Hebrews 12:14,15
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The riches of the Gospel are freely imparted to all who seek them by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet they quite mistake the nature of the Gospel, who imagine it to be inconsistent with solemn warnings. It offers every thing freely; but it does not dispense with the exertion of human efforts: it promises every thing fully; but not in such a way as to supersede the need of care and watchfulness on our part. It abounds with warnings and exhortations, to which we must take the utmost heed.
JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): This grace, under all their profession of the gospel, men may “fail of.”
CHARLES SIMEON: By “the grace of God,” I understand “the Gospel of the grace of God,” or that “grace of God which bringeth salvation.” And by “failing of the grace of God,” I understand, a falling short of it: the first part of our text being exactly parallel with that expression in the fourth chapter of this epistle, “Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it,” Hebrews 4:1.
JOHN OWEN: The word ὑστερέω signifies sometimes “to want, or be deficient in any kind,” Matthew 19:20; Luke 5:14; Luke 22:45; sometimes “to come behind,” 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 11:5; sometimes “to be destitute,” Hebrews 11:37; sometimes “to fail or come short of,” as Romans 3:23; Hebrews 4:1. It nowhere signifies to “fall from,”—so inquiries of men about falling from grace, as to these words, are impertinent; wherefore, to “fail of grace,” is to come short of it, not to obtain it, though we seem to be in the way thereunto.
CHARLES SIMEON: Now, we may come short of the Gospel by not submitting to its humiliating doctrines—the Gospel views all men as in a lost and perishing condition. Its provisions are made for all mankind without exception. It knows nothing of persons so good as not to need salvation, or of persons so bad as to be beyond the reach of the salvation it provides. It requires all to view themselves as “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; and counsels them to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for eye-salve that they may see; for gold that they may be enriched; and for garments that they may be clothed,” Revelation 3:17, 8. It suffers none to bring any price in their hands, but requires them to receive every thing “without money and without price,” Isaiah 55:1.
But all this is very humiliating. Proud man does not like to be brought so low, as to depend wholly on another, and not at all on himself. We wish to have something of our own whereof we may boast. And to be reduced to a level with the vilest of the human race, so as to acknowledge ourselves as much indebted to Divine grace as they, is a humiliation to which we cannot endure to submit—when it is said, “Wash and be clean,” instead of accepting the tidings with gratitude, we spurn them like Naaman, and go away in a rage, 2 Kings 5:10,13. To all this however, we must “submit,” Romans 10:3; for there is no other way of salvation, Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11; and, if we will not come to Christ upon His terms, we must remain for ever destitute of the blessings He has purchased for us.
A. W. PINK: God has warned us plainly in His Word that “there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness,” Proverbs 30:12. The call to careful self-examination receives its urgency from the very great danger there is of self-deception. Sin darkens the understanding, so that man is unable to perceive his real state before God. Satan “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,” 2 Corinthians 4:4. The deep-rooted pride of our hearts makes us think the best of ourselves, so that if a question is raised in our hearts, we are ever prone to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. A spirit of sloth possesses us by nature, so that we are unwilling to go to the trouble which real self-examination calls for. Hence the vast majority remain with a head knowledge of the truth, with outward attention to forms and ceremonies, or resting on a mere consent to the letter of some verse like John 3:16, and refusing to “make their calling and election sure,” 2 Peter 1:10.
JOHN OWEN: The duty prescribed is to “look diligently.”
CHARLES SIMEON: “Without holiness—radical universal holiness—no man shall see the Lord:” and we are cautioned to “look diligently,” lest, by coming short of the requirements of the Gospel, we fail to attain a possession of its blessings. We may come short of the Gospel by not obeying its self-denying doctrines. Though the Gospel gives salvation freely, it does not leave us at liberty to neglect good works; on the contrary, “it teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,” Titus 2:11,12. Indeed, the sanctification it requires of us is as offensive to our carnal and worldly hearts, as the humiliation it imposes on our pride. The object of the Gospel is not merely to save men from death and hell, but to bring them back to a state of holy allegiance to their God, such as Adam experienced in Paradise. It requires us to give up ourselves as living sacrifices unto God, to be as entirely dedicated to His service as the burnt-offerings which were wholly consumed on the altar, Romans 12:1. It enjoins us “neither to live unto ourselves, nor die unto ourselves;” but both in life and death to be altogether at the Lord’s disposal, for the accomplishment of His will, and for the promotion of His glory, Romans 14:7,8.
A. W. PINK: If I am not diligently and earnestly cultivating practical holiness, both of heart and life, then I shall never enter Heaven.
CHARLES SIMEON: Now, to this measure of holiness we have by nature a deep rooted aversion. We have many earthly sensual appetites which plead for indulgence: and when we are required to “cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye,” and to “be holy as God Himself is holy,” we reply, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” To “mortify our members upon earth,” and to “crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts,” is a work which, as the terms it is expressed intimate, is painful to flesh and blood: and to be told that without this we never can be Christ’s disciples, is most grating to our ears. But nothing less than this will suffice for the approving of ourselves upright in the sight of God. I beseech you then, brethren, to “look diligently” to this matter, and not to come short of what the Gospel requires of you; for if you comply not both with its doctrines and its precepts, you can never partake of its privileges and its blessings.
JOHN OWEN: The terms expressed in the Gospel are sure and none shall ever fail who embrace it on these terms.
