Ten virgins - Shepard - IX - Chapter 18 & 19

Required reading
Ten virgins by Thomas Shepard (Available from Amazon or free here).  Read Chapters 18 and 19.

My summary
We continue looking at the difference between the wise and foolish virgins: they took no oil in their vessels for their lamps.

Today Shepard gives us his second doctrine on the subject: 'That the precious souls and hearts of all the faithful are vessels made chiefly and only to receive and preserve the spirit and grace of Christ.'

There are three reasons for this:
(i) Because all the creatures in the world are theirs and servants to them, and therefore they are for the Lord only;
(ii) A Christian's liberty is to serve God, not himself;
(iii) God reserves the Christian heart only for the Spirit of Grace.

Shepard then makes five applications:
(i) Christians should be thankful that the Lord should make their souls the vessels to receive and preserve this eternal anointing;
(ii) See the reason of that inward hypocrisy that is in men's hearts;
(iii) Take heed of denying the grace of God;
(iv) Try yourselves to see whether you have the spirit in you;
(v) Get this oil in your vessels.

What grabbed me
Great quote on why we should be thankful to God: 'I do believe there is no man that knows the bitterness of sin, the plague of his own heart, but when he sees Christ is his, yet it makes him mourn that there should be so little suitableness between the Lord and him, so little likeness between his life and Christ's; what though the Lord love me, and yet my heart weary of him? what though the Lord bless me, and my heart abuse him? And hence this makes it thankful.'

It's hard to know why God allowed sin to enter into the world.  But one thing is for sure, knowing how sinful we are gives us all the more reason to be thankful to him for pouring Christ into our hearts.

Next week's reading
Read Chapters 20 and 21.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.