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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Evil Speaking of Powers That Be

Posted on April 8, 2022 by The Editor

Acts 23:5 (Exodus 22:28); Ephesians 4:31; 1 Timothy 2:1-3; Romans 13:1,2

It is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors,” 1 Peter 2:13,14. There is scarcely any thing in the New Testament inculcated with more solemnity than that individuals, and especially Christians, should be obedient, peaceable, and loyal subjects; nor is there any sin much more awfully censured than the contrary conduct.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The spirit of disaffection and sedition is ever opposed to the religion of the Bible.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “By me kings reigns and princes decree Justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth,” Proverbs 8:15, 16―It is not owing to human perverseness that supreme power on earth is lodged in kings and other governors, but by Divine Providence, and the holy decree of Him to whom it has seemed good so to govern the affairs of men.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): No human government is perfect, and it may appear to us that a particular form of government is acting unwisely in its legislation and arbitrarily in its administration. The question therefore arises, How should a Christian citizen act under a particularly offensive one?

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Christians should not, under the pretence of Christian religion, refuse to obey men in authority even if they are wicked. Even though rulers are wicked and unbelieving, yet is their governmental power good―in itself―and of God. So our Lord said to Pilate, to whom He submitted as a pattern for us all: “Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above, ” John 19:11.

ANDREW FULLER: On this principle it is probable the apostle enjoined obedience to the powers that were, even during the reign of Nero.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): This is not to be understood, as if magistrates were above the laws, and had a lawless power to do as they will without opposition—and when they make their own will a law, or exercise a lawless tyrannical power, in defiance of the laws of God, and of the land, to the endangering of the lives, liberties, and properties of subjects, they may be resisted, as Saul was by the people of Israel, when he would have took away the life of Jonathan for the breach of an arbitrary law of his own, I Samuel 14:45; but the apostle is speaking of resisting magistrates in the right discharge of their office, and in the exercise of legal power and authority.

JOHN CALVIN: We are subject to the men that rule over us, but subject only in the Lord. If they command any thing against Him, let us not pay the least regard to it.

A. W. PINK: That a child of God must refuse to do the bidding of a government when it enjoins something contrary to the Divine will is clear from the cases of the three Hebrews, Daniel 3:18, and of Daniel in Babylon, Daniel 5:10-13, who firmly declined to conform unto the king’s idolatrous demands. It is equally evident from the apostles, who, when they were commanded by the authorities “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus,” answered “whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye,” Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29.

ANDREW FULLER: We are not called to yield up our consciences in religious matters, nor to approve of what is wrong in those which are civil; but we are not at liberty to deal in acrimony and evil-speaking.

ADAM CLARKE: When those who have been pious get under the spirit of misrule, they infallibly get shorn of their spiritual strength, and become like salt that has lost its savour…The highest authority says, “Fear God: honour the king,” 1 Peter 2:17.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Paul applies this law to himself, and owns that he ought not to “speak evil of the ruler of his people;” no, not though the ruler was then his most unrighteous persecutor, Acts 23:5.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): O my brethren, how often have you and I been guilty of this great evil?

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): I have heard many confessions, in public and private, during the past forty years, but never have I heard a man confess that he was guilty of this sin.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): What sayest thou, art thou guilty of this indictment, or not?

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Surely may we, by conviction, apprehend ourselves guilty.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): Let us, then, never more be guilty of this conduct.

ANDREW FULLER: It requires not only that we keep within the compass of the laws―but that we honour and intercede with God for those who administer them.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): The kings of the earth at that time were all heathens, and enemies to the Christian religion, and so, generally, were those who were in a subordinate authority to them, yet the apostle commands that prayers should be made in the Christian congregations for them. They were to pray for their life and health so far forth as might be for God’s glory, and for God’s guidance of them in the administration of their government.

MATTHEW HENRY: Thus the primitive Christians, according to the temper of their holy religion, prayed for the powers that were, though they were persecuting powers.

