characters for whom Jesus came. Are not unutterable mercies locked up in the bosom of God for you? What is to exclude you? Your sins? No; God has pardoned them. Your worthlessness? No; there is a robe of righteousness prepared for you. Your demerits? No; the merits of Jesus are upon your side. Your unholiness? No; “He of God is made to you sanctification.” Your ignorance? No; “He of God is made to you wisdom.” These are no barriers. I will tell you what is a barrier–self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-exaltation, pride, hypocrisy, presumption; a name to live, a form of godliness, being settled upon your lees, and at ease in Zion–these are barriers. But helplessness, hopelessness, worthlessness, misery–these are not barriers; they are qualifications; they shew, when felt, that your name is in the book of life, that the Lord of life and glory appeared in this world for you; and sooner or later, you will have the sweet enjoyment of it in your heart; and then be enabled to adore him for his grace, and admire and bless his name for glorifying his love and mercy in your free and full salvation.

JC PHILPOT – 1802-1869

Drugs – Brian Schwertley

Since the 1960s, there has been a dramatic increase in illicit drug use in our society. The drug revolution of the 1960s had its spiritual and philosophical beginnings in the “beat” culture of the 1950s. Beatniks and hippies took drugs not simply to get “high,” but also as a cultural and religious statement. They rejected the “Go-to-college, get a 9 to 5 job” suburban culture in favor of a casual nomadic existence. The hedonistic mysticism of the drug culture supplanted decaying liberal Protestantism and the rotting ritualism of Roman Catholicism. LSD drug guru, Dr. Timothy Leary perfectly summed up the whole movement, when he said, “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” When many people think of the hippie drug culture, they call to mind the “festival” at Woodstock. The image of sweaty, filthy, long-haired hippies gyrating, getting “stoned,” and getting naked, is an accurate picture of the 1960s drug culture. Today, most drug abusers have short hair and many even listen to “country” music. Drug abuse extends from the ghetto to the boardroom; from the “rock-n-roller” to the middle-aged housewife; and even to the elementary school. All drug users have one thing in common–they all are altering their consciousness and perceptual reality. Altering reality, for any reason other than medicinal purposes, is, according to the Bible, a form of sorcery.

This assertion may sound extreme to you, but consider God’s original intent for mankind. God, when He created Adam and Eve, created man in His own image (see Gen. 1:26-7). He created man as a self-conscious, self-reflective rational being. God gave man very sensitive sense perception. God gave man physical, emotional, rational, empirical and spiritual capabilities, so that man could have dominion over the earth (see Gen. 1:28). Adam and Eve were to reproduce, populate the earth and produce a godly culture. God created Adam just as He wanted him to be. Although Adam was a finite creature, he was still physically, ethically and spiritually good before God. “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). God created Adam and Eve to love and serve Him, with a certain consciousness and reality. Altering that reality is a rejection of the very nature in which God created man. It amounts to saying that God’s created consciousness is defective and needs finite human alterations.

Adam and Eve did not remain in their original sinless state. They ate of the forbidden fruit and died spiritually. Adam, as the covenantal head, the federal representative of the human race, brought sin and its curse (including bondage to sin and Satan, and the penalties of disease, suffering, calamity, death, etc.) to all men (see Rom. 5:18). God, being merciful and compassionate, promised a coming Redeemer who would defeat sin and Satan (see Gen. 3:15). God also providentially provided substances from plants that could be used as medicines. The sufferings and diseases, which resulted from man’s sin, to a certain extent, can be counteracted through the use of organic drugs.

After the fall of mankind into sin, it did not take long for unlawful drug use to begin. Drugs were used not for the healing of the body, as intended by the Creator, but for pagan religious rituals. Drugs became powerful tools in the hands of witch doctors and sorcerers. In the New Testament, the Greek word translated sorcery (cf. Gal. 5:20) is pharmakeia. The Greek word pharmakeia is related to our word pharmacy. The Greek word for drug is pharmakon. The sorcerer used various organic drugs found in plants, animals, molds, etc., to make potions and poisons. A sorcerer would often be hired to kill or incapacitate an enemy. In such a case, the sorcerer would mix the appropriate poisons. The sorcerer gained power over others by using drugs to alter their consciousness. Drugs were used for purposes of seduction. They were also used to bring people into slavery and bondage. Sorcerers, both ancient and modern, have not sought dominion through obedience to Christ and His law, but through mysticism, chaos and alchemy.

The modern drug user, whether he is aware of it or not, will be condemned by God as a sorcerer. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissension, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand…that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God ”(Gal. 5:19-21). These are very strong words. God says that drug abusers are wicked. Drug abusers will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). The person who gets high is rejecting God’s created reality. He is rejecting the meaning that God has given to all factuality. Creating one’s own autonomous reality through drugs is a form of idolatry. God’s creation, even after the fall, clearly presses upon the sinner the truth of God’s existence, power and attributes (cf. Rom. 1:18-21). The sinner takes refuge in a drug-induced illusion, a false reality.

It is no accident that beatniks were attracted to Zen Buddhism and hippies were drawn to Yoga. These youth movements were not just rebelling against the established social order, but against God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. People involved in eastern mysticism and drug mysticism are attempting to flee from the true God by “going within.” One seeks bliss or cosmic consciousness through meditation and asceticism; the other through a “joint,” a pill or a needle. As Dr. Timothy Leary once said, “It is of interest that the heroin addict and the illuminated Buddha end up in the same place, the void.” Drug users and Eastern mystics, in their flight from God and reality, seek integration into the void. In order to suppress, or hold down, the reality of God, the drug “head” must suppress meaning itself. Meaning and absolute truth are rejected in favor of a drug “experience.” The reality of a transcendent, a11 powerful, personal God, who will judge all men according to their works, is something that all unsaved sinners truly hate.

