Providential Departures

Posted on July 28, 2023 by The Editor

Isaiah 57:1,2

The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): When a storm is coming on, you may see the shepherds among the hills, gathering their sheep and taking them home, and when good men die in large numbers, and the Church’s ranks are thinned, it is sometimes a token that bad times are coming on, and so God takes away the righteous from the evil to come.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “And no man layeth it to heart,” that it may sink and soak into it, so as to be soundly sensible of God’s holy hand and purpose in such a providence.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  There are very few that lament it as a public loss, very few that take notice of it as a public warning. The death of good men is to be laid to heart and considered more than common deaths. Serious enquiries ought to be made, wherefore God contends with us, what good lessons are to be learned by such providences, what we may do to help to make up the breach and to fill up the room of those that are removed. God is justly displeased when such events are not laid to heart, when the voice of the rod is not heard nor the intentions of it answered.

C. H. SPURGEON: Oh! did men know what the world loses when a good man dies, they would regret it far more than the death of emperors and kings who fear not God. But as for those who are made righteous by the grace of God, they need not fear to die. To them it will be a rest—a sleep with Jesus—till the trump of the resurrection, and all the evil that will come upon the world will not touch them. They shall rest till the Master comes.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): This doctrine is highly appropriate to every age. It frequently happens that God takes good men out of this world, when he intends to punish severely the iniquities of the ungodly; for the Lord, having a peculiar regard to His own people, takes compassion upon them, and snatches them from the burning.

JOHN TRAPP: As was Methuselah a year before the flood; Jeroboam’s best son, before the downfall of his father’s family, 1 Kings 14:12,13; Josiah before the captivity and first destruction of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 22:20; James before the second, Acts 12:2; Augustine a little before the sack of his city Hippo by the Vandals.  

THE EDITOR: Augustine died in August, 430 A.D.; Hippo was sacked in August, 431.

MATTHEW HENRY: Good men are taken away from the evil to come, rather then when it is just coming, in compassion to them, that they may not “see the evil,” 2 Kings 22:20, nor share in it, nor be in temptation by it. When the deluge is coming they are called into the ark, and have a hiding-place and rest in heaven when there was none for them under heaven. And in wrath to the world, to punish them for all the injuries they have done to the righteous and merciful ones. When those are taken away that stood in the gap to turn away the judgments of God, then what can be expected but a deluge of them? It is a sign that God intends war when He calls Home his ambassadors.

JOHN CALVIN: A remarkable instance of this was given in the death of Martin Luther, who was snatched from the world a short time before that terrible calamity befell Germany, which he had foretold many years before, when he exclaimed loudly against that contempt of the Gospel, and that wickedness and licentiousness which everywhere prevailed. Frequently had he entreated the Lord to call him out of this life before he beheld that dreadful punishment, the anticipation of which filled him with trembling and horror. And he obtained it from the Lord. Soon after his death, lo, a sudden and unforeseen war sprang up, by which Germany was terribly afflicted, when nothing was farther from her thoughts than the dread of such a calamity.

JOHN TRAPP: Howbeit this is not generally so; for Jeremiah lived to see the first destruction of Jerusalem, John the Evangelist the last…But usually God taketh away his most eminent servants from the evil to come. As when there is a fire in a house men carry out their jewels; “The best die first, commonly,” saith an ancient man. The comfort is, that though as grapes they be gathered before they are ripe, and as lambs, slain before they be grown, yet this benefit they have, that they are freed from the violence of the winepress that others fall into, and they escape many storms that others live to taste of.

THE EDITOR: There is, spiritually speaking, no such thing as an untimely death, or an accidental death.

C. H. SPURGEON: No saint dies otherwise than by the act of God! It is always according to the King’s own will—it is the King’s own doing. Every ripe ear in His field is gathered by His own hand, cut down by His own golden sickle and by none other.

CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788): When mortal man resigns his breath,

                                                                        ’Tis God directs the stroke of death.

THE EDITOR: Indeed, God is sovereign in all things concerning life and death; all souls are born into this world in the time of His choosing, according to His purpose, as Paul implicitly states in Galatians 1:15,16. So also in death, whether men be good or bad, for that matter; they depart this life when the purpose for which God created them has been accomplished, and His timings and dispositions are always right. For bad men, death is the beginning of eternal misery. But for those in Christ, it is the beginning of eternal life.

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): A Christian knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins, his sorrows, his afflictions, his temptations, his vexations, his oppressions, his persecutions. He knows that death shall be the resurrection of all his hopes, his joys, his delights, his comforts, his contentments.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Death is but a passage out of a prison into a palace.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): “He shall enter into peace.” He, to be sure, shall be blessed. The prophet Isaiah speaks of it as of a new state or condition succeeding the former, for death is entering into it; and it holds with that of Christ words, “Enter into thy Master’s joy,” Matthew 25:23; and agrees also with another phrase of “entering into life,” Matthew 18:8. And the words of Isaiah answer in another place, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise,” Isaiah 26:19. And this entrance into peace is therefore meant of the soul’s entering into joy and peace, during that time that the body rests in its bed, namely, the grave. Nor is it spoken of martyrs only, that die in evil times by persecution, but, on the contrary, of those that die before such times approach.

ROBERT BOLTON (1572-1631): This is the privilege of saints, that they shall not die until the best time—not until when, if they were but rightly informed, they would desire to die.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Let us ever rest our souls on the thought, that our times are in God’s hand, Psalm 31:15.

 

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The Marriage of Moses & Zipporah

Posted on July 21, 2023 by The Editor

Exodus 2:21,22; Exodus 4:18-20; 24-26

And Moses was content to dwell with the man [Jethro]: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand…And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): This passage lets us into the personal domestic history of Moses.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): It must be remembered that Moses lived forty years in Midian. Moses was content. And so his present and temporary repose there is turned into a settled habitation. Moses married Zipporah not instantly, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may probably be gathered from the youngness and uncircumcision of one of his sons forty years after this.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): At last, in obedience to God’s command, Moses goes forth rod in hand, and accompanied by his wife and his sons, to return to the land of Egypt. But one other thing needed to be attended to, an important matter long neglected, before he is ready to act as God’s ambassador. Jehovah was about to fulfill His covenant engagement to Abraham, but the sign of that covenant was circumcision, and this the son of Moses had not received.

MATTHEW POOLE: How came Moses to neglect this evident duty?

A. W. PINK: Apparently, because of the objections of the mother.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Moses, to please Zipporah, displeased God, and it went hard with him.

