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Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (VIII)
- 06/03/10
- 15
As this round of Reading Classics Together draws near to a close (we’ve got just one more week after this) I’m already thinking ahead to the next book. But I guess I need to keep my head in the game and first finish up this one. It’s been a great read and I’ve learned a lot from Sibbes. Let me share a few of the highlights from this week’s reading.
Highlights
As I do every few weeks, I want to share some of the best quotes from these two chapters. So rather than provide a wrap-up or summary, I want to simply share some of Sibbes’ best quotes. I continue to marvel at the way he can coin a phrase and the way he can so succintly summarize great truths. Here are some examples:
“All sin is either from false principles, or ignorance, or thoughtlessness, or unbelief of what is true.”
“What the heart likes best, the mind studies most. Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of his ways. Wisdom loves him that loves her.”
“We should be ready at all times to depart [to heaven], and to live in such a condition as we would be content to die in.”
On explaining why all our strivings toward godliness matter before God: “The tree falls upon the last stroke, yet all the strokes help the work forward.”
“The happiness of weaker things stands in being ruled by stronger. It is best for a blind man to be guided by him that has sight. It is best for sheep, and other feckless creatures, to be guided by man. And it is happiest for man to be guided by Christ”
“[Christ] will declare to all the world that he is, and then there shall be no glory but that of Christ and his spouse.”
“There shall be a resurrection, not only of bodies but of reputations.”
“Let us take heed that we not follow the ways of those men whose ends we shall tremble at.”
“This is the difference between a godly, wise man and a deluded worldling: that which the one now judges to be vain the other shall hereafter feel to be so when it is too late.”
“Nothing is stronger than humility, which goes out of itself, or weaker than pride, which rests on its own foundation.”
“We often fail in lesser conflicts and stand firm in greater, because in the lesser we rest more in ourselves, in the greater we fly to the rock of our salvation, which is higher than we.”
“Since the fall, God will not trust us with our own salvation, but it is both purchased and kept by Christ for us, and we for it through faith, wrought by the power of God, which we lay hold of.”
It seems to me that any or all of those phrases would be worthy of some reflection and meditation!
Next Week
For next Thursday please read chapter 16. This will bring us to the end of the book.
Your Turn
The purpose of this program is to read classics together. So if there are things that stood out to you in this chapter, if there are questions you had, this is the time and place to have your say. Feel free to post a comment below or to link to your blog if you’ve chosen to write about this on your own site.
Posts in this Series:
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (I)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (II)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (III)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (IV)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (V)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (VI)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (VII)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (VIII)
- Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (Final)
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Comments (15)
Great picks, Tim. Here are a few more quotes to add to the collection:
“When judgment is fortified, evil finds no entrance.”
“A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without.”
“Those who wish to hinder the generation of noisome creatures will hinder the conception first, by keeping male and female apart.”
“When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses.”
“Where Christ is, all happiness must follow.”
My review of these two chapters is here:
“Gaining the Victory”
Sorry there’s only one chapter left. Sibbes has been a great administrator of God’s soothing grace.
“Nothing is stronger than humility…or weaker than pride”—-that sentence stuck out to me as a sort of encapsulation of all that was said in chapter 15. It reminds of what Paul said when he wrote that “we are saved by grace through faith. And this is not your own doing” (Eph. 2:8). The humble man gets this verse. The proud does not. The humble man grows closer to the Lord through God’s own power and grace in his life. The proud man does not.
I did a little highlighting of this week’s reading myself over at my blog. Check it out here: http://ow.ly/1Txg7
In each chapter a profound thought about the fires of our hearts stood out to me. In chapter 14, ,“A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without.”(103) And in chapter 15, “As Christ will not quench the least spark kindled by himself, so will he damp the fairest blaze of goodly appearances which are not from above.”(111)
So I can find comfort in the truth that while Christ is strengthening the “bruised reeds” of genuine faith. So he is also extinguishing the fires of proud hearts that see no need for Christ. I never cease to be amazed at the completeness of our Savior. He meets our every need, even the ones we don’t recognize we have.
Chris
Very rough week, friends. Just the routine struggles of this present life on the journey to the heavenly city. This line from the end of our reading this week encouraged me so much -
“Since the fall, God will not trust us with our own salvation, but it is both purchased and kept by Christ for us, and we for it through faith, wrought by the power of God, which we lay hold of”
I know of no other anchor than the unchanging nature of our salvation and Sibbes hammers this at nearly every turn of this book.
