Advice to a Young Woman Entering Into Adult Life

Posted on June 17, 2022 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 12:1; Proverbs 3:5-7

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): Young women! Deeply ponder, that character for life is usually formed in youth. It is the golden season of life, and to none more truly and eminently so than to the young woman. Her leisure, her freedom from care, and her protected situation, give her the opportunity for this, which it is her wisdom and her duty to consider, embrace, and improve.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” What does the text say? It says in effect, you are not your own, you have no right to yourselves. God made you; He is your Creator: He made you that you might be happy; but you can be happy only in Him. And as He created you, so He preserves you; He feeds, clothes, upholds you. He has made you capable of knowing, loving, and serving Him in this world, and of enjoying Him in his own glory for ever. And when you had undone yourselves by sin, He sent His Son to redeem you by His blood; and He sends His Spirit to enlighten, convince, and draw you away from childishness, from vain and trifling, as well as from sinful pursuits.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): And remember what an obligation it lays upon us to depart from iniquity.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Set out in life with a deep conviction of the momentous consequence of self-discipline. Lay the basis of all your excellences in true religion—the religion of the heart, the religion of penitence, faith in Christ, love to God, a holy and heavenly mind. No character can be well-constructed, safe, complete, beautiful, or useful, without this.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Diligently remember what Christ Himself teaches, that “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,” John 8:12.

ADAM CLARKE: Remember what thou hast heard, and practice what thou dost remember; and let all obedience be from the heart: “Let thy heart keep my commandments,” Proverbs 3:1.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): The first benefit resulting from this is, that it will bring most honour and glory to God. This ought to be the point in which our actions should center; for to this end were we born, and to this end were we redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, that we should promote God’s eternal glory. And as the glory of God is most advanced by paying obedience to His precepts, they that begin soonest to walk in His ways, act most to His glory. But, secondly, as an early piety redounds most to the honour to God, so it will bring most honour to ourselves: for those that honour God, God will honour, 1 Samuel 2:30.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: The perfection of human character consists of piety, prudence, and knowledge. Make that noble trio your own—Cultivate a thoughtful, reflective turn of mind. Look beneath the surface of things; beyond their present aspect to their future consequences. Be somewhat meditative, and learn to restrain your words and feelings, by a rigid self-control. Pay most anxious attention to your temper, and acquire as much as possible its perfect command. More women are rendered miserable, and render others miserable, by neglect of this, than perhaps from any other cause. Let meekness of disposition and gentleness of manner be a constant study.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): This advice is specially needed; for youth has so much that is delightful in its novelty to think about, and the world, on both its innocent and its sinful side, appeals to it so strongly, that the Creator is only too apt to be crowded out of view.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): How many young women exist only for amusement and vanity?

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Whatever you make most of is your god. Whatever you love more than God is your idol. Many make a god of pleasure; that’s what their hearts are set on.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Fashion is the goddess to whose shrine too many bow with ardent devotion—the mind is filled with pride and vanity, and a deteriorating influence is placed on upon what constitutes the true dignity of the soul. The love of ostentation infects the character…Modesty is the most attractive of all female graces. What is intelligence without it, but bolder impudence? Or beauty, but a more seductive snare? Modesty is a woman’s ornament, investing all her other excellences with additional charms—the blush of purity upon the cheek of beauty. It is her power, by which she subdues every heart that is worth the conquest. Chastity is the robe which every woman should wear, and modesty is the golden clasp that keeps it upon her, and the fringe that adorns it.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): With many people of fashion, infidelity is fashionable.

C. H. SPURGEON: If sin be in fashion, let us be out of fashion.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD: Be not “ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation,” Romans 1:16. Fear not man; fear not the contempt and revilings which you must meet with in the way of duty.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Take heed against flexibility of principle, purpose, and character, in reference to what is right—and obstinate perseverance in what is wrong…Knowing what is right, do it, though you stand alone, and though the world laughs in chorus at you. Possess that due degree of moral courage which, while it leaves you in possession of true shame when doing what is wrong, shall extinguish all false shame in doing what is right…On the other hand, it is no less great, good, and glorious, to say, “I am wrong,” when charged with an error, and convinced that you have committed it. An obstinate perseverance in a bad course, to avoid the shame and humiliation of confessing that you are wrong, is neither dignity nor greatness of mind, but stubborn imbecility.

RICHARD STEELE (1629-1692): Of all the temptations to which the young are exposed, none is more fatal and pernicious than evil company.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: There are evil companions to be avoided. The Scripture says that “the companion of fools shall be destroyed,” Proverbs 13:20…Beware, then, I implore you, to whom you give your company and friendship—and whose company you accept in return.

HENRY VENN (1724-1797): Be therefore deliberate, and discreet in your choice of company. Always say to yourself: “Do I find either reproof, or exhortation, or comfort, or instruction in the great things of God, from their company?”

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: With much the same emphasis do I warn you against bad books…In some respects bad books are more mischievous than bad companions, since they can be more secretly consulted, and lodge their poison more abidingly in the imagination, the intellect, and the heart. A bad book is a bad companion of the worst kind, and prepares for bad companions of all other kinds! There are bad places also, places which endanger you, as well as bad companions and bad books; places where, if you have not already formed bad companionships, you are sure to find them!

MARY WINSLOW (1774-1854): Go nowhere where you cannot take Christ with you.

DUTCH PSALTER 322 (Psalm 119:9): How shall the young direct their way?

What light shall be their perfect guide?

Thy Word, O Lord, will safely lead,

If in its wisdom they confide.

 

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The Elect Lady

Posted on June 10, 2022 by The Editor

2 John 1:1-4

The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; for the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): John calls himself “elder” either on account of his age, or on account of his office, being a bishop or overseer, not only of the church at Ephesus, but of all the Asiatic churches.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): At the time John wrote this Epistle, he could not be less than an hundred years old, if it was after his return from banishment. But the principal point for the Church of God to regard is, the character to whom John wrote—namely, one of the Elect of God.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): She is called the “elect lady.”

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Some think the Greek word “Kyria”, translated “lady,” was the name of the person—the Syriac and Arabic versions read, “to the elect Kyria.” Others think that the word translated “elect” is a proper name, and this person’s name was “Electa;” and then it must read, “to the lady Electa;” but her sister also is so called in verse 13, “the children of thy elect sister greet thee,” and it can hardly be thought two sisters should both have the same name.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Others think that a particular Church is intended, which some think to be the Church at Jerusalem, and that the elect sister means the Church at Ephesus; but these are conjectures—I am satisfied that no metaphor is here intended.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): There is no reason to suppose this elect lady is the church, as some have thought, nor that we should read “the Lady Electa,” as others have suggested.

