Fri.-Sabbath, 6/21-23/19 Devotion

Yes—it is almost Sunday! We *get* to go back to church! Here is Rev. Rich-ard Sibbes, the great Puritan pastor, from his, "The Bruised Reed" book. . . .

"THE TRIUMPH OF GRACE

"Since the Fall, God will not trust us with our own salvation, but it is both pur-chased and kept by Christ for us, and we for it through faith, wrought by the power of God, which we lay hold of. This power is gloriously set forth by Paul. It is 1) a great power; 2) an exceeding power; 3) a working and a mighty pow-er; 4) such a power as was wrought in raising Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19, 20).

"That grace which is but a persuasive offer and in our power to receive or re-fuse is not the grace which brings us to heaven. But God's people feel a pow-erful work of the Spirit, not only revealing to us our misery and deliverance through Christ, but emptying us of ourselves, as being redeemed from our-selves, and infusing new life into us, and afterwards strengthening us and quickening us when we droop and hang the wing, never leaving us till the conquest is perfect."