MATTHEW POOLE: This was probably the effect of his being unequally yoked with a Midianite, who was too indulgent of her child, while Moses was too indulgent of her.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): A very wise and very holy man has given his judgment on this point: “A man who is truly pious, marrying with an unconverted woman, will either draw back to perdition, or have a cross during life.”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): He had not omitted his son’s circumcision from forgetfulness, or ignorance, or carelessness only, but because he was aware that it was disagreeable either to his wife or to his father-in-law. Therefore, lest his wife should quarrel with him, or his father-in-law trouble him, he preferred to gratify them than to give occasion for divisions, or enmity, or disturbance. In the meantime, however, for the sake of the favour of men he neglected to obey God. This false dealing was no light offense, since nothing is more intolerable than to defraud God of his due obedience, in order to please men.

MATTHEW HENRY: We have need to watch carefully over our own hearts, lest fondness for any relation prevail above our love to God, and take us off from our duty to Him.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): How apt we are to yield to the foolish fondness of others, even to the offending of God…How dangerous is absence from the people of God, and the means of grace!

MATTHEW HENRY: Even good men are apt to cool in their zeal for God and duty when they have long been deprived of the society of the faithful: solitude has its advantages, but they seldom counterbalance the loss of Christian communion.

JOHN CALVIN: By this example we are warned that we have daily need of God’s help to support our strength, lest our courage should fail us, and our zeal should gradually grow cold or lukewarm; for Satan is constantly devising many temptations, by which he may either destroy or lessen our diligence.

A. W. PINK: Whether the Lord Himself in a theophanic manifestation now appeared to Moses, or whether it was an angel of the Lord with sword in hand, as he later stood before Balaam, we are not told. Nor do we know in what way the Lord sought to kill Moses.

MATTHEW HENRY: God takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the sins of His own people. If they neglect their duty, let them expect to hear of it by their consciences, and perhaps to feel from it by cross providences: for this cause many are sick and weak, as some think Moses was here.

A. W. PINK: It seems clear that he was stricken down and rendered helpless, for his wife was the one who performed the act of circumcision on their son. This is all the more striking because the inference seems inescapable that Zipporah was the one who had resisted the ordinance of God—only thus can we explain her words to Moses, and only thus can we account for Moses here sending her back to her father, Exodus 18:2.

MATTHEW POOLE: “Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” Zipporah both repeats and amplifies her former censure, and reproacheth not only her husband, but also God’s ordinance; which perverse and obstinate spirit her husband observing in her, and wisely forecasting how much disturbance she might give him in his great and difficult work in Egypt, he thought fit to send her and her children back to her father, (see Exodus 18:2-4).

JOHN TRAPP: She was troublesome with her peevishness, and a hindrance to the good work in hand.

JOHN CALVIN: It is worthy of observation, that whereas Moses had two sons with him, mention is here only made of one; from whence is deduced the probable conjecture that one of the two was circumcised. Some think that the eldest son was not circumcised, because Moses had not dared to confess his religion so soon, to awaken hatred on account of it. But I should rather imagine that when, in regard to his first son, he had experienced the hostility of his family, he omitted it in the case of the second son, to avoid the anger of his wife or his father-in-law; for if, in the lapse of time, he had attained more courage, he would not have hesitated to correct the former omission; but, worn out by domestic quarrels, he at last departed from his duty.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): We are distinctly told in 2 Corinthians 6:14 that we are not to be “unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” If you are a Christian and unmarried, and you have never thought this through, take this principle to heart. If you ever contemplate marriage, put it out of your mind at once that you might possibly marry somebody who is unsaved. That would be positive disobedience to the Word of God.

A. W. PINK: Nevertheless, it was Moses, the head of the house—the one God holds primarily responsible for the training and conduct of the children—and not Zipporah, whom the Lord sought to kill. Observe how the above incident teaches us another most important lesson in connection with service. Before God suffered Moses to go and minister to Israel, He first required him to set his own house in order.

MATTHEW POOLE: What could be more absurd than that he should come to be a lawgiver, who lived in a manifest violation of God’s law? or that he should be the chief ruler and instructor of the Israelites, whose duty it was to acquaint them with their duty of circumcising their children, and yet at the same time be guilty of the same sin? or that he should undertake to govern the church of God, that could not well rule his own house? Therefore it is no wonder that God was so angry at Moses for this sin.

THOMAS COKE: Learn from this account that God’s people will not escape His anger, when they offend Him. When we have neglected duty, we must return to it without delay. The removal of our sins will usually alleviate or remove our judgments.

 

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Looking For Christ’s Return

Posted on July 14, 2023 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 11:26; Revelation 22:12

As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892):At the Lord’s Supper, there is no discerning the Lord’s body unless you discern His first coming; but there is no drinking His cup to its fullness, unless you hear Him say, “Until I come.” You must look forward, as well as backward.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900):The ancient Christians made it a part of their religion to look for His return. Backward they looked to the cross and the atonement for sin, and rejoiced in Christ crucified. Upward they looked to Christ at the right hand of God, and rejoiced in Christ interceding. Forward they looked to the promised return of their Master, and rejoiced in the thought that they would see Him again. And we ought to do the same.

JAMES HARRINGTON EVANS (1785-1849): Why was it said, so many years ago, “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh,” James 5:8?―That men might watch for it.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): We do not think enough of Christ’s second coming. What would be said of a wife who, when her husband was away in another county, could be happy without him, and be content to think rarely of him? On the contrary, a loving wife longs for her husbands return. “Oh, when will he come back!” is her frequent exclamation. Wife of the Lamb, Church of the Saviour, where is thy waiting, hoping, longing for the second coming of thy Lord? Is this thy blessed hope, as it was of the primitive church. O Christian, art thou not wanting here? Every morsel of that bread thou eatest at the table, every drop of wine thou drinkest, is the voice of Christ saying to thee, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; and it should draw forth thy longing desires, Come, Lord Jesus; even so come quickly, Revelation 22:20.

W. H. HEWITSON (1812-1850): To say, Come quickly is the result only of close walking with God.

WILLIAM PERKINS (1558-1602): The daily persuasion of the speedy coming of Christ is of notable use; for, first, it will daunt the most desperate wretch, and restrain him from many sins. And if a man belong to God, and be yet a loose liver, this persuasion will rouse him out of his sins and make him turn to God; for who would not seek to save his soul, if he were persuaded that Christ is now coming to give him his final reward? Secondly, if a man have grace and does believe, this persuasion is a notable means to make him constant in every good duty, both of piety to God and of charity towards his brethren. Thirdly, this serveth to comfort any person that is in affliction; for, when he shall believe that which Christ hath said, I come shortly, he cannot but think but that this deliverance is at hand.