WILLIAM JAY: But who was this distinguished personage?

H. A. IRONSIDE: The “elect lady” was evidently a Christian woman who, with her children, had embraced the doctrine of Christ. In all probability she was one who had been blessed and helped through John’s ministry.

WILLIAM JAY: She seems to have been a person of high reputation, and of some rank, and able disposition. But whatever her worldly condition, it of itself would never have attracted the notice of John without her character. He regarded her according to her real worth. Birth, and wealth, and honour, are nothing in themselves.

JOHN GILL: This person also is said to be “elect,” either because she was a choice, famous, and excellent person, not only for her birth, nobility, and riches, but for her virtue, grace, and good works; or because she was chosen unto eternal life and salvation.

MATTHEW HENRY: The elect lady—not only a choice one, but one chosen of God.

ROBERT HAWKER: Notice with what confidence John speaks to this lady, in consequence of being an elect child of God. He saith, he loveth her for the truth’s sake—meaning Christ Himself, Who is the truth, John 14:6; and which John saith, “dwelleth in us,” that is, in all the elect, “and shall abide forever.”

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The true doctrine of Election, I believe to be as follows: Those men and women whom God has been pleased to choose from all eternity, He calls in time, by His Spirit working in due season. He convinces them of sin. He leads them to Christ. He works in them repentance and faith. He converts, renews, and sanctifies them. He keeps them by His grace from falling away entirely, and finally brings them safe to glory. In short God’s eternal Election is the first link in that chain of a sinner’s salvation of which heavenly glory is the end. The primary and original cause of a saint’s being what he is, is eternal God’s election.

ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! Do not overlook this, for it is blessed. The elect lady, as John calls her, had in that election all the blessed fruits and effects wrought up in it, as the bud contains all the future blossoms, and foliage of the flower. Together with this electing grace, there is calling grace appointed also: “For whom he did predestinate, them he also called,” Romans 8:30. And in the season of that call, there is given the pardoning grace to all sins. So speaks Paul: “And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” Colossians 2:13. Neither doth the blessing stop here, for justification immediately follows: “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:24. And both sanctification and glory bring up the rear, the sure events involved in the blessed act of God’s sovereign love.

J. C. RYLE: Election can only be known by its fruits. The Elect of God can only be discerned by their faith and life.

JOHN GILL: Which John might know without a special and divine revelation, by the Gospel coming with power to her, and by the grace that was wrought in her; and by the faith of God’s elect, which she appeared to have, seeing it worked by love.

H. A. IRONSIDE: John’s heart had been gladdened by the good report that had reached him of the ways of the elect lady’s household. Her children walked in the truth in accordance with the commandment received from the Father. Hers was a truly Christian home in the midst of an ungodly world.

WILLIAM JAY: Perhaps she was a deaconess; perhaps she had a church in her house; perhaps her mansion was the asylum of the persecuted, and the dwelling where ministers of the word and the brethren always found a welcome and a home. She was pre-eminently pious: the foundation of all her excellencies was her personal and evangelical godliness. She was “walking in the truth.” She exemplified the influence of the truth by her walking in the knowledge, practice, and profession of the truth, and in being “a fellow helper to the truth,” 3 John 1:8.

WILHELMUS à BRAKEL (1635-1711): These are fruits issuing forth from election; they are not the causes of election—but are a consequence of it. Nothing in man, nor any future deeds, moved God to elect a person. The reason for election is nothing but the sovereign good pleasure of God, Ephesians 1:5,9.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Besides, as election rests on the mercy of God alone, it is in vain to seek the cause of it in the worthiness of man.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is lovely and beautiful to see ladies, by holy walking, demonstrate their election of God…The great concern of those who have received Christ is to walk in Him—to make their practices conformable to their principles. As we have received Christ, or consented to be His, so we must walk with Him in our daily course and keep up our communion with Him. The more closely we walk with Christ the more we are rooted and established in the faith. A good conduct is the best establishment of a good faith. If we walk in Him, we shall be rooted in Him; and the more firmly we are rooted in Him, the more closely we shall walk in Him: rooted and built up, Colossians 2:6,7. Observe—we cannot be built up in Christ, unless we be first rooted in Him. We must be united to Him by a lively faith, and heartily consent to His covenant, and then we shall grow up in Him in all things.

 

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Christ’s Certain Word, Peter’s Confidence, & Paul’s Persuasion

Posted on June 3, 2022 by The Editor

John 10:27-30 & 6:39; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:12 & 4:18—Romans 8:38, 39

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.—And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day—And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.—For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): One of the outstanding glories of the Gospel is its promise of eternal security to all who truly believe it…It proclaims no feeble Redeemer, but One who is “mighty to save,” Isaiah 63:1; though the world, the flesh and the Devil, combine against Him, He cannot be frustrated. He who triumphed over the grave cannot be thwarted by any feebleness or fickleness in His people. “He is able”―which would not be true if their unwillingness could balk Him―“to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,” Hebrews 7:25.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He tells us, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” Matthew 28:18…He has all power―that He might “give eternal life to as many were given Him,” for the more effectual carrying on and completing our salvation.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There are in the world certain people who teach that Christ gives grace to men, and then tells them, “Now, you shall be saved if you will persevere; but this must be left to yourself.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The words of Hebrews 3:14 strongly imply the possibility of falling from the grace of God and perishing everlastingly…Having believed in Christ as the promised Messiah, and embraced the whole Christian system, they were made partakers of all its benefits in this life, and entitled to the fulfillment of all its exceeding great and precious promises relative to the glories of the eternal world. The former they actually possessed, and the latter they could have only in case of their perseverance; therefore the apostle says, “If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end,”―meaning, to the end of our life.

ANTHONY BURGESS (died 1664): Were they not kept by God’s grace and power, they would every moment be undone both in soul and body. It is not our grace, our prayer, our watchfulness keeps us, but it is in the power of God, His right arm, that supports us.

A. W. PINK: Apart from the renewing and sustaining power of God—they would assuredly perish under the corruptions of the flesh and the assaults of the Devil.

ADAM CLARKE: There shall be nothing lacking on God’s part to support you—and bring you at last to His kingdom and glory.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): If we hold fast our faith unto the end. If―but not else.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is not your hold of Christ that saves, but His hold of you.

A. W. PINK: If left entirely to themselves believers would perish. Temptations and tribulations from without and corruptions from within would prove too strong for them, and therefore does Christ make intercession on their behalf, that God would grant them such supplies of grace and pardoning mercy that they will be preserved from total apostasy.

ADAM CLARKE: Our participation of glory depends on our continuing steadfast in the faith, to the end of our Christian race. If this were not held fast to the end, Christ, in His saving influences, could not be held fast.

C. H. SPURGEON: Will you please to remember that if you look to creature strength it is utterly impossible that you should persevere in grace, even for ten minutes, much less for ten years! If your perseverance depends upon yourself you are a lost man. You may write that down for a certainty.

A. W. PINK: The honour and glory of Jehovah is bound up in the final perseverance of the saints.

C. H. SPURGEON: Why? First, because He has promised to do it; and God’s promises are bonds that never yet were dishonoured. If He hath said He will, He will. Secondly, because Christ Jesus hath taken an oath that He will do it―and, therefore, because Christ is responsible, because He is the heavenly sponsor for all God’s people, they must be kept: for otherwise Christ’s bond were forfeited, and His oath were null and void. They must be kept, again, because otherwise the union that there is between all of them and Christ would not be a real one. Christ and His church are one—one body—we are “His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all,” Ephesians 1:23. If, then, the whole church were not gathered in, Christ would be an incomplete Christ, seeing He would want His fullness. They must all be saved, for God the Father has determined that they shall be; nay, the Son has sworn they shall be; and God the Holy Spirit vouches for it that they shall be.

A. W. PINK: Now is the Father’s eternal purpose placed in jeopardy by the human will? Is its fulfillment contingent upon human conduct? Or, having ordained the end, will He not also make infallibly effectual all means to that end? That predestination is founded upon His love: “I have loved thee”―says the Father to each of His elect―“with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3. Nor is there any variation in His love, for God is not fickle like us: “I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Malachi 3:6. Were it possible for one of God’s elect to totally apostatize and finally perish it would mean the Father had purposed something which He failed to effect and that His love was thwarted…If the final perseverance of the saints be a delusion, then one must close his Bible and sit down in despair.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): If my confidence of my final salvation, and of my ultimate perfection, rested in myself―my own energy, my own zeal, my own purposes and desires―I know that I’d never get there. My assurance is based on this: that God, the infinite eternal God, is vindicating His own eternal character, through me. And if He started saving me, and then left it undone or unfinished, and I ever arrived in hell, the devil would have the greatest joke of eternity. He’d say “there’s a being that God began to save, and failed to complete.” It’s impossible, it can’t happen. There is no more monstrous idea than the idea that you can fall away from grace―that you can ever be born again, and then be damned! The character of God is involved, it’s impossible! It’s not merely to save me, it’s to vindicate His own being and nature.

A. W. PINK: Those whom He pardons, He preserves. Therefore each one who trusts in Him, though conscious of his own weakness and wickedness, may confidently exclaim “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” 2 Timothy 1:12.

C. H. SPURGEON: Paul was fully persuaded of this great Truth of God…When you know that your Lord is able to keep that which you have committed to Him until that day, then you are firm as a rock.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The thing’s absolutely certain, because God’s character is involved in it.

C. H. SPURGEON: Let us go forward into the future, however dark it is, with this confidence, that at least one thing we know—the love of Christ will hold us fast and, by His Grace, we will hold fast to Him—we are joined to Him by a living, loving, lasting union that never shall be broken!

 

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The Promise & The Warning of Jesus Christ’s Ascension

Posted on May 27, 2022 by The Editor

Acts 1:9-11

While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Conceive with what astonishment the disciples beheld the ascension of Christ! What must have been their feelings! What their holy joy! How gracious was it in the Lord, not only to them, but for the sake of the whole Church, to send those two angels in human form, to explain to the wondering Apostles what they saw. Their minds no doubt, were absorbed in contemplating the glorious sight, which so beautifully corresponded to the predictions of prophecy concerning it—see Psalm 24 & Psalm 47.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” They are roused out of the ecstasy they were in at that glorious sight, to learn what was so much to their and our advantage.

ROBERT HAWKER: Probably some of them might recollect what Jesus had said to Nathanael: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man,” John 1:51; and also what He had said to the murmuring Jews: “When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” John 6:61,62.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): As Christ’s resurrection had been honoured with the appearance of angels, it is natural to expect that His ascension into heaven would be so likewise.

ROBERT HAWKER: But be this as it might, the angels called off their attention from attending to the mere splendour of the sight, to the blissful consequences of their Lord’s ascension. And oh! how sweet the scripture which follows: “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him go into Heaven.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Their Master had often told them of this, and the angels are sent at this time seasonably to put them in mind of it.

THOMAS COKE: The angels spake of our Lord’s coming to judge the world at the last day, a description of which He Himself had given in His life time on earth: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels,” Matthew 16:27.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): He shall come in the same flesh, in the same human nature; He shall come in the clouds of heaven, and shall be attended with His mighty angels, as He now was; He shall descend Himself in Person, as He now ascended in person; and as He went up with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet—“God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet,” Psalm 47:5—so He shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, 1 Thessalonians 4:16; and, it may be, He shall descend upon the very spot from whence He ascended—see Zechariah 14:4.

ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! Ponder well these words. Your God, your Saviour, in the same identity of Person; divine, and human, as He left the earth again will return, when His feet shall stand again on the very same mount from whence he went up.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): He will descend from heaven in visible form, in like manner as He was seen to ascend, and appear to all, with the ineffable majesty of His kingdom, the splendor of immortality, the boundless power of divinity, and an attending company of angels. Hence we are told to wait for the Redeemer against that day on which He will separate the sheep from the goats and the elect from the reprobate, and when not one individual either of the living or the dead shall escape His judgment, Matthew 25:31-46. From the extremities of the universe shall be heard the clang of the trumpet summoning all to His tribunal; both those whom that day shall find alive, and those whom death shall previously have removed from the society of the living.

ROBERT HAWKER: In the mean time, for the full scope of faith, in every need and want, we should never, no, not for a moment, forget that the Son of God in our nature, is now in heaven, and there exercising His office of an unchangeable priesthood, Hebrews 7:24. So that His mercies towards His people, are the mercies of both natures; and are manifested in this double way, and through such a medium as could not have been shown had He been God only. His mercies are indeed infinite, because He is God: and His human nature in communicating them to us, renders them endless and unceasing from that Almighty power. But at the same time, they are all in One of our own nature, and they flow to us in, and through this nature, with a sweetness to endear them to our hearts. And hence the Apostle’s direction to go to Him, Hebrews 4:14-16.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Though He shed His blood for sinners on the cross, He is now in heaven, and is the true Object of faith; He is the Christ, He is the Son of God. An ever living glorified Man now in heaven He is, and there is no other Saviour. He was the Son by whom the worlds were made, Colossians 1:16; He was the Son whom God sent to make propitiation for our sins, He was the Son in resurrection and ascension, and He is the Son now seated on the Father’s throne, whom the gospel declares to be the only Saviour of sinners.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): As yet He is proclaimed by the Gospel, a Saviour, seated upon a throne of grace, stretching forth the golden scepter of His love, and inviting sinners to be reconciled. Now is the accepted time. Hereafter He will be seen upon a throne of judgment, to take vengeance of His enemies.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): If you do not believe this, if it appears to you more like a tale, a fiction, or a dream, than a reality, you do not believe the Bible.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Oh, I pray you do not say that the Lord delays His coming—for it is the mark of the mockers of the last days, 2 Peter 3:4, that they say, “Where is the promise of His coming?”

JOHN NEWTON: Our ascended Lord will one day return; then they who have loved, and served, and trusted Him here, “shall appear with Him in glory,” Colossians 3:4. Others, if they can, must prepare to meet Him. But, alas! how shall they stand before Him? Or, whither shall they flee from Him whose presence filleth the heavens and the earth? “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD,” Jeremiah 23:24. Have they an arm like God? Or can they thunder with a voice like His?

C. H. SPURGEON: His return is certain, and your summons to His bar equally certain. But what account can you give if you reject Him? O come and trust Him this day!

 

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An Astonishing Self-Deception: Waiting in Unbelief

Posted on May 20, 2022 by The Editor

John 4:48; John 5:2,3,5

Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water…And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): This is the thought of many of those who feel their sins and who desire salvation. They accept that unscriptural dangerous advice given to them by a certain class of ministers—they wait at the pool of Bethesda—they persevere in the formal use of means and ordinances, and continue in unbelief, expecting some great thing. They abide in a continued refusal to obey the Gospel and yet expect that all of a sudden they will experience some strange emotions, feelings, or remarkable impressions! They hope to see a vision, or hear a supernatural voice, or be alarmed with deliriums of horror.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): This is a subject rarely touched upon today, yet in certain quarters especially there is a real need that it should be dealt with. By inward impressions we have reference to some passage of Scripture or some verse of a hymn being laid upon the mind with such force that it rivets the attention, absorbs the entire inner man and is accompanied by such an influence, that the partaker thereof is deeply affected.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Expectations of this sort have a tendency to great inconveniences, and often open a door to the delusions of mysticism and dangerous impositions; for Satan, when permitted, knows how to transform himself into an angel of light.

A. W. PINK: When a looking and waiting for inward impressions becomes the rule of duty, the ground of faith, and the foundation of comfort, the Word of God is grievously slighted, if not altogether set aside.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Like Thomas, they will yield to no method of conviction but what they shall prescribe themselves.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Gospel does not come to you and say, “Whoever waits for impressions shall be saved.” No, it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!”―“Look unto Me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth,” is God’s Gospel. “Wait at the pool,” is man’s Gospel, and has destroyed its thousands. This ungospel-like gospel of waiting is immensely popular. I should not wonder if well near half of you are satisfied with it. Oh, you do not refuse to fill the seats in our places of worship! And there you sit in confirmed unbelief—waiting for windows to be made in Heaven—and neglecting the Gospel of your salvation! The great command of God, “Believe and live,” has no response from you but a deaf ear and a stony heart while you quiet your consciences with outward religious observances!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Their usual excuse is that God must save them, so they can do nothing; therefore they will not deceive themselves with a presumptuous false faith. But it’s a strange logic that twists God’s truth into poison, to justify sitting in self-righteous unbelief, self condemned by an obstinate disobedience to God’s commandment to believe His Gospel (Acts 17:30; Mark 1:15).

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Nothing is so fallacious as to substitute feelings and sensibilities for definite obedience.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): Vague and fanciful impressions, visions and voices, received and rested upon as evidences of salvation are fearful delusions.

A. W. PINK: A faith which will not rest on God’s bare promise, which dare not meddle with it as it stands in the written Word until it has additional warrant from inward impressions, is a fanciful and worthless faith. A Divinely-given faith answers or responds to God’s faithfulness in the promise, just as it stands in the written Word, without expecting or looking for any further confirmation of the warrant of faith. But a faith which answers to something other than the bare Word of God—to some impressions of it on the mind with light and power—is a fanciful faith, for it makes these impressions and feelings the ground and warrant of believing. How justly may God deliver up to delusion those who make an idol of their feelings and refuse to rest directly on that Word of Truth in which alone the Divine faithfulness is pledged.

C. H. SPURGEON: Now, we shall not deny that a few persons have been saved by very singular interpositions of God’s hand in a manner altogether out of the ordinary modes of Divine procedure.

A. W. PINK: For example: a person may have lived a most godless life, utterly unconcerned about spiritual things and eternal interests, when suddenly there sounded in his conscience the words, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” So forcibly is he impressed, it seems as though someone must have audibly uttered those words, and he turns to discover the speaker, only to find he is alone. So deep is the impression, he cannot shake it off, and he is convicted of his lost condition and made to seek the Saviour. Quite possibly a number of our readers are distressed in that there has been nothing in their own experience which corresponds thereto, and because there is not, they greatly fear they have never been truly converted. But such an inference is quite unwarranted. God does not act uniformly in the work of regeneration, any more than He does in creation or in providence; and we have met many who never had any such experience as we have described above, yet whose salvation we could not doubt for a moment.

C. H. SPURGEON: When the Lord bids you believe in Jesus, what right have you to demand signs and wonders instead? For you to wait for remarkable experiences is as futile as was the waiting of the multitude who lingered at Bethesda waiting for the long-expected angel, when He who could heal them stood already in their midst, neglected and despised by them!

JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): To such as may fall to doubt and dispute what warrant they have to believe, we say you have as good warrant as Abraham, David, Paul, or any of the godly that lived before you had. You have the same gospel, covenant and promises; it was always God’s Word which was the ground of faith.

C. H. SPURGEON: Where is the sinner told to wait upon God in the use of ordinances so that he may be saved? The Gospel of our salvation is this—“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

JOHN NEWTON: You say, “I hope it is my desire to cast myself upon the free promise in Jesus Christ; but this alone does not give assurance of my personal interest in His blood.” I ask, Why not? It appears to me, that if I cast myself upon His promise, and if His promise is true, I must undoubtedly be interested in His full redemption; for He has said, “Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out,” John 6:37. If you can find a case or circumstance which the words “in no wise” will not include, then you may despond.

C. H. SPURGEON: Ah, I tremble for some of you—you Chapel-goers and Church-goers, who have for years been waiting—how few of you get saved! Thousands of you die in your sins, waiting in wicked unbelief. A few are snatched like brands from the burning, but the most of those who are hardened waiters, wait, and wait, till they die in their sins. I solemnly warn you that, pleasing to the flesh as waiting in unbelief may be, it is not one which any reasonable man would long persevere in!

 

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The Goodness of the Lord

Posted on May 13, 2022 by The Editor

Psalm 33:5; Matthew 5:45—Psalm 107:8; Jeremiah 31:14; Psalm 106:1

The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.—Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

ANDREW BONAR (1810-1892): The first words of Psalm 106 are abundant in thought concerning Jehovah: “For He is good.” Is this not the Old Testament version of “God is love”? And then, “for His mercy endureth for ever.” Is not this the gushing stream from the fountain of Love?

GEORGE BURDER (1752-1832): In discoursing on the glorious perfections of God, His goodness must by no means be omitted; for though all His perfections are His glory, yet this is particularly so called, for when Moses, the man of God, earnestly desired to behold a grand display of the glory of Jehovah, the Lord said, in answer to His petition, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee,” Exodus 33:19; thus intimating that He Himself accounted His goodness to be His glory.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): And what is the goodness of the Lord? Ah, who is capable of returning an answer: human definitions are worthless—But has not the Lord Himself answered our question, and fulfilled His promise to Moses when He declared. “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,” Exodus 34:6,7.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Goodness is the one all-comprehensive character of the Deity, it shines forth in all His works: it meets us wherever we turn our eyes.

GEORGE BURDER: When it relieves the miserable, it is mercy; when it bestows favours on the worthless, it is grace; when it bears with provoking rebels, it is long-suffering; when it confers promised blessings, it is truth; when it supplies indigent beings, it is bounty. The goodness of God is a very comprehensive term; it includes all the forms of His kindness shown to men; whether considered as creatures, as sinners, or as believers.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You would think, from the way most people talk, that the world was full of misery and full of the anger of the Lord; but it is not. Notwithstanding all the evil that is in it, it is still true that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): To hear its worthless inhabitants complain, one would think that God dispensed evil, not good. To examine the operation of His hands, everything is marked with mercy and there is no place where His goodness does not appear. The overflowing kindness of God fills the earth everywhere. Even the iniquities of men are rarely a bar to His goodness: He causes “His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends His rain upon the just and the unjust.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): No man can look around upon a world like this without sorrow if he possesses the Spirit of Christ. Yet we are made to rejoice as we think of the goodness of the Lord.

JAMES SAURIN (1760-1842): It is impossible to consider the works of the Creator, without receiving evidence of His goodness.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): So that we cannot look any way, but matter of praise presents itself to our view. The whole nature of things is set forth, as an ample theatre of God’s wisdom, justice, and goodness.

THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): We should, with wonder, gratitude, and praise, behold the abundance, which by the wise and kind providence of God, is diffused through the earth: and, while we see year after year crowned with the goodness of the Lord, so that the hills and valleys, covered with corn and cattle, seem to proclaim and rejoice in their Creator’s praise.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The earth, though lying in the wicked one, is filled with the goodness of the Lord. He preserveth man and beast, sustains the young lion in the forest, and feeds the birds of the air, which have neither storehouse or barn, and adorns the insects and the flowers of the field with a beauty and elegance beyond all that can be found in the courts of kings.

H. A. IRONSIDE: It is all because of the goodness of the Lord.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It is comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of common providence, and even in them to taste covenant-love.

CHARLES SIMEON: To commemorate the goodness of the Lord, “Samuel set up a stone, which he called Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” 1 Samuel 7:12.

C. H. SPURGEON: Did Jacob not also offer the worship of testimony when he acknowledged God’s goodness to him all his life? He says, “The God that fed me all my life long,” Genesis 48:15; thus acknowledging that he had been always dependent but always supplied.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): The goodness of the Lord—which runs from generation to generation…Whatever our condition is, let it be owned, that God is good, and whatever fails, that His mercy fails not.

C. H. SPURGEON: “For He is good.” This is reason enough for giving Him thanks; goodness is His essence and nature, and therefore He is always to be praised whether we are receiving anything from Him or not. Those who only praise God because He does them good should rise to a higher note and give thanks to Him because He is good. In the truest sense He alone is good, “There is none good but one, that is God,” Luke 18:19; therefore in all gratitude the Lord should have the royal portion. If others seem to be good, He is good. If others are good in a measure, He is good beyond measure. When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good; and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that “He is good.”

THOMAS SCOTT: We should remember our unworthiness, be thankful for our portion, and use it to the glory of the Giver; admire and imitate His bounty to the indigent, as we are able, and His goodness to the wicked and ungrateful children of men; and pity and pray for those, who abuse these gifts to the dishonour of the Giver.

C. H. SPURGEON: Let our thanks be as many as the stars, and let our lives reflect the goodness of the Lord, even as the moon reflects the light of the sun…We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questionable, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same, and always good. It is not only that He was good, and will be good, but He is good, let His providence be what it may. Therefore let us even at this present moment, though the skies be dark with clouds, yet give thanks unto His name.

 

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A Mother’s Most Important Duty

Posted on May 6, 2022 by The Editor

Proverbs 22:6; Psalm 145:4; Psalm 78:3,4; Psalm 34:11

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

Come, ye children, hearken unto me—I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): A mother’s first duties are to her children. No amount of public religious service will atone for neglect of her sacred home tasks. She may attend meetings and missionary services, do good work among the poor, and carry blessings to many a sorrowful home; but if she fails meanwhile to look after her own children, she can scarcely claim to have been a successful worker. A mother’s first duty is to bring up her children for God.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): She educates them for God—and for eternity.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “Train up a child in the way he should go” is a privilege and responsibility which she cannot delegate unto others.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): O dear mothers, you have a very sacred trust reposed in you by God!

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): Now this is what God has done. He has placed before you immortal minds, more imperishable than a diamond, on which you inscribe every day, and every hour, by your instructions, by your spirit, or by your example, something which will remain and be exhibited for or against you at the judgment day.

J. R. MILLER: But it will be a sad thing if a mother allows the proper care of her own children to be crowded out of her life by the appeals on behalf of other people’s children, the calls for public service, however important, or the cries of any other human needs in the world. These outside duties may be hers in some measure, but the duties of the home are hers, and no other’s.

C. H. SPURGEON: For my part, I abhor the spirit which takes a Christian mother from her children to be doing good everywhere except at home! I dread the zeal of those who can run to many services but whose households are not cared for—yet sometimes such is the case. I have known people very interested in the seven trumpets and the seven seals who have not been quite so particular about the seven dear children that God has entrusted to them! Leave somebody else to open up the Revelation and look to your own boys! And see to your girls, that they know the Gospel, for, indeed, there are some households where there is ignorance of the plan of salvation, albeit that the parents are professedly Christians! Such things ought not to be!

WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE (1819-1881): Woman, how divine your mission!

C. H. SPURGEON: One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters―she has the first hand in the fashioning.

CHARLES BRIDGES: Education should commence even in the cradle.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Yes, we repeat, from “the cradle;” for we are most fully persuaded that all true Christian training begins at the very beginning. Some of us have little idea of how soon and how sharply children begin to observe; and how much they take in as they gaze at us through their dear expressive eyes.

C. H. SPURGEON: Babes receive impressions long before we are aware of the fact. During the first months of a child’s life—it learns more than we imagine.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: And how marvellously susceptible they are of the atmosphere which surrounds them! Yes; and it is this very moral atmosphere that constitutes the grand secret of training our families. Our children should be permitted to breathe, from day to day, the atmosphere of love and peace, purity, holiness and true practical righteousness. This has an amazing effect in forming the character.

CHARLES BRIDGES: The godly matron is the very soul of the house. She instructs her children by her example, no less than by her teaching.

C. H. SPURGEON: The first messenger that some of us had was that fond woman upon whose breast in infancy we hung. We should never breathe the word, “mother,” without grateful emotions! How can we forget that tearful eye when she warned us to escape from the wrath to come? We thought her lips right eloquent—others might not think so—but they certainly were eloquent to us! How can we ever forget when she bowed her knees, and with her arms about our neck, prayed for us, “Oh, that my son might live before Thee?” Nor can her frown be erased from our memory, that solemn, loving frown when she rebuked our budding iniquities! And her smiles have never faded from our recollection, the beaming of her countenance when she rejoiced to see some good thing in us towards the Lord God of Israel! Mothers often become potent messengers from God. And I think each Christian mother should ask herself in secret whether the Lord has not a message to give through her to her sons and to her daughters.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): See that your children read the Bible—Fill their minds with Scripture.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): My mother was a pious woman and as I was her only child, she made it the chief business and pleasure of her life to instruct me, and bring me up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord…When I was four years old, I could read and could likewise repeat the answers to the questions in the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, with the proofs; and all Isaac Watts’s smaller Catechisms, and his Children’s Hymns.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians of England.

C. H. SPURGEON: A Christian mother—what a minister is she to her family!

JOHN NEWTON: My dear mother, besides the pains she took with me, often commended me with many prayers and tears to God.

W. T. P. WOLSTON (1840-1917): It is an inestimable boon for a man to have a praying mother and much, I know, mine prayed for me.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some words of a mother’s prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is grey. I remember on one occasion my mother praying this: “Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold of Christ.” That thought of a mother’s bearing swift witness against me, pierced my conscience and stirred my heart. This pleading with them for God, and with God for them, is the true way to bring children to Christ.

GEORGE SWINNOCK (1627-1673): Augustine saith that his mother travailed in greater pain for his spiritual than for his natural birth.

ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): My dear sisters, yours is a great work.

C. H. SPURGEON: The moulding of the character of the next generation, remember, begins with the mother’s influence…Doubtless a good man generally comes of a good mother. It was usually so in Scriptural times, and it is so still―and the daughter of a good mother, will be the mother of a good daughter…The future of society is in the hands of mothers.

WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE: Blessings on the hand of women!

Angels guard its strength and grace…

For the hand that rocks the cradle,

Is the hand that rules the world.

 

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The Perfect Man With Perfect Preeminent Power

Posted on April 29, 2022 by The Editor

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): The question is, whether this power here means authority or ability, or both. Assuredly, both. These are not always co-equal. A man’s ability may surpass his authority, and his authority may surpass his ability; but in our risen Redeemer they are equally combined, and His ability and authority are boundless.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): “All power is given to me.”—Even as Man. As God, He had all power from eternity.

WILLIAM JAY: There are four classes of men whom we should not wish to possess much power, for they would either misuse, or abuse it. We should not wish an ignorant man to possess power: he would, for want of wisdom and knowledge, err in a thousand things. But in Him who has “all power” are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Colossians 2:3. He sees the end from the beginning, and actions in their very causes. He can distinguish between appearances and realities…He “needs not that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in man,” John 2:25; therefore He is not deceived, and never feels any perplexity in His government with regard to any of His measures or means. While other rulers are often at their wits’ end, and compelled to call counsellors to advise them, “He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,” Ephesians 1:11; and He does “all things well.” Mark 7:37.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): There is nothing the heart can crave which we have not in Jesus…Does it seek the protection of real power? It has but to look to Him who made the world. Does it feel the need of unerring wisdom to guide? Let it look to Him who is wisdom personified, “who of God is made unto us wisdom,” 1 Corinthians 1:30.

WILLIAM JAY: Nor should we like an unfaithful man to have power. He would misuse or abuse it. When God confers power He always commits a trust. He looks beyond the receiver. The receiver is not to become a proprietor, but a steward; a receiver not for himself only, but for others. We may exemplify this with regard to property. He gives a man wealth, for what purpose? To be useful, to do good, to communicate. But an unfaithful man hoards it, or improperly expends it; and so the goodness of the Benefactor is counteracted by the villainy of the trustee.

But with regard to this Saviour-Prince, He is true to all His trusts; He is faithful to all that is deposited in His hands. Paul tells us that “it hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell,” Colossians 1:19, for the use of His church, and He will be faithful to the consignment of it. We are told that “He received gifts for men, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them;” Psalm 68:18; and He will apply them accordingly, and He is delighted in the distribution of these benefits.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): He is infinitely gracious and delights to do good.

