Filed under: Grace, Pride, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth, True Conversion
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” What is poverty of spirit? It is the opposite of that haughty, self-assertive, and self-sufficient disposition that the world so much admires and praises. It is the very reverse of that independent and defiant attitude that refuses to bow to God, that determines to brave things out, and that says with Pharaoh,
“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” (Exodus 5:2).
To be poor in spirit is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is evident in a person when he is brought into the dust before God to acknowledge his utter helplessness. It is the first experiential evidence of a Divine work of grace within the soul, and corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country when he “began to be in want” (Luke 15:14). —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “The Beatitudes” by A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
“The preacher who most honors Christ is not the one who produces the largest “visible results,” but he who sticks the closest to His commission and preaches the Word most faithfully.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Gleanings in Joshua” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
“Though all the regenerate have love to God, not all of them are equally aware of the fact, nor are all Christians sensible of it in the same way at all times. But a personal persuasion of our love to God is most desirable. Those things which the more deeply concern us ought the more seriously to affect us. None should deny its existence simply because they are dissatisfied with the degree or intensity of their love. God is indeed to be loved above everyone and everything else, and loved with all our being and strength, yet the best of His people sadly fail to render unto Him that which is His due. To find the heart going out more to a near relative than to God, or to grieve more over some temporal loss than for an offence against the Lord, must occasion great concern to a conscientious soul. Nevertheless, such an experience is not, of itself, a proof that we have no love to God, especially if devotedness to our kith and kin does not cause us to neglect Him.
Love to God is not to be determined by its elevation. Some writers have insisted that naught but disinterested love is worthy of the name—that God must be loved for what He is, and our neighbour as His creature. But there is a love of gratitude as well as of complacency, which makes a thankful return unto Him for His great love in Christ. This is expressly stated in 1 John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” Not only did God’s love precede ours, being set upon us when we were entirely loveless, but it is the cause of ours. Not only as the divine power created it in us, but as the motive which we are conscious of in our love. If our hearts had never been deeply affected by that transcendent love which moved God to give His own Son to die for such hell-deserving wretches as we know ourselves to be, should we have ever had any affection unto Him? No, indeed. Nor is there anything “legalistic” in this, if David hesitated not to leave it on record, “I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications” (Psa 96:1). I need not be ashamed to own that I love Him because He heard my cry for mercy and washed my sins away by the blood of the Lamb.
Love to God is not to be measured so much by its sensible stirrings or lively acts as by its solid esteem and settled constitution. Some Christians are naturally more emotional and lively, and therefore more easily stirred. Nor is love to be gauged by our feelings, but determined by our purpose of heart and sincere endeavours to please God. Partly because the act may be more lively where the affection be less firm in the heart. The passions of suitors are greater than the love of husbands, yet not so deeply rooted, nor do they so intimately affect the heart. Straw is soon enkindled, and its heat quickly spent, but coals burn longer and more constantly. And partly because the objects of sense do more affect and urge us in the present state. While the flesh remains in the believer, he will be more sensibly stirred by the things which agree with his carnal nature.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Studies in the Scriptures” April 1951 edition by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
“Measure your spiritual growth rather by the extent you are learning to look away from both sinful self and religious self.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Spiritual Growth” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
“People suppose they may be followers of Christ and yet ignore the path which He traveled; that they may decline the unpleasant task of denying self and yet make sure of heaven. What a delusion!” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Gleanings in the Godhead” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
Filed under: Carnal, Deceived, Faith, Modern Pulpits, Pride, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth
““Blessed are the poor in spirit.” There is a vast difference between this and being hard up in our circumstances. There is no virtue (and often no disgrace) in financial poverty as such, nor does it, of itself, produce humility of heart, for anyone who has any real acquaintance with both classes soon discovers there is just as much pride in the indigent as there is in the opulent. This poverty of spirit is a fruit that grows on no merely natural tree. It is a spiritual grace wrought by the Holy Spirit in those whom He renews. By nature we are well pleased with ourselves, and mad enough to think that we deserve something good at the hands of God. Let men but conduct themselves decently in a civil way, keeping themselves from grosser sins, and they are rich in spirit, pride filling their hearts, and they are self-righteous. And nothing short of a miracle of grace can change the course of this stream.
Nor is real poverty of spirit to be found among the great majority of the religionists of the day: very much the reverse. How often we see advertised a conference for “promoting the higher life,” but who ever heard of one for furthering the lowly life? Many books are telling us how to be “filled with the Spirit,” but where can we find one setting forth what it means to be spiritually emptied—emptied of self-confidence, self-importance, and selfrighteousness? Alas, if it be true that,
“That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15),
it is equally true that what is of great price in His sight is despised by men—by none more so than by modern Pharisees, who now hold nearly all the positions of prominence in Christendom. Almost all of the so-called “ministry” of this generation feeds pride, instead of starving the flesh; puffs up, rather than abases; and anything which is calculated to search and strip is frowned upon by the pulpit and is unpopular with the pew.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” And what is poverty of spirit? It is the opposite of that haughty, self-assertive and self-sufficient disposition which the world so much admires and praises. It is the very reverse of that independent and defiant attitude which refuses to bow to God, which determines to brave things out, which says with Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” To be “poor in spirit” is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is a consciousness of my emptiness, the result of the Spirit’s work within. It issues from the painful discovery that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It follows the awakening that my best performances are unacceptable, yea, an abomination to the thrice Holy One. Poverty of spirit evidences itself by its bringing the individual into the dust before God, acknowledging his utter helplessness and deservingness of hell. It corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country, when he “began to be in want.”
God’s great salvation is free, “without money and without price.” This is a most merciful provision of Divine grace, for were God to offer salvation for sale no sinner could secure it, seeing that he has nothing with which he could possibly purchase it. But the vast majority are insensible of this, yea, all of us are until the Holy Spirit opens our sin-blinded eyes. It is only those who have passed from death unto life who become conscious of their poverty, take the place of beggars, are glad to receive Divine charity, and begin to seek the true riches. Thus “the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:5): preached not only to their ears, but to their hearts!” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “The Sermon on the Mount” by A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Filed under: Faith, Love, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth, True Conversion, Worship
“Faith is fed by knowledge and works by love. Therefore, the fuller and deeper is the soul’s experimental acquaintance with God and the more his affections are drawn out to and centered on Him, the more will faith and love produce that obedience which is honoring to Him. As spiritual knowledge of the Lord, as He is revealed to the heart, causes us to put our trust in Him (Psalm 9:10), as believing sight in Him as our suffering Surety opens the floodgates of evangelical repentance (Zechariah 12:10), so a sense of our deep indebtedness to Him, a spirit of gratitude, issues in acceptable obedience. The more we apprehend God’s infinite worthiness, the more we shall strive to walk worthily before Him. The more we behold His excellence, the more our hearts will be warmed toward Him. The more intimate and constant is our communion with Him, the more shall we delight ourselves in Him, and the more tender shall we be of those things which grieve Him. So too the more we perceive of the high sovereignty and majesty of God, the more we shall be awed by and be amenable to His authority, and the more diligent we shall be in cleaving to the only path in which fellowship with Him can be enjoyed — the path of obedience to His blessed will.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Gleanings from Paul” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
“A very few words must suffice upon the third aspect of inward growth… the Christian attaining more firmness and fixedness of character, so that he is no longer swayed by the opinions of others. He becomes more stable, so that he is less emotional; and more rational, acting not from sudden impulse but from settled principle. He becomes wiser in spiritual things because his mind is increasingly engaged with the Word of God and his eternal concerns, and therefore more serious and sober in his demeanor. He becomes confirmed in doctrine and therefore more discerning and discriminating in whom he hears and what he reads. Nothing can move him from allegiance to Christ, and having bought the Truth he refuses to sell it (Proverbs 23:23). He is not afraid of being called a bigot, for he has discovered that “liberality” is emblazoned prominently on the Devil’s banner.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “Spiritual Growth” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
“The worldling thinks the real Christian is crazy, the Christian knows the poor worldling is spiritually insane.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “An Exposition of Hebrews” by A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
Filed under: Gospel, Grace, Law, Modern Pulpits, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth
“Healthy Christianity can only be maintained where the balance is properly preserved between a faithful exposition of the holy Law of God and a pressing of its claims upon the conscience, and by tenderly preaching the Gospel and applying its balm to stricken hearts. Where the former predominates to the virtual exclusion of the latter, self-righteous pharisaism is fostered; and where the proclamation of the Gospel ousts the requirements of the Law, Antinomian licentiousness is engendered. During the past hundred years Christendom has probably heard fifty Gospel sermons or addresses to one on the Law, and the consequence has indeed been disastrous and deplorable: a light and backboneless religion, with loose and careless walking.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Taken from “The Sermon on the Mount” by A. W. Pink (1886–1952)
Real Men Love Pink - A Collection of Quotes by A. W. Pink 