ADAM CLARKE: Good rulers have power to do much good; we pray that their authority may be ever preserved and well directed. Bad rulers have power to do much evil; we pray that they may be prevented from thus using their power. So that, whether the rulers be good or bad, prayer for them is the positive duty of all Christians; and the answer to their prayers, in either case, will be the means of their being enabled to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

JOHN CALVIN: That is the reason why believers, in whatever country they live, must not only obey the laws and government of magistrates, but likewise in their prayers supplicate God for their salvation.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): This is a responsibility that rests upon us as believers today. Christians are to be examples to others of subjection to the government…When we come together in a public service, we usually pray for those who are in authority. But are we as much concerned about remembering them before God when we kneel alone in His presence? I am quite sure of this: if we prayed more for those at the head of the country and in other positions of responsibility, we would feel less ready to criticize them.

EDWARD PAYSON: Thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Pray for all that are in authority.

 

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The Proverbial Folly of Fools

Posted on April 1, 2022 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 2:13

I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.

Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The very first part of wisdom is to receive the Gospel of salvation into our hearts. We all need it; nor can any human being be saved without it; and God offers to us all the blessings of it, freely, without money and without price. Were we under a sentence of death from a human tribunal, and were offered mercy by the Prince, it would be accounted wisdom to accept the offer, and folly to reject it. How much more is it our wisdom to accept a deliverance from eternal death, together with all the glory and felicity of heaven! This must commend itself to every man who reflects but for a moment: and to despise these proffered benefits must, of necessity, be regarded as folly, bordering upon madness.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Wisdom enlightens the soul with surprising discoveries and necessary directions for the right government of itself; but sensuality—for that seems to be especially the folly here meant—clouds and eclipses the mind, and is as darkness to it; it puts out men’s eyes, makes them wander out of it.

CHARLES SIMEON: The world gives its voice in direct opposition to the foregoing statement. It represents religion as folly, and the prosecution of carnal enjoyments as wisdom. But its “calling good evil, and evil good,” will not change their respective natures: nor, if the whole world should unite in putting darkness for light, or light for darkness, will either of them lose its own qualities, and assume those of the other. “Sweet” will be sweet, and “bitter” bitter, whether men will believe it or not. “The foolishness of fools is folly,” Proverbs 14:26.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): What think we of folly?    

MATTHEW HENRY: It is the character of a wicked man that he takes pleasure in sin; “Folly is joy to him,” Proverbs 15:21. The folly of others is so, and his own much more. He sins, not only without regret, but with delight, not only repents not of it, but makes his boast of it. This is a certain sign of one that is graceless.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): The best way to know a man is to observe what gives him pleasure. A good man may once, or many times, be betrayed into foolish words or deeds, but the indulgence of them makes him miserable. Folly, like Ezekiel’s roll, was sweet in his mouth, but left a lasting bitterness behind. Fools, on the contrary, “feed on foolishness,” Proverbs 15:14; it is pleasant to their taste at the time, and they ruminate with relish on it afterwards.

CHARLES BRIDGES: He sins without temptation or motive. He cannot sleep without it, Proverbs 4:16. It is “the sweet morsel under his tongue,” Job 20:12. He “obeys it in the lusts thereof,” Romans 6:12. He “works it with greediness,” Ephesians 4:19. He hates the gospel, because it “saves from it,” Matthew 1:21; Acts 3:26.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Proverbs 13:16, “Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly,”—or “spreads” it, and exposes it to the view of everyone, by his foolish talk and indiscreet actions.

CHARLES BRIDGES: The tongue shews the man. The wise commands his tongue. The fool—his tongue commands him. He may have a mass of knowledge in possession. But from the want of the right use, it runs to waste. Wisdom is proved, not by the quantum of knowledge, but by its right application. “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness,” Proverbs 15:2.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly,” Proverbs 14:29—exalteth folly. He sets it up upon a pole, as it were; he proclaims his own folly by his ireful looks, words, gestures, actions.

