It Is Jesus

By Octavius Winslow: http://octaviuswinslow.org/2012/07/04/july-3-it-is-jesus/

What is the life of faith which the believer lives, but a manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus? The highest, the holiest, the happiest life lived below, is the life of faith. But nature contributes nothing to this life. It comes from a higher source. It is supernatural—it is opposed to nature. It springs from the life “hid with Christ in God.” “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Here is a glorious manifestation of the life of Jesus. If we desire any evidence that Jesus is risen, that He is alive again, and that He is the life of the soul, here it is! See the faith of a child of God sifted as wheat, yet not one grain falling to the ground—tried as gold, yet not one particle lost—though in the flame, yet never consumed. And why? Because Christ lives in the soul. Dear believer! your faith may be sharply tempted—severely tried—but never, never shall it quite fail; for Jesus lives in you, and lives in you forever. Oh blessed trial of faith, that manifests in, and endears to, you the life of Jesus! It is the precious trial of “precious faith,”—a faith which the more deeply it is tried, the more deeply it manifests the risen life of its Divine “Author and Finisher.” And what, too, are all the supports of the believer in seasons of trial, suffering, and bereavement, but so many manifestations of the life of the Lord Jesus? What is our path to glory, but the path of tribulation, of suffering, and of death? Our Lord and Master, in the expression of His wisdom and love, forewarns us of this—”In the world you shall have tribulation.” And His apostles but echo the same sentiment, when they affirm that it is “through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.” But the life of our risen Lord is daily manifested in us. This it is that keeps the soul buoyant amid the billows, strong in faith, joyful in hope, soaring in love. Thus is Jesus the life of every grace, the life of every promise, the life of every ordinance, the life of every blessing; yes, of all that is really costly and precious to a child of God, Jesus is the substance, the glory, the sweetness, the fragrance, yes, the very life itself. Oh! dark and lonely, desolate and painful indeed were our present pilgrimage, but for Jesus. If in the world we have tribulation, in whom have we peace?—in Jesus! If in the creature we meet with fickleness and change, in whom find we the “Friend that loves at all times”?—in Jesus! When adversity comes as a wintry blast, and lays low our comforts, when the cloud is upon our tabernacle, when health, and wealth, and influence, and friends are gone—in whom do we find the covert from the wind, the faithful, tender “Brother born for adversity?”—in Jesus! When temptation assails, when care darkens, when trial oppresses, when bereavement wounds, when heart and flesh are failing, who throws around us the protecting shield, who applies the precious promise, who speaks the soothing word, who sustains the sinking spirit, who heals the sorrow, and dries the tear?—Jesus! Where sin struggles in the heart, and guilt burdens the conscience, and unbelief beclouds the mind, whose grace subdues our iniquities, whose blood gives us peace, and whose light dispels our darkness?—Jesus! And when the spark of life wanes, and the eye grows dim, and the mind wanders, and the soul, severing its last fetter, mounts and soars away, who, in that awful moment, draws near in form unseen, and whispers in words unheard by all but the departing one, now in close communion with the solemn realities of the invisible world—”Fear not; I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die”?—still, it is Jesus! “

Spurgeon, The Church's Love to Her Loving Lord:

Jesus thou fairest, dearest one,

What beauties thee adorn

Far brighter than the noonday sun,

Or star that gilds the morn.

Here let me fix my wandering eyes,

And all thy glories trace;

Till, in the world of endless joys,

I rise to thine embrace.

When Tigranes and his wife were both taken prisoners by Cyrus, Cyrus turning to Tigranes said, “What will you give for the liberation of your wife?” and the king answered, “I love my wife so that I would cheerfully give up my life if she might be delivered from servitude”; whereupon Cyrus said, “That if there was such love as that between them they might both go free.” So when they were away and many were talking about the beauty and generosity of Cyrus, and especially about the beauty of his person, Tigranes, turning to his wife, asked her what she thought of Cyrus, and she answered that she saw nothing anywhere but in the face of the man who had said that he would die if she might only he released from servitude. “The beauty of that man,” she said, “makes me forget all others.”

 And truly we would say the same of Jesus.

