{"id":24265,"date":"2025-02-20T00:18:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=24265"},"modified":"2025-02-20T00:18:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:18:35","slug":"that-i-may-win-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2025\/02\/that-i-may-win-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"That I May Win Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat I may win Christ.\u201d\u2014Philippians 3:8<\/strong><\/p>\n

No sooner had good king Hezekiah established his throne in righteousness, restored religion in his kingdom, set his whole heart to serve the Lord, and his God prospered him, but an invading Sennacherib enters his territories, and encamps against his fenced cities. 2 Chron. 32:1. Scripture and experience daily preach to God\u2019s children, \u2018This is not your rest;\u2019 you are in a militant state. Though Jesus hath taken possession of the soul, and cast out the strong man armed, think not of folding your arms, and saying, I shall see war no more; for your adversary has many after-games to play. He will not only encamp against your fenced cities, and attack your out-works, but will also attempt your very heart and mind. Beware of such suggestions as these, they are the whispers of a destroying foe: Come, you are now an excellent Christian; you have a tongue to speak for Jesus, you don\u2019t live and act as the rest of the careless sinful world; you have made great advances in holiness, now you have somewhat to glory in yourself before God.\u2014Jesus, Master, save us in this hour of Satan\u2019s attack! When in such a storm, better to cast overboard all the heavy lading of self-confidence to right the ship. \u2018A haughty spirit goeth before a fall.\u2019 Prov. 16:18<\/p>\n

Let us ever remember, Jesus is all our gain and all our glory. We are still poor sinners. By renouncing all, and cleaving to him, we enjoy all in him. No fruits produced, no comforts experienced, but by abiding in him. What possess Jesus, and yet want to \u2018win\u2019 him? Yes: there is much more knowledge, much more peace, love, joy, and a greater conformity to the blessed Jesus to be gained and experienced, than any of us have yet found. Hearts enamoured with Christ, like avaricious gamesters, never, never think they have enough of him till they have gained the full enjoyment of his matchless charms in glory. They renounce all for his sake. Wherefore? On terms and conditions to barter for an interest in Christ? No: gracious, loving hearts detest such base undervaluing thoughts of their infinitely precious Lord. Shall the dross and dung of our doings and performances be put in competition with his most glorious excellency, who is our prize, our portion, our treasure? Whom have I in heaven but thee, or what is there on earth that I desire in comparison of thee, will ever be the language of faith.<\/p>\n

My God, my life, my love,<\/p>\n

To thee, to thee I call;<\/p>\n

I cannot live if thou remove,<\/p>\n

For thou art all in all.<\/p>\n

What empty things are all the skies,<\/p>\n

And this inferior clod:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing here deserves my joys,<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing like my God.<\/p>\n

The smiling of thy face,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How amiable they are!<\/p>\n

\u2019Tis heav\u2019n to rest in thy embraces,<\/p>\n

And nowhere else but there.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No sooner had good king Hezekiah established his throne in righteousness, restored religion in his kingdom, set his whole heart to serve the Lord, and his God prospered him, but an invading Sennacherib enters his territories, and encamps against his fenced cities. 2 Chron. 32:1. Scripture and experience daily preach to God\u2019s children, \u2018This is not your rest;\u2019 you are in a militant state. Though Jesus hath taken possession of the soul, and cast out the strong man armed, think not of folding your arms, and saying, I shall see war no more; for your adversary has many after-games to play. He will not only encamp against your fenced cities, and attack your out-works, but will also attempt your very heart and mind. Beware of such suggestions as these, they are the whispers of a destroying foe: Come, you are now an excellent Christian; you have a tongue to speak for Jesus, you don\u2019t live and act as the rest of the careless sinful world; you have made great advances in holiness, now you have somewhat to glory in yourself before God.\u2014Jesus, Master, save us in this hour of Satan\u2019s attack! When in such a storm, better to cast overboard all the heavy lading of self-confidence to right the ship. \u2018A haughty spirit goeth before a fall.\u2019 Prov. 16:18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":20656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1571],"tags":[1197],"class_list":["post-24265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-william-mason","tag-spiritual-growth"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24273,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24265\/revisions\/24273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}