Berean Bible Study
Acts 17:10,11; Isaiah 8:20; 2 Corinthians 13:1
The brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The Thessalonians would not so much as consider what they heard from the Apostle. The Bereans, on the contrary, made a diligent use of the means afforded them for solving their doubts: they “searched the Scriptures,” which they considered as the only standard of truth, and to which Paul had appealed; they “searched them daily,” that they might form their judgment upon the surest grounds: they would neither receive nor reject any thing which they had not maturely weighed.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Now, to help thee in thy search for the sense and meaning of the Word—First, Take heed thou comest not to the Scriptures with an unholy heart. Second: Make not thy own reason the rule by which thou dost measure Scripture truths. Third: Take heed thou comest not with a judgment pre-engaged to any party or opinion—a mind prepossessed will be ready to impose its own sense upon the Word, and so loses the truth by an overweening conceit of his own opinion. Too many read the Scriptures not so much to be informed by them, as confirmed in what already they have taken up! They choose opinions, as Samson his wife, because they please them, and then come to gain the Scriptures’ consent.
CHARLES SIMEON: The Bereans “inquired whether these things were so.” They did not conclude every thing to be false which did not accord with their preconceived opinions. This was a noble spirit, because it showed that they were not in subjection to their prejudices.
WILLIAM GURNALL: Fourth: Go to God by prayer for a key to unlock the mysteries of His Word. It is not the plodding, but the praying soul, that will get this treasure of Scripture knowledge. John got the sealed book opened by weeping, Revelation 5:5. God often brings a truth to the Christian’s hand as a return of prayer, which he had long hunted for in vain with much labour and study; there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, Daniel 2:22. And where doth He reveal the secrets of His Word but at the throne of grace? “From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words,” Daniel 10:12—for thy prayer. And what was this heavenly messenger’s errand to Daniel but to open more fully the Scripture to him?
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If you study the original, consult the commentaries, and meditate deeply, yet if you neglect to cry mightily unto the Spirit of God, your study will not profit you―but if you wait upon the Holy Ghost in simple dependence upon His teaching, you will lay hold of very much of the divine meaning.
WILLIAM GURNALL: Fifth: Compare Scripture with Scripture.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The readiness of mind of the Bereans to receive the Word was not such as they took things upon trust, and swallowed them upon an implicit faith: no; but since Paul reasoned out of the Scriptures, and referred them to the Old Testament for the proof of what he said, they turned to those places, read the context, considered the scope and drift of them, compared them with other places of Scripture, and examined whether Paul’s inferences from them were natural and genuine, and his arguments upon them cogent, and determined accordingly.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): They searched the Scriptures of the Old Testament to see whether the promises and types corresponded with the alleged fulfillment in the person, works, and sufferings of Jesus Christ.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Only by prayerfully and diligently comparing Scripture with Scripture are its exquisite perfections revealed, and only thus are we able to obtain a complete view of many a scene―only by comparing Scripture with Scripture can we rightly interpret any figure or symbol…No verse of Scripture yields its meaning to lazy people.
WILLIAM GURNALL: Now, in comparing Scripture with Scripture, be careful that thou interpret obscure places by the more plain and clear, and not the clear by the dark. “Some things hard to be understood, which they that are unstable wrest,” 2 Peter 3:16. No wonder they should stumble in those dark and difficult places, when they turn their back on that light which plainer Scriptures afford to lead them safely through.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We must remember that if our interpretation ever makes the teaching appear to be ridiculous or lead us to a ridiculous position, it is patently a wrong interpretation. And there are people who are guilty of this.
WILLIAM GURNALL: “He that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not,” 1 John 5:18. This is a dark place which some run away with, and from it conclude there is a perfect state free from all sin attainable in this life; whereas a multitude of plain Scriptures testify against such a conclusion, as 1 Kings 8:38; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Job 9:20; 1 John 1:8-10, with many more. So it must be in a limited and qualified sense that “he that is born of God sinneth not.”
MATTHEW HENRY: Paul saw himself to be in a state of imperfection and trial: “Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect,” Philippians 3:12…If Paul had not attained to perfection, who had reached to so high a pitch of holiness, much less have we.
A. W. PINK: Our purpose in calling attention to this, is to remind the reader of the great importance of comparing Scripture with Scripture, and to show how Scripture is self-interpreting.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: We must remember that if our interpretation contradicts the plain and obvious teaching of Scripture at another point, again it is obvious that our interpretation has gone astray—there is no contradiction in Biblical teaching.
WILLIAM GURNALL: Sixth: Consult with thy faithful guides which God hath set over thee in His church. Though people are not to pin their faith on the minister’s sleeve, yet they are to “seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts,” Malachi 2:7.
JOHN ROBINSON (1575-1625): Make use of the commentaries and expositions of such special instruments, as God in mercy hath raised up for the opening of the Scriptures, and edifying the Church.
C. H. SPURGEON: Richard Cecil says his plan was, when he laid a hold of a Scripture, to pray over it, and get his own thoughts on it, and then, after he had so done, to take up the ablest divines who wrote upon the subject, and see what their thoughts were.
HULDRYCH ZWINGLI (1484-1531): I study them with the same feelings with which one asks a friend, “What do you understand by this?”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: We must not swallow automatically everything we read in books, even from the greatest men. We must examine everything.
C. H. SPURGEON: If you do not think, and think much, you will become slaves and mere copyists. The exercise of your own mind is most healthful to you, and by perseverance, with divine help, you may expect to get at the meaning of every understandable passage. So, to rely upon your own abilities as to be unwilling to learn from others is clearly folly; so to study others, as not to judge for yourself, is imbecility.
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