We would not decry the angels, nor think ill of the saints, but the beauties of that man who gave his life for us, are so great that they have eclipsed all others, and our soul only wishes to see him and not another; for, as the stars hide their heads in the presence of the sun, so may you all go away, you delights, you excellencies, when Christ Jesus, the chief delight, the chief excellency, makes his appearance. Dr. Watts says—

His worth, if all the nations knew,

Sure the whole earth would love him too.

And so it seems to us. If you could see him, you must love him. It was said of Henry VIII, that if all the portraits of tyrants, and murderers, and thieves did not exist, they might all be painted from the one face of Henry VIII; and turning that around another way, we will say, that if all the excellencies, beauties, and perfections of the human race were blotted out, they might all he painted again from the face of the Lord Jesus.

All over glorious is my Lord;

Must be beloved, and yet adored.

All-Sufficient!

Octavius Winslow, "The Christian's Joint Heirship":

It is in the heart of our God to give us the chief and the best.

Had there been a greater, and a better, and a sweeter, and a more satisfying portion than Himself--then that portion would have been ours. But since there is not, nor can be, a greater than Himself--the love, the everlasting, changeless love that He bears to us, constrains Him to give Himself as our God, our Portion, our All.

And have we not experienced Him to be God all-sufficient?

Have we ever found a lack in Him?

Oh no! God is all-sufficient, and no arid wilderness, and no dreary land have we experienced Him to be.

There is in Him. . .
an all-sufficiency of love to comfort us;
an all-sufficiency of strength to uphold us;
an all-sufficiency of power to protect us;
an all-sufficiency of good to satisfy us;
an all-sufficiency of wisdom to guide us;
an all-sufficiency of glory to reward us;
an all-sufficiency of bliss to make us happy here, and happy to all eternity! 

Surpassing Glory

There is an ever fresh, ever full, sweetness in heaven's precious Lamb! Oh, this precious truth! It is gospel wine to my poor soul! We have such a Christ that we little think how far His glories and His matchless love surpass what we have every yet conceived. We do not make half enough of Him-heaven's brightest gem, and richest treasure! Oh, that the precious Comforter may reveal Him more and more-that we may count all other things but filth and dross. 

"The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ, the Letters of Ruth Bryan"

 

The Koh-i-noor of God's Regalia Spent For Us

"There is no help for the child of God if his heavenly Father should shut the granary door. If out of the King’s palace there came no portions of meat in due season, we might lay down and die of despair! Who could hold us up but God? Who could guide us but God? Who could keep us from falling into Perdition but God? Who could, from hour to hour, supply our desperate needs but God? Is it not, then, right well for us—abundantly well—that we have had our maintenance from the King’s palace?  

While we turn over this very sweet thought, we may remember that our maintenance from the King’s palace has cost His Majesty dearly. He has not fed us for nothing. We do not know what was the expenditure in gold of King Solomon, every day, to supply all his court with wine and oil, with meal and fine flower, with sheep and fat oxen, harts and roebucks, venison and fatted fowl. But we do know that  Solomon’s cost was nothing at all compared with the vast expense at which we are sustained by the munificence of God! It cost Him His own dear Son at the very first. We should not have begun to live if He had spared His Son and kept Him back from us!  

But the choicest treasure in Heaven, the Koh-i-noor of God’s regalia, He was pleased to spend for our sakes that we might live! And ever since then we have been fed upon Jesus Christ Himself. No other food would be adequate to our necessities. His flesh is meat, indeed! His blood is drink, indeed! This is the most royal dainty conceivable, for a soul to feed upon the Son of God! And yet we have fed upon Him these many years. Let us bless and magnify our bounteous God, whose infinite favor has thus supplied our needs."

Charles Spurgeon

The Exhaustless Ocean of Jesus

 From Solitude Sweetened, by James Meikle.

"From his fullness we have all received one gracious gift after another." (John 1:16)

All plenitude is in Christ, to answer all the needs of His people. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that out of His fullness I may receive all spiritual blessings!

Have I destroyed myself by sin? I have deliverance from Him who is mighty to save from sin and wrath!

Is my foolish mind darkened? Am I a guilty, polluted, and ruined wretch? Jesus is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption!

Is my life fleeting—and passing away like a shadow? Jesus is the Ancient of days, and endures for evermore!

Are my days short-lived and full of trouble? Jesus is my life, the length of my days, and the joy of my heart!

Am I exposed to contempt? Jesus shall be my crown of glory, and diadem of beauty!