WILLIAM JAY: We should also not wish an impatient man to have power. We know that he would ruin a thousand good plans and interests by his impetuosity, his passion, his haste. For as Solomon wisely remarks, “He that is hasty in spirit exalteth folly,” Proverbs 14:29.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): The timing of affairs is a part of the wisdom of man, and an eminent part of the wisdom of God.

WILLIAM JAY: Now, with regard to our Saviour, He does not display slackness, as some people imagine, but He is “long suffering to us-ward,” 2 Peter 3:9. He exercises patience; He is slow to anger; and therefore it is we are not consumed, because “His compassions fail not,” Lamentations 3:22. Let us view Him where Paul has placed Him. Paul tells us He is at the “right hand of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,” Hebrews 10:12,13. He is in a state of expectancy, and He is waiting for something. He knows that He must reign “from the river even to the ends of the earth,” Zechariah 9:10; but He sees not at present all things put under Him. He looks down and sees much of His own empire at present over run with ignorance, error, idolatry, and superstition, and the works of the devil; but He knows that He shall realize it all by-and-by, and “in patience, He possesses his soul,” Luke 21:19.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The great Shepherd and Head of the Church has an appointed time and manner for the accomplishment of all His purposes; nothing can be effectually done, but when and where He pleases; but when His hour is come, then hard things become easy, and crooked things straight; His Word, His Spirit, and Providence then all concur to make the path of duty plain to those who serve Him; though, perhaps, until this knowledge is necessary, He permits them to remain ignorant of what He has designed them for. By this discipline they are taught to depend entirely upon Him, and are afterwards more fully assured that He has sent and succeeded them.

WILLIAM JAY: We make haste in many cases; we are ready to complain, even murmur, if our prayers are not immediately answered. Why, many of the prayers which Jesus offered in the days of His flesh are not answered to this very hour! But they all will be answered—every one of them—in due time and manner; and He knows this, and reposes in the determination of infinite wisdom, “whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways,” Isaiah 55:8.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Promised mercies are to be expected when the full time for them is come, and not before.

WILLIAM JAY: Lastly, We do not wish an unmerciful, an unkind man to have power. Solomon tells us that “as a roaring lion and ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.” Proverbs 28:15. What does he know of their miseries? He never tasted their bitter bread. What cares he for any of their sufferings, provided he can roll in luxury, splendour, and ease? How often will he draw them from their peaceful homes, and expose them to hardships—yea, sometimes lead thousands of them to the slaughter—to gratify his own ambition! But there is “another King, one Jesus.” This Prince does not sacrifice His subjects, but He sacrificed Himself for their sakes. “My flesh,” says He, “I give for the life of the world,” John 6:51. Ah, here we find that power, absolute power, is placed just where it should be placed: we find infinite power lodged in the bosom of infinite benevolence.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Did we but enter, with a more artless faith, into the truth of the Man Christ Jesus, Whose sympathy is perfect, Whose love is fathomless, Whose power is omnipotent, Whose wisdom is infinite, Whose resources are exhaustless, Whose ear is open to our every breathing, Whose hand is open to our every need, Whose heart is full of unspeakable love and tenderness towards us—how much more happy we should be, and how much more independent of creature streams, through whatsoever channel they may flow!

 

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Asking Amiss

Posted on April 22, 2022 by The Editor

Matthew 20:20-22; Romans 8:26; James 4:3

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.

We know not what we should pray for as we ought.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): If God does not grant your petitions, it will put you to study a reason for that; and so you will come to search into your prayers and the carriage of your hearts, therein to see whether you did not pray amiss…As if you send to a friend, who is punctual in that point of friendship of returning answers, and used not to fail—and you receive no answer from him, you will begin to think there is something in it. And so also here, when a petition is denied, you will be jealous of yourselves, and inquisitive what should be the matter; and so by that search come to see that in your prayers which you will learn to mend the next time.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is greatly to be feared that one of the principal reasons why so many of our prayers remain unanswered is because we have a wrong, or an unworthy end in view—Only three ends are permissible: that God may be glorified, that our spirituality may be promoted, that our brethren may be blessed…We “ask amiss” when natural feelings sway us, when carnal motives move us, or when selfish considerations actuate us.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Prayer that will not be accepted of God it is, when either they pray for wrong things, or if for right things, yet that the thing prayed for might be spent upon their lusts, and laid out to wrong ends.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): A believer may make a request that is wrong in itself. The mother of Zebedee’s children did this when she asked the Lord if her two sons could sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on the left, in His kingdom. Who could miss the selfishness that appears in this petition? Although a mother’s love prompted it, and, as such, presents a picture of touching beauty and feeling, yet it teaches us that a parent, betrayed by love for his child, can ask something of God that is really wrong in itself. He may ask worldly distinction, honour, influence, or wealth for his child, which a godly parent should never do; and this may be a wrong request, which God, in His infinite wisdom and love, withholds. This was the petition of the mother, and our Lord saw fit to deny it. Her views of the kingdom of Christ were those of earthly glory. To see her children sharing in that glory was her high ambition, and Jesus promptly but gently rebuked it.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): “Ye ask amiss”—that is, from a wrong motive.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: Alluding to another illustration of our topic, it was wrong of Job to ask the Lord that he might die, Job 6:8-9. It was an unwise and sinful petition, and in great mercy and wisdom, the Lord denied him. Truly “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” What a mercy that there is One who knows!

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Our petitions are so self-centered and so concerned about the gratification of our own desires that God cannot in faithfulness grant our requests. True prayer is not asking God to do what we want, but first of all, it is asking Him to enable us to do that which He would have us do. Too often we endeavour by prayer to control God instead of taking the place of submission to His holy will.

A. W. PINK: Ah, this is a truth which is very unpalatable to our proud hearts. Did not Moses “ask” the Lord that he might be permitted to enter Canaan? Did not the Apostle Paul thrice beseech the Lord for the removal of his thorn in the flesh? What proofs are these that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought!”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): James meant briefly this: that our desires ought to be bridled; and the way of bridling them is to subject them to the will of God.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: A child of God may ask for a wise and good thing in a wrong way.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Some there were that did ask of God the blessings of His goodness and providence, and yet these were not bestowed on them; the reason was, “because ye ask amiss”—not in the faith of a divine promise; nor with thankfulness for past mercies; nor with submission to the will of God; nor with a right end, to do good to others, and to make use of what might be bestowed for the honour of God, and the interest of Christ.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We ought to well consider our prayers…I fear we often ask amiss from lack of preparation!

