Take Courage

The Spirit’s Work in the Soul

Wisdom from William Gurnall

This blessed Holy Spirit has all the characteristics of a comforter. He is so pure and holy that He cannot deceive; He is called the “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17). If He says your sins are forgiven, you can believe Him; He will not flatter. If it were not so He would have told you, for He can chide as well as comfort – He can convince of sin as well as of righteousness. And the Spirit of God is so wise that He cannot be deceived; He never knocks at the wrong door nor delivers messages to the wrong person, but knows the exact purpose which the heart of God holds for each person on earth. “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

These “deep things of God” which the apostle mentions are God’s counsels of love which lie deep in His heart until the Spirit draws them out and shows them to men and women. And He also knows perfectly the frame of man’s heart. It would be strange if the cabinet maker did not know every secret compartment in the cabinet. Despite their long study, neither man nor the devil have anything even approaching a full knowledge of that little world, the microcosm of man’s soul. But as in everything else, God knows this field perfectly and cannot be deceived.

In a word, God’s Spirit is so irresistible that no one can stand against the power of His peace. For example, the pardon Nathan took to David was not all that he had hoped for; so David begged the Comforter to ease his pain. He went on his knees and prayed hard to have his lost joy restored and his softened heart established by the free Spirit of God. You might baffle man, and though your own melancholy manipulation, even evade the truths which Christians bring for comfort; but when the Holy Spirit Himself comes, all disputes will end. Satan cannot pull rank or his false logic on Him. Confusion vanishes and our fears with it, as darkness disappears before the sun. – Taken from The Christian in Complete Armour, August 31. Edited by James S. Bell, Jr. and published by Moody Publishers.

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I would like to add two good quotes from J. C. Ryle:

The World’s Opposition To Christ’s Work

“Let all who are attacked by the world for trying to do good, take comfort in the thought that they are only drinking of the cup which Christ drank. Their Master in heaven sympathizes with them. Let them work on patiently, and believe that, if they are faithful, their work will speak for itself. The world’s opposition is sure to attend every really good work. If the servants of Christ are to cease from every movement which the world calls in question, they will soon come to an entire stand-still. If we are to wait until the world approves our plans, and is satisfied with the propriety of our efforts, we shall never do anything on earth.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 320.

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“How marvelous it is that we do not hate sin more than we do! Sin is the cause of all the pain and disease in the world. God did not create man to be an ailing and suffering creature. It was sin, and nothing but sin, which brought in all the ills that flesh is heir to. It was sin to which we owe every racking pain, and every loathsome infirmity, and every humbling weakness to which our poor bodies are liable. Let us keep this ever in mind. Let us hate sin with a godly hatred.” — J.C. Ryle