That drugs are a spiritual dead end is clearly evident in two ways. First, all drug highs have one thing in common–the trip is temporary. You eventually come down. Second, drugs are harmful to both the body and mind. While the drug user seeks pleasure, joy and freedom through the drug experience, his artificial pleasure is temporary and his freedom becomes slavery. The “pot head” not only destroys his lungs and memory, but his life is lived for and centered around the next bong hit. What foolishness! What vanity! Man was created to serve and glorify God and create a godly culture. Sitting around getting stoned neither honors God nor contributes to culture.

You must stop your rebellion against God and your flight from reality. Rather than living for God who created you, who gave you life, you ignore God and serve your flesh with your wicked lifestyle. Getting high (Gal. 5:20), getting drunk (Eph. 5:18), premarital sex (1 Cor. 6:18), debauched partying (Gal. 5:21), filthy speech (Eph. 5:4), unjust anger (Matt. 5:22), lust (Matt. 5:28), hatred (Matt. 5:44), lying (Deut. 5:20), stealing (Deut. 5:19), disobedience and disrespect for parents (Deut. 5:16), and the like, are a11 transgressions against God’s absolute, perfect, unchanging moral law. Every sin that you commit is recorded by God. On the Day of Judgment, all those who reject Jesus Christ “will be cast into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12b). “The dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books, then death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:12b, 14,15).

There is only one way for you to escape the coming wrath of God, “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands [healed] here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). Only those who have had their sins washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ and are clothed with His righteousness will be able to stand before God on that final day. The God who is, is absolutely perfect. God is infinitely holy and righteous. The moral law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is based on God’s nature and character. God is so righteous that no one with a wicked heart and sinful record can stand in his presence. Because of sin, everyone deserves the eternal death penalty in the lake of fire. “The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good no not one ” (Ps. 14:2-3). Many people think they are following God, but they pick and choose which teaching in the Bible they like. What they don’t like, they reject. People who reject God’s Word reject God and are wicked idolaters. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).

God justly could have cast the whole human race into hell. But God, being loving, compassionate, and merciful, chooses to save a people for himself out of the fallen and wicked human race. Jesus Christ came into the world as the second Adam. God the Son became incarnate in order to obey God’s law perfectly, and to offer himself as a blood sacrifice for his elect. Because God is righteous and holy, he can not simply overlook or disregard transgressions against His law. All sin deserves eternal separation from God. All sin brings the curse of the law, spiritual death, and the torment of hell. The only way that sinners can receive forgiveness of sins is if a substitute stands in the sinners’ place and takes the wrath that sinners deserve. Jesus, the divine-human Messiah, is the only person who ever lived who could provide substitutionary atonement for sinners. Why? Because Jesus is the only person who ever lived whom never committed sin. For a substitutionary sacrifice to be acceptable to God, the sacrificed one must be without sin–without spot or blemish. “For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). Jesus Christ is the perfect and only mediator between a righteous God and sinful men. Jesus Christ by his sacrificial death turned aside the wrath of God from sinners. The curse of spiritual death and eternal torment that sinners deserved was placed upon Jesus Christ on the cross. The believers’ sins are imputed or placed upon Christ in his agony and Christ’s perfect sinless life is imputed or credited to believers. “He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26b). “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). On the Day of Judgment, those who believe in Christ will stand before God totally cleansed of all transgressions by Christ’s precious blood. And they will be fully clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness.

After Jesus Christ died, he was placed in a tomb. But on the third day after his death, he rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples. The resurrection of Christ proves that he has defeated sin, death and Satan. “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and given him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:8,9). Your only hope of obtaining forgiveness of sins and eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ. `“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (Jn. 3:35,36).

Its time for you to stop wasting your life living for self and Satan, and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). You can reject the gospel, pretend that God does not exist and continue to try to create your own autonomous reality through drugs. But, “be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7,8).

Some day you are going to die. When you stand before God on the Day of Judgment, will you be clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness or will you stand before God and make excuses? “Well God, I had every opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ and to repent of my sins, but rather than serve you, I got stoned, went to debauched parties and fornicated like a wild beast.” You know that if you reject Christ your judgment will be just. “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:19-23).

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of your sins. If you are a new believer, then you must fellowship with other Christians and study God’s word. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2).

Depravity and responsibility – JC Ryle

That great divine, John Owen, the Dean of Christ Church, used to say, more than two hundred years ago, that there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going about complaining of their own corruptions, and telling everyone that they could do nothing of themselves. I am afraid that after two centuries the same thing might be said with truth of some of  Christ’s professing people in this day. I know there are texts in Scripture which warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come from men who walk in the steps of the Apostle Paul, and fight a good fight, as he did, against sin, the devil, and the world. But I never like such complaints when I see ground for suspecting, as I often do, that they are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness, and an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we say with Paul, “O wretched man that I am,” let us also be able to say with him, “I press toward the mark.” Let us not quote his example in one thing, while we do not follow him in another. (Rom. vii. 24; Philip. iii. 14.)

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