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): It is well that we should challenge our hearts, as to the motives of our prayers.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Therefore, Christian, catechize thyself before thou prayest, “O my soul, what sends thee on this errand?” Know but thy own mind, what thou prayest for, and thou mayest soon know God’s mind how thou shalt speed. Secure God His glory, and thou mayest carry away the mercy with thee. Had Adoni­jah asked Abishag out of love to her person, and not rather out of love to the crown, it is likely Solomon would not have denied the marriage between them; but this wise prince observed his drift, to make her but a step to his getting into the throne which he ambi­tiously thirsted for, and therefore his request was denied with so much disdain, 1 Kings 2:13-23. Look that, when thy petition is loyal, there be not treason in thy end and aim. If there be, He will find it out.

C. H. SPURGEON: If we ask contrary to the promises of God—if we run counter to the spirit which the Lord would have us cultivate—if we ask anything contrary to His will, or to the decrees of His Providence—if we ask merely for the gratification of our own ease and without an eye to His glory, we must not expect that we shall receive.

WILLIAM GURNALL: When shall I know that I aim at God or self in prayer? This will commonly appear by the pos­ture of our heart when God delays or denies the thing we pray for. A soul that can acquiesce, and patiently bear a delay or denial—I speak now of such mercies as are of an inferior nature, not necessary to salva­tion, and so not absolutely promised—gives a hopeful testimony that the glory of God weighs more in his thoughts than his own private interest and accommo­dation. A selfish heart is both peremptory and hasty. It must have the thing it cries for, and quickly too, or else it faints and chides, falls down in a swoon, or breaks out into murmuring complaints, not sparing to fall foul on the promises and attributes of God Himself. “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?” Isaiah 58:3. Now, from whence come both these, but from an overvaluing of ourselves?—which makes us clash with God’s glory, that may be more advanced by these delays and denials, than if we had the thing we so earnestly desire.

A. W. PINK: The Holy One will be no lackey unto our carnality.

 

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Jesus Christ’s Answer to the Sadducees

Posted on April 15, 2022 by The Editor

Acts 23:8; Matthew 22:23-32

The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit.

The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The Sadducees, those freethinkers of the age, denied that there will be a resurrection of the dead, or that there is any such permanent being, as an angel, in the invisible world, or a separate spirit of man that survives the death of the body, and subsists in a state of disunion from it.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The Sadducees expressly denied that the resurrection could be proved out of the law.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): What a remarkable text our Lord brings forward, in proof of the reality of a life to come.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Jesus might have referred to many passages in the Old Testament about the resurrection; but as the Sadducees regarded the Pentateuch with special honour, He quoted what Moses had recorded in Exodus 3:6: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” and then added His own comment and exposition: “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): But where is there anything in that about resurrection?

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Let it be observed, that Abraham was dead upwards of 300 years before those words were spoken to Moses.

J. C. RYLE: Two centuries had passed away since Jacob, the last of the three, was carried to his tomb. Yet God spoke of them as being still His people, and of Himself as being still their God.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not blotted out of existence; they had not become extinct through death; they are still living. God did not say to Moses that He “was” the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob when they were here in the world. He said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

C. H. SPURGEON: There is much teaching in this truth, that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Some suppose that, until the resurrection, the saints are virtually non-existent; but this cannot be. Though disembodied, they still live.

THOMAS COKE: Christ’s argument was this: “As a man cannot properly be a father without children, or a king without subjects, so God cannot properly be called in this sense God or Lord, unless He has His people, and be Lord of the living. Since, therefore, in the law He calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, long after these patriarchs were dead, the relation denoted by the word God still subsisted between them; for which reason they were not annihilated, as the Sadducees pretended, when they affirmed that they were dead, but were still in being, God’s subjects and glorified saints.”

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): To be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is to be understood of His being their God under a new covenant consideration, as He saith, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” Ezekiel 37:27.

H. A. IRONSIDE: It is necessary that there be a resurrection for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because God had made a promise to them which had not been fulfilled. He promised to give them the land of Canaan that they might possess it to the end of the time, and they never possessed it while on earth. They dwelt in the land as strangers, but the promise will be fulfilled when God brings them back from the dead.

THOMAS COKE: Wherefore, as the patriarchs “died without having obtained the promises,” Hebrews 11:39, they must exist in another state to enjoy them, that the veracity of God may remain sure. Besides, the Apostle tells us, that “God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared for them a city,” Hebrews 11:16…This argument was very conclusive against the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body: but it proves at the same time the resurrection, because the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob themselves, it follows, that God could not properly be styled their God, unless they were to rise again from the dead.

JOHN GILL: Thus our Lord fetches His proof of the doctrine of the resurrection from a passage out of the law which respects the covenant relation God stands in to His people, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; which respects not their souls only, but their bodies also, even their whole persons, body and soul; for God is the God of the whole.

THOMAS COKE: The argument taken either way is conclusive; for which cause we may suppose, that both the senses were intended, to render it of full demonstration.

C. H. SPURGEON: Jesus does not argue about it—He states the fact as beyond all question. The living God is the God of living men, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive, and identified as the same persons who lived on the earth. God is the God of Abraham’s body as well as of his soul, for the covenant seal was set upon his flesh. The grave cannot hold any portion of the covenanted ones; God is the God of our entire being—spirit, soul, and body.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Lastly, We have the issue of this dispute. The Sadducees were “put to silence,” Matthew 23:34, and so put to shame.

JOHN GILL: These two things were the spring and source of their errors: “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”

J. C. RYLE: Let us settle it in our minds, that the dead are in one sense still alive. From our eyes they have passed away, and their place knows them no more. But in the eyes of God they live, and will one day come forth from their graves, to receive an everlasting sentence. There is no such thing as annihilation. The idea is a miserable delusion.

ADAM CLARKE: Our Lord confutes another opinion of the Sadducees, that there is neither angel nor spirit; by showing that the soul is not only immortal, but lives with God, even while the body is detained in the dust of the earth, which body is afterwards to be raised to life, and united with its soul by the miraculous power of God.

J. C. RYLE: We are told plainly—we shall be “as the angels of God.” Like them, we shall serve God perfectly, unhesitatingly, and unweariedly. Like them, we shall ever be in God’s presence. Like them, we shall ever delight to do His will. Like them, we shall give all glory to the Lamb. These are deep things. But they are all true—May we never forget this! Happy is he who can say from his heart the words of the Nicene Creed, “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

ADAM CLARKE: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,” Romans 10:9. Believe in thy heart that He who died for thy offenses has been raised for thy justification; and depend solely on Him for that justification, and thou shalt be saved.

 

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