A Time to Laugh

Posted on August 30, 2019 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): If we consider what the Preacher here saith, spiritually, there is indeed to everything in grace a season.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There is a time to laugh, but it is not till sin is pardoned that there is time to dance.

JAMES VAUGHAN (1774-1857): Truth is a grave matter, and can owe little ultimately to the services of a buffoon.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Great care was taken in the service of God’s house to preserve decency, prevent immodesty, and to guard against laughter and levity, and the like care should be always taken.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Yet is not mirth amiss, so it be moderate; nor laughter unlawful.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): If you’re not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.

C. H. SPURGEON: The manufacture of new commandments is a very fascinating occupation for some people. You must not do this, and that, and the other, till one feels like a baby in leading strings. I find ten commandments are more than I can keep without a great deal of grace, and I do not mean to pay the slightest regard to any beyond. Liberty is the genius of our faith, nor do we mean to barter it away for the esteem of modern Pharisees. They say to us, “You shall not laugh on Sunday. You shall never create a smile in the House of God. You shall walk to public service as though you were going to the whipping post, and you shall take care when you preach that you always make your discourse as dull as it can possibly be.” We do not reverence these precepts!

A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): There’s plenty to laugh at in the world―but be sure you don’t laugh at something that God takes seriously.

C. H. SPURGEON: Let it be remembered that every man has his moments when his lighter feelings indulge themselves, and the preacher must be allowed to have the same passions as his fellow men, and since he lives in the pulpit more than anywhere else, it is but natural that his whole man should be there developed; besides, he is not sure about a smile being a sin, and, at any rate, he thinks it less a crime to cause a momentary laughter than a half hour’s profound slumber.

JAMES VAUGHAN: Not that we should send a man to the gallows because he has indulged a laugh. On the contrary, the man who cannot so indulge is not a man to our liking. There is something wrong in him, physically, mentally, and morally. All truly healthful men, in the spiritual as well as in the natural sense, know how to enjoy their laugh.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): As the verb ‘to laugh’ has a twofold signification among the Latins, so also the Hebrews use it both in a good and evil sense.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): There are two kinds of laughter spoken of in scripture. There is first, the laughter with which the Lord fills our mouth, when, at some trying crisis, He appears in a signal manner for our relief. “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing,” Psalm 126:1,2.

JOHN GILL: There is a time for these things, as it goes ill or well with persons, as to their health, estate, or friends; and as it goes ill or well with kingdoms and states―and as it goes ill or well with the church of Christ.

C. H. SPURGEON: Sometimes, laughter may become the holiest possible expression.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): “Abraham fell on his face, and laughed,” Genesis 17:17. It was a laughter of delight, not of distrust. Now it was that Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day, now he saw it and “was glad,” John 8:56; for as he saw heaven in the promise of Canaan, so he saw Christ in the promise of Isaac.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The name Isaac, which means “laughter,” declared him to be his father’s delight…Later, the promise was renewed in the hearing of Sarah, Genesis 18:10. Then we are told, “Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?” The laughter of Abraham was the laughter of worshipful joy, and that of Sarah was incredulous unbelief.

JOHN GILL: “And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh,” Genesis 21:6. This she said on occasion of the name of her son Isaac, which name her husband had given him by divine direction, and to which she assented. This doubtless brought to her mind her former laughing, when she first heard that she should have a son, which was in a way of diffidence and distrust. But now, God having given her a son, laid a foundation for laughter of another kind―for real solid joy and thankfulness: “so that all that hear will laugh with me;” not laugh at her, and deride her, but congratulate her, and rejoice with her on this occasion.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: When Jehovah makes us to laugh, we may laugh heartily.

A. W. PINK: This shows us that things which are not sinful in themselves, become so when used or enjoyed at the wrong time. Every thing is beautiful in its season…But there is also the laughter of cynicism and unbelief.

A. W. TOZER: Whenever humour takes a holy thing as its object that humour is devilish at once…We should all be aware by this time that one way the devil has of getting rid something is to make jokes about it.

JOHN CALVIN: “Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness,” James 4:9. Laughter [here] is to be taken as signifying the flattering with which the ungodly deceive themselves, while they are infatuated by the sweetness of their sins and forget the judgment of God―as if by jeers and laughter they could escape the arm of God.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The world may laugh at us, and count our wisdom no better than folly. But such laughter is but for a moment.

A. W. TOZER: Few things are as useful in the Christian life as a gentle sense of humour and few things are as deadly as a sense of humour out of control.

JOHN GILL: When used in a moderate way, and kept within due bounds, it is of service to him, and conduces to the health of his body, and the pleasure of his mind; but when used on every trivial occasion, and at every foolish thing that is said or done, and indulged to excess, it is mere madness, and makes a man look more like a madman and a fool than a wise man.

A. W. PINK: Laughter and tears are nature’s safety valves; they ease nervous tensions, much as an electric storm relieves a heavily-charged atmosphere.

C. H. SPURGEON: Once, during a stormy discussion, a gentleman rose to settle the matter in dispute. Waving his hands majestically over the excited disputants, he began: “Gentlemen, all I want is common sense―” “Exactly!” a man interrupted, “that is precisely what you do want.” The discussion was finished in a burst of laughter.

 

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The One & Only True Warrant of Faith

Posted on August 23, 2019 by The Editor

Romans 4:3, 19-24

Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Why does any man dare to believe in Christ? “Well,” says one man, “I summoned faith to believe in Christ because I did feel there was a work of the Spirit in me.” You do not believe in Christ at all.  “Well,” says another, “I thought that I had a right to believe in Christ, because I felt somewhat.”  You had not any right to believe in Christ at all on such a warranty as that. What is a man’s warrant then for believing in Christ?

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The ground of faith is not those impressions, but the Gospel itself. The object of faith is not Christ working on the heart and softening it, but rather Christ as He is presented to our acceptance in the Word.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Here was divine faith. It was not a question of feeling. Indeed, if Abraham had been influenced by his feelings, he would have been a doubter instead of a believer. For what had he to build upon in himself? “His own body now dead.” A poor ground surely on which to build his faith in the promise of an innumerable seed. But, we are told, “He considered not his own body now dead.”  What, then, did he consider?  He considered the Word of the living God, on that he rested.  Now this is faith.

C. H. SPURGEON: [Some] Calvinistic ministers always garble Christ’s invitation thus: “If you are a sensible sinner you may come;” just as if stupid sinners might not come. They say, “If you feel your need of Christ, you may come;” and then they describe what that feeling of need is, and give such a high description of it that their hearers say, “Well, I never felt like that,” and they are afraid to venture for lack of the qualification.

JOHN BRADFORD (1510-1555): Faith must go before, and then feeling will follow.

C. H. SPURGEON: To tell the sinner that he is to believe on Christ because of some warrant in himself, is legal, I dare to say it—legal. Though this method is generally adopted by the higher school of Calvinists, they are herein unsound, uncalvinistic, and legal…If I believe in Jesus Christ because I feel a genuine repentance of sin, and therefore have a warrant for my faith, do you not perceive that the first and true ground of my confidence is the fact that I have repented of sin? If I believe in Jesus because I have convictions and a spirit of prayer, then evidently the first and the most important fact is not Christ, but my possession of repentance, conviction, and prayer, so that really my hope hinges upon my having repented; and if this be not legal I do not know what is.

WILLIAM FENNER (1560-1640): I dare to say it, that all this is not Scriptural.  Sinners do feel these things before they come, but they do not come on the ground of having felt it; they come on the ground of being sinners, and on no other ground whatever.

C. H. SPURGEON: Put it lower. My opponents will say, “The sinner must have an awakened conscience before he is warranted to believe on Christ.” Well, then, if I trust Christ to save me because I have an awakened conscience, I say again, the most important part of the whole transaction is the alarm of my conscience, and my real trust hangs there. If I lean on Christ because I feel this and that, then I am leaning on my feelings and not on Christ alone, and this is legal indeed. Nay, even if desires after Christ are to be my warrant for believing, if I am to believe in Jesus not because He bids me, but because I feel some desires after Him, you will again with half an eye perceive that the most important source of my comfort must be my own desires. So that we shall be always looking within. “Do I really desire? If I do, then Christ can save me; if I do not, then He cannot.”

HUGH BINNING (1625-1654): He that is in earnest about this question, “How shall I be saved?” should not spend the time in reflecting on, and in an examination of himself, till he find something promising in himself, but, from discovered sin and misery, pass straightway over to the grace and mercy of Christ, without any intervening search of something in himself to warrant him to come.

JOHN BRADFORD: Though you feel not as you would, yet doubt not, but hope beyond all hope, as Abraham did; for always, faith goeth before feeling.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: “Ah! but,” the anxious reader may say, “what has all this to say to my case? I am not Abraham—I cannot expect a special revelation from God. How am I to know that God has spoken to me?  How can I possess this precious faith?”  Well, dear friend, mark the apostle’s further statement.  “Now,” he adds, “it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if ” —if what?—if we feel, realize, or experience aught in ourselves? Nay, but “if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

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

C. H. MACKINTOSH: All this is full of solid comfort and richest consolation. It assures the anxious inquirer that he has the selfsame ground and authority to rest upon that Abraham had, with an immensely higher measure of light thrown on that ground, inasmuch as Abraham was called to believe in a promise, whereas we are privileged to believe in an accomplished fact. He was called to look forward to something which was to be done; we look back at something that is done, even an accomplished redemption, attest by the fact of a risen and glorified Saviour, at the right hand of the Majesty in the Heavens. But as to the ground and authority of which we are called to rest our souls, it is the same in our case as in Abraham’s and all true believers in all ages—it is the Word of God—the holy Scriptures. There is no other foundation of faith but this; and the faith that rests on any other is not true faith at all.

C. H. SPURGEON: I do not believe in Christ because I have got good feelings, but I believe in Him whether I have good feelings or not―“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” 1 Timothy 1:15. Between that word “save” and the next word “sinners,” there is no adjective. It does not say “penitent sinners,” “awakened sinners,” “sensible sinners,” “grieving sinners,” or “alarmed sinners.” No, it only says “sinners.”

 

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Two Thoughtful Questions With One Good Answer

Posted on August 16, 2019 by The Editor

Matthew 22:17; Jeremiah 4:14; Philippians 4:8

What thinkest thou?

How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): Our thoughts make us. They are the silent builders on the temple of character we are rearing. They give colour and form to the whole building.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Thought moulds action. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” Proverbs 23:7. Thought, and work, make character. We come into the world with certain dispositions and bias. But that is not character, it is only the raw material of character―like the lava when it comes out of the volcano. But it hardens, and whatever else my thoughts may do, and whatever effects may follow upon any of my actions, the recoil of them on myself is the most important effect to me. And there is not a thought that comes into, and is entertained by a man, or rolled as a sweet morsel under his tongue, but contributes its own little but appreciable something to the making of the man’s character.

J. R. MILLER: If we think truly, we are rearing up a fabric whiter than Parian marble. If our thoughts are evil, the fabric that is rising within us is blemished.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: What, then, is the counsel here? “Think on these things.” To begin with, that advice implies that we can, and therefore, that we should, exercise a very rigid control over that part of our lives which a great many of us never think of controlling at all. Exercise control, as becomes you, over the run and drift of your thoughts.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Guard against the very first incursion of vain thoughts and foolish imaginations.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Put a guard at the gate, as they do in some countries, and let in no vagrant that cannot show his passport, and a clear bill of health. Now, that is a lesson that some of you very much want. But, further, notice that company of fair guests that you may welcome into the hospitalities of your heart and mind. Think on these things―and what are they?

CHARLES SIMEON: Things “virtuous”—Among these “truth” is the first in nature and importance; since, without it, all the bands of society would be dissolved: there would be no such thing as confidence between man and man. Of such consequence is this esteemed in the world, that no virtues, however eminent, can supply the want of it, or render a man respectable, that is regardless of it. And so necessary is it in the eyes of God, that He will banish from Him with abhorrence all who wilfully violate its dictates: “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death,”  Revelation 21:8.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): A lying tongue is an abomination to Him who is Himself the Truth. He delights in truth because it is in accord with His own nature.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Truth and honesty never wear out. “Think on these things”―Esteem them highