Justification By Faith Alone: A Stumbling Block Removed

Posted on March 12, 2021 by The Editor

Romans 4:2-5; James 2:14-18, 21-24

If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works…Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only?

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): I would observe, that the great servant of God, Martin Luther, soon after he began to preach the Gospel, made a mistake…He had felt the power of Paul’s doctrine in his own soul, and would have defied an angel that should have dared to oppose it: therefore, when his adversaries pressed him with the authority of James, not having at that time light to give a more solid answer, he ventured to deny the authenticity of the whole Epistle, and rashly insisted, both in his sermons and books, that James never wrote it.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Many, besides Martin Luther, have thought they detected contradictory teaching in the letter of James, to that of Paul as set forth in Romans. Paul tells us plainly in Romans 4:2, “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” Is there not contradiction here? Was not Luther right in declaring that this letter of James’ was not true inspired Scripture, but just “an epistle of straw?”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): James never contradicts Paul—it is because we do not understand him that we fancy he does so.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The Sophists laid hold on the word “justified,” and then they cried out as being victorious, that justification is partly by works. But we ought to seek out a right interpretation according to the general drift of the whole passage.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): There is a striking difference in the manner of expression between those two great Apostles. In all the writings of Paul, in relation to justification, he is uniformly speaking of the method of a sinner’s justification before God. James, on the contrary, is solely considering the subject, in respect to our being justified in the sight of men. Paul, never loseth sight of the cause of justification, which is Christ. James is speaking of the effect of justification.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Luther and many others failed to note those words in Romans 4:2, “not before God.” How was Abraham justified before God? James and Paul agree that it was when “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” But a careful examination of these letters will show that they were treating of altogether different subjects. Paul was dwelling on justification before God; James on justification before men.

JOHN CALVIN: We have already said that James does not speak here of the cause of justification, or of the manner how men obtain righteousness, and this is plain to every one; but that his object was only to show that good works are always connected with faith; and, therefore, since he declares that Abraham was “justified by works,” he is speaking of the proof that he gave of his justification.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): James does not stop to explain precisely what he means by “faith.” Clearly he here means a mere intellectual belief of religious truth, a barren orthodoxy. If that undeniable explanation of his terminology is kept steadily in view, much of the difficulty which has been found in bringing his teaching into harmony with Paul’s teaching melts away at once.

JOHN CALVIN: When, therefore, the Sophists set up James against Paul, they go astray through the ambiguous meaning of a term. When Paul says that we are justified by faith, he means no other thing than that by faith we are counted righteous before God. But James has quite another thing in view, even to show that he who professes that he has faith, must prove the reality of his faith by his works. Doubtless James did not mean to teach us here the ground on which our hope of salvation ought to rest; and it is this alone that Paul dwells upon. That we may not then fall into that false reasoning which has deceived the Sophists, we must take notice of the two fold meaning, of the word “justified.” Paul means by it, the gratuitous imputation of righteousness before the tribunal of God; and James, the manifestation of righteousness by the conduct, and that before men, as we may gather from the preceding words, “Show me thy faith.”

H. A. IRONSIDE: When Abraham went to Mount Moriah and there by faith offered his son upon the altar, he was justified by works before men, as he made manifest the reality of his profession of confidence in God and His Word. Thus, says James, the scripture found in Genesis 15:6 came to fulfilment in the demonstration of that faith Abraham had so long ago. Remember, some forty years elapsed between the patriarch’s justification by faith before God and his justification by works before men.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Which shows that Abraham was justified before he wrought this work—and therefore that could not be the cause or matter of his justification before God.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): The design of James is not to show how sinners are justified in God’s court, but only what kind of faith it is whereby they are justified—such a one as purifies the heart, Acts 15:9, and looks to Christ, not only as made righteousness, but as sanctification to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30; and consequently not only rests on Him for justification, but stirs them up to yield obedience to Him.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Thus the faith of Abraham was a working faith: “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was made perfect? Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.”—Not by a bare opinion, or profession, or believing without obeying, but by having such a faith as is productive of good works.

C. H. SPURGEON: Both the doctrinal Paul and the practical James spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Paul builds the tower and James puts the railing around it—Paul conducts us to the summit of God’s House and bids us rejoice in what we see there. And then James points us to the railing that is built up to keep us from leaping over the truth of God to our own destruction. Thus is each doctrine balanced, bulwarked and guarded.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Had Luther seen this in his early days and put more stress upon it, he might have saved many of his followers from resting on mere credulity instead of knowing the reality of saving faith.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Such are the weakness or slowness of understanding, dullness or confusedness of apprehension, incoherency of thought—these are the infirmities which are found in the best of men, in a larger or smaller proportion.  And from these none can hope to be perfectly freed, till the spirit returns to God that gave it.

JOHN NEWTON: But Luther, though mistaken in this point, was under the Lord’s teaching; he went on from strength to strength, increasing in knowledge and grace; and when his judgment was better informed, he publicly retracted his former unguarded assertion.

 

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The Cities of Refuge

Posted on March 5, 2021 by The Editor

Joshua 20:1-3, 6-9

The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood…And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.

And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): This chapter is but short, but the contents of it are interesting…Had the merciful provision made by the Lord for unintentional blood-shedding, been the only thing intended from the appointment of those cities of refuge, surely a court of enquiry among the elders of Israel, would have answered every purpose, in acquitting innocent persons upon those occasions. Doth it not strike the mind therefore with full conviction, that the whole of this was typical of some greater thing? And what so likely as that of representing the great shelter and deliverance to sinners from the blood-shedding of our poor souls, when by unbelief and sin we unintentionally destroy ourselves.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): The cities of refuge are a type of Christ.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The cities of refuge were a manifest type of Christ as He is presented and offered to sinners in the Gospel. They were appointed by God Himself. They were not of man’s devising, as the Gospel is no human invention. They were an expression of the Divine mercy: and how rich the grace thus evidenced, for it provided not merely one, but no less than six, of these cities!

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): These regulations were for all in the land, whether inhabitants or foreigners. God thought of all.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Some observe a significancy in the names of these cities with application to Christ as our refuge.

D. L. MOODY: Their names are significant in that connection.

A. W. PINK: The names of these cities spoke of what the believer has in Christ.

MATTHEW HENRY: I delight not in quibbling upon names, yet I am willing to take notice of these. Kedesh signifies “holy,” and our refuge is the holy Jesus.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It signifies “holy,”—or “holiness;” Christ is holy in both His natures, divine and human; and so abundantly qualified to be the Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer, Psalm 16:10; and is the fountain of holiness to His people, and is made sanctification to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30.

