Reading: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. —Romans 7:24–25

There were five monks that were studying what was the best means to mortify sin. One said to meditate on death; the second, to meditate on judgment; the third, to meditate on the joys of heaven; the fourth, to meditate on the torments of hell; the fifth, to meditate on the blood and sufferings of Jesus Christ.

Certainly, the last is the choicest and strongest motive of all for the mortifying of sin. O despairing souls, despairing souls! if ever you would cast off your despairing thoughts and get out of your present hell, then dwell much, mediate much, and apply much this precious blood to your own soul.

Oh blessed be God for Jesus Christ; blessed be God for that precious blood that has justified our person, and quieted our consciences, and scattered our fears, and answered our doubts, and given us to triumph over sin, hell and death. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died (Romans 8:33–38). The apostle, on account of Christ’s death, of Christ’s blood, cries out, victory, victory. He looks on all his enemies and sings it sweetly out, “Over all these we are more than conquerors” or “above conquerors.”

(Taken from “Heaven on Earth” in The Works of Thomas Brooks, 2:379–380)

 

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

—Charles Wesley