C. H. SPURGEON: His own words are, “Behold, I come quickly!” Revelation 22:7. That is not quite the meaning of what He said; it was, “Behold, I am coming quickly!” He is on his way, his chariot is hurrying towards us the axles of the wheels are hot with speed…The long-suffering of God delays Him, till sinners are brought in, till the full number of his elect shall be accomplished; but He is not delaying; He is not lingering; He is not slack, as some men count slackness; He is coming quickly.

WILLIAM ROMAINE (1714-1795): At the time appointed, He came to suffer for the sins of the world, and at the time appointed, He will come to Judgment. His second advent is as certain as His first. It was foretold in the Old Testament, and promised in the New, and the Scriptures cannot be broken. God had revealed it in the clearest manner to patriarchs, so that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of it, saying—“Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him,” Jude 14 & 15.

WILLIAM PERKINS: These are the days of grace, but how long they will last, God only knoweth.

JAMES HARRINGTON EVANS: My brother, do you and I know, to a certainty, that the Son of God shall not come this day? Do we know, to a certainty, that we shall not this day hear the trump of the archangel?

HUDSON TAYLOR (1832-1905): Since He may come any day, it is well to be ready every day.

J. C. RYLE: Do not neglect the Lord’s Supper. The man who coolly and deliberately refuses to use an ordinance which the Lord Jesus Christ appointed for his profit, may be very sure that his soul is in a wrong state. There is a judgment yet to come; there is an account to be rendered for all our conduct on earth. How anyone can look forward to that day, and expect to meet Christ with comfort and in peace, if he has refused all his life to meet Christ in His own ordinance, is a thing I cannot understand. Does this come home to you? Mind what you are doing.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):The Lord Jesus will certainly come, and come in His glory…The believing thoughts and expectations of the second coming of Christ should put us upon prayer to God for ourselves and others.

LADY THEODOSIA POWERSCOURT (died 1836): What a thunderclap of hallelujah when all the prayers of the saints for our poor world—long, long laid up—shall be answered in one event.

C. H. SPURGEON:The shout shall be heard, “Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.” Will you not remember Him? Soon will His hand be on the door; soon for you, at any rate, He may cry, “Arise, my love, my dove, my fair one, and come away;” and soon He may be here among us…Christians! be ye waiting for the second coming of your Lord Jesus Christ!

ROBERT MURRAY M’CHEYNE (1813-1843): You will be incomplete Christians, if you do not look for the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

EDWARD LEIGH (1602-1671): Let us long for His appearance, and thirst after the great day when He shall come to judge the quick and dead.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): We do not live up to our dignity, till every day we are waiting for the coming of our Lord from heaven.

 

 

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This Do, In Remembrance of Me

Posted on July 7, 2023 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Song of Solomon 5:1

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): The first thing of importance concerning the holy Supper, which we here learn, is that the thing itself is of Christ’s express institution. This I conceive to be a matter of high moment―it ought indeed to have been enough to endear it, and recommend it forever, to the faithful: yet had not the Lord again taught His servant Paul what is here related, and God the Holy Ghost caused it to be handed down in the Church by those written records, we should not have known how highly Jesus prized it.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The Lord’s supper is not a temporary, but a standing and perpetual ordinance―it is to be celebrated “till the Lord shall come.”―This is our warrant for keeping this feast. It was our Lord’s will that we should thus celebrate the memorials of His death and passion, till He come in His own glory, and the Father’s glory, with His holy angels.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Our Lord Jesus most distinctly commanded His disciples to “eat bread” and “drink wine” in remembrance of Him. What right has any Christian to disobey this commandment? It is impossible to say that any professing Christian is in a safe, healthy, or satisfactory condition of soul, who coolly and deliberately refuses to use an ordinance which the Lord Jesus Christ appointed for his profit.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): A neglect of it involves us in the deepest guilt. It implies rebellion against the highest authority—Christ, the Supreme Governor of heaven and earth, has said, “Do this.” Yet the language of too many is, “I will not.” But it is ingratitude towards our greatest Benefactor—Christ has even “given his own life a ransom for us;” and shall we disregard His dying command? “On the same night that he was betrayed,” He instituted these memorials of His death. Had He, at that season, such a concern for us, and can we refuse to do so small a thing in remembrance of Him? 

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): And yet, some of you never come to His table. May I gently ask you, how you make this disobedience consort with genuine affection for Him? “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is, moreover, hinted here, concerning this ordinance, that it should be frequent: “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Our Lord said, in instituting the ordinance, “This do you, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of Me,” I will not say that these words absolutely teach that we should frequently come to the Communion Table, but I do think they give us a hint that if we act rightly, we shall often observe this Supper of the Lord.

ROBERT HAWKER: Nothing can be more plain, than that it is the Lord’s pleasure, that His people should often meet in His name, for this holy purpose.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It was not instituted by Jesus for two or three times a year, but for a frequent exercise of our faith.

GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): Although we have no express command respecting the frequency of its observance, yet the example of the apostles and of the first disciples would lead us to observe this ordinance every Lord’s day.

MATTHEW HENRY: The ancient churches celebrated this ordinance every Lord’s day, if not every day when they assembled for worship.

ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): That the supper was celebrated on the first day of the week by the church at Troas is certain, Acts 20:7; that it was so every first day of the week is possible, perhaps probable; but the passage does not prove that it was so…It is the practice of this, and all the Baptist churches in Scotland, to commemorate the Lord’s death every Lord’s Day. I do not think this to be binding, but I am persuaded there can be nothing wrong in it, and that probably, it was then the practice of the primitive churches.

A. P. GIBBS (1890-1967): Some years ago an older Christian mentioned that he met each Lord’s day with believers to observe the Lord’s Supper. A young believer looked at him in astonishment and inquired incredulously; “You mean you take communion every Lord’s day?” “Yes,” replied the other, “We break bread each Sunday.” At this the young man remarked: “Apparently you have forgotten that old adage, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt.’ Why, a rite so often repeated is apt to lose all its significance and value. I would suggest that you take communion once a month.  Better still, once every three months.”

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): I do think that is too seldom by a great deal to have it administered.

JOHN CALVIN: The Lord’s Supper might be most properly administered, if it were set before the church very frequently, and at least once in every week. But because the frailty of the people is still so great, there is danger that this sacred mystery be misunderstood if it be celebrated so often [so let it be observed] once a month.

A. P. GIBBS: Can you imagine a young man who has courted the affections of a young woman, and has obtained her acceptance of his proposal of marriage, complaining to a friend, “Must I go and see her once a week? Wouldn’t once a month be sufficient?”

WILLIAM S. PLUMER (1802-1880): It is a serious question whether the Christian world is not sadly delinquent in having so few communions.

A. P. GIBBS: Do we really love the Lord Jesus? If so, we shall not be thinking of how seldom we can remember Him in the way He has requested, but how often we are privileged to do so. Surely once a week is not too often to remember the One who we profess to love above all others and who, in His wonderful grace, bore our sins and suffered all the judgment of a holy God in our stead, and rose to be our Lord and very best Friend.

C. H. SPURGEON: At any rate, let it be often. My witness is, and I think I speak the mind of many of God’s people, that coming as some of us do, weekly, to the Lord’s table, we do not find the breaking of bread to have lost its significance—it is always fresh to us. I have often remarked, on Lord’s day evening, whatever the subject may have been, whether Sinai has thundered over our heads, or the plaintive notes of Calvary have pierced our hearts, it always seems equally appropriate to come to the breaking of bread. Shame on the Christian church that she should put it off to once a month, and mar the first day of the week by depriving it of its glory in the meeting together for fellowship and breaking of bread, and showing forth the death of Christ till He come. Those who know the sweetness of each Lord’s Day celebrating His Supper will not be content, I am sure, to put it off to less frequent seasons.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): It seems plain by the Scripture that the primitive Christians were wont to celebrate this memorial of the sufferings of their dear Redeemer every Lord’s Day. I believe it will be again in the Church of Christ in the days that are approaching.

 

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True Liberty in the Lord

Posted on June 30, 2023 by The Editor

2 Corinthians 3:17—Galatians 2:4; Galatians 5:1; Psalm 119:45-48

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty—Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): What sweet enjoyments they have who love and serve their God—David accounted the service of his God to be perfect freedom.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): All that love God love His government, and therefore love all His commandments. Five things David promises himself in his duty here, in the strength of God’s grace:

1. That he should be free and easy: “I will walk at liberty,” freed from that which is evil, not hampered with the fetters of my own corruptions, and free to that which is good;

2. That he should be bold and courageous: “I will speak of thy testimonies before kings;”

3. That he should be cheerful and pleasant: “I will delight myself in thy commandments,” in conversing with them, in conforming to them;

4. That he should be diligent and vigorous: “I will lift up my hands unto thy commandments;” which notes not only a vehement desire towards them, but a close application of mind to the observance of them;

5. That he should be thoughtful and considerate: “I will meditate in thy statutes.”

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): The way of God’s precepts is liberty—therefore His law is called a “law of liberty,” James 1:25. No such freedom as in God’s service; and, on the contrary, no such bondage as to be held with the cords of our own sin: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption,” 2 Peter 2:19. A liberty to do all we please is the greatest bondage.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Liberty has always been highly prized—and can never be prized too highly…When will men distinguish between civil governments and Christianity? The one regards us as citizens, the other as Christians. Well, we have civil liberty as citizens, and spiritual liberty as Christians—a liberty “unsung by poets, and by senators unpraised.”

CHARLES SIMEON: Just as civil liberty is appreciated amongst us, there are but few who have just conceptions of that liberty which has respect to morality and religion. Everyone knows that unrestrained liberty is licentiousness: but everyone does not know, that a perfect obedience to God’s Holy Word is the most perfect liberty that man can enjoy.

WILLIAM JAY: Let us endeavour to exemplify our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. It will be found to include five things. First, Our freedom from the exactions and impositions of men in religion. We are willing to abide always by our Saviour’s distinction: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,” Luke 20:25. Where religion is concerned, The Lord is our King, the Lord is our lawgiver; and, if any require us to believe or do what He has not enjoined us to believe or do, we are to obey God rather than man.

Secondly, This liberty includes a freedom from the tyranny of sin and Satan. As saith Paul, “What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life,” Romans 6:21,22.

Thirdly, It includes freedom from the condemnation of the law. “The soul that sinneth shall die,” Ezekiel 18:4; and, saith Paul, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them,” Galatians 3:10. And who has ever done this? Who has ever continued, from the first hour of reason, in avoiding everything the law forbids and in doing everything the law commands? But whose curse is it? The curse of Almighty God: and who knoweth the power of His anger? And the execution of this power is certain, unless what?—unless a surety be found; and such a Surety has been found, who has said, “Deliver them from going down to the pit,” Job 33:24; I will give myself a ransom; I will bear their sins in my own body on the tree; I will suffer, “the just for the unjust, to bring them to God,” 1 Peter 3:18; “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. No; He has “redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them,” Galatians 3:13. Now, “therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1.

Fourthly, It includes freedom of access unto God. The effect of sin is to separate us from God, and to keep us from God. When the angels sinned in heaven, they were immediately banished; when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, they were driven out of it; and for sinning, the Jews were expelled from the land of Canaan. But now, through Christ Jesus, who is the Mediator between us and God, “we have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” Ephesians 2:18. The believer has full liberty to approach unto God at all times, in every place, under all circumstances; full liberty to hold communion with Him in the fields, or in their ordinary business; full liberty to enter His house, to come to His table, to hang upon His arm, to recline upon His bosom, to call Him their Lord and their God—the strength of their heart and their portion forever.

Fifthly, It includes freedom to enjoy the good things of nature and providence. Unscriptural self-denial and self-imposed severity, with regard to abstinence from the blessings of providence, have never promoted the mortification of sin or sanctification of heart. The Scripture hath said, “Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” 1 Timothy 4:4,5.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Saints find no bondage in sanctity. The Spirit of holiness is a free spirit; He sets men at liberty and enables them to resist every effort to bring them under subjection. The way of holiness is not a track for slaves, but the King’s highway for free men.

FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON (1816-1853): When the Bible says that a man led by the Spirit is not under the law, it does not mean that he is free because he may sin without being punished for it; it means that he is free, because being taught by God’s Spirit to love what His law commands, he is no longer acting from restraint. The law does not drive him, because the Spirit leads him.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): Wherever God pardons sin, he subdues it, Micah 7:19. So, how shall we know God hath pardoned us? If the fetters of sin be broken off, and we walk at liberty in the ways of God, this is a blessed sign we are pardoned.

CHARLES SIMEON: Let me commend this liberty to your acceptance—think not that the Gospel is a mere system of restraints: no, it is a “perfect law of liberty,” James 1:25; and “all who are made free by Christ, are become free indeed,” John 8:36. Take upon you the yoke of Christ, and you shall find it light and easy; and you shall obtain everlasting rest unto your souls, Matthew 11:28,29.

