Some Things to Remember on Remembrance Day

Posted on November 8, 2019 by The Editor

John 21:17-19; Revelation 6:9-11

Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

WILLIAM JENKYN (1613–1685): Martyrdom came into the world early; the first man that died, died for religion.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): And none are more readily put to death therein than those who proclaim Jesus Christ. You ought to beware of thinking that Christ will achieve things in the earth quietly and softly, when you see that He fought with His own blood, and afterwards all the martyrs…Why were Christ and all the martyrs put to death?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  For the same reason that Cain killed Abel, 1 John 3:12―“And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous,” 1 John 3:12.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): “So persecuted they the prophets,” Matthew 5:12. This is the heritage of the Lord’s messengers: they killed one, and stoned another. The honour of suffering with the prophets, for the Lord’s sake, is so great, that it may well reconcile us to all that it involves.

LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801-1885): The offence of the cross has not ceased.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Let us therefore bear in remembrance also, that we must with readiness and alacrity embrace the fellowship of the cross of Christ as a special favour from God. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you,” Matthew 5:12

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Christ’s cross is made of sweet wool when there are comforts peculiar to those who suffer for righteousness. The true cause of Paul’s sufferings was his zeal for God and His truth; “For which I am in bonds,” Colossians 4:3―that is, for the gospel which I profess and preach: as that martyr, who being asked how he came to prison, showed his Bible, and said, “This brought me hither.”

JOHN CALVIN: In addition to “bonds,” Paul subjoins the “defense and confirmation of the gospel,” Philippians 1:7,  that he may express so much the better the honourableness of the service which God has enjoined upon us in placing us in opposition to His enemies, so as to bear testimony to His gospel. For it is as though He had entrusted us with the defense of His gospel. And truly it was when armed with this consideration, that the martyrs were prepared to contemn all the rage of the wicked, and to rise superior to every kind of torture.

WILLIAM GURNALL: Fear not what you can suffer, only be careful for what you suffer.

C. H. SPURGEON: Remember that our Bible is a blood stained Book; the blood of martyrs is on the Bible, the blood of translators and confessors. The doctrines which we preach to you are doctrines that have been baptized in blood; swords have been drawn to slay the confessors of them…All the martyr host have bled and died to keep the truth alive for us, that by the truth men may still be brought to Jesus. Every sufferer who bears pain, or slander, or loss, or personal unkindness for Christ’s sake, is filling up that amount of suffering which is necessary to the bringing together of the whole body of Christ, and the upholding of His elect Church.

JOHN CALVIN: And would that this were present to the mind of all that are called to make a confession of their faith, that they have been chosen by Christ to be as advocates to plead His cause! For were they sustained by such consolation they would be more courageous than to be so easily turned aside.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The expression “glorify God,” John 21:19, is peculiarly interesting, because it teaches that a Christian may bring glory to God by his death, as well as by his life. He does so when he bears it patiently, does not murmur, exhibits sensible peace, enjoys evident hope of a better world, testifies to others of the truth and consolation of the Gospel, and leaves broad evidences of the reality of his religion behind him. He that so ends glorifies God. The deaths of Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Bradford, Rogers, Rowland Taylor, and many other English martyrs, in the days of Queen Mary, were said to have done more good even than their lives, and to have had immense influence in helping forward the Protestant Reformation.

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): In every age God sets up some of all sexes, ages, conditions, that have owned His despised and oppugned truths, and have not counted their lives dear, so as they might give their testimony to the truth of God, Revelation 12:11, and have more greedily embraced martyrdom than other honours and dignities in the church; that they might be faithful to God and the souls of men in future ages, and to preserve God’s truth inviolate.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “The God of the Christians is a great God indeed,” said one Calocerius, a heathen, beholding the patient sufferings of the primitive martyrs. Justin Martyr confesseth of himself, that seeing the piety of Christians in their lives and their patience in death, he gathered that indeed that was the truth which they so constantly professed and sealed up with their blood.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): The martyrs “were more than conquerors” under the most cruel tortures, and they “glorified God in the fire.” They were “tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection,” Hebrews 11:35, and they “loved not their lives unto the death,” Revelation 12:11. And who of these repented of the costly purchase?

FRANCES BEVAN (1827-1909): When God honours a person to suffer for His truth, this is a great privilege: “Unto you it is given not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for His sake,” Philippians 1:29―this made John Careless, an English martyr (who died in prison for Christ), say, “Such an honour ’tis as angels are not permitted to have; therefore, God forgive me mine unthankfulness.”

C. H. SPURGEON: We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it…The noble army of martyrs, and the glorious company of confessors, are “witnesses” of our own race to heaven, Hebrews 12:1―from yon blue heaven the eyes of the glorified look down on us; there the children of God are sitting on their starry thrones, observing whether we manfully uphold the banner around which they fought; they behold our valour, or they detect our cowardice; and they are intent to witness our valiant deeds of noble daring, or our ignominious retreat in the day of battle.

JOHN BRADFORD (1510-1555, burned at the stake): Dearly beloved, remember that you are not of this world; that Satan is not your captain; that your joy and Paradise are not here; that your companions are not the multitude of worldlings.  But ye are of another world, Christ is your Captain; your joy is in heaven; your companions are the fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, virgins, confessors, and dear saints of God, who follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth.

 

Posted in Church History | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Some Things to Remember on Remembrance Day

The Thrice Holy God

Posted on November 1, 2019 by The Editor

Isaiah 6:1-7

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Holiness is the beauty of God Himself, He is glorious in it.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Do we sufficiently realize, dear reader, that the One with whom we have to do is the thrice Holy God?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  He is infinitely holy―originally, perfectly, and eternally so.

JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): He is essentially holy―It is the infinite purity of His nature.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): He does as He wills, but He wills only that which is thrice holy, like Himself…“The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works,” Psalm 145:17. Jehovah cannot be unjust or impure. Let His doings be what they may, they are in every case righteous and holy.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): A chief emphasis is placed upon this perfection of God: God is oftener styled holy than almighty, and set forth by this part of His dignity more than by any other. This is more fixed on as an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it expressed ‘His mighty name,’ or ‘His wise name,’ but His “great” name, and most of all―His “holy” name.