WILLIAM ARNOT: “Fools make a mock at sin,” Proverbs 14:9. It is emphatically the part of a fool to mock at sin. God counted it serious, when, to deliver us from its power, He covenanted to give his Son to die. Christ counted it serious, when He suffered for it. All holy beings stand in awe before it. Angels unfallen look on in wonder, and converted men who have been delivered from it, fear it with an exceeding great fear. Only the victims who are under its benumbing power, and exposed to its eternal curse, can make light of sin.

JOHN TRAPP: “It is as sport to a fool to do mischief,” Proverbs 10:23. He is then merriest when he hath the devil for his playfellow.

WILLIAM ARNOT: Those who make a mock at sin are obliged also to mock at holiness. This is the law of their condition. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,” 2 Timothy 3:13. To laugh at sin and to laugh at holiness are but two sides of one thing. They cannot be separated. Those who make mirth of goodness persuade themselves that they are only getting amusement from the weakness of a brother. Let them take care. If that in a Christian which you make sport of, be a feature of his Redeemer’s likeness, He whose likeness it is, is looking on, and will require it…Let them take care—God is not mocked.

JOHN GILL: “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident,” Proverbs 14:16. He fears neither God nor men, he sets his mouth against both; he “rages” in heart, if not with his mouth, against God and His law, which forbid the practice of such sins he delights in; and against all good men, that admonish him of them, rebuke him for them, or dissuade him from them: and “is confident” that no evil shall befall him; he has no concern about a future state, and is fearless of hell and damnation, though just upon the precipice of ruin.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): “The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit,” Proverbs 14:8. They deceive themselves more than they deceive anybody else.

CHARLES BRIDGES: “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him,” Proverbs 27:22. Much is said of the effectiveness of correction. But of itself it works nothing. What can it do for the fool, that despises it? “The rod” ordinarily “will drive foolishness out of the heart of a child,” Proverbs 22:15. But the child is here become a man in strength of habit, and stubbornness of will. As soon, therefore, “can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots,” as those can do good, “who are accustomed to do evil,” Jeremiah 13:23. “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly,” Proverbs 26:11.

WILLIAM ARNOT: To mock at sin now, is the way to the place of eternal weeping. They who weep for sin now, will rejoice in a Saviour yet. Blessed are they that so mourn, for they shall be comforted.—“Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly,” Proverbs 16:22. To him that hath it, this wisdom from above will be a well-spring of life; to those who refuse it, life will never spring at all.

 

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Reflections on a Blind Man’s Cure

Posted on March 25, 2022 by The Editor

Mark 8:22-26

And [Jesus] cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): This miracle, which is only recorded by the Evangelist Mark, has about it several very peculiar features.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We see Jesus taking this blind man by the hand, leading him out of the town—spitting on his eyes—putting His hands on him, and then—and not till then, restoring his sight. And the meaning of all these actions, the passage leaves entirely unexplained.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): First, our Lord led the man out of the town, before He would heal him; and, when the cure was performed, He forbad him to return thither, or so much as to tell it unto any who lived in the town.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): It would be difficult to find out the reason which induced our Lord to act thus.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Had He herein only designed privacy, He might have led him into a house, into an inner chamber, and have cured him there; but He intended hereby to upbraid Bethsaida with the mighty works that had in vain been done in her, Matthew 11:21.

THOMAS CHALMERS (1780-1847): The conversion and regeneration of a sinner is a noble, yet a secret work.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is in the heart that the Spirit works.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): As to the secret work, who knows how the Spirit works? “The wind blows where it lists and you hear the sound thereof but you can not tell from where it comes nor where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:8.

A. W. PINK: There is something about the wind which defies all effort of human explanation. Its origin, its nature, its activities, are beyond man’s ken. Man cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. It is so with the activities of the Holy Spirit. His operations are conducted secretly; His workings are profoundly mysterious.

MATTHEW HENRY: Christ used a sign; He spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Why did He do that?

MATTHEW HENRY: This spittle signified the eye-salve wherewith Christ anoints the eyes of those that are spiritually blind, Revelation 3:18.

ADAM CLARKE: There is a similar transaction to this mentioned by John—“He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing,” John 9:6,7.

C. H. SPURGEON: It seems to me that the use of spittle connected the opening of the eye with the Saviour’s mouth, that is to say, it connected in type the illuminating of the understanding with the Truth of God which Christ utters.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): And, generally speaking, in the illumination of a sinner, the word of Christ’s mouth is a means—the Gospel, and the truths of it, which are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, are the means of conveying the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination and sanctification, into the hearts of men, and of quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins.

C. H. SPURGEON: You will further perceive that when He had spit on his eyes it is added He put His hands upon him. Did He do that in the form of heavenly benediction? Did He, by the laying on of His hands, bestow upon the man His blessing, and bid virtue stream from His own Person into the blind man? I think so.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): He did so most probably for the purpose of proving that He had full liberty as to His method of proceeding, and was not restricted to a fixed rule.

C. H. SPURGEON: We must not attempt to tell the Lord Jesus Christ how He is to work, for He has various ways of working in the blessing of men. For instance, when this blind man was brought to Him, He did not open his eyes with a word. Often, when the sick were brought to Him, He spoke and they were at once cured. He might have done so in this case…But there came out of Christ’s mouth—not a word—but spittle!

THOMAS COKE: In giving sight to this blind man, Jesus did not, as on other occasions of the like nature, impart the faculty at once, but by degrees.

JOHN CALVIN: He does not all at once enlighten the eyes of the blind man, and fit them for performing their office, but communicates to them at first a dark and confused perception, and afterwards, by laying on his hands a second time, enables them to see perfectly. And so the grace of Christ, which had formerly been poured out suddenly on others, flowed by drops, as it were, on this man.

C. H. SPURGEON: So is it with the first sight that is given to many spiritually blind persons.

J. C. RYLE: Conversion is an illumination, a change from darkness to light, from blindness to seeing the kingdom of God. Yet few converted people see things distinctly at first. The nature and proportion of doctrines, practices, and ordinances of the Gospel are dimly seen by them, and imperfectly understood. They are like the man before us, who at first saw men as trees walking. Their vision is dazzled and unaccustomed to the new world into which they have been introduced. It is not till the work of the Spirit has become deeper and their experience been somewhat matured, that they see all things clearly, and give to each part of religion its proper place. This is the history of thousands of God’s children.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Where the eyes are divinely enlightened, the soul’s first views of itself and of the Gospel may be confused and indistinct, like him who saw men as it were trees walking; yet this light is like the dawn, which, though weak and faint at its first appearance, “shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:18. It is the work of God; and His work is perfect in kind, though progressive in the manner. He will not despise or forsake the day of small things. When He thus begins, He will make an end.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): But we must not, from hence, conclude that our being in Christ is obtained in a progressive manner, though our enjoyment of that being in Him is increased by an increasing knowledge.

J C. RYLE: Finally, let us see in the gradual cure of this blind man, a striking picture of the present position of Christ’s believing people in the world, compared with that which is to come. We see in part and know in part in the present dispensation…In the providential dealings of God with His children, and in the conduct of many of God’s saints, we see much that we cannot understand—and cannot alter. In short, we are like him that saw “men as trees walking.” But let us look forward and take comfort. The time comes when we shall see all “clearly.” When the day of the Lord comes, our spiritual eyesight will be perfected.

 

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Buds, Blossoms & Bringing Forth Fruit

Posted on March 18, 2022 by The Editor

Isaiah 27:6

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We are just coming to the most beautiful season of the year—Spring, when everything around us is shaking off the chill grave clothes of winter and putting on the beautiful array of a new life. There is something very delightful in the spring-time of nature…There is a great beauty in a fruit tree when it is in bloom. Perhaps there is no more lovely object in all nature than the apple blossom.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Under the genial warmth of the sun, those trees will be covered with blossoms. Then, after a few days, those pretty blossoms will all have disappeared—blown off by the winds. Nevertheless, if those trees be examined closely it will be found that where those blossoms were are now little green buds. Many weeks have to pass before the owner of those trees is gladdened by seeing the buds develop into fruit.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): They pass through many alterations, from one degree of growth to another, from buds to blossoms, from blossoms to flowers and fruits.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): It is truly pleasing to witness the springing bud, and the unfolding blossoms.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): The young Christian is lovely, like a tree in the blossoms of spring.

C. H. SPURGEON: The love of his espousals, his first love, his first zeal, all make the newborn Believer comely. Can anything be more delightful than our first graces? Even God Himself delights in the beauty of the blossoming Believer. “I remember thee,” says He, “the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness,” Jeremiah 2:2.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The Lord takes great notice of the springing and buddings forth of grace, of the first acts and exercises of it in young converts.

C. H. SPURGEON: But this beauty soon fades—one shower of rain, one descent of hail, one puff of the north wind—and very soon the blossoms fall like snow.

A. W. PINK: What percentage of blossoms on the apple and plum trees mature and bear fruit? Many a promising bud is nipped by the frosts of spring and never develops into a flower.

C. H. SPURGEON: March winds and April showers, bring forth May flowers.

THOMAS ADAMS (1583-1656): Sin, repentance, and pardon, are like to the three spring months of the year—March, April, and May. Sin comes in like March, blustering, stormy, and full of bold violence. Repentance succeeds like April, showering, weeping, and full of tears. Pardon follows like May, springing, singing, full of joys and flowers. If our hands have been full of March, with the tempests of unrighteousness, our eyes must be full of April with the sorrow of repentance; and then our hearts shall be full of May, in the true joy of forgiveness.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Lord has looked upon you and has made you feel uneasy—that is a bud. Oh, that the uneasiness might open into full repentance! The Lord has looked upon you and He has given you desires. Oh, that the Grace of God may increase those desires till they shall open into resolution and determination!

A. W. PINK: There is a large number who so far from despising and rejecting it, “receive the Word with joy, yet hath not root in himself, but dureth from a while,” Matthew 13:20,21. That was the case when Christ Himself sowed the Seed…“Ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light,” said Christ of certain ones who sat under the preaching of His forerunner; but observe that He declared not that they had “sorrowed unto repentance.”

MATTHEW MEAD (1629-1699): Never rest in convictions till they end in conversion. This is that wherein most men miscarry: they rest in their convictions, and take them for conversion, as if sin seen were therefore forgiven, as if a sight of the want of grace were the truth of a work of grace.

A. W. PINK: Like the promising blossoms and buds on the trees in the spring, which are blown off by unfriendly winds or nipped by the frost, the beneficial effects produced by an illumined understanding and an aroused conscience, sooner or later, wear off. The temptations of the world and the corruptions of their hearts either stifle their convictions, or cause them to deliberately cast them out, and the sequel is that they either avowedly or practically repudiate the Faith they have owned. They may not go so far as to openly disclaim and renounce Christianity—but they cease to maintain practical godliness…The genuineness of saving faith is only proved as it bears the blossoms of experimental godliness and the fruits of true piety.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): It is in this way that we are to approve ourselves “trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, in whom he shall be glorified,” Isaiah 61:3.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Many with their mouth show much love, but their heart goes another way. They had a good mind to be religious, but they met with something to be done, that was too hard, or something to be parted with, that was too dear, and so their purposes are to no purpose. Buds and blossoms are not fruit.

C. H. SPURGEON: How far have your buds developed? Have you begun to pray a little? Oh, that your prayer might be more intense! I hope that little bud of private prayer will grow till it comes to family prayer so that you can pray with your wife and children. You have been reading your Bible lately, have you? Oh, thank God for that! I hope that bud of Bible reading will open into the daily habit of feeding upon the Word of God…Some of you have another sort of bud—you have been thinking of what you can do for Christ. You thought you were converted, but you have never done much for Christ…Well, that is a bud—may the Grace of God be so abundant that you will leave off trying and get actually to doing!