Am I traveling through the wilderness? Jesus is my staff, and on Him I lean all the way!

Am I on my last journey to my long home? Jesus is my leader, and my rewarder!

Am I a sheep? Jesus is my pasture, and my green pasture too!

Am I hungry and thirsty? Jesus is my heavenly manna, and gives me to drink of the water of life!

Am I weary? Jesus is my rest and refreshing!

Am I weak? Jesus is my strength!

Am I oppressed and wronged? Jesus is my judge, and my avenger!

Am I reproached? The reproach of His people, Jesus will wipe away!

Am I a soldier? Jesus is my Captain and shield!

Must I fight in the field of battle? Jesus is my armor in the day of war!

Do I sit in darkness? Jesus is my light!

Do I have doubts? Jesus is my counselor!

Am I ignorant? Jesus is my wisdom!

Am I guilty? Jesus is my justification!

Am I filthy? Jesus is my sanctification!

Am I dead in sin? Jesus is my life, and quickens those who are dead in trespasses and sins!

Am I poor? Jesus is the pearl of great price, and has immeasurable riches!

Am I blind? Jesus, and none but He can open the eyes of one born blind!

Am I naked? Jesus has white clothing to cover the shame of my nakedness!

Am I in the very utmost necessity? Jesus is a very present help in time of trouble!

Am I exposed to the hurricanes of adversity? Jesus is a refuge from the storm; a shelter from the blast; rivers of water in a desert; the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!

Am I afraid of being left alone? Jesus will never leave me, nor forsake me!

Do friends and brethren prove false? Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother!

Am I in danger from diseases and death; or from sin and Satan? My life is hidden with Christ in God! When He shall appear, I shall appear with Him—immortal in my body, and glorious in my soul!

Is my case considered in the court of heaven? There Jesus is my Advocate!

Do I offend the Father? Jesus is my Intercessor!

Do I suffer in my body, and am I grieved in my mind? Jesus bore my infirmities, and carried 

my griefs!

Is my mind disquieted, and my soul debarred from peace? Jesus is my sympathetic High Priest! He was tempted in all points, and knows how to support those who are tempted!

Am I poor in my circumstances? Jesus, the heir of all things! Though He was rich, yet for my sake He became poor, that I through His poverty might be made rich!

Do I suffer in my character? Jesus was numbered with transgressors, called a Samaritan, a glutton, a drunkard, and a devil!

Am I bereaved or alone? Well, Jesus in the fatal night was left alone; all the disciples forsook Him and fled! Jesus, my only friend, can never die!

Must I undergo death and be laid in the grave? Jesus has taken away the sting of death, and robbed the grave of its victory!

Must I rot in the grave? Jesus shall be my resurrection, and raise me to immortality and bliss!

Would I go to God and to glory? Jesus is my way, and must admit me into the palace of the great King, where I shall abide forever!

In summary, Jesus is . . .
  my brother,
  my physician,
  my prophet,
  my priest,
  my king,
  my father,
  my head,
  my husband!

In eternity, when I shall dwell in the land of bliss, in the city of God—Jesus will be the light thereof! And since I am to worship there forever, He will be the temple of all the redeemed!

My needs are many, but His fullness is infinitely more!

The morning dews and fructifying showers water the fields, and refresh the parched furrows. But what are they, compared to the exhaustless ocean of Jesus?

What is all that I enjoy here below, compared to the exuberant fullness of the heavenly bliss? O! then, how shall my soul be replenished—when possessed of this infinite All, through eternity itself!

Christ to the Believer

"Because Christ is perfectly and infinitely holy above all others, I prize Christ above all.
Ordinances are sweet, but Christ is more sweet to my soul.
Saints are precious, but Christ is far more precious.
Heaven is glorious, but Christ is infinitely more glorious.
The first thing that I would ask, if I might have it, is Christ.
And the next thing that I would ask, if I might have it, is more of Christ.
And the last thing that I would ask, if I might have it, is that I might be satiated and filled with the fullness of Christ.
Let the ambitious man take the honours of the world, so that I may but have Christ.
Let the voluptuous man swim in all the pleasures of the world, so that I may have Christ.
And let the covetous man tumble up and down in all the gold and silver of the world, so I may have Christ, and it shall be enough for my soul."
Thomas Brooks, "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ"