Have Rock? Make Honey!

Thomas Wilcox (1621-1687), Pastor and Particular Baptist, wrote a powerful yet little known work, “Honey Out Of The Rock.”

Here are a few choice quotes to whet the appetite, and encourage you to read the entire sermon:

"Men talk bravely of believing, whilst whole and sound; few know it. Christ is the mystery of the Scripture; grace the mystery of Christ. Believing is the most wonderful thing in the world. Put any thing of your own to it, and you spoil it. Christ will not so much as look at it for believing. When you believe and come to Christ, you must leave behind you your own righteousness, and bring nothing but your sin: (Oh, that is hard!) leave behind all your holiness, sanctification, duties, humbling, and so on; and bring nothing but your wants and miseries, or else Christ is not fit for you, nor you for Christ. Christ will be a pure Redeemer and Mediator, and you must be an undone sinner, or Christ and you will never agree. It is the hardest thing in the world to take Christ alone for righteousness: that is to acknowledge Him Christ. Join any thing to Him of your own, and you un-Christ Him."

"Remember your sins, Christ's pardonings; your deserts, Christ's merits; your weakness, Christ's strength; your pride, Christ's humility; your many infirmities, Christ's restorings; your guilt, Christ's new applications of His blood; your failings, Christ's assistance; your wants, Christ's fullness; your temptations, Christ's tenderness; your vileness, Christ's righteousness."

"He is Judge of quick and dead, and must pronounce the final sentence. His blood speaks reconciliation (Col. 1:20); cleansing (1 John 1:7); purchase (Acts 20:28); redemption (1 Pet. 1:18); purging (Heb. 10:19); justification (Rom. 5:9); nearness to God (Eph. 2:13). Stand and hear what God will say, for He will speak peace to His people, that they return no more to folly (Ps. 85:8). He speaks grace, mercy and peace (2 Tim. 1:2). That is the language of the Father and of Christ."

"Believer, Christ drank up all the Father’s wrath at one draught; and nothing but salvation is left for you."

For the full text of “Honey Out Of The Rock,” you may download it in .pdf format, as an html, or in Rich Text for MSWord.