MATTHEW HENRY: Good purposes, indeed, are good things; they are like buds and blossoms, pleasant to behold, and give hopes of good fruit; but they are lost, and signify nothing, without performances. So good beginnings are amiable; but we shall lose the benefit unless there be perseverance, and we bring forth fruit to perfection.

C. H. SPURGEON: Resolves are good, like blossoms, but actions are better, for they are the fruits…Are you sending forth blossoms and bearing fruit, or do you feel dry and barren?

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Every moment we stand in need of Jesus Christ: while we stand—we are upheld by His power only; and when we are falling, or have fallen, we can be saved only by His mercy.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): All our sap and safety is from Christ—“Without me ye can do nothing,” saith Christ, the true vine, John 15:5, from Whom we have both the bud of good desires, the blossom of good resolutions, and the fruit of good actions.

C. H. SPURGEON: A fruitful tree is one which is well sustained at the root. It is by no means wisdom to cry, “I will work hard and try to bear fruit.” Fruit is not produced by work. No vine toils to produce grapes. It buds and blossoms and bears fruit in the order of its nature.

 

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David’s Courageous Determination

Posted on March 11, 2022 by The Editor

Psalm 27:1-3,12-14

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

RICHARD SIBBES (1577-1635): Though an host should encompass me, “my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.” Here is great courage for the time to come. Experience breeds hope and confidence. David was not so courageous a man of himself; but upon experience of God’s former comfort and assistance, his faith broke forth as a fire out of the smoke, or as the sun out of a cloud. Though I was in such-and-such perplexities, yet for the time to come, I have such confidence and experience of God’s goodness, that I will not fear.

JOHN SHEFFIELD (died 1680): I have been delivered from the lion, therefore shall be from the bear; from lion and bear, therefore from the Philistines, 1 Samuel 17:34-36; from the Philistine, therefore from Saul; from Saul, therefore God will deliver me from every evil work…

The Christian grows rich in experiences, which he wears as bracelets, and keeps as his richest jewels. He calls one Ebenezer―“hitherto God hath helped,” I Samuel 7:12; another Naphtali―“I have wrestled with God and prevailed,” Genesis 30:8; another Gershom―“I was a stranger,” Exodus 2:22; another Joseph― “God will yet add more,” Genesis 30:24; and another, Peniel―“I have seen the face of God,” Genesis 32:30.

RICHARD SIBBES: He that seeth God by a spirit of faith in His greatness and power, he sees all other things below as nothing. Therefore, David saith here, he cares not for the time to come for any opposition; no, not of an army. “If God be with us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31. He saw God in His power; and then, looking from God to the creature, alas! who was he?

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The saints have need of courage, considering the enemies they have to grapple with; the corruptions of their own hearts, the enemies of a man’s own house; the worst of all, Satan, and his principalities and powers; and men of the world, and a world of them: and they have great reason, notwithstanding, to be of good courage, since God is for them; Christ is the Captain of their salvation; the Holy Spirit, that is in them, is greater than he that is in the world; angels encamp around them; they are provided with the whole armour of God; they are engaged in a good cause, are sure of victory, and shall wear the crown of righteousness―and it follows, “and he shall strengthen thine heart”―and the Lord will do it, as He promised to them that wait on Him, Isaiah 40:31, “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength.”

HENRY AINSWORTH (1569-1622): “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage.” Be comfortable, hold fast (as the Greek hath it), be manly, or, quit thee as a man; which word the apostle Paul uses, 1 Corinthians 16:13.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): But as nothing is more difficult than to give God the honour of relying upon Him, when He hides Himself from us, or delays His assistance, David stirs himself up to collect strength; as if he had said, ‘If fearfulness steal upon thee; if temptation shake thy faith; if the feelings of the flesh rise in tumult, do not faint; but rather endeavor to rise above them by an invincible resolution of mind.’

From this we may learn, that the children of God overcome, not by sullenness, but by patience, when they commit their souls quietly to God; as Isaiah says, “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength,” Isaiah 30:15. As David did not feel himself equal to great and difficult efforts, he borrows strength from God by prayer. Had he said no more than act like a man, he would have appeared to allege the motions of his own free-will, but as he immediately adds, by way of correction, that God would be at hand to strengthen his heart, he plainly enough shows, that when the saints strive vigorously, they fight in the strength of another, and not in their own.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): As we observe the Scriptures we perceive that “Fear nots” are scattered throughout the Bible as the stars are sprinkled over the whole of the sky. But when we come to Isaiah, we find constellations of them! When I was a boy I learned Isaac Watts’ Catechism and I am glad I did. One of its questions runs thus, “Who was Isaiah?” And the answer is, “He was that Prophet who spoke more of Jesus Christ than all the rest.”

Very well, and for that very reason—that he spoke more of Jesus Christ than all the rest—he is richest in comfort to the people of God and continually he is saying, ‘Fear not.’ Here are a few of Isaiah’s antidotes for the fever of fear—“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not,” Isaiah 35:4; “Fear you not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God,” Isaiah 41:10; “Fear not, I will help thee,” Isaiah 41:13; “Fear not, thou worm Jacob,” Isaiah 41:14; “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee,” Isaiah 43:1; “Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame,” Isaiah 54:4―and so on. I was going to say, “world without end.” So abundant are these, “Fear nots,” that they grow like the king-cups and the daisies and other sweet flowers of the meadows among which the little children in the springtime delight themselves.

JOHN GILL: Psalm 118:6, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” He was on the side of David―and He is likewise on the side of His people, to fight their battles for them, to support them under all their afflictions, to supply all their wants, to deliver them from all evil, to carry on the work of grace in their souls, and to bring them to glory…I will not fear: what can man do unto me? David did not; he was not afraid of ten thousands of men, no, not of a whole army that encamped against him, God being for him, the strength of his life, and his salvation, Psalm 3:6.

WILLIAM S. PLUMER (1802-1880): There was great wisdom in the prayer of John Wesley: “Lord, if I must contend, let it not be with thy people.” When we have for foes and enemies those who hate good men, we have at least this consolation, that God is not on their side, and therefore they are essentially weak.

RALPH ERSKINE (1685-1752): Think not the government is out of Christ’s hand, when men are doing many sad things, and giving many heavy blows to the work of God.

RICHARD SIBBES: God’s children, when they are delivered, it is usually with the confusion of their enemies.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Israelites at the Red Sea were afraid of Pharaoh and then the Lord said to them, “Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of God.” If you are brought to a pass tonight and know not what to do, take the advice of Holy Scripture and, “Fear not—stand still and see the salvation of God.”

 

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Not Many—But Some

Posted on March 4, 2022 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 1:26

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called .

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The city of Corinth had many noble families of high birth and quality, and abounded with learned philosophers and rich merchants; yet it was easy to be seen, how that “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): State-chambers, cabinets, throne-rooms, and royal palaces are about as little frequented by Christ as the jungles and swamps of India by the cautious traveler. He frequents cottages far more often than regal residences, for there is no room for Jesus Christ in regal halls—Now, dear Friends, this unbelief has usually been the case throughout all ages among the great ones of the earth. In our Saviour’s day, they said, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in Him?”