A. W. PINK: Shechem means “shoulder.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The shoulder, because of its readiness to bear burdens, prop up, and sustain—and from this ideal meaning, it has the metaphorical one of Government.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): On His shoulder, the government is laid, Isaiah 9:6.

JOHN GILL: Not only the government of the church and people of God is on the shoulder of Christ, but all their sins have been laid upon Him, and bore by Him; and every particular soul in conversion, every lost sheep, is looked up by Him, and taken up and brought home on His shoulder, Luke 15:5.

A. W. PINK: Hebron means “fellowship.”

JOHN GILL: In the effectual calling, the saints are called into fellowship with Christ, and their fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ; through Him they have access to God, and communion with Him now, and shall have uninterrupted communion with Him to all eternity, 1 Corinthians 1:9, John 17:24.

A. W. PINK: Bezer means “a fortified place,”—and the Lord is “a strong hold in the day of trouble,” Nahum 1:7.

MATTHEW HENRY: He is a strong-hold to all those that trust in Him—for in Him all the saints are justified. Ramoth, means “high,” or “exalted,” for Him hath God exalted with His own right hand.

A. W. PINK: In Christ we are elevated above the world, “and made to sit in heavenly places,” Ephesians 2:6. Golan means “exultation,” or “joy,” and “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:11.

JOHN GILL: Golan also signifies “revealed,” or “manifested;” so Christ has been made manifest in the flesh, and is revealed to sinners, when they are called by His grace; to whom they flee for refuge.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There were six cities of refuge, in order that one of them might be at a convenient distance from any part of the country.

D. L. MOODY: As the cities of refuge were so situated as to be accessible from every part of the land, so Christ is ever accessible to needy sinners.

A. W. PINK: They were available for Gentiles as well as Jews, Numbers 35:15. How thankful we should be that “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him,” Romans 10:12.

ROBERT HAWKER: Here we find that by the death of the High Priest, the poor captive got his freedom, and was permitted to return to his own city.

A. W. PINK: It was the death of the high priest which secured full and final deliverance from the avenger of blood.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: A change in the priesthood, through death, brought liberty to those who were prisoners in the cities of refuge. The appearing of the Lord’s anointed, in the exercise of His Melchisedec priesthood, will be the great antitype of that ancient law.

ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! was it not the death of thy High Priest and sacrifice that procured thy ransom? Did not our Jesus, liberate all His people in the day He died on the cross?

JOHN GILL: Certain it is, that the death of Christ, our high priest, atones for every sin of those that flee to Him, and by which they are reconciled to God.

A. W. PINK: Seven is the number of completion and of rest after a finished work; see Genesis 2:3.

C. H. SPURGEON: Seven is the number of perfection—to show that there was a perfect offering made by the sprinkling of the blood. Even so, Jesus has perfectly presented His bloody sacrifice…Now, there are not six Christs—there is but one…Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Divinely-appointed way of salvation! Whosoever among us shall make haste away from our sins and flee to Christ, being convinced of our guilt, and helped by God’s Spirit to enter that road, shall, without doubt, find absolute and eternal security! The curse of the Law of God shall not touch us, Satan shall not harm us, vengeance shall not reach us, for the Divine appointment, stronger than gates of iron or brass, shields everyone of us “who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” in the Gospel!

THOMAS COKE: Thus, in the perfection of our Redeemer’s merits, lies the security of the sinner’s hope; on His shoulder the government is laid, so that no enemy can hurt us; the sweetest communion is that which can be enjoyed through faith in Him; His arms of love are a strong-hold, and His exaltation is the pledge of our own; for He shall bring all who have fled to Him for refuge, and cleave to Him, to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.

A. W. PINK: Therefore, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust,” Psalm 91:2.

 

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The Poor in Spirit

Posted on February 26, 2021 by The Editor

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686):  Why does Christ here begin with poverty of spirit?

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A ladder, if it is to be of any use, must have its first step near the ground, or feeble climbers will never be able to mount it. Our Divine Instructor begins at the beginning—with the very ABC of experience—and so enables the babes in Grace to learn of Him. This first Beatitude, though thus placed at a suitably low point where it may be reached by those who are in the earliest stages of Grace is, however, none the less rich in blessing.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): This, of necessity, is the one which must come at the beginning for the good reason that there is no entry into the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, apart from it. There is no-one in the kingdom of God who is not “poor in spirit.”

THOMAS WATSON: Well then, what are we to understand by “poor in spirit?”

C. H. SPURGEON: First—what is it not?

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There are those who tell us that it should read “Blessed in spirit are the poor.” They seem to derive a certain amount of justification for that from the parallel passage in Luke 6:20, where you will read, “Blessed be ye poor,” without any mention of “poor in spirit.” So they would regard it as a commendation of poverty. But surely that must be entirely wrong. The Bible nowhere teaches that poverty itself is a good thing.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): There is no virtue, and often no disgrace, in financial poverty; nor does it, of itself, produce humility of heart, for anyone who has any real acquaintance with both classes soon discovers there is just as much pride in the poor as there is in the rich.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Jesus emphasizes, not simple poverty as to material means, but says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

THOMAS WATSON: Roman Catholics give a wrong gloss upon the text—By “poor in spirit,” they understand those who, renouncing their estates, vow a voluntary poverty, living in their monasteries. But Christ does not pronounce them blessed who make themselves poor, leaving their estates and callings.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Most of the Roman Catholic commentators are very fond of interpreting this statement in that sense. Their patron saint is Frances of Assisi. But there is no merit or advantage in being poor. Poverty does not guarantee spirituality. Clearly, therefore, the passage does not mean that…If those are the negatives, then what is the positive aspect of being “poor in spirit?”

A. W. PINK: This ‘poverty of spirit’ is a fruit that grows on no merely natural tree. It is a spiritual grace wrought by the Holy Spirit in those whom He renews…It is the opposite of that haughty, self-assertive and self-sufficient disposition which the world so much admires and praises. It is the very reverse of that independent and defiant attitude which refuses to bow to God, which determines to brave things out, which says with Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: I think the best way to answer that question is to put it in terms of Scripture. It is what Isaiah said, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones,” Isaiah 57:15.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The foundation of all other graces is laid in humility. Those who would build high must begin low; and it is an excellent preparative for the entrance of gospel-grace into the soul; it fits the soil to receive the seed.

THOMAS ADAM (1701-1784): Alas! who is humble? Humility is knowing that we are not humble.

THOMAS WATSON: What is the difference between ‘poverty of spirit’ and humility? These are so alike that they have been taken one for the other. John Chrysostom, by “poverty of spirit,” understands humility. Yet I think there is some difference. They differ as to the cause and the effect. Tertullian says, “none are poor in spirit but the humble.” He seems to make humility the cause of poverty of spirit. But I rather think that poverty of spirit is the cause of humility, for when a man sees his want of Jesus Christ, and how he lives on the alms of free grace—this makes him humble.

A. W. PINK: It corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country, Luke 15:14, when he “began to be in want.”—And what is poverty of spirit?” To be “poor in spirit,” is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is a consciousness of my emptiness, the result of the Spirit’s work within. It issues from the painful discovery that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It follows the awakening that my best performances are unacceptable…Poverty of spirit evidences itself by its bringing the individual into the dust before God, acknowledging his utter helplessness and deserving of hell.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is to acknowledge that God is great, and we are mean; that He is holy and we are sinful; that He is all and we are nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing; and to humble ourselves before Him, and under His mighty hand.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): You know nothing aright, if you know not yourselves.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: How does one therefore become poor in spirit?

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): The poor in spirit are only they who are willing to go out of themselves, and rely wholly on the righteousness of another.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is to come off from all confidence in our own righteousness and strength, that we may depend only upon the merit of Christ for our justification, and the spirit and grace of Christ for our sanctification. We must call ourselves poor, because always in want of God’s grace, always begging at God’s door. That “broken and contrite spirit,” with which the publican cried for mercy to a poor sinner, is that ‘poverty of spirit.’

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Being sensible of their poverty, they place themselves at the door of mercy, and knock there; their language is, “God be merciful, a sinner.”

JOHN NEWTON: Pray that you may likewise be poor in spirit.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God…It is also to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, and to view Him as we see Him in the Gospels—and the more we look at Him, the more hopeless shall we feel by ourselves, and in and of ourselves, and the more we will become “poor in spirit.” Look at Him—keep looking at Him…You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness. Then you say unto Him:

                                                 “Nothing in my hand I bring,

                                                  Simply to Thy cross I cling.”

H. A. IRONSIDE: It is to acknowledge that in yourself you have absolutely nothing to satisfy God, but when you trust His grace, then you can say that yours is the kingdom of God.

JOHN NEWTON: Are you poor in spirit?

 

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Weather Events

Posted on February 19, 2021 by The Editor

Psalm 29:10; Job 37:5,6, 10-13; Psalm 18:13—Psalm 148:8

The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength…By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.—Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word.

MARTIN GEIER (1614-1680): “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind.” The words of this verse have special use; for men are exceedingly apt to ascribe the violence of tempests to blind chance.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In this atheistic and materialistic age God is not only not accorded His proper place in the hearts and lives of the people, but He is banished from their thoughts and virtually excluded from the world which He has made. His ordering of the seasons, His control of the elements, His regulating of the weather, is now believed by none save an insignificant remnant who are regarded as fools and fanatics.

HENRY P. LIDDON (1829–1890): It might at first sight seem that there are forces in nature which have escaped from God’s rule, and are in insurrection against it, since they bring upon His world destruction and death. And therefore, the psalmist carefully adds, “fulfilling His Word.” The storm and wind, he maintains, although somewhat against appearances, do obey God’s Will; but appearances may point so much the other way that the fact can hardly be taken for granted, and requires an explicit statement.

HERMANN VENEMA (1697-1787): This verse arrays in striking order three elements that are ever full of movement and power—fire, water, and air. The first includes meteors, lightnings and thunders; the second, snow, hoar-frost, dew, mist and rain; the third breezes, tempests and hurricanes.

HENRY P. LIDDON: The Bible occasionally lifts the veil, and shows us how destructive forces of nature have been the servants of the will of a moral God. It was so when the waters of the Red Sea returned violently on the Egyptian pursuers of Israel, Exodus 14:26-30. It was so when, at the prayer of Elijah, the messengers Ahaziah were killed by lightning, 2 Kings 1:10-14.

MARTIN GEIER: The “stormy wind” is the swift messenger of God, Psalm 147:15-18. The hurricane fulfils the divine command—the stormy wind is a minister of judgment, Ezekiel 13:13.

HENRY P. LIDDON: It was so when, as Jonah was fleeing to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, that “the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken,” Jonah 1:4.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The whirlwind, the tempest, or the tornado; each accomplishing an especial purpose, and fulfilling a particular will of the Most High.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Be they ever so strong, so stormy, they “fulfill God’s word,” and do that, and no more than that which He appoints them; and by this Jesus Christ showed Himself to have a divine power, that He “commanded even the winds and the seas,” and “they obeyed Him,” Matthew 8:27.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The winds blow not at random, but by a Divine decree; and God hath ordered that whether north or south blow, they shall blow good to His people, Song of Solomon 4:16.

HENRY P. LIDDON: So again, it was when there arose a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, that the disciples might learn to trust the power of their sleeping Master, Matthew 8:23-27; or when Paul, a prisoner on his Rome-ward voyage, was wrecked on the shore of Malta, Luke 13:14. In all these cases we see the “wind and storm fulfilling God’s Word,” because the Bible leads us to understand how God’s Word or Will was fulfilled, but there is much in modern history, perhaps in our own lives, which seems to us to illustrate the matter scarcely less vividly. Our English ancestors saw God’s hand in the storm which discomfited the great Spanish Armada.

MATTHEW HENRY: The sea is God’s for He made it, He restrains it; He says to it, “Here shall thy proud waves be stayed,” Job 38:11. This may be considered as an act of God’s power over the sea. Though it is so vast a body, and though its motion is sometimes extremely violent, yet God has it under check. Its waves rise no higher, its tides roll no further, than God permits; and this is mentioned as a reason why we should stand in awe of God, Jeremiah 5:22; and yet why we should encourage ourselves in Him, for He that stops the noise of the sea, even the noise of her waves, can, when He pleases, still the tumult of the people, Psalm 65:7.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Though rushing with incalculable fury, the stormy wind is still under law, and moves in due order, to carry out the designs of God.

A. W. PINK: It is God who withholds the rain, and God Who gives the rain when He wills, where He wills, as He wills, and on whom He wills. Weather Bureaus may attempt to give forecasts of the weather, but how frequently God mocks their calculations!

JAMES MacGOSH (1811): The half-learned man is apt to laugh at the simple faith of anyone who tells us that rain comes from God. The former, it seems, has discovered that it is the product of certain laws of air, water, and electricity. But truly the peasant is the more enlightened of the two, for he has discovered the main cause, and the real Actor, while the other has found only the second cause, and the mere instrument.

A. W. PINK: Atmospheric disturbances are merely secondary causes, for behind them all is God Himself. Let His Word speak once more: “I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD,” Amos 4:7,8.

MATTHEW HENRY: Those that will not fulfill God’s Word, but rise up in rebellion against it, show themselves to be more violent and headstrong than even the stormy winds, for the winds fulfill it.

A. W. PINK: Truly, then, God governs inanimate matter. Earth and air, fire and water, hail and snow, stormy winds and angry seas, all perform the Word of His power and fulfill His sovereign pleasure. Therefore, when we complain about the weather, we are, in reality, murmuring against God.

C. H. SPURGEON: Somebody will grumble at the weather today. “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD,” Numbers 11:1—I suppose that they complained of the weather. It was too cold. It was too hot. It was too wet. It was too dry. In fact, they were very like ourselves! They often complained most when they had least to complain of. Discontent is chronic to our humanity.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): It is a blessed thing to be in that state of soul where we can just trust ourselves to Him. Spurgeon also tells of a man who had the words, “God is love,” painted on his weather-vane. Someone said, “That is a queer text to put there. Do you mean to say that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Oh, no,” said the other, “I mean that whichever way the wind blows, God is love.”

 

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Christian Marital Love & Respect

Posted on February 12, 2021 by The Editor

Colossians 3:18,19; Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): No woman has the duty of a wife to perform but she who is one, and no man has the duty of a husband to perform but he who is married.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): That may be a very trite remark, yet today it needs making.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Today, the whole thing has become aggravated, because of the modern notions of equality between men and women, the results of the so-called “feminist” movement—which claims that men and women are equal in every respect…Taking it in general, and as a principle, it flies against the plain teaching of the Scripture at this point, and is without any question, the cause of much confusion, much trouble, and much damage to the marriage state—and alas! it seems even to be seeping into the thinking of many who call themselves evangelical, and who claim to believe in the Scripture as the inspired Word of God.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The rejection of the inspiration of the Bible places the law of God, as written in the Ten Commandments, among the productions of the human mind. Therefore its code of morals is spurned and a lower ethical system, more in keeping with present day conditions, is substituted. And so, loose standards prevail where Scripture no longer speaks with authority. “They have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?” Jeremiah 8:9. Unholy ways always accompany, and indeed spring from, unholy teachings…Men and women sustaining unholy relations are rocked to sleep in their sins while death, judgment, and eternal punishment are fast approaching!

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): And certainly, where the bond of marriage is broken—the whole of human society sinks into decay.

A. W. PINK: Marriage is designed as a preventive of immorality: “To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband,” 1 Corinthians 7:2.

H. A. IRONSIDE: He made them at the beginning, male and female—This is the divine institution of marriage…These verses picture sanctified wedded love.

ARTHUR TAPPAN PIERSON (1837-1911): The Divine institution of marriage teaches that the ideal state of both man and woman is not in separation but in union, that each is meant and fitted for the other; and that God’s ideal is such union, based on a pure and holy love, enduring for life, exclusive of all rivalry or other partnership, and incapable of alienation or unfaithfulness because it is a union in the Lord—a holy wedlock of soul and spirit in mutual sympathy and affection.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: What the apostle is concerned about here, is one big point only—harmony, and peace, and unity, as it is displayed in the married relationship. So, that being his leading theme, he picks out on the two sides, the element that needs to be emphasized above every other. The thing the wife has to keep her eye on in maintaining the harmony, is this element of submission. The thing the husband has to keep his eye on, is this element of love.

JOHN DAVENANT (1572-1641): It is to be observed that He requires the duty of the wife in the first place.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Submit is a short word, but of large extent. It comprehends reverence; “Let the wife see that she reverence her husband,” as Sarah did, and is chronicled for it, Peter 3:6, “Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” God is pleased to single out this, and set it as a precious diamond in a gold ring to Sarah’s eternal commendation.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Whether the woman lusts for rule, or repines under the obligation to submit, either principle breaks the rank in which God has placed her.

H. A. IRONSIDE: “Silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,” 2 Timothy 3:6. How remarkably this is fulfilled in modern Feminism! Observe the words “led away with divers lusts,” which might be freely rendered “ambitious desires.” This desire for publicity, this deplorable masculinity, this denial of man’s headship, this usurping of authority, is one of the most striking signs of the times…But also to the attitude and position taken by so many “silly women” in the churches. How sad it is to see the plain command of God: “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak,” 1 Corinthians 14:34—now so generally disregarded. Today there are not a few who unblushingly denounce the inspired apostle as “an old bachelor with narrow ideas.”

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): When women keep their places, and men manage their worshipping of God as they should, we shall have better days for the church of God in the world.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Husbands—Your duty is to “love your wives,” and never on any occasion to entertain an unkind feeling towards them. A proud, haughty, imperious carriage towards them is most offensive to God, who will regard every harsh, bitter, or contemptuous expression towards them as an abuse of your authority and a violation of His commands. Though He has constituted you lords, He has not authorized you to be tyrants; but requires you to be precisely such lords over your wives, as Christ is over His Church. You are to govern, it is true; but you are to govern only for the good of the wife: you are to seek only, and at all times, her best interests, and to promote to the utmost of your power her real happiness. You must not require any thing unreasonable at her hands, nor ever fail to recompense with testimonies of your love, the efforts which she makes to please you.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): If the wife is to be governed by you, you are to be governed by reason and religion. You are to “give honour unto the wife,” 1 Peter 3:7. What honour? The honour of attention. Nothing is so intolerable to a female as neglect; and upon what principle can a man justify indifference, omissions of observance, and heedless manners towards a wife?

CHARLES SIMEON: Nor must you merely endeavour to render her happy, but you must be ready to make great sacrifices for this end. What the Lord Jesus Christ has done for His Church, is set forth as the proper model and pattern of your duty towards your wife: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.” O! what an example is here! Methinks, no wife would complain of the obedience that is required of her, if the authority of her husband were exercised in such a way as this: on the contrary, obedience on her part would be her chief delight. Know then, ye husbands, that this is the duty assigned to you: if your wives are to be obedient, as the Church is to Christ, ye also on your part are to be loving, even as Christ is to the Church. Your wives should be to you as your own flesh.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: It is only as we realize the truth about the relationship of Christ to the Church, that we can really function as Christian husbands are to function.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Husbands and wives are continually doing either good or harm to each other’s souls. Let all who are married, or think of being married, ponder these things well.

 

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Heavenly Light for the Human Heart of Darkness

Posted on February 5, 2021 by The Editor

Genesis 1:3; John 1:1-5,9,10; 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 8:12; Psalm 36:9

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

With thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual life.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There is not a drop of life to be found without Him, or which flows not from His grace. The metaphor of light, in the last clause of the verse, is most emphatic, denoting that men are altogether destitute of light, except so far as the Lord shines upon them. If this is true of the light of this life, how shall we be able to behold the light of the heavenly world, unless the Spirit of God enlighten us? for we must maintain that the measure of understanding which men are by nature endued, is such that “the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not,” and that men are enlightened only by a supernatural gift.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): God can only be known by means of a supernatural revelation of Himself. Apart from the Scriptures, even a theoretical acquaintance with Him is impossible. It still holds true that “the world by wisdom knew not God,” 1 Corinthians 1:21. Where the Scriptures are ignored, God is “the unknown God,” Acts 17:23. But something more than the Scriptures is required before the soul can know God—know Him in a real, personal, vital way. This seems to be recognized by few today. The prevailing practice assumes that a knowledge of God can be obtained through studying the Word, in the same way as a knowledge of chemistry may be secured by mastering its textbooks. An intellectual knowledge of God maybe—not so a spiritual one. A supernatural God can only be known in a manner above that which mere nature can acquire, by a supernatural revelation of Himself to the heart.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): No man can illuminate his own soul; all understanding must come from above…“In thy light shall we see light.” This is literally true.

A. W. PINK: God can only be known through a supernatural faculty. Christ made this clear when He said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3. The unregenerate have no spiritual knowledge of God. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The first work of Grace is to enlighten the soul. By nature we are entirely dark. The Spirit, like a lamp, sheds light into the dark heart, revealing its corruption, displaying its sad state of destitution and, in due time, also revealing Jesus Christ, so that in His light we may see light.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): It is God’s love, from the face of Jesus shining into my dark heart, that makes my heart open to Him, and delight to be His dwelling-place.

ADAM CLARKE: “God said, Let there be light; and there was light;” by that light the eye of man was enabled to behold the various works of God, and the beauties of creation: so, when God speaks light into the dark heart of man, he not only beholds his own deformity and need of the salvation of God, but he beholds the “light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;” “God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Darkness fled before Him in the primeval chaos and order followed confusion. Do you think, if He shall say, “Let there be light” in a dark heart, that there shall not be light there? I think it is just this—that God is the absolute monarch of the hearts of men…The Lord, when He means to save sinners, does not stop to ask them whether they mean to be saved, but like a rushing mighty wind the Divine influence sweeps away every obstacle. The unwilling heart bends before the potent gale of grace and sinners that would not yield are made to yield by God. I know this, if the Lord willed it, there is no man so desperately wicked here this morning that he would not be made now to seek for mercy. However infidel he might be, however rooted in his prejudices against the Gospel, Jehovah has but to will it and it is done. Into your dark heart, O you who have never seen the light, would the light stream. If He did but say, “Let there be light,” there would be light.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): When He arises on the soul, He enlightens it, and infuses into it a principle of life.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): As He speaks life into them in regeneration, commands light to shine in their dark heart, and says to them, when in their blood, Live; so by the mighty power of His Word, He commands the fear of Him in them, and it continues.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Certain it is, that man hath neither life nor light in himself till it be communicated unto him from God.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only darkness, we behold “the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.” Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will pierce into the unseen, and there behold “the things which are,” the only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream—They who see by the light of God, and see light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of clearness and certainty, may be called sight.

A. W. PINK: The one who has been favoured with this supernatural experience has learned that only “in thy light shall we see light.”

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. So the highest Light of God comes down to be “a lantern for our paths and a light for our feet.” And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and of sorrow. “To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness,” Psalm 112:4.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Beg of God that He would do these two things for thee: First, Enlighten thine understanding. And, Second, Inflame thy will…Cry hard to God for an enlightened heart, and a willing mind.

 

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Lessons in Christian Evangelism Part 2: Witness & Testimony

Posted on January 29, 2021 by The Editor

1 Peter 3:15; Proverbs 24:11,12; Luke 24:45-48

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

Then opened [Jesus] their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): There is a special sense in which the office of witness-bearing belonged only to those who had seen Jesus in the flesh, and could testify to the fact of His Resurrection—for witness implies fact, as being the simple attestation to the occurrence of things that truly happened in the earth…They were witnesses, and their business was to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. All doctrine and morality will come second. The first form of the Gospel is, “How that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised again the third day, according to the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3,4. First, a history; then a religion; then a morality; and morality and religion because it is a history of redemption. But that is somewhat apart from the main purpose of my remarks now. I desire rather to emphasise the thought that, with modifications in form, the substance of the functions of these early believers remains still the office and dignity of all Christian men. “Ye are the witnesses of these things.” And what is the manner of testimony that devolves upon you and me?

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold,” Job 36:24. Take this into consideration.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We cannot live to ourselves, if we are Christians. The eyes of many will always be upon us. Men will judge by what they see, far more than by what they hear. If they see the Christian contradicting by his practice what he professes to believe, they are justly stumbled and offended.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A man may know a great deal about truth, and yet be a very damaging witness on its behalf, because he is no credit to it.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Most men take their notions of what Christianity is from the average of the Christians round about them. And, if we profess to be Christ’s followers, we shall be taken as tests and specimen cases of the worth of the religion that we profess…It is our task to “adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things,” Titus 2:10. “Ye are the Epistles of Christ,” and if the writing be blurred and blotted and often half unintelligible, the blame will be laid largely at His door. And men will say, and say rightly, “If that is all that Christianity can do, we are just as well without it.”

J. C. RYLE: For the world’s sake, as well as for our own, let us labour to be eminently holy. Let us endeavour to make our religion beautiful in the eyes of men, and to “adorn the doctrine of Christ” in all things. Let us strive daily to lay aside every weight, and the sin which most easily besets us, and so to live that men can find no fault in us, except concerning the law of our God. Let us watch jealously over our tempers and tongues, and the discharge of our social duties. Anything is better than doing harm to souls. The cross of Christ will always give offence. Let us not increase that offence by carelessness in our daily life. The natural man cannot be expected to love the Gospel. But let us not disgust him by inconsistency.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Witness by your lives…And depend upon it, mightier than all direct effort, and more unusual than all utterances of lip, is the witness of the life of all professing Christians to the reality of the facts upon which they say they base their faith. But beyond that, there is yet another department of testimony which belongs to each of us—and that is the attestation of personal experience.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Every Christian should be able to give an account as to why he is a Christian.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: That is a form of Christian service which any and every Christian can put forth. You cannot all be preachers—But I will tell you what you all can be. You can all say, “Come and hear all ye; and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” It does not take eloquence, gifts, learning, intellectual grasp of the doctrinal side of Christian truth for a man to say, as the first preacher of Christ upon earth said, “Brother! we have found the Messiah,” John 1:41. That was all, and that was enough—that you can say, if you have found Him—and after all, the witness of personal experience of what faith in Jesus Christ can make of a man, and do for a man, is the strongest and most universal weapon placed in the hands of Christian men and women—“this one thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see.” There is no getting over that! “Ye are the witnesses of these things.”

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): The special work for which Christians are left in the world, is to be witnesses.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: May I say a word here about the grounds on which this obligation to witness rests for us? If Jesus Christ had never said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” it would not have made a bit of difference as to the imperative duty that is laid upon all Christian men; for it arises, not from that command, which only gives voice to a previous obligation, but it flows directly from the very nature of things—the obligation arises from the links that knit us all together. Humanity is one—our indebtedness and obligation is to every man, woman, and child that bears the form of man.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Ought they not to be the objects of our most yearning anxiety? What shall we then say to that frozen apathy, which forbears to deliver? “We have no right to judge—we knew it not—It is no concern of mine. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

ALEXANDER MacLAREN:  Why, the question answers itself. If he is your brother, you are certainly his keeper.

CHARLES BRIDGES: If “a true witness delivereth souls,” a false witness destroyeth them, Proverbs 14:25. Fearful guilt and responsibility! But how much more guilty to forbear the deliverance of immortal souls in ignorance, ungodliness, or unbelief, are “drawn unto death, and ready to be slain!” Might not many a soul have started back from ruin, had the discovery of his danger been made, ere it was too late? Yet the one word that might have saved was not spoken. Is there no brother, or child, or neighbour, who may pierce thy conscience to eternity with this rebuke—“Hadst thou dealt faithfully with my soul, I had not been in this place of torment.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Let this serve to silence all our frivolous pleas, by which we think to stop the mouth of conscience when it charges us with the omission of plain duty.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: It is cowardice to shirk the duty because of the peril that lies in it…And you cannot shuffle off the obligation—it peals into the ears of every Christian man and woman: “Thou art a witness of these things;” and “to this end were thou born again, that thou mightest bear witness to the truth.”

 

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Lessons in Christian Evangelism Part 1

Posted on January 22, 2021 by The Editor

Luke 9:1,2; Luke 10:1-11,17-20

[Jesus] called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The verses before us relate a circumstance which is not recorded by any Gospel writer except Luke. That circumstance is our Lord’s appointment of seventy disciples to go before His face, in addition to the twelve apostles.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The mission of the Seventy is clearly distinguished from and contrasted with that of the Twelve by the word “others” which points back to Luke 9:1. The Twelve were prohibited from going beyond Jews, Matthew 10:5; the Seventy were under no such restriction, and were probably sent to the half-Gentile districts on the east side of the Jordan River…Much of the charge given to either is given to both, as is most natural, since they had the same message, and both were sent to prepare for Christ’s personal ministry. But though the seventy were sent out but for a short time, permanent principles for the guidance, not only of Christian workers, but of all Christian lives, are embodied in the charge which they received.

J. C. RYLE: The first point in our Lord’s charge to the seventy disciples is the importance of prayer and intercession. This is the leading thought with which our Lord opens His address. Before He tells His ambassadors what to do, He first bids them to pray. “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers into his harvest.” Prayer is one of the best and most powerful means of helping forward the cause of Christ in the world. It is a means within the reach of all who have the Spirit of adoption. Not all believers have money to give to missions. Very few have great intellectual gifts, or extensive influence among men. But all believers can pray for the success of the Gospel; and they ought to pray for it daily.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The lack of positive conviction of the deep importance of prayer is plainly evidenced in the corporate life of professing Christians. God has plainly said, “My house shall be called the house of prayer,” Matthew 21:31—Note, not “the house of preaching and singing,” but of prayer. Yet, in the great majority of even so-called orthodox churches, the ministry of prayer has become a negligible quantity. There are still evangelistic campaigns, and Bible teaching conferences, but how rarely one hears of two weeks set apart for special prayer!

J. C. RYLE: Many and marvelous are the answers to prayer recorded for our learning in the Bible. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” James 5:16.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Take the word “prayer,” and run through the Bible tracing it out. Read about nothing else. I think you would be perfectly amazed if you took up the word “prayer,’ and counted the cases in the Bible where people are recorded as praying, and God answering their prayers.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Let us always seek the united prayers of many Brothers and Sisters…How was it that you were converted? It was because somebody else prayed for you. I, in tracing back my own conversion, cannot fail to impute it, through God’s Spirit, to the prayers of my mother…Now, if by others’ prayers you and I were brought to Christ, how can we repay this Christian kindness, but by pleading for others?

J. C. RYLE: The second point in our Lord’s charge to the seventy disciples, is the perilous nature of the work in which they were about to be engaged. He does not keep back from them the dangers and trials which are before them. He does not enlist them under false pretenses, or prophesy smooth things, or promise them unvarying success. He tells them plainly what they must expect. “Behold,” He says, “I send you forth as lambs amongst wolves.”

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): He sent them two by two, which might be for their better mutual assistance of each other, and also for their mutual testimony, one for another.

JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): If we be heartily engaged in the service of Christ, we must expect many adversaries, and strong oppositions; men that will raise clouds of reproaches, to darken our reputation among the people; men that will represent us to them as ignorant and unlearned, factious and seditious, erroneous and enthusiastical.  Prudence, in this case, will restrain us from rendering reproach for reproach.

HENRY MOORHOUSE (1840-1880): In talking to an infidel, if you argue with him, he gets the best of you; but bring a text suited to him, and see how that will cut.

C. H. SPURGEON: We are not to stop and argue; that is no business of ours. We have to tell our message. If men will receive it, we are glad; if they will not hear it, with a heavy heart we turn aside, and go elsewhere. Our work is to proclaim the glorious message of mercy through a dying Saviour, salvation through the great atonement; it is our business to proclaim it and leave it, and the responsibility of receiving or rejecting it rests with our hearers.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: The return of the Seventy soon followed their being sent forth. They came back with a childish, surprised joy, and almost seem to have thought that Jesus would be as much astonished and excited as they were with the proof of the power of His name. They had found that they could not only heal the sick, but cast out demons.

C. H. SPURGEON: They were especially delighted with it—“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name!”

J. C. RYLE: From this, we learn how ready Christians are to be puffed up with success.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Jesus’ answer is meant to quiet down their excitement.

J. C. RYLE: We learn, for another thing, that gifts, and the power of working miracles, are very inferior to grace. It was doubtless an honour and a privilege to be allowed to cast out devils. The disciples were right to be thankful. But it was a far higher privilege to be converted and pardoned men, and to have their names written in the register of saved souls. The distinction here drawn between grace and gifts is one of deep importance, and often and sadly overlooked in the present day. Gifts, such as mental vigour, vast memory, striking eloquence, ability in argument, power in reasoning, are often unduly valued by those who possess them, and unduly admired by those who possess them not. These things ought not so to be. Men forget that gifts without grace save no one’s soul, and are the characteristic of Satan himself. Grace, on the contrary, is an everlasting inheritance, and, lowly and despised as its possessor may be, it will land him safe in glory. He that has gifts without grace is dead in sins, however splendid his gifts may be. But he that has grace without gifts is alive to God, however unlearned and ignorant he may appear to man. And “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:4.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Great as are the gifts to the faithful servant, they are less to be rejoiced in than his personal inclusion among the citizens of heaven.

 

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The Pride of Political Demagogues & False Prophets

Posted on January 15, 2021 by The Editor

2 Samuel 15:1,4; John 7:17; Acts 8:9-11; Proverbs 11:2; Acts 12:19-23

Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him…Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!

He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory.

There was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame.

And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Tyranny, both in state and church, owes its origin to pride.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): In every form of government, monarchy or republic, there will be would-be leaders, who seek to gain influence and carry their objects by tickling vanity, operating on vices, calumniating innocent men, and the other arts of the demagogue. Where the power is in the hands of the people, the people is very apt to take its responsibilities [lightly], and to let itself be led blindfold by men with personal ends to serve, and hiding them under the veil of eager desire for the public good…An accomplished charlatan will leave much to be inferred from nods and hints, and his admirers will generally spin even more out of them than he meant.

THOMAS CHALMERS (1780-1847): Be assured, it is not because the people know much, that they ever become the willing subjects of any factious or unprincipled demagogue. It is just because they know too little. It is just because ignorance is the field, on which the quackery of a political impostor ever reaps its most abundant harvest.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel,” 2 Samuel 15:6. Absalom was thoroughly versed in the arts of the demagogue; and the common people heard him gladly. He used the patriot’s arguments, and was every thing of the kind, as far as promise could go. He found fault with men in power; and he only wanted their place, like all other pretended patriots, that he might act as they did, or worse.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A just retribution overtook him. The locks of his hair in which he gloried were caught in the low branches of an oak and there he hung.

C. E. STUART (1827-1903): Suspended by his hair between heaven and earth, Absalom met with the due reward of his deeds, 2 Samuel 14:6 & 18:9.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): “As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise,” Proverbs 27:21. Absalom was tried in this fining-pot, and found “reprobate silver.”

C. H. SPURGEON: And there are those in all ages who set up to be prophets, and who seek to draw men after them, of whom it is well to beware.

ADAM CLARKE: Simon endeavoured to persuade the people that he was a very great personage, and he succeeded.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “They had regard,”—they acquiesced in what he said, and yielded obedience unto it; not only attending to his words with their ears, but with their hearts.  “From the least to the greatest,” showing how general their mispersuasion was.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): He drew the attention, and commanded the regard, both of princes and peasants, of the learned and unlearned, of the great men, and of the common people, who one and all wondered at him, and applauded him…He “bewitched the people,” or rather astonished them, with the strange feats he performed; which were so unheard of and unaccountable, that they were thrown into an ecstasy and rapture; and were as it were out of themselves, through wonder and admiration, at the amazing things that were done by him.

MATTHEW POOLE: He caused them to be amazed at, and afraid of him.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): And this amazedness was grown to some strength by reason of a long space of time. Furthermore experience teacheth what a hard matter it is to pluck that error out of the minds of men which hath taken root through long continuance and to call them back unto a sound and right mind who are already hardened…Hence it comes that hypocrites are proud of their numbers; and weak men, terrified by the pompous display of those numbers, stagger.

MATTHEW HENRY: Simon was more desirous to gain honour to himself than to do good to others.

JOHN CALVIN: “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost,” Acts 8:18,19. That ambition which was hidden before breaketh out now, when as he desireth to be equal with the apostles.

MATTHEW HENRY: Simon showed that, like Balaam, he aimed at the rewards of divination; for he would not have offered money for this power if he had not hoped to get money by it. He showed that he had a very high conceit of himself.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Such self-seekers are all proud men.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): It is a shame for men to seek their own glory.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Here we arrive at the close of Herod’s pomp, in which we behold the sure end of iniquity.

MATTHEW HENRY: The men of Tyre and Sidon had, it seems, offended Herod, Acts 12:20…They had been guilty of some misdemeanours which Herod highly resented, and was resolved they should feel his resentment. Some very small matter would serve such a proud imperious man as Herod was for a provocation, where he was disposed to pick a quarrel. He was highly displeased with this people, and they must be made to know that his wrath was as the “roaring of a lion, as messengers of death,” Proverbs 16:14. The offenders truckled, being convinced, if not that they had done amiss, yet that it was in vain to contend with such a potent adversary, who, right or wrong, would be too hard for them.

C. H. SPURGEON: Proud men are generally hard, and therefore very unfit for office; persons of high looks provoke enmity and discontent.

MATTHEW HENRY: Proud men will have all about them to be of their mind, of their religion, to say as they say, to submit to their dominion, and acquiesce in their dictates—those that idolize their own conduct cannot bear contradiction—and those that will not yield to them they malign and hate with an inveterate hatred.

JOHN CALVIN: In short, they can bear nothing, and are not only passionate, but likewise outrageous. They would wish that all should yield to them, and that they should yield to none. If all do not yield at their bidding, they think that injustice is done to them. This passionate temper is easily betrayed by proud men.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): What was said of the Cretans, Titus 1:12, might, with few exceptions, be applied to all: “The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow-bellies,”—a wretched compound of falsehood, and cruelty, and abominable sensuality.