A. W. PINK: What human pen is able or fit to write about the unsullied holiness of God! So holy is God that mortal man cannot look upon Him in His essential being, and live. So holy is God that the very heavens are not clean in His sight, Job 15:15. So holy is God that even the seraphim veil their faces before Him.

C. H. SPURGEON: The holiest tremble in the presence of the thrice Holy One.

A. W. PINK: So holy is God that when Abraham stood before Him, he cried, “I am but dust and ashes,” Genesis 18:27. So holy is God that when Job came into His presence he said, “Wherefore I abhor myself,” Job 42:6…So holy is God that when Daniel beheld him in theophanic manifestation he declared, “there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption,” Daniel 10:8.

SAMUEL RIDOUT (1855-1930): When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord in the temple, and the adoring seraphim with veiled faces celebrating the majesty of the thrice holy triune God, he was overwhelmed with the sense of his own and Israel’s uncleanness. “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

A. W. PINK: The flawless life of Christ made the more evident the awful distance between the thrice holy God and depraved and guilty sinners.

E. W. BULLINGER (1837-1913): The life of Christ on earth was an unceasing proclamation of the fact that only His humanity dwelt in the glory of God. The proclamation of His life ever was: “Except ye be holy, sinless, spotless, perfect, as I am, ye cannot enter into the presence of God”―Even so, it was not the perfection of Christ’s life on earth that brings us into the presence of God.

A. W. PINK: How was it possible for the thrice holy God to dwell in the midst of a sinful people? The answer is, On the ground of accepted sacrifice.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Instantly did one of the seraphim fly to Isaiah, to declare, that his iniquities were all blotted out as a morning cloud, through the atoning blood of Christ. This was emblematically represented to him by a coal taken from off the altar of burnt-offering, and applied to his lips.

A. W. PINK: But now the question arises―How can I, conscious of pollution and utter unworthiness, think of approaching infinite purity?

MATTHEW HENRY: Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul but what is taken from Christ’s satisfaction [for our sin], and the intercession He ever lives to make for us in the virtue of that satisfaction. It must be a coal from His altar that must put life into us and be our peace.

A. W. PINK: Ah, here is the blessed answer, the all-sufficient provision to meet my need: I may obtain access to the thrice holy God “through Jesus Christ.”―It is in Christ, and Christ alone, that the thrice Holy God meets the sinner in pardoning mercy. Christ is the One Who met His claims and endured His wrath on the behalf of all who put their trust in Him. Christ is the lone Mediator whereby transgressors can approach unto a reconciled God…The holiness of God was exceedingly glorified at the Cross―and when Christ was “made a curse for us” the thrice Holy One turned away from Him. It was this which caused the agonizing Saviour to cry, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It was because the Saviour was bearing our sins that the thrice holy God would not look on Him, turned His face from Him, and forsook Him―so holy is God that we are told, He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity,” Habakkuk 1:13.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): He cannot look on sin, but with the deepest abhorrence.

A. W. PINK: How unbearable the thought to a guilty conscience that the unpardoned sinner will yet have to stand before the thrice holy One! Yet he must. There is no possible way in which any of us can escape that awful meeting. All must appear before Him and render an account of their stewardship. Unless we flee to Christ for refuge, and have our sins blotted out by His atoning blood, we shall hear His sentence of eternal doom―For “how shall we escape” the lake of fire “if we neglect so great salvation?” “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near,” in His gracious overtures of the gospel.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): How could we otherwise dare as worshippers to approach Him before Whom even His holy angels cover their faces?

 

Posted in Attributes of God, Jesus Christ | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Thrice Holy God

Jesus Christ’s Tender Request

Posted on October 25, 2019 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 11:23-25; Song of Solomon 5:1; 1 Corinthians 11:26

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

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

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

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

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It seems to me that the Lord’s Supper should be received by us often.

GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): We have no express command respecting the frequency of its observance.

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

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

C. H. SPURGEON: Once or twice in the year can hardly be thought to be a sufficiently frequent memorial.

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

C. H. SPURGEON: From the records preserved in the Acts of the Apostles, it appears that when the saints came together on the first day of the week, they usually broke bread.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): It seems plain by the Scripture that the primitive Christians were wont to celebrate this memorial of the sufferings of their dear Redeemer every Lord’s Day.

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

C. H. SPURGEON: At any rate, let it be often.

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

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. It may be rendered in the imperative mood, as an exhortation, direction or command: “Show ye the Lord’s death till He come”―for the design of the institution is to declare that Christ died for the sins of His people: to represent Him as crucified; to set forth the manner of His sufferings and death, by having his body wounded, bruised, and broken, and His blood shed; to express the blessings and benefits which come by His death, and His people’s faith in them; and to show their sense of gratitude, and declare their thankfulness.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The Lord’s supper is not a temporary, but a standing and perpetual ordinance―it is to be celebrated “till the Lord shall come;”―till He shall come the second time, without sin, for the salvation of those that believe, and to judge the world. This is our warrant for keeping this feast. It was our Lord’s will that we should thus celebrate the memorials of His death and passion, till He come in His own glory, and the Father’s glory, with his Holy angels.

C. H. SPURGEON: I marvel at some of you who love my Lord that you should keep away from His Table. It is His dying will—“This do you in remembrance of Me.” It is so kind of Him to institute such an ordinance at all. To let us, who were as the dogs, sit at the children’s table and eat bread such as angels never knew! You will say it is non-essential. And I will reply to you, most true, it is non-essential for your salvation, but it is not non-essential for your comfort. Nor is it non-essential for your obedience. It is for a child to do what his parent bids him.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The duty of commemorating our Lord’s death is much neglected; but a neglect of it involves us in the deepest guilt. It implies rebellion against the highest authority—Christ, the Supreme Governor of heaven and earth, has said, “Do this.” Yet the language of too many is, “I will not.” But they who disregarded the passover did not go unpunished―much less shall they who slight the invitations to Christ’s Supper. Surely it is madness to persist in this rebellion. It is ingratitude towards our greatest Benefactor—Christ has even “given his own life a ransom for us;” and shall we disregard His dying command? “On the same night that he was betrayed,” He instituted these memorials of His death. Had He, at that season, such a concern for us, and can we refuse to do so small a thing in remembrance of Him?

C. H. SPURGEON: I understand not, my dear Brother, my dear Sister, what sort of love yours can be if you hear Jesus say, “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” and yet you neglect His ordinances.

ROBERT HAWKER: Who shall describe the feelings of those redeemed souls, who, while Jesus breaks to them the bread, and gives to them the cup of salvation, opens their hearts, warms their affections, cheers their spirits, and makes them sensible of a gracious welcome―when by faith they hear the Lord say: “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!” Could any child of God, whose soul is truly regenerated, and hath felt the sweetness of the ordinance at the Supper, ever keep from the table, or use it sparingly?

C. H. SPURGEON: The wine how rich, the bread how sweet,

 When Jesus deigns the guests to meet!

A. P. GIBBS (1890-1967): Do we really love the Lord Jesus? If so, we shall not be thinking of how seldom we can remember Him in the way He has requested, but how often we are privileged to do so.

 

Posted in Lord's Supper | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jesus Christ’s Tender Request

The Insidious Deceptiveness of Modern Idolatry

Posted on October 18, 2019 by The Editor

Exodus 20:3; 1 John 5:21

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): You don’t have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): In America, it is said, they worship the almighty dollar.

D. L. MOODY: With many, it is the god of money. We haven’t got through worshiping the golden calf yet. If a man will sell his principles for gold, isn’t he making it a god? If he trusts in his wealth to keep him from want and to supply his needs, are not riches his god? Many a man says, “Give me money, and I will give you heaven. What care I for all the glories and treasures of heaven? Give me treasures here! I don’t care for heaven! I want to be a successful businessman.”

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): What do you think of the man whose thoughts and affections daily encircle the throne of mammon; whose earth-born soul cannot pass by a particle of shining dust without kneeling and praying; who, to acquire it, rises and grinds the faces of the poor, and transgresses the laws of God; whose highest aim, and whose only business is to amass his thousands? Why, such a man, to use the words of Job, “says to gold, thou art my hope, and to fine gold, thou art my confidence,” Job 31:24. “His wealth,” says Solomon, “is his strong city, and a high wall in his own council,” Proverbs 18:11. “He trusts,” says the apostle Paul, “in uncertain riches,” 1 Timothy 6:17; the covetous man therefore is expressly called an “idolater,” and stands in the Bible excluded from the kingdom of God, Ephesians 5:5.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Observe, covetousness is spiritual idolatry: it is the giving of that love and regard to worldly wealth which are due to God only, and carries a greater degree of malignity in it, and is more highly provoking to God, than is commonly thought.

WILLIAM JAY: What is idolatry?

OLIVER CROMWELL (1599-1658): Idolatry is anything which cooleth thy desires after Christ.

WILLIAM JAY: Is it not the transferring to the creature, the homage due to the Creator? If therefore we love or fear any thing more than God; if we make it our portion and depend upon it for happiness, we are chargeable with idolatry.

D. L. MOODY: Whatever you love more than God is your idol. Rich or poor, learned or unlearned, all classes of men and women are guilty of this sin. “The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself,” Isaiah 2:9.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): We easily fall into idolatry, because we are inclined to it by nature.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Look at the modern idols―the desire to be thought great―or, people who are considered great, they turn them into idols.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some idolize themselves; they look in the glass, and there see the face of their god.

D. L. MOODY: A man may make a god of himself, of a child, of a mother, of some precious gift that God has bestowed upon him. He may forget the Giver and let his heart go out in adoration toward the gift. Many make a god of pleasure; that is what their hearts are set on. If some old Greek or Roman came to life again and saw man in a drunken debauch, would he believe that the worship of Bacchus had died out? If he saw the streets of our large cities filled with harlots, would he believe that the worship of Venus had ceased? Others take fashion as their god. They give their time and thought to dress. They fear what others will think of them…But all false gods are not as gross as these.

C. H. SPURGEON: Might we not also say to many a mother and many a father concerning their children, keep yourselves from idols?

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD (1600-1661): Take no heavier lift of your children, than our Lord alloweth; give them room beside your heart, but not in the yolk of your heart, where Christ should be; for then they are your idols, not your children.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Oh, there’s no limit to the variety of idols that men and women make.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols―man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual idol factory.

C. H. SPURGEON: You may be sure that there is one idol of which we can never thoroughly cleanse our hearts though we try, and though by God’s strength we give him a blow every day. It is the god of pride. He changes his shape continually; sometimes he calls himself humility, and we begin to bow before him, till we find we are getting proud of our humility. At another time he assumes the fashion of conscientiousness, and we begin to carp at this, and cavil at the other, and all the while we are tampering with our own professed sanctity, and are bowing before the shrine of religious pride…Idolatry will intrude itself in one form or another.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Look at the gods that the world makes for itself. The man who doesn’t believe in God invariably believes in something. And what does he believe in? Well, he believes in idols.

D. L. MOODY: The atheist says that he does not believe in God; he denies His existence, but he can’t help setting up some other god in His place.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There are people who undoubtedly worship science; they’re always talking as if science were some kind of deity―the modern man says, ‘I believe in Science, I believe in learning and in knowledge.’ He’s turned his back on God―he can’t believe that sort of thing, but he believes that the advance of knowledge and learning is really something that’s going to save man and the world; it’s going to put everything right and straight. Political action, all these things, these are the modern idols, the modern gods.

WILLIAM JAY: All this is trusting in man, and making flesh our arm; and in proportion as we do this, the heart departeth from the Lord. And this is the essence of man’s apostasy; something besides God has his admiration and attachment, his hope and dependence.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The modern man, increasingly, it seems to me, believes in men―in great men. We surely all ought to be wide awake to this. It was the whole explanation, in a sense, of the tragedy of the Second World War, this idea of the superman, the dictator―the great man. Yes, it’s all very well for us to look on at what happened in Germany before the war. My dear friends, this country is rampant with the same thing, in a sense. Not always the same great man, but great men, a belief in men―there are many instances of this, and many manifestations of it. The tendency to turn men into gods; to idealize them―the wise man, the far-sighted leader―and they’re going to solve all the problems of life for us and lead us into some kind of paradise.

C. H. SPURGEON: O beware of all idolatry! We may very well say “Amen” to that.

 

Posted in Sin & Unbelief | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Insidious Deceptiveness of Modern Idolatry

Open Air Itinerant Preaching

Posted on October 11, 2019 by The Editor

Matthew 5:1,2; Mark 2:13; Mark 10:1; Luke 5:3

And seeing the multitudes, [Jesus] went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them.

And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them…And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.

And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Jesus preached on the mountain; from a ship; in the fields; everywhere and every place.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): Our Lord’s practise in this respect, gives a kind of sanction to itinerant preaching, when persons are properly called to, and qualified for, such an employ. And I believe we may venture to affirm―though we would by no means prescribe or dictate to the Holy One of Israel―that, whenever there shall be a general revival of religion in any country, itinerant preaching will be more in vogue…Was not the Reformation began and carried on by itinerant preaching? Were not John Knox and the other Reformers itinerant preachers?”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The first avowed preaching of Protestant doctrine was almost necessarily in the open air, or in buildings which were not dedicated to worship, for these were in the hands of the Papacy…In Germany and other continental countries the Reformation was greatly aided by the sermons delivered to the masses out of doors. We read of Lutheran preachers travelling the country proclaiming the new doctrine to crowds in the market-places, and burial-grounds, and also on mountains and in meadows. At Goslar, a Wittemberg student preached in a meadow planted with lime-trees, which procured for his hearers the designation of “the Lime-tree Brethren.”

J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): At Appenzel [in Switzerland], as the crowds could not be contained in the churches, the preaching was held in the fields and public squares, and, notwithstanding keen opposition, the hills, meadows, and mountains echoed with the glad tidings of salvation.

C. H. SPURGEON: Throughout England we have several trees remaining called “gospel oaks.” There is one spot on the other side of the Thames known by the name of “Gospel Oak,” and I have myself preached at Addlestone, in Surrey, under the far-spreading boughs of an ancient oak, beneath which John Knox is said to have proclaimed the gospel during his sojourn in England. Full many a wild moor, and lone hill side, and secret spot in the forest have been consecrated in the same fashion, and traditions still linger over caves, and dells, and hill tops, where of old time the bands of the faithful met to hear the word of the Lord.

JAMES A. WYLIE (1808-1890): The first field-preaching in the Netherlands took place on the 14th of June, 1566, and was held in the neighborhood of Ghent. The preacher was Helman Modet, who had formerly been a monk, but was now the reformed pastor at Oudenard. “This man,” says a Popish chronicler, “was the first who ventured to preach in public, and there were 7,000 persons at his first sermon.”

The second great field-preaching in the Netherlands took place on the 23rd of July, the people assembling in a large meadow in the vicinity of Ghent. The Word was precious in those days, and the people, eagerly thirsting to hear it, prepared to remain two days consecutively on the ground. Their arrangements more resembled an army pitching their camp than a peaceful multitude assembled for worship. Around the worshippers was a wall of barricades in the shape of carts and wagons. Sentinels were placed at all the entrances. A rude pulpit of planks was hastily run up and placed aloft on a cart. Modet was preacher, and around him were many thousands of persons, who listened with their pikes, hatchets, and guns lying by their sides ready to be grasped on a sign from the sentinels who kept watch all around the assembly. In front of the entrances were erected stalls, where peddlers offered prohibited books to all who wished to buy. Along the roads running into the country were stationed certain persons, whose office it was to bid the casual passenger turn in and hear the Gospel.

When the services were finished, the multitude would repair to other districts, where they encamped after the same fashion, and remained for the same space of time, and so passed through the whole of West Flanders.

ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): I am more than ever convinced that itinerant preaching does a world of good, and that God blesses it continually.

C. H. SPURGEON: During the lifetime of John Wycliffe, his missionaries traversed the country, everywhere preaching the word. An Act of Parliament of Richard II in 1382 sets it forth as a grievance of the clergy that a number of persons went from town to town, without the license of the ordinaries, and preached not only in churches, but in churchyards, and market-places, and also at fairs.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): An evangelist is, of necessity, more or less, a traveller. The world is his sphere.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981):  What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a Revival?  It is renewed preaching.  Not only a new interest in preaching, but a new kind of preaching.

C. H. SPURGEON: It would be very easy to prove that revivals of religion have usually been accompanied, if not caused, by a considerable amount of preaching out of doors, or in unusual places―It was a brave day for England when George Whitefield began field preaching.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD: At Usk, I preached upon a table under a large tree to some hundreds, and God was with us of a truth.

CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788): I stood by George Whitefield while he preached on the mount in Blackheath. The cries of the wounded were heard on every side.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): In the evening I reached Bristol, and met Mr. Whitefield there. I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life—till very lately—so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if had it not been done in a church.

C. H. SPURGEON: It was a blessed day when the Methodists and others began to proclaim Jesus in the open air―when John Wesley stood and preached a sermon on his father’s grave, at Epworth.

JOHN WESLEY: I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father’s tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit…It is field preaching which does the execution still: for usefulness there is none comparable to it.

FRANCES BEVAN (1827-1909): At Gwennap, in Cornwall, there is a hollow in the hills, in the form of a horse-shoe. Here the crowds would sit around John Wesley, one row above another, so that twenty thousand or more could hear him at the same time.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): These gallant evangelists shook England from one end to the other.

 

Posted in Evangelism & Revival | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Open Air Itinerant Preaching

Walking with God in a Very Wicked World

Posted on October 4, 2019 by The Editor

2 Peter 3:10,11; Genesis 5:21-23

The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.

Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Enoch lived in a very evil age. He was prominent at a time when sin was beginning to cover the earth. It was not very long before the earth was corrupt and God saw fit to sweep the whole population from off its surface on account of sin.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): I will venture to say that Enoch, in his day, was considered a most singular and visionary man—an “eccentric” man—the most peculiar man who lived in that day. He was a man out of the fashion of this world, which passeth away.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Observe! at the age of sixty-five, Enoch is said to have “walked with God.” May not this be supposed to mean the period of his conversion?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He “walked with God after he begat Methuselah”—which intimates that he did not begin to be eminent for piety till about that time; at first he walked but as other men. Great saints arrive at their eminence by degrees.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): He had walked with God undoubtedly before, but perhaps after this time, more closely and constantly: and this is observed to denote, that he continued so to do all the days of his life, notwithstanding the apostasy which began in the days of his father, and increased in his.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Three hundred years was a long while to live thus in a wicked world―but he walked by faith, Hebrews 11:5.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): What does “walking by faith” signify?

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): The term walk, as used by the inspired writers, always signifies a continued course of conduct, or a manner of living, in which men persevere till it becomes habitual. Thus the phrase, “Enoch walked with God” evidently signifies that he did not repair to God occasionally, when want or affliction or fear of death impelled; he did not merely take a few steps in that path in which God condescends to walk with men, and then forsake it; but he pursued that path habitually and perseveringly; he lived with God, in contradistinction from those who live without Him in the world.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is implied also in this phrase, that his life was progressive, for if a man walks either by himself or with anybody else, he makes progress―he goes forward. At the end of two hundred years he was not where he began. He was in the same Company, but he had gone forward in the right way. At the end of the third hundred years Enoch enjoyed more, understood more, loved more, had received more and could give out more, for he had gone forward in all respects. A man who walks with God will necessarily grow in grace and in the knowledge of God and in likeness to Christ. You cannot suppose a perpetual walk with God, year after year, without the favoured person being strengthened, sanctified, instructed and rendered more able to glorify God. So I gather that Enoch’s life was a life of spiritual progress. He went from strength to strength and made headway in the gracious pilgrimage.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): The sincere Christian is progressive, is not content with any measure of grace, never at his journey’s end, till he get to heaven, Philippians 3:13.

C. H. SPURGEON: Good men are never idle, and hence they do not lie down or loiter, but they are still walking onward to their desired end. They are not hurried, and worried, and flurried, and so they keep the even tenor of their way, walking steadily towards heaven; and they are not in perplexity as to how to conduct themselves, for they have a perfect rule, which they are happy to walk by. The law of the Lord is not irksome to them; its commandments are not grievous, and its restrictions are not slavish in their esteem…They do not consult it now and then as a sort of rectifier of their wanderings, but they use it as a chart for their daily sailing, a map of the road for their life-journey.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Very well, my friends, the question we ask ourselves therefore is this: Do we know anything about that?  Do we know anything about “walking” with God?

A. W. PINK: It means that our thoughts are formed, our actions regulated, our lives moulded by the Holy Scriptures.

R. C. CHAPMAN (1803-1902): A careless reader of the Scriptures never made a close walker with God.

VERNON J. CHARLESWORTH (1839-1915): Rowland Hill, entering the house of one of his congregation, saw a child on a rocking-horse. “Dear me, he exclaimed, “how wondrously like some Christians! there is motion, but  no progress.”  The rocking-horse type of spiritual life is still characteristic of too many Church members in the present day.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some have said, “Ah, you cannot live as you like if you have a lot of children about you. Do not tell me about keeping up your hours of prayer and quiet reading of the Scriptures if you have a large family of little ones. You will be disturbed and there will be many domestic incidents which will be sure to try your temper and upset your equanimity. Get away into the woods and find a hermit’s cell—there, with your brown jug of water and your loaf of bread, you may be able to walk with God—but with a wife, not always amiable, and a troop of children who are never quiet, neither by day nor night, how can a man be expected to walk with God?” The wife, on the other hand, exclaims, “I believe that had I remained a single woman I might have walked with God. When I was a young woman I was full of devotion. But now with my husband, who is not always in the best of tempers, and with my children who seem to have an unlimited number of needs and never to have them satisfied, how is it possible that I can walk with God?”

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Lift up your eyes, look to God, and you will receive strength from Him.

C. H. SPURGEON: We turn to Enoch, again, and we are confident that it can be done! “Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.” Thus, you see, he was a family man—and yet he walked with God for more than three hundred years. There is no need to be a hermit, or to renounce married life in order to live near to God.

THOMAS COKE: Every true saint of God is known by his perseverance in the ways of God.

 

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Walking with God in a Very Wicked World

A Real Global Climate “Emergency”

Posted on September 27, 2019 by The Editor

Luke 21:9-11, 25-28

When ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven…

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Just now, as the damp of autumn begins to fall and the days are sensibly shortening, we ought to take note of the signs of the times.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): What is spoken here certainly relates to the Day of judgment, before which prodigious things will be seen.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We see, firstly, in this passage, how terrible will be the circumstances accompanying the second advent of Christ. This is a singularly awful picture.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Jesus describes the great frights that people should generally be in.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): First, “the distress of nations.” How well these words describe the well-nigh universal groaning and anguish of mankind! Distress is now no longer confined to any one people but is international and earth-wide…Second, “with perplexity”―Statesmen unable to discover any way out of present difficulties, at their wits’ end, fearful of what they see approaching and powerless to hinder and prevent it―Situations arising which the wisest of our statesmen, despite all our boasted enlightenment and progress, are unable to cope with successfully. “Perplexity” by reason of political corruption, economic agitations, and revolutionary troubles.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): So we may be sure, in the light of the prophetic Word, that this poor world is doomed so far as man’s ability to help is concerned.

A. W. PINK: Unrest, discontent, and lawlessness are rife everywhere, and none can say how soon another great war will be set in motion.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Luke 17:26, how He said, “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man?” How was it in the days of Noah? Scripture replies, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence,” Genesis 6:11.

A. W. PINK: Conditions on earth have now reached such a pass that no human skill can steer clear of the mighty maelstrom which is rapidly drawing all nations within its awful whirl.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): From the point of view of morality, the problem is not so much immorality but the total absence of morality—amorality, a tendency to doubt all types of moral standards. Indeed, some would go so far as to say that all those who acknowledge moral standards live an incomplete life and do an injustice to their personalities. These people claim that what was once called sin is nothing but self-expression…“As they were in Sodom,” He says, “even so they shall be.” That’s our Lord’s view of history.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Jesus also mentions great natural convulsions.

J. C. RYLE: The prophecy before us is not a symbolical one. Its predictions are plain, simple facts, and not clothed in figurative language. It seems, therefore, a high probability that the language before us will receive a literal fulfillment in the events preceding and accompanying the second advent of Christ. The frame of nature was convulsed when the law of God was given at Sinai, and when Christ died on the cross. It is surely not too much to expect that it will be convulsed when Christ returns to judge the world.

MATTHEW HENRY: Many frightful sights shall be in the sun, moon, and stars, prodigies in the heavens, and here in this lower world, the sea and the waves roaring, with terrible storms and tempests, such as had not been known, and above the ordinary working of natural causes.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Judgments are now coming on the earth, with overwhelming rapidity, as the lightnings, thunderings, and voices indicate.

A. W. PINK: Without a doubt a world crisis is at hand, and everywhere men are alarmed. But God is not! He is never taken by surprise. It is no unexpected emergency which now confronts Him, for He is the One who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,” Ephesians 1:11. Hence, though the world is panic-stricken, the word to the believer is, “Fear not!” “All things” are subject to His immediate control: “all things” are moving in accord with His eternal purpose, and therefore, “all things” are “working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” It must be so, for “of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things,” Romans 11:36.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Isn’t that a comforting thought as you look out on the world today? Never before has it been in such a condition, and men’s hearts indeed are “failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” But He sits over the waterfloods and nothing can transpire in the affairs of men and of nations but in accordance with the permissive will of God.

C. H. SPURGEON: If the sea and the waves thereof should roar in a manner altogether unusual―yet this is still the precept for the worst of times that are supposable: “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads.”

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): A strange time, one would think, for Christ then to bid His disciples lift up their heads, when they see other “men’s hearts failing them for fear.” Yet, now is the time of the rising of their sun when others’ is setting―because now the Christian’s feast is coming: “your redemption draweth nigh.”

H. A. IRONSIDE: When things are at their worst God will intervene. “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

J. C. RYLE: However terrible the signs of Christ’s second coming may be to the impenitent, they need not strike terror into the heart of the true believer. They ought rather to fill him with joy. They ought to remind him that his complete deliverance from sin, the world and the devil, is close at hand, and that he shall soon bid an eternal farewell to sickness, sorrow, death and temptation…The very hour when the worldly man’s hopes shall perish, shall be the hour when the believer’s hope shall be exchanged for joyful certainty and full possession.

C. H. SPURGEON: Everything earthly is doomed. You are living, not in your eternal mansions but you are living a makeshift life; you are passing through a wilderness, you are pilgrims, you are sojourners; this is not your rest. Do not get to love this world, or to be taken up with it. Do not strike your roots into it; you are not to dwell here, and to live here always. You are walking among shadows; regard them as such. Hug them not to your bosom; feed not your souls upon them, lest, when that day comes, before Whose coming all of them shall melt away, you shall be filled with amazement and shame―The shades of the evening of the world and the damps of its autumn are all around us! But still there sounds forth the cry, “Whoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely.”―We deliver God’s threats and promises to every sinner and we cry, “Look unto Jesus and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”

 

Posted in Prophecy & Prophets | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Real Global Climate “Emergency”

Praying for Government Officials; A Duty for Our Own Benefit

Posted on September 20, 2019 by The Editor

1 Timothy 2:1,2

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.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): If any one ask, ‘Ought we to pray for kings, from whom we obtain none of these advantages?’ I answer, the object of our prayer is, that, guided by the Spirit of God, they may begin to impart to us those benefits of which they formerly deprived us.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): We may see in the governments of this world things that are contrary to the mind of God, but we seek to overcome them by methods that are in accordance with the spirit of the gospel.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The kings at this time were heathens, enemies to Christianity, and persecutors of Christians.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): 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.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It might be a scruple with some of them, whether they should pray for them, and therefore the apostle enjoins it; and this in opposition to the notions and practices of the Jews, who used to curse the Heathens, and pray for none but for themselves, and those of their own nation.

JOHN CALVIN: He expressly mentions kings and other magistrates because, more than all others, they might be hated by Christians. All the magistrates who existed at that time were so many sworn enemies of Christ; and therefore this thought might occur to them, that they ought not to pray for those who devoted all their power and all their wealth to fight against the kingdom of Christ.

MATTHEW HENRY: Yet they must pray for them, because it is for the public good that there should be civil government, and proper persons entrusted with the administration of it, for whom therefore we ought to pray, yea, though we ourselves suffer under them. In praying for our governors, we take the most likely course to lead a peaceable and quiet life. The Jews at Babylon were commanded to seek the peace of the city whither the Lord had caused them to be carried captives, and to pray to the Lord for it; “for in the peace thereof they should have peace,” Jeremiah 29:7.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): If the state be not in safety, the individual cannot be secure; self-preservation, therefore, should lead men to pray for the government under which they live. Rebellions and insurrections seldom terminate in political good; and even where the government is radically bad, revolutions themselves are most precarious and hazardous. They who wish such commotions would not be quiet under the most mild and benevolent government. We thus pray for the government that the public peace may be preserved. 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.

MATTHEW POOLE: If magistrates were idolaters and persecutors, they were to pray for their conversion, and the change of their hearts. However, 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, and their success in their lawful counsels and undertakings.

JOHN CALVIN: It is our duty, therefore, not only to pray for those who are already worthy, but we must pray to God that he may make bad men good. We must always hold by this principle, that magistrates were appointed by God for the protection of religion, as well as of the peace and decency of society, Romans 13:1-5.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): I do confess myself one of the old-fashioned professors, that covets to fear God, and honour the king. I also am for blessing of them that curse me, for doing good to them that hate me, and for praying for them that despitefully use me and persecute me; and I have had more peace in the practice of these things than all the world are aware of.

ADAM CLARKE: So it has ever been the practice of Christians. When Cyprian defended himself before the Roman proconsul, he said: “We pray to God, not only for ourselves, but for all mankind, and particularly for the emperors.” Tertullian, in his Apology, is more particular: “We pray for all the emperors, that God may grant them long life, a secure government, a prosperous family, vigorous troops, a faithful senate, and an obedient people; that the whole world may be in peace; and that God may grant, both to Caesar and to every man, the accomplishment of their just desires.”—Indeed they prayed even for those by whom they were persecuted.

MATTHEW POOLE: The latter words, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”  contain the reason why prayers should be made for governors, and the good effect of them. For it is for this end that the supreme Lord hath ordained the office and dignity of kings and governors, that, being armed with authority and power, they may perserve public order and peace, by punishing evil-doers, and protecting and encouraging those that do well.

JOHN CALVIN: On the other hand, princes, and all who hold the office of magistracy, are here reminded of their duty. It is not enough, if, by giving to every one what is due, they restrain all acts of violence, and maintain peace; but they must likewise endeavour to promote religion, and to regulate morals by wholesome discipline. Accordingly, seeing that God appointed magistrates and princes for the preservation of mankind, however much they fall short of the divine appointment, still we must not on that account cease to love what belongs to God…That is the reason why believers, in whatever country they live, must not only obey the laws and the government of magistrates, but likewise in their prayers supplicate God for their salvation.

JOHN BUNYAN: Let kings have that fear, honour, reverence, worship that is due to their place, their office and dignity.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): To all whom God has made our superiors, we owe obedience, submission and respect. As subjects, we are bound to obey, honour and pray for our rulers. Let every soul of you be subject to the higher powers. Submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. Thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

JOHN BUNYAN: Pray for all that are in authority; reproach not the governor, he is set over thee; all his ways are God’s, either for thy help or the trial of thy graces—this duty, will render thee lovely to thy friends, terrible to thine enemies, and serviceable as a Christian.

 

Posted in Prayer | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Praying for Government Officials; A Duty for Our Own Benefit

Sure & Certain Truth for a “Post-Truth” Generation

Posted on September 13, 2019 by The Editor

John 14:6; Romans 2:16; Psalm 96:13; Romans 2:2

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.

For he cometh, for he cometh, to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): ‘Some things are true and some things are false.’—I regard that as an axiom; but there are many persons who evidently do not believe it. The current principle of the present age seems to be. “Some things are either true or false, according to the point of view from which you look at them. Black is white, and white is black according to circumstances; and it does not particularly matter which you call it.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Truth and error are all one to the ignorant man, so it hath but the name of truth.

C. H. SPURGEON: Truth, of course, is true, but it would be rude to say that the opposite is a lie; we must not be bigoted, but remember the motto, “So many men, so many minds;”―Everything is a mere matter of opinion—that is “thought and culture” in these days.

HORATIUS BONAR (1808-1889): It is not opinions that man needs: it is Truth! 

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Peace is not to be purchased by the sacrifice of truth…Nothing can be more inconsistent than that there should be no difference between truth and falsehood.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): However judgment may be perverted by men, there is a day coming, when all shall be revised, and justice ministered to every man “according to truth;”—when God will vindicate the cause of the righteous, and condemn the wicked; and the unjust judges must be called to a terrible account for their unrighteous decrees. The time is advancing; it is near: let such as are oppressed with wrong patiently wait for it: the eternal Judge standeth before the door.

C. H. SPURGEON: This is not a matter of opinion―What God declares shall certainly come to pass―It is no matter of opinion, but a matter of certainty.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “For he cometh, for he cometh,” is repeated to show the certainty of Christ’s coming, and the importance of it, and the just reason there was for the above joy and gladness on account of it; and it may be also, as Jerome and others have observed, to point out both the first and second coming of Christ, which are both matter of joy to the saints: His first coming, which was from heaven into this world, in a very mean and abject manner, to save the chief of sinners, to procure peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life for them, and therefore must be a matter of joy; and His second coming, which will be also from heaven, but in an extremely glorious manner, without sin, or the likeness of it, unto the salvation of  His people, and “to judge the earth,”―the inhabitants of it, small and great, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, quick and dead, righteous and wicked.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  As truth is opposed to falsehood and error; the doctrine of Christ is true doctrine. When we enquire for truth, we need learn no more than “the truth as it is in Jesus.”—He is true to all that trust in Him.

JOHN GILL: He is not only true, but truth itself: this may regard His person and character; He is the true God, and eternal life; truly and really man; as a prophet He taught the way of God in truth; as a priest, He is a faithful, as well as a merciful one, true and faithful to Him that appointed Him; and as a King, just and true are all His ways and administrations: He is the sum and substance of all the truths of the Gospel―and He is the true way, in opposition to all false ones of man’s devising.

JOHN CALVIN: How dreadful will He be when He shall come at last to judge the world!

JOHN GILL: He will truly discern and rightly judge; His judgment will be according to His truth; He will approve Himself to be the righteous Judge, and His judgment will appear to be a righteous judgment; for which He is abundantly qualified, as being the Lord God omniscient and omnipotent, holy, just, and true.

MATTHEW HENRY: Even “secret things,” both good and evil, will be brought to light, and brought to account, in the judgment of the great day; there is no good work, no bad work, hid, but shall then be made manifest.

