Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

This is from GraceGems.org and is a daily e-mail I receive. I post this one because of the beauty which is in Christ. There was been a few edits from the original b/c of some format errors. The original content has not been changed.

Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

(Octavius Winslow, Christ is Ever With You!" 1863)

"Lo, I am with you always--even unto the end of the world!" Matthew 28:20

Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

It is the presence of Christ! The Christ who is God. "Immanuel, God with us!"

The Christ who . . .
made all worlds,
created all beings,
governs all empires,
controls all events!

The Christ who replenishes . . .
earth with beauty,
heaven with glory,
eternity with song!

The Christ before whom angels and archangels, principalities and powers bend, and at whose name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord!

The Christ . . .
whose glory is divine,
whose beauty is peerless,
whose wealth is boundless,
whose love is as infinite as His being!

The Christ who . . .
bore and put away your sins forever,
uplifted and forever removed your curse,
paid all your great debt to Divine justice,
sorrowed for you in the garden,
suffered and expired in your stead on the cross,
rose from the grave, ascended up to heaven, lives and intercedes for you, representing your person and presenting your prayers and praises with ineffable acceptance and delight--to His Father and your Father, to His God and your God.

"Lo, I am with you always! Mark! Behold! I the Incarnate God, I who opened my bleeding heart for your redemption on Calvary, I who am your dearest Friend--I am with you always, in all places, and at all times, unto the end of the world!"

O honored saint of God! You have . . .
the Divinest in the universe to love you,
the Mightiest in the universe to shield you,
the Loveliest in the universe to delight you,
the Dearest in the universe to soothe, cheer, and gladden you!
O favored disciple of Jesus--you have such a one ever at your side!

This is the promise of promises--the richest pearl of all the promises, exceeding in its mightiness and preciousness; while it is the substance, sweetness, and pledge of all the rest!

Who is this amazing spectacle of woe and torture?

This is from a e-mail I get daily called Grace Gems. It features quotes from old died guys whose theology can not change. This quote is by Samuel Davies.

"Christ died for the ungodly!" Romans 5:6

In the cross of Christ--God's hatred to sin is manifested in the most striking light! The evil of sin is exposed in the most dreadful colors! Now it appears, that such is the divine hatred against all sin, that God can by no means forgive sin, without punishment; and that all the infinite benevolence of His nature towards His creatures cannot prevail upon Him to pardon the least sin--without an adequate satisfaction.

Nay, now it appears that when so malignant and abominable a thing is but imputed to His dear Son, His co-equal, His darling, His favorite--that even He could not escape unpunished--but was made a monument of vindictive justice, to all worlds!

What can more strongly expose the evil of sin--than the cross of Christ? Sin is such an intolerably malignant and abominable thing, that even a God of infinite mercy and grace--cannot let the least instance of it pass unpunished!

It was not a small thing that could arm God's justice against the Son of His love. Though He was perfectly innocent in Himself--yet when He was made sin for us--God spared not His own Son--but delivered Him up unto death--the shameful, tormenting, and accursed death of the cross!

Go, you fools, who make a mock at sin! Go and learn its malignity and demerit--at the cross of Jesus!

WHO is it that hangs there writhing in the agonies of death--His hands and feet pierced with nails, His side with a spear, His face bruised with blows, and drenched with tears and blood, His heart melting like wax, His whole frame racked and disjointed; forsaken by His friends, and even by His Father; tempted by devils, and insulted by men? Who is this amazing spectacle of woe and torture? It is Jesus, the eternal Word of God; His Elect, in whom His soul delights; His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased!

And WHAT has He done? He did no wickedness; He knew no sin--but was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And WHY then, all these dreadful sufferings from heaven, earth, and hell? Why, He only stood in the law-place of sinners; He only received their sin by imputation. And you see what it has brought upon Him! You see how low it has reduced Him! What a horrid evil must that be--which has such tremendous consequences, even upon the Darling of heaven!

Oh! what still more dreadful havoc would SIN have made, if it had been punished upon the sinner himself in his own person! Surely all the various miseries which have been inflicted upon our guilty world in all ages, and even all the punishments of hell--do not so loudly proclaim the terrible desert and malignity of sin--as the cross of Christ!

The infinite malignity of sin, and God's hatred to it, appear nowhere in so striking and dreadful a light--as in the cross of Christ! Let a reasonable creature take but one serious view of that cross, and surely he must ever after tremble at the thought of the least sin!

Husker Football

So I was taking a break for the study thing and went to do the facebook thing and find myself watching the 300th sellout of a Nebraska Football. Now some readers of this blog might not understand the why this is sufficient. I do not know either but I was watching it. At one time, just like disc golf, I was completely focus of Husker Football every Fall. I was so focus, I would not go to my high school games. I also worked at a place that got season tickets and we would get to choose what game we wanted to go to. So I am been to my share of football game. In fact, I have been to more NU games then Iowa State football which includes the ISU/NU football game in Ames. I have seen Nebraska play in 3 different venues live where all but one game not paying for a ticket (I had to pay for the ISU football season tickets therefore paid for the ISU/NU football games). So Husker football is kind of a big deal. I made a joke I should have but Husker Football as my religion when I went to college. So much dedication to a team and I would drop everything to attend or watch a game. I hardly missed a Nebraska football game unless I could not watch it on TV.

This does not even began to show the dedication that I would give to Husker football. Will reading the daily Grace Gem, they sent me a quote from Spurgeon. It is the post before this one (Oct. 5th). Again, that quote was about reading books beside the Bible but you can also see how that the desire is not to follow Christ even if the reading. I think that it is fine to be a fan of football and I will like to go to another game but my desire would be that I desire to be committed to God and glorify him.

Grace Gem

Here is a Grace Gem from 2 Mar. You can get Grace Gems at GraceGems.org

The chief danger attending a state of prosperity, is that it strongly exposes us to the temptation of becoming "lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God," 2 Timothy 3:4. This danger is considerably increased, when people have been introduced into mirthful and fashionable circles. People in such circumstances may be said to stand on the brink of a dangerous precipice. They run the greatest risk of being drawn into a vortex of folly and dissipation, in which all sense of piety is likely to be swallowed up.