JOHN CALVIN: Proud men, who are apt to be blinded by a sense of their importance, require to be brought down, and made to see that in God’s estimation they are no better than others.

MATTHEW HENRY: Note, God takes notice of the boasts of proud men, and will call them to an account. It is the glory of God to “look on every one that is proud, and bring him low,” Job 40:12. The instance of it here is very remarkable, and shows how God “resists the proud.” Observe how the measure of Herod’s iniquity was filled up: it was pride that did it; it is this that commonly goes more immediately before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

CHARLES BRIDGES: Herod, under the shouting praise of his flatterers, “gave not God the glory,” and was blasted in shame.

MATTHEW HENRY: Thus is shame the fate of proud men.

 

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The Spiritual Profit of Considering Scripture Details

Posted on January 8, 2021 by The Editor

John 10:22-26

It was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “The feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” This verse affords two questions, which have not a little troubled interpreters—What feast of dedication was this?

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): This Jewish festival is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible. John Chrysostom and others think that the “feast of dedication” was appointed to commemorate the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian captivity, in Ezra’s time, Ezra 6:16. Some think that it was to commemorate the dedication of Solomon’s temple, 2 Chronicles 7:9.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): No detail in Scripture is meaningless…The feast could not be in remembrance of the dedication of Solomon’s temple, for it had been dedicated at harvest-time, I Kings 8:2; nor was it to celebrate the building of Nehemiah’s temple, for that had been dedicated in the spring-time, Ezra 6:15,16. This “feast of the dedication” was celebrated every year for eight successive days in the month of December, and is mentioned by Josephus (Antiq. 12:7).

J. C. RYLE: The mention of “winter” goes far to prove that the feast of dedication must have been appointed in commemoration of the work of Judas Maccabeus…It is a matter of history, according to most commentators, that it was appointed by Judas Maccabeus to commemorate the purging of the temple, and the rebuilding of the altar, after the Syrians were driven out. Its appointment is recorded in the Apocrypha, in 1 Maccabees 4:52-59. The Apocryphal books are, no doubt, uninspired. But there is no reason to question the accuracy of their historical statements.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910):  But now, turn to the other question.

MATTHEW POOLE: A second question is, whether dedications of places to the worship of God be warrantable or not?

J. C. RYLE: The passage before us is often referred to, as proving that our Lord recognized, and tacitly sanctioned, a man-made and man-appointed festival.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): Now this was certainly a mere human institution, and had no divine image, had no divine superscription upon it; and yet I do not find that our blessed Lord and Master preached against it…on the contrary, He did go there, not so much as to keep the feast, as to have an opportunity to spread the gospel-net; and that should be our method, not to follow disputing.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): So, our Lord observed festivals even of human appointment. Is it not, at least, innocent for us to do the same?

J. C. RYLE: “The Church has power to decree rites and ceremonies;” so long as it ordains nothing against God’s Word, its appointments deserve respect.

MATTHEW POOLE: It is not so much a question, whether it be lawful in a solemn decent manner to consecrate a house to the public worship of God, by such acts of worship as God hath appointed under the gospel, such as prayer, praise, reading, preaching, and hearing the Word—as to whether it may be done by such rites and ceremonies as Roman Catholics do it with, for which there is no institution…They do it by many superstitious ceremonies—none of which we know of the least warrant in holy Writ. Secondly, they plead for the holiness of the place when so consecrated—we cannot conceive how any consecration can imprint any character of “holiness” upon a place, or make prayers offered up in it more acceptable.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): So tenacious are many in regarding a certain character of building as the “house of God,” and so entirely has the spiritual character of worship and service been let slip, that it is not uncommon to find the very words used in reference to the temple of Jerusalem, and the Jewish worship of Jehovah, applied to ecclesiastical buildings on earth now—only, with the complete revelation of God in our hands, is it not more sad?

A. W. PINK: And this leads us to ask another question—a deeply interesting and important one: What is the force of “it was winter,” in the light of what follows?

J. C. RYLE: The season of winter is mentioned to explain why our Lord walked under cover “in a porch.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): It was winter— Χειμων ην, or, it was stormy or rainy weather.

A. W. PINK: There is a deeper meaning than the mere historical. The mention of “winter” at this point is most significant and solemn. It was winter-time—the season of ingathering was now over; the “Sun of righteousness” had completed His official circuit, and the genial warmth of summer had now given place to the season of chilling frosts. The Jews were celebrating “the feast of the dedication,” which commemorated the purification of the temple. But for the true Temple, the One to Whom the temple had pointed—God tabernacling in their midst—they had no heart. The Lord Jesus is presented as walking in the temple, but it is to be carefully noted that He was “in Solomon’s porch,” which means that He was on the outside of the sacred enclosure; Israel’s “house” was left unto them desolate! While here in the porch, “the Jews,” the religious leaders, came to Christ with the demand that He tell them openly if He were “the Christ,” saying, “How long dost thou make us to doubt?” This was the language of unbelief, and uttered at that late date, showed the hopelessness of their condition.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Judgment was then at the doors of Jerusalem.

A. W. PINK: The Jews knew not their “day of visitation,” and henceforth the things which “belonged to their peace,” were hidden from their eyes, Luke 19:42. So far as they were concerned, the words of Jeremiah applied with direct and solemn force: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” Jeremiah 8:20. For them there was nothing but an interminable “winter.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It was an instance of their impudence and presumption that they laid the blame of their doubting upon Christ Himself. Christ’s answer to this question? The Jews pretended that they only doubted, but Christ tells them they did not believe—He condemns them for their obstinate unbelief, notwithstanding all the most plain and powerful arguments used to convince them: “You believed not;” and again, “You believed not.”

A. W. PINK: Following this interview of the Jews with Christ, and their unsuccessful attempt to apprehend Him, John 10:39, the Lord retires beyond Jordan, “unto the place where John at first baptized, and there He abode,” John 10:40. Thus did Israel’s Messiah return to the place where He had formally dedicated Himself to His mission…In leaving Jerusalem, to which He did not return until the appointed “hour” for His death had arrived, and in going beyond Jordan, the Lord gave plain intimation that His public ministry was now over—He had presented Himself to Israel; now, shortly, He would offer Himself as a sacrifice to God. It is to this “the dedication” here points—That the Holy Spirit has here prefaced this final conversation between the Saviour and the Jews by mentioning “the feast of the dedication” is in beautiful striking accord with the fact that, from this point onwards, Christ was now dedicated to the Cross, as hitherto He had been engaged in manifesting Himself to Israel.

 

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