THE MISCHIEF OF SIN---THOMAS WATSON

"Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.." 1 Timothy 1:13

Literally, "I was bemercied." Christians, why might not you have been in the number of those who persist in sinning? Because God has bemiracled you with mercy!

See what cause you have to admire the stupendous  goodness of God, who has wrought a change in you —and checked you in your full career of sin!

Christians, you who are vessels of election—were by nature as wicked as others—but God had compassion on you and plucked you as brands out of the fire! He  stopped you in your course of sinning—when you were marching to hell! He turned you back to Him by sincere repentance.
Oh, here is the banner of love displayed over you!

Behold sovereign grace! Let your hearts melt in love to God. Admire His royal bounty. Set the crown of all your praises, upon the head of free grace! "By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

(By Thomas Watson, (1620-1686). Excerpt from "The Mischief of Sin" at Grace Gems.) Read the entire article, and others at:  http://www.gracegems.org/Watson/mischief_of_sin1.htm

FOR HIS OWN NAME'S SAKE--JOHN NEWTON

“…If any persons have contributed a mite to their own salvation, it was more than we could do. If any were obedient and faithful to the first calls and impressions of his Spirit, it was not our case. If any were prepared to receive him beforehand, we know that we were in a state of alienation from him. We needed sovereign irresistible grace to save us, or we had been lost forever. If there are any who have a power of their own, we confess ourselves poorer than they are. 

We cannot watch, unless he watches with us; we cannot strive unless he strives with us; we cannot stand one moment unless he holds us up; and we believe we must perish after all unless his faithfulness is engaged to keep us. But this we trust he will do; not for our righteousness, but for his own name’s sake, and because having loved us with an everlasting love, he has been pleased in loving kindness to draw us to himself, and to be found of us, when we sought him not. - John Newton
The Doctrines of Election and Final Perseverance – Excerpts from a letter by John Newton

SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND SIN: IRRECONCIBLE HOSTILITY

BY A.W. TOZER

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. --Ephesians 6:12

In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very nature, these forces were opposed to each other forever in deep, grave, irreconcilable hostility. Humans, our fathers held, had to choose sides-they could not be neutral. For them it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if they chose to come out on God's side they could expect open war with God's enemies. The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below. People looked forward to heaven as a return from the wars, a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home prepared for them....

How different today. The fact remains the same, but the interpretation has changed completely. People think of the world, not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to fight; we are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land; we are at home. We are not getting ready to live, but we are already living, and the best we can do is rid ourselves of our inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full. This World: Playground or Battleground? 4-5.

"Lord, we've lost too much by becoming friendly with the enemy. Help me to be willing to take a stand for righteousness, to choose clearly to be on Your side against the enemy, to pay any price--and then to look forward to laying down my sword later in heaven. Amen."

To be entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be completely obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the highway is safe, not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them.  (That Incredible Christian, 51.)

Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers