Knots Untied by JC Ryle (Available from Amazon or free here)
Today Ryle discusses the real presence of God.
Firstly God is present everywhere in the world. This means that the thought of God's presence:
(i) is a loud call to humility;
(ii) a crushing proof of our need of Jesus;
(iii) teaches the folly of hypocrisy in religion;
(iv) is a check and curb on the inclination to sin;
(v) is a spur to the pursuit of true holiness;
(vi) is a comfort in time of public trouble;
(vii) is a strong consolation in private trial.
Secondly there is a real spiritual presence of our Lord Jesus Christ:
(i) with his church;
(ii) in the heart of every true believer;
(iii) wherever His believing people meet together in His name;
(iv) with the hearts of all true-hearted communicants in the Lord's Supper;
(v) vouchsafed to believers in special times of trouble and difficulty.
Thirdly there is a real bodily presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was bodily present when upon the earth, is bodily present in heaven right now, and will bodily return to the earth. But Ryle is clear to distinguish that Jesus is not bodily present in the Lord's Supper.
Liked this point especially: 'The thought of God s presence is a check and curb on the inclination to sin. The recollection that there is One always near us and observing us, who will one day have a reckoning with all mankind, may well keep us back from evil. Happy are those sons and daughters who, when they leave the family home, and launch forth into the world, carry with them the abiding remembrance of God s eye. "My father and mother do not see me, but God does." This was the feeling that preserved Joseph when tempted in a foreign land: "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen. xxxix. 9.)'
A healthy knowledge of God's omnipresence drives sin far, far away.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 10 (The church).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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