What do men look for in a sanctuary? Freedom from danger, deliverance out of trouble, and a supply of all their wants. All these are proposed in this self-humiliation of Jesus Christ, if we could by faith make him our sanctuary, — if we could by faith, as we ought, go unto him for relief. If we go unto any one for relief, we question but two things, — his will and his power. If he be willing and if he be able, you have no ground to question but you shall have relief. I know how it is with us all. We have all wants, we have all temptations, we have all fears, we have all inward conflicts and perplexities, more or less; and we all secretly groan to be delivered from all these things. Groaning is the best of our spiritual life, — to live in continual groaning. Oh, that we may do so every morning and every evening! that there may be nothing but God and Christ in our souls, all clear and serene, and all our minds spiritual and heavenly! Where shall we betake ourselves, then, for relief in all cases?
Source: John Owen from a sermon entitled The Humiliation and Condescension of Christ, preached on November 9, 1681
Andrew Groves 