What God has begun, God will accomplish! On this rock I stand.-paul
Thanks for the excellent quotes! I have added many of them to my rotating wallpapers on my monitor.
Loved reading the quotes and comments. I’m behind in reading my book by a few chapters. Not sure I’ll be able to catchup until week after next. Here’s hoping I’ll get this book finished before you start the next one. Please give me a few weeks. :-)
Thanks for keeping us up on this project, Tim. And to all the others who are reading and commenting, I commend you as well. It’s been a joy reading your posts and comments.
I for one, however, have been nearly flummoxed since chapters 10 & 11. Oh sure, I’ve been able to glean a few quotes, most all of which have been laid out here by Tim or by a few of you others. But those two chapters threw me off. I just couldn’t seem to grasp what Sibbes was really getting at. It was of some encouragement to see that most all of you found this to be the same.
However, I’ve really struggled since then as well. I don’t know if it’s Sibbes language or my thick-headed-ness. I realize this week’s readings were a bit more on the practical side of things, yet I just don’t seem to be getting out of it what I did in the early chapters.
I’ll keep plugging away till the end, but I won’t be posting on my blog about the final chapter (or this week either, for those of you who actually check it out). I find that I would only be harping on about how thick I am, and that’s just not necessary! I am a bruised reed!
I am doing my best to keep up. May/June is a busy time with high school graduations, church activities and end of school, but I attempt to find time for good reading. Looking forward to the next book. One of my favorite quotes this week:”Christ as king brings in a commanding light into the soul and bows the neck, and softens the iron sinew of the inner man; and where he begins to rule, he rules for ever, of his kingdom there shall be no end”.He rules my heart, and I bow before Him thanking him for keeping me to the end, ruling forever.
I am really enjoying this book and can’t wait to join in on the next one.
I focused on this statement by Sibbes, “But in heavenly things, where there has been a right informing of the judgment before, the more our affections grow..”
My post looks briefly at the head-heart-hands-habitat framework that Bruce Ware shares in his sermon that goes along with his book [Big Truths for Young Hearts.
Here is my post:
“http://quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com/2010/06/reading-classics-with-challies-bruised.html
Sibbes never ceases to amaze me! His clearly God-given ability to encompass such a breadth and depth of truth in succinct sentences is astounding! In these chapters I thought he continued at about his best, with excellent, practical advice in chapter 14 aimed at helping us to gain victories in our battle against sin in our own hearts. He seems so skillful at stating our responsibilities while still giving all the credit (and thus glory!) to God. Many great quotations have already been given above, but two that stood out to me from that chapter were:
It is not sleepy habits, but grace in exercise, that preserves us.
…We must look up to Christ, the quickening Spirit, and make our resolutions in his strength.
I liked the way that Sibbes shows how our greatest enemy is in a sense our own sinful hearts, so that he is right when he says
So prevailing over ourselves, we shall easily prevail over all our enemies, and conquer all conditions we shall be brought into.
His words are ruthless in their honesty in chapter 15 when talking of our own weaknesses, driving the point home with example upon example, before stating what by now is an obvious truth:
…all which shows that we are nothing without the Spirit of Christ.
What humbling chapters these have been to read. Praise God for His grace that works in us and for the Spirit of Christ that strengthens and equips us!
I have to agree with Kevin. I seemed to get more out of the early chapters. The last few weeks , though I’ve continued to read, have been a struggle. I’ll chalk it up to my own thickheadedness as well.
“What the heart likes best, the mind studies most. Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of his ways. Wisdom loves him that loves her.” - what a great quote. I’ve found this to be so true in my walk with God. As I get the passion to dig deeper into the Word, it comes forth so much more in my life. I’ve been studying the life of George Mueller, and his fervency for daily morning bible study and prayer is a great testimony to the power of the Word.
I’ve been steadily behind but am almost caught up today. I don’t have anything very profound to say, only that this book has been very helpful, and very timely, for me. My bruised heart needed all that Sibbes has poured out. I’ve been a little thick-headed in comprehending some sections of the book as well, but life has been busy; the sections I have “gotten” have been pure gold. This is a book I know I should read at least every 2-3 years. I so wish the grasping of these wonderful truths on all my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Really enjoyed this book.Thanks
Tim - I’m not participating in this round of reading classics together, but still read all your entries on it. Loved the quote on lesser / greater conflicts. Thanks for posting!