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): They were too well satisfied with themselves to see any need of a Saviour. The sneering criticism of these Pharisees has been repeated in every age.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Gospel has usually had a free course among the poor and among those who some call, “the lower orders,” though why they are said to be lower than others, I do not know, unless it is because the heavier and more valuable things generally sink to the bottom.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): That man, however, were an arrant fool, who would infer from this, that God has in this manner abased the glory of the flesh, in order that the great and noble might be shut out from the hope of salvation. There are some foolish persons that make this a pretext for not merely triumphing over the great, as if God had cast them off, but even despising them as far beneath them.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): We spoil, if not corrupt the apostle’s meaning, by adding “are called,” as if God did not send His Gospel to the wise, the powerful, and the noble, or did not will their salvation. The truth is, the Gospel has an equal call to all classes of men; but the wise, the mighty, and the noble, are too busy, or too sensual, to pay any attention to an invitation so spiritual and so Divine.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is true that Christ Himself said, “Many are called, but few are chosen,” yet the call of the Gospel is a universal call to all mankind. Wisdom truly says, “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men,” Proverbs 8:4—but, Beloved, there is another call, a special, peculiar, personal, effectual call by which only the Lord’s chosen and redeemed people are called out from among the mass of men by whom they are surrounded.

A. W. PINK: The actual application of redemption commences with the effectual call of the Spirit, by which the elect are brought out of a state of nature into a state of grace.

C. H. SPURGEON: All who have heard the Gospel preached have been called to some extent. The Word of God calls every sinner to repent and trust the Saviour, but that call brings nobody to Christ unless it is accompanied by the special effectual call of the Holy Spirit. When that call is heard in the heart, then the heart responds! The general call of the Gospel is like the common “cluck” of the hen which she is always giving when her chickens are around her. But if there is any danger impending, then she gives a very peculiar call—quite different from the ordinary one—and the little chicks come running as fast as ever they can and hide for safety under her wings! That is the call we need—God’s peculiar and effectual call to His own!

A. W. PINK: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life,” John 10:27,28. This effectual call from God is heard by each of the “sheep” because they are given “ears to hear:” “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them,” Proverbs 20:12.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): It is easy to observe in those words the five links of that golden chain of God’s grace in our salvation: “my sheep,” there is election; “hear my voice,” there is vocation; “and I know them,” there is justification; “and they follow me,” there is sanctification; “and I give unto them eternal life,” there is glorification.

A. W. PINK: This effectual call comes to none but the sheep; the “goats” hear it not—“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep,” John 10:26.

JOHN GILL: There have been, are, and will be, some that are rich, called by grace, brought into a Gospel church state, and are heirs of the kingdom of heaven; though these are but comparatively few.

C. H. SPURGEON: Zacchaeus was one who was the least likely to be saved because he was rich, Luke 19:2. But even here, Grace knows no distinction. The rich Zaccheus is called from the tree, verse 5. Down he comes and he is saved. I have thought it one of the greatest instances of God’s condescension that He can look down on man. But I will tell you there was a greater condescension than that when Christ looked up to see Zaccheus! For God to look down on His creatures—that is mercy—but for Christ so to humble Himself that He has to look up to one of His own creatures—that becomes mercy, indeed!

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): None, who come to Him, shall be cast out on account of their situation in life. None shall be excluded because they are poor and despised of men—nor shall honours or riches exclude their possessors from the Saviour, if they do not prevent them from coming to Him; for though not many mighty or noble are called, yet some are, and though hard, it is not impossible for a rich man to be saved.

JOHN GILL: The apostle does not say that there were none of the wise, the mighty, and noble called; for there were Crispus, and Sosthenes, rulers of the synagogue, and Gaius, a rich hospitable man, and Erastus the chamberlain of the city, and it may be some others of a like or better figure in life; but there were not many of them; instances of this kind are but a few recorded in the Scripture; as Joseph of Arimathea a rich counsellor, Paulus Sergius a Roman deputy, Dionysius the Areopagite, and some in Caesar’s palace; which shows that nobility, riches, and learning, as they do not at all contribute towards a man’s salvation, so neither can they hinder it where grace takes place.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Therefore there were some, though “not many.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Remember the Countess of Huntingdon? That earnest, devoted woman who lived in the days of Whitefield and the Wesleys, and who was such a help in spreading the gospel? She used to say that she was just going to heaven by the letter “M.” Had the word been “not any noble,” there would have been no hope for her, but the “M” took her in.

 

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