 

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The Public Pride of Perversion

Posted on June 23, 2023 by The Editor

Romans 1:21,22,24-32; Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The same vices and virtues are now as ever, and ever were as they are; men in every age were born in sin, and were transgressors from the womb; from their infancy corrupt, and in all the stages of life; there were the same luxury and intemperance, and unnatural lusts, rapine and violence, in the days of Noah and Lot, as now; in Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the old world, as in the present age.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Observe how it was with sinners formerly, and in what posture the judgments of God, of which they had been fairly warned, did at length find them. Look as far back as the “old world,” when all flesh had “corrupted their way,” and “the earth was filled with violence.” Then think how it was with the men of Sodom, who were “wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” Now observe concerning both these, that they had fair warning given them of the ruin that was coming upon them for their sins. Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” to the old world; so was Lot to the Sodomites. They gave them timely notice of what would be in the end of their wicked ways, and that it was not far off. They did not regard the warning given them, and gave no credit, no heed to it. They were very secure, went on in their business as unconcerned as you could imagine; “they did eat, they drank,” indulged themselves in their pleasures, and took no care of any thing else, but to “make provision for the flesh.”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There are always wanton persons who, while they fearlessly despise God, treat with ridicule all threatenings of His judgment, and at the same time hold in derision all injunctions as to a holy and pious life—they insolently persecute those who serve Him. We see what happened to the Sodomites and to others; yea, the abuse of God’s forbearance has ever been the cause of destruction…See how Sodom rushed forward to that degree of licentiousness so as to be horrified by no enormity. God says that they began by pride, and surely pride is the mother of all contempt of God.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): Though they had disbelieved God’s threatenings, they soon found, as sooner or later all sinners will find, that their unbelief did not render them false, nor prevent their fulfilment.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “There is no remembrance of former things.” That is the trouble with our present age. Conditions in the past are largely unknown today. A generation has arisen which does little or no serious reading, which are largely unacquainted with history, and unaware of the fact that present conditions are but a reduplication of those which have frequently occurred before.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Now contrast this oblivion of former things, with the great miracle of Providence—the preservation of the Bible, God’s own Book—and therefore under His special protection. Here is indeed the remembrance of former things—free from the injury of time—free from the mists of uncertainty—still full and clear, as from the beginning.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Dost thou believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God? Then thou standest in awe of, and dost much reverence them. Why, they are the Word of God, the true sayings of God.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): This Bible tells us what is about to take place. We have the news here in this Book—it tells us of the things that will surely come to pass; and that is a great deal newer than anything in the newspapers.

A. W. PINK: The sands in the hour glass of this Day of Salvation have almost run out. The signs of the times demonstrate it. “But,” it may be asked, “Have not other ages, as well as the present, been crowded with signs of distress?” Undoubtedly—yet, today, they shine out more clearly and more prominently than ever before.

JOHN GILL: “The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves,” Isaiah 3:9. They commit it openly, without fear or shame; glory in it, and boast of it.

THE EDITOR: They have misappropriated the rainbow, the symbol of God’s merciful promise, Genesis 9:12-17, to make it a banner of their arrogant pride, publicly parading their perverse abominations before His face. Surely, as happened in Sodom, the cry of such wickedness rises up to heaven, Genesis 18:20,21.

ROBERT HALDANE (1764-1842): What they esteemed as their wisdom was truly their folly—in a moral sense, or as respects the things of God, they were unintelligent and stupid.

A. W. PINK: “But,” it may be objected, “Have there not always been pessimists who interpreted gloomily the events of their day? Have not others, again and again, written in a similar strain, only to be shamed and discredited?” Be it so. But were they not wise men who took the earliest alarm, even though their fears were not immediately realized! They read evil in the signs of their times and gave utterance to their convictions so that men might be aroused; surely that was not folly. They erred in their calculations, yet it cannot be denied that their warning was beneficial in its results, even though it was premature. But today, the signs are so plain they cannot be misread, though the foolish may close their eyes and refuse to examine them.

CHARLES BRIDGES: Contrast, again, this want of remembrance, with the recollection that with God nothing is blotted out—nothing forgotten.

JAMES HERVEY (1713-1758): He remembereth His threatenings, as well as His promises, to a thousand generations.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him,” Isaiah 3:10,11. This is an admirable sentence to support the souls of the pious, amidst all the troubles of this life; God will not forsake those who truly love and serve Him. This reason teaches us, and the experience of all times confirms it.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): And wicked men who now doubt His truth and dare not trust His Word, will hereafter, in the most convincing, affecting manner, find His Word to be true in all that He has threatened, and will see that He is faithful to His promises in rewarding His saints.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Let us not make any mistake about the matter—the devil is the devil, the world is the world, and the flesh is the flesh. None of these things have changed, and the mercy is, that God has not changed. Let us joyfully remember that the Lord our God has not changed, no, not in one jot or tittle. He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

HUDSON TAYLOR (1832-1905): There is a living God. He has spoken in His Word. He means just what He says.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): His promises are sure as the ordinances of heaven, and His threatenings too. Those who cast themselves on revealed wrath are their own destroyers.

 

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God’s Commandment to Fathers

Posted on June 16, 2023 by The Editor

Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Psalm 78:4-7; Ephesians 6:4—Colossians 3:21

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The responsibility of parents is referred to only with regard to the father. Thus the apostle emphasized that the chief responsibility for training a child should rest with the father.

GEORGE SWINNOCK (1627-1673): Thy duty is to acquaint thy children with the works of God. Teach them His doings, as well as His sayings. “Take heed to thyself, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons,” Deuteronomy 4:9. God’s wonders should be had in everlasting remembrance. “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered,” Psalm 111:4.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;” instructing them in the knowledge of divine things, setting them good examples, taking care to prevent their falling into bad company, praying with them, and for them, bringing them into the house of God to attend public worship; all which, under a divine blessing, may be very useful to them; the example of Abraham is worthy of imitation, Genesis 18:19, and the advice of the wise man deserves attention, Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Bring them up with tenderness and mildness, in the instruction and discipline of the Lord—both in Christian knowledge and practice. “Provoke not your children to wrath.” Fathers are named, as being more apt to be stern and severe.

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): One would think that if there was any one of the near relationships of human life more than another that would of itself absolutely secure kindness, and tenderness, and affability, and love, it would be that of a father. But, as a matter of fact, it is often the very opposite. You never see more impatience, and harshness, and sullenness, and sourness than you see in some fathers.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Fathers are more inclined to become impatient and unduly harsh and unkind with their children.

ALEXANDER WHYTE: Why is that so, I wonder?

JOHN GILL: As heads of families, they are apt to be too severe, as mothers are apt to be too indulgent.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): It seems to be the besetting sin of mankind and one of the most terrible results of man’s fall, that there is nothing difficult as to maintain a balance. In correcting one thing we go to such an extreme as to find ourselves in an equally dangerous position.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Indeed, Paul seems more strictly to guard fathers against a mal-administration of their power, and to engage them to lay aside rigour in their government.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Though God has given you power, you must not abuse that power, remembering that your children are pieces of yourselves; and therefore ought to be governed with great tenderness and love. Be not impatient with them, use no unreasonable severities and lay no rigid injunctions upon them. When you caution them, when you counsel them, when you reprove them, do it in such a manner as not to “provoke them to wrath”…So also, “ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself,” Ephesians 5:28. They must love them with tender and faithful affection, as Christ loved the church—“And be not bitter against them,” Colossians 3:19. They must not use them unkindly, with harsh language or severe treatment, but be kind to them.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Severity will hurt your own souls, and do them no good.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Discipline in the spirit of love, and enforced by example, is God’s honoured ordinance—forbearance and forgiveness will therefore take the place of resentment and malice—the tremendous passions of jealousy and rage shut out all forgiveness.

MATTHEW HENRY: We cannot do it without God.

ALEXANDER WHYTE: Let every silent, sulky, churlish father watch and examine the working of his own heart till he understands and overcomes this monstrosity in himself. It is against nature. But it cannot be denied that it is very common. It is not for nothing that Paul gives to fathers this somewhat startling counsel, not to provoke their children to wrath. The apostle must often have sat at tables where the children were incessantly corrected and rebuked and exasperated. He must often have seen all-but-innocent children nagged and worried into actions, the whole blame of which he laid on their fathers and their mothers.

ADAM CLARKE: If punished with severity or cruelty, they will be only hardened and made desperate in their sins. Cruel parents generally have bad children.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Unreasonable severity excites hatred, and would lead them to throw off the yoke altogether. Writing to the Colossians, he adds, “lest they be discouraged.”

MATTHEW HENRY: Let not your authority over them be exercised with rigour and severity, but with kindness and gentleness, lest you raise their passions and by holding the reins too tight make them fly out with greater fierceness. The bad temper and example of imprudent parents often prove a great hindrance to their children and a stumbling-block in their way.

MATTHEW POOLE: Paul allows not parents to do that which has a direct tendency to irritate the passions of their children merely for their own pleasure, without a principal regard to God’s glory, and their children’s profit, Hebrews 12:10.

ALEXANDER WHYTE: Treat your children, as your Father treats you. For His name is merciful, and gracious, and long-suffering, and slow to wrath. Command your temper towards your children.

RICHARD CECIL (1748-1810): When they do right, make a point of praising them openly; and when they do wrong, reprehend them secretly.

JOHN CALVIN: Kind treatment has a tendency to cherish their reverence for parents, and increase the cheerfulness and activity of their obedience. To guard them, however, against the opposite and frequent evil of excessive indulgence, he adds, in the instruction and reproof of the Lord. It is not the will of God that parents, in the exercise of kindness, shall spare and corrupt their children. Let their conduct towards their children be at once mild and considerate, so as to guide them in the fear of the Lord, and correct them also when they go astray.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: We cannot fail, once more, to be impressed by the wonderful balance of scriptural teaching.

ADAM CLARKE: He who corrects his children according to God, and reason, will feel every blow on his own heart more sensibly than his child feels it on his body.

MATTHEW HENRY: Bring them up well, in the discipline of proper and compassionate correction, and in the knowledge of that duty which God requires of them and by which they may become better acquainted with Him.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Behold a pious parent encircled by his little family, to whom he is recounting the LORD’s gracious dealings with his soul. Reader! picture a father, thus engaged; then ask whether the blessing of the LORD must not rest upon such households!

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The Lord has a most gracious way of making families to be full of comfort and peace, when those families walk in His fear—but when there is sin in the head of the household, there comes disorder in the family, the departure of the divine blessing, and all goes awry.

 

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William Gurnall & The Christian in Complete Armour

Posted on June 9, 2023 by The Editor

Ephesians 6:10-18

My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The reader will find, in William Gurnall’s “Christian in Complete Armour,” a very large and practical improvement of this portion of Scripture.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): You will often find in a line and a half some great truth, put so concisely, and yet so fully, that you marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words.

D. DUNDAS M’ISAAC (circa 1864): With the exception of two sermons preached on special occasions, The Christian in Complete Armour is William Gurnall’s only published work.

J. C. RYLE: Perhaps there is no writer who has left a name so familiar to all readers of Puritan theology, but whose personal history so little is known. Except that he was a Puritan divine of the seventeenth century—that he was Minister of Lavenham—and that he wrote a well-known book of practical divinity, most persons know nothing of William Gurnall. This dearth of information about so good a man appears at first sight extraordinary and unaccountable. Born, as he was, in a seaport town of no mean importance—the son of parents who held a prominent position in the town—educated at Cambridge, at one of the best known colleges of the day—the contemporary of leading divines of his times—minister of the largest church in West Suffolk for the uninterrupted period of thirty-five years—author of a work which, from its first appearance, was eminently popular.

D. DUNDAS M’ISAAC: The Christian in Complete Armour is a production of a period remarkable beyond any other in the history of England, for earnest activity in the matters of religion—the days of Richard Baxter, of John Bunyan, of Thomas Brooks, Stephen Charnock, John Owen, John Flavel, John Howe, Thomas Watson—men whose many volumes, or whose single treatises, were read with avidity by their contemporaries, and continue still to maintain their position among those esteemed treasures of practical divinity—the Christian classics of our English literature.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Such men as Thomas Goodwin, John Owen, Stephen Charnock, John Flavel, and Richard Sibbes, though living in troublous times and suffering fierce persecution, taught the Word more helpfully―in our judgment, and were more used of God than any since the days of the apostles to the present hour. The ministry of the Puritans was an exceedingly searching one.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour.

J. C. RYLE: How shall we account for the absence of any notice of Gurnall in the biographical writings of his day? I believe that answer is to be found in the line of conduct Gurnall followed in the year 1662, on the passing of the unhappy Act of Uniformity. He did not secede from the Church of England! He was not one of the famous two thousand ministers who gave up their preferment, and became Nonconformists. He retained his position at Lavenham. Puritan as he undoubtedly was, both in doctrine and practice, he did not do what many of his brethren did. When Richard Baxter, Thomas Manton, John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, and a host of other giants in theology, seceded from the Church of England, Gurnall stood fast, and refused to move. A neutral is never popular in a season of strife and controversy.

J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): When truth and error are in presence of each other, the right side is not the middle.

J. C. RYLE: This, I suspect, was precisely Gurnall’s position. He was a Puritan in doctrine, and yet he steadfastly adhered to the Church of England. He was a minister of the Church of England, and yet a thorough Puritan both in preaching and practice. He was just the man to be disliked and slighted by both sides…I leave the subject of Gurnall’s conduct in 1662 with the reader. It is one on which different men will have different opinions—I only desire to record my own opinion, that Gurnall was probably just as courageous, conscientious and high-principled in deciding to stay in, as his two thousand ejected brethren were in deciding to go out…Gurnall’s case, perhaps, does not stand alone. Perhaps the last day will prove that some of the best and holiest men that ever lived are hardly known.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): The Puritans were burning and shining lights. When cast out and driven from their respective charges to preach in barns and fields, in the highways and hedges, they in a special manner wrote and preached as men having authority. Though dead, by their writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attend them to this very hour—the more true and vital religion hath revived either at home or abroad, the more the good old puritanical writings, or the authors of a like stamp who lived and died in the Church of England, have been called for.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It appears from the preface that Gurnall’s “Christian in Complete Armour” was preached before it was printed. In vivid imagery every page of his famous book abounds…He is as profuse in illustration as either Thomas Brooks, Thomas Watson, or George Swinnock.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): The subject of the treatise is solemn; A War Between the Saint and Satan, and that so bloody a one, that the cruelest war which was ever fought by men will be found but sport and child’s play to this. It is a spiritual war that you shall read of; and that not a history of what was fought many ages past and is now over, but of what is now doing—the tragedy is at present acting—and that not at the furthest end of the world, but what concerns thee and everyone that reads it. The stage whereon this war is fought is every man’s own soul. Here is no neutral in this war. The whole world is engaged in the quarrel, either for God against Satan, or for Satan against God.

THE EDITOR: It is not a physical war fought against men, governments, or nations, but within the soul of each person, between good and evil.

D. DUNDAS M’ISAAC: The war thus described is so illustrated as to embrace the entire course of the Christian’s life on earth. It is divided into two parts. The first is A Short but Powerful Encouragement to the War; and the second, and main part, consists of Directions for Managing the War successfully, wherein is set forth the necessity of being armed for the conflict; the armour required; the nature of the conflict; the character and power of the assailant or enemies with which the Christian has to contend, and the posture to be maintained in the fight; whilst under the various special pieces of armour, the nature and importance of the various Christian graces are set forth—the whole being bound together and fitted for us by all-prayer, under which there is given a very thorough illustration of the nature, privilege, and advantage of prayer to the Christian.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is peerless, and priceless; every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive. The whole book is, in our judgment, the best thought-breeder in our library…I have often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low, and I have seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon Gurnall’s hearth.

 

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The Value of Christian Personal Experience

Posted on June 2, 2023 by The Editor

John 4:28-30, 39-42; 2 Peter 1:16,17

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Peter believed the evidences which he had in common with others: but he felt peculiar conviction from those which he derived from his own personal experience. So the people of Samaria, who had believed on Jesus on account of the woman’s testimony, told her afterwards, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Experience is very different from theory; and when we are taught of God, we have other views of those very things of which we have read and heard before…And there is such a thing as experience, or an acquaintance with divine things derived from trial, in addition to testimony, which is peculiarly satisfactory.

JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): There are two sorts of knowledge among men; one traditional, the other experiential: this last the apostle calls a “knowing in ourselves,” Hebrews 10:34, and opposes it to that traditional knowledge which may be said to be without ourselves, because borrowed from other men.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There are two kinds of knowledge—the knowledge of faith, and what they call experiential knowledge.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The knowledge that David had of God’s goodness was experiential—“I was brought low, and He helped me,” Psalm 116:6. A carnal man knows God’s excellencies and will revealed in His word only, as we know far countries by maps; but an experienced Christian knows them as one that hath himself been long there. See the like with Paul in Romans 8:2, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Paul not only knew these things by faith, but he knew much of them by experience.

JOHN CALVIN: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us,” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. Here he applies to himself personally, what he had stated in a general way, and by way of proclaiming the grace of God, he declares that he had not been disappointed in his expectation, inasmuch as he had been delivered from death, and that too, in no common form.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “I know whom I have trusted,” 2 Timothy 1:12. And it is because he knows Him that therefore he is persuaded that “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.” How did Paul know Him? By experience. By the experience of his daily life. By all these years of trial and yet of blessedness through which he had passed; by all the revelations that had been made to his waiting heart as the consequence and as the reward of the humble faith that rested upon God. And so the whole past had confirmed to him the initial confidence which knit him to Jesus Christ.

JOHN FLAVEL: This experience we have of the power of religion in our souls is that only which fixes a man’s spirit in the ways of godliness; it made the Hebrews take joyfully the spoiling of their goods; no arguments or temptations can wrest truth out of the hand of experience.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): And so, to deepen their knowledge of the truth, to ground and settle them in it, to bring it out in all its practical power, a good, covenant God often places His children in sore trials and temptations. The mariner becomes practiced in his trade in the storm and the hurricane, amid rocks and shoals. All that he knew before he launched his vessel on the ocean or encountered the storm was only theory—but a single tempest or one escape from shipwreck imparts more experiential knowledge than years of merely theoretical work. So learns the believer how theoretical and defective his views of divine truth; how little his knowledge of his own heart, his deep corruptions, perfect weakness and little faith; how imperfect his acquaintance with Jesus and His fullness, value, all-sufficiency, and sympathy, until the hand of God falls upon him! When messenger after messenger brings news of blasted gourds or broken cisterns, when brought down and laid low, they are constrained to confess like Job, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:5,6.

CHARLES SIMEON: He knows the power and grace of Christ in a way that he never could know it from mere argument: and in speaking of Christ he can say, “what my eyes have seen, my ears have heard, my hands have handled of the word of life, that declare I unto you,” 1 John 1:1.

C. H. SPURGEON: He is precious to us by experience because He has helped us in many a dark hour of trial…Those who are, for the most part, without trial, are usually the weakest in the Church of God. They are usually the least spiritual, the least instructed in experimental truth and altogether the least knowledgeable in Divine things. We have our sorrows, but have we not found, by actual experience, that the choicest consolation for sorrow is the fact that Jesus Christ knows all about it and is with us in it!

JOHN TRAPP: In matters of divinity we must first believe, and then know; not know, and then believe.

AUGUSTINE (354-430): If you do not believe, you will not understand.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: We must trust, to begin with, before experience. But the faith that is built upon a lifetime is a far stronger thing than the tremulous faith that, out of darkness, stretches a groping hand, and for the first time lays hold upon God’s outstretched hand. We hope then, we tremblingly trust, we believe on the authority of His Word. But after years have passed, we can say, ‘We have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Those know Christ best that know Him by experience.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some Christians have a large amount of experimental knowledge. They are not eloquent, they are not educated, but they are wise. It has been our privilege to have some, in the very humblest walks of life, whose experiential knowledge of Divine things was very much more profound than would usually be found in a doctor of divinity—men and women who have learned their theology, not in halls and colleges, but in courts and cellars. They have learned how to pray on bare knees. They have learned how to cry to the God of Providence when the cupboard was empty…If you have any experience, let me say to you—as you have opportunity tell it out. Empty it upon the earth! If you have gained some knowledge of God, communicate it. If you have proved Him, confess to the generation about you that He is a faithful God!

 

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Jesus Christ’s Gifts for Repentant Rebels

Posted on May 26, 2023 by The Editor

Psalm 68:18,19; Ephesians 4:7,8; Acts 2:33-36

Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious, also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): There certainly are many parts of the prophetic writings, and particularly of the Psalms, which have a spiritual or mystical reference to Christ: nor can we err in interpreting them of Him, while we take the inspired Apostles for our guides.

GRIFFITH WILLIAMS (1589-1672): Mystically, this Psalm 68 is an ἐπινικιον, or a triumphal song, penned by king David upon the foresight of Jesus Christ arising from the dead, and with great joy and triumph ascending up into heaven, and thence sending his Holy Spirit unto His apostles and disciples.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Psalm 68:18. This is the verse which serves as a key to unlock the sacred treasury of this whole Psalm. And the Holy Ghost himself is His own commentator. By His servant, the apostle Paul, He hath taught the church how to apply it to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 4:8,9. Hence, by comparing these Scriptures, and looking for the divine teaching of He Who is the almighty Author of both, we are admitted into a blessed apprehension of the things recorded concerning Christ. Observe, in what words the thing is spoken of, “Thou hast ascended.” This was written by the spirit of prophecy, at least a thousand years before Christ was born. But to His almighty eye, before Whom things past, present, or future, form but one object, the event is so sure, that what He hath counseled must stand, and be as certain as if finished. The ascension of the Lord Jesus is the subject here contemplated; but the whole of Christ’s triumphs over death, hell, and the grave, together with his exalted state at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, is included in this hymn of praise.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” Ephesians 4:9. Paul’s meaning appears to be this: The person who ascended is the Messiah, and His ascension plainly intimates His descension—that is, His incarnation, humiliation, death, and resurrection.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): To do battle with our enemies, the Lord descended and left His throne; but now the fight is finished, He returns to His glory, high above all things is He now exalted. “Thou hast led captivity captive.” A multitude of the sons of men are the willing captives of the Messiah’s power. As great conquerors of old led whole nations into captivity, so Jesus leads forth from the territory of His foe a vast company as the trophies of His mighty grace. From the gracious character of His reign it comes to pass that to be led into captivity by Him is for our captivity to cease, or to be itself led captive; a glorious result indeed. The Lord Jesus destroys His foes with their own weapons; He puts death to death, entombs the grave, and leads captivity captive.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The expression is emphatic. He has conquered and triumphed over all the powers which held us in captivity, so that captivity itself is taken captive. The spirit and force of it is destroyed—the energy of the phrase is not unlike that of the apostle Paul: “Death is swallowed up in victory,” 1 Corinthians 15:54.

ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): And, having obtained the victory, He proceeds to divide the spoils: Gifts to men, as David made presents. There was a glorious fulfillment immediately after His ascension, in a rich profusion of gifts and graces to His church, like David’s presents. In Psalm 68:18, it is “received;” in Ephesians, “gave.” He received, that He might give; received the spoil, that He might distribute it.

CHRISTMAS EVANS (1766-1838): After He entered the heaven of heavens, did He shower down gifts unto men, as a mighty conqueror loaded with treasures with which to enrich and adorn his followers and people. The apostle shows that a portion of these gifts, are gifts of ministry, Ephesians 4:11.

ANDREW FULLER: Ministers are received for, and are given to you by Christ.

CHRISTMAS EVANS: Accordingly, whenever God condescends to dwell among a people and in a country, He gives that people and country His ministry. He sends them His gospel in the mouths of faithful servants.

ISAAC AMBROSE (1604-1664): He gives the gift of gifts—the gift of the Holy Ghost.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost.

ISAAC AMBROSE: “If thou knewest the gift of God,” said Christ to the Samaritan woman, John 4:10: that gift was the water of life, and that water of life was the Spirit, as John, who knew best His mind, gave the interpretation, “This spake he of the Spirit,” John 7:39. Consider this princely gift of Christ. Such a gift was never given before, but when “God so loved the world, that he gave his Son,” John 3:16—and, Christ so loved the world, that He gave His Spirit. But consider especially to whom this Spirit was given—“unto us a Son is given,” said the prophet, Isaiah 9:6; and “unto us the Holy Ghost is given,” saith Paul, Romans 5:5.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): And so the phrase in the original doth more than insinuate: לקחתּ מתּנות בּאדם “Thou hast received gifts in Adam,” in the man, or human nature. And לקח signifies as well to give as to receive, especially when anything is received to be given. Christ received this gift in His human nature, to give it unto others.

ISAAC AMBROSE: Yet above all, consider the reason of this gift in reference to thyself. Was it not to make thee a temple of the Holy Ghost? Stand a while on this! Admire the condescending, glorious, and unspeakable love of Christ in this! It was infinite love to come down into our nature when He was incarnate; but this is more, to come down into thy heart by His Holy Spirit: He came near to us then, but as if that were not near enough, He comes nearer now, for now He unites Himself unto thy person—He comes and dwells in thy soul by His Holy Spirit.

C. H. SPURGEON: What a wonder is this choice mercy, that a den of dragons should become a temple of the Holy Spirit!

CHRISTMAS EVANS: They were gifts of mercy: gifts to the rebellious—to those who laid down their arms at His feet in penitent submission, “that the Lord God may dwell among them.”

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): I have found it as difficult to come to God by prayer, after backsliding from Him, as to do any other thing…Yet that saying would sometimes come to my mind, “He hath received gifts for the rebellious.” “The rebellious,” thought I; why, surely, they are such as once were under subjection to their prince, even those who, after they have sworn subjection to his government, have taken up arms against him; and this, thought I, is my very condition; once I loved Him, feared Him, served Him; yet He has gifts for rebels, and then, why not for me?

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): It is one of the most wonderful things to realize, that even when we in our folly sin against Him, or turn our backs upon Him, His love still remains, it still goes on—He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

 

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