The Good Wine

"Thou hast kept the good wine until now."—John 2:10.

The good wine of the gospel must be Jesus himself, for He, and He alone, trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath, when the Lord bruised him and put him to grief. This is the wine which, in scripture, is said to cheer both God and men; for when God's justice took the full draught of it for the sins of the redeemed, the Lord declared himself well pleased. And when the poor sinner, by sovereign grace, is first made to drink of the blood of the Lamb, he feels constrained to say, the Lord had kept the good wine until now; for never before had his soul been so satisfied. Oh, precious Jesus! how sweet is the thought! Thy first miracle converted water into wine. Moses' ministry, under thy commission, was first manifested in turning water into blood. Yes, dear Lord! when once thy grace hath wrought upon the heart of a sinner, thou makest his most common mercies, like water, to become richer than wine. Whereas the law, which is the ministration of death, as long as the poor sinner continues under its power, makes all its enjoyments to partake of the curse. Oh, for continued manifestations of thy glory, dearest Lord! Give me to drink of thy best wine, my beloved, which goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that sleep to speak.

- Robert Hawker, The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions, January 8, Morning

 

Everything in the Bible is about Christ and the salvation He has procured for His people - from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.

 

Yes, it is. But I understand why we have difficulty in seeing Christ as the focal point throughout the whole of the Bible. We fallen humans have a problem with being earth-bound in our thinking.

Just like this brief devotional. We should be accepting the encouragement to God's elect that it provides, but we want to argue over whether all of the Bible is about Christ and the salvation that He has procured for His people.

 

You have a good day, @37818. I really don't see a reason to continue arguing with you over an encouraging devotional for God's elect. I was encouraged by reading it. If you are not, well, I think that is your loss.

 

I have little respect for one such as Charles Spurgeon, the "Calvinist" that Arminians love to quote. Spurgeon thought that if the number of the apostles were to be added to that John Wesley should be one of those added. A despicable saying by Spurgeon. Quoting Spurgeon means nothing to me. I don't think that Spurgeon couldn't tie Robert Hawker's spiritual shoelaces when it come to Biblical exposition. despite of some Biblical things that Spurgeon did preach and write.

 

Yes, it is. It is your loss that you find no spiritual comfort in it.

 

Glad that you find spiritual benefit from reading Robert Hawker's writings. There will be those who hate what he wrote. People who insist that they must have some part in being saved and/or in staying saved, who do not trust in Christ alone to save them from first to last, will chafe at what he wrote. Personally, I will tell anyone forthrightly that if my salvation depended on me - to any iota at all - that I would be doomed. I do not have a righteousness of my own and I never will - not one iota. I must have a perfect righteousness outside of myself and that is found only in my Christ Jesus.