C. H. SPURGEON: Well, brethren, as the age is doubting, it is wise for us to put our foot down and stand still where we are sure we have truth beneath us.―The doubters now are simply doubters because they do not care about truth at all. They are indifferent altogether. Modern skepticism is playing and toying with truth…Even good people do not believe out and out as their fathers used to do. Some are shamefully lax in their convictions; they have few masterly convictions such as would lead them to the stake, or even to imprisonment. Mollusks have taken the place of men, and men are turned to jelly-fishes. Far from us be the desire to imitate them.

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

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): Every parcel of truth is as precious as the filings of gold; we must either live with it, or die for it.

JOHN CALVIN: Nothing is deemed more precious by God than truth.

AUGUSTINE (354-430): He who for fear of any power hides the truth, provokes the wrath of God to come upon him, for he fears men more than God.

MATTHEW HENRY: Here observe the sins of those who perish, among which are first mentioned their cowardliness and unbelief, Revelation 21:8. Note: The “fearful” lead the van in this black list: “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”

ADAM CLARKE: “All liars”―Every one who speaks contrary to the truth when he knows the truth, and even he who speaks the truth with the intention to deceive, to persuade a person that a thing is different from what it really is, by telling only a part of the truth, or suppressing some circumstance which would have led the hearer to a different end to the true conclusion.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Or liars in practice—that is, hypocrites, seeming to be what they are not―all these, and all such like, shall be eternally damned. 

MATTHEW HENRY: In consideration of the judgment to come, and the strictness of that judgment, it highly concerns us now to be very strict in our walking with God, that we may give up our account with joy.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Let us lay these things to heart, and remember them well. They are eminently truths for the present times.

 

Posted in Guidance & Wisdom | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Sure & Certain Truth for a “Post-Truth” Generation

Starting School―in the School of Jesus Christ

Posted on September 6, 2019 by The Editor

John 6:37,44,45

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  The passage which is here quoted by Jesus is to be found in Isaiah 54:13…The way of teaching, of which the prophet Isaiah speaks, does not consist merely in the external voice, but likewise in the secret operation of the Holy Spirit. In short, this teaching of God is the inward illumination of the heart.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): God teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his need of salvation, he may flee to lay hold on the hope which His heavenly Father has set before him in the Gospel.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We learn another thing from this passage: man’s natural helplessness and inability to repent or believe. We find our Lord saying, “No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” Until the Father draws the heart of man by His grace, man will not believe. The solemn truth contained in these words is one that needs careful weighing. It is vain to deny that without the grace of God no one ever can become a true Christian. We are spiritually dead, and have no power to give ourselves life. We need a new principle put in us from above. Facts prove it. Preachers see it.―This witness is true.

JOHN CALVIN: As Christ formerly affirmed that men are not fitted for believing, until they have been drawn, so He now declares that the grace of Christ, by which they are drawn, is efficacious, so that they necessarily believe. These two clauses utterly overturn the whole power of free will―for if it be only when the Father has drawn us that we begin to come to Christ, there is not in us any commencement of faith, or any preparation for it. On the other hand, if all come whom the Father hath taught, He gives to them not only the choice of believing, but faith itself―because the only wisdom that all the elect learn in the school of God is, to come to Christ.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place, in every instance―we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the Word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus, in John 3.

JOHN CALVIN: That narrative is highly useful to us; especially because it instructs us concerning the depraved nature of mankind―and what is the proper entrance into the school of Christ, and what must be the commencement of our training to make progress in the heavenly doctrine. For the sum of Christ’s discourse is, that in order that we may be His true disciples, we must become new men.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): While a man is in a mere natural state, before he is born of God, he has, in a spiritual sense, eyes and sees not; a thick impenetrable veil lies upon them; he has ears, but hears not; he is utterly deaf to what he is most of all concerned to hear. His other spiritual senses are all locked up: He is in the same condition as if he had them not. Hence he has no knowledge of God; no intercourse with Him; he is not at all acquainted with Him. He has no true knowledge of the things of God, either of spiritual or eternal things.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The natural man―the man destitute of the Spirit of God―cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

JOHN WESLEY: But as soon as he is born of God, there is a total change in all these particulars. The “eyes of his understanding are opened;” and when He, who of old “commanded light to shine out of darkness,” shines on his heart, he sees the light of the glory of God―His glorious love, “in the face of Jesus Christ.” His ears being opened, he is now capable of hearing the inward voice of God, saying, “Be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee;” “go and sin no more.” This is the purport of what God speaks to his heart; although perhaps not in these very words. He is now ready to hear whatsoever “He that teacheth man knowledge” is pleased, from time to time, to reveal to him.

JOHN CALVIN: If, therefore, we wish to make good and useful progress in the school of Christ, let us learn to begin at this point: “Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): And the first lesson in the school of Christ is to become a little child, sitting simply at His feet, that we may be made wise unto salvation.

JOHN CALVIN: We know with what blind love men naturally regard themselves, how much they are devoted to themselves, how highly they estimate themselves. But if we desire to enter into the school of Christ, we must begin with that folly to which Paul exhorts us―“becoming fools, that we may be wise,” 1 Corinthians 3:18…So long as the flesh, that is to say, natural corruption, prevails in a man, it has so completely possession of the man’s mind, that the wisdom of God finds no admittance. Hence, if we would make proficiency in the Lord’s school, we must first of all renounce our own judgment and our own will.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): What is conversion then? Man must be a new creature, and converted from his own righteousness to the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing short of the influence of the Spirit of the living God can effect this change in our hearts; therefore we are said to be “born again, born of God, of the Spirit, not of water only but of the Holy Ghost,” John 3:5-7.

JOHN WESLEY: From hence it manifestly appears, what is the nature of the new birth. It is that great change which God works in the soul when He brings it into life; when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought in the whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God when it is “created anew in Christ Jesus;” when it is “renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness;” when the love of the world is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; passion into meekness; hatred, envy, malice, into a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all mankind. In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the “mind which was in Christ Jesus.” This is the nature of the new birth: “So is every one that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:8.

 ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, ” 2 Corinthians 5:17; or as the words might be rendered, ‘there is a new creation,’ and not only is he renewed, but all things are become new. He is a new Adam in a new world.

 

Posted in Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Starting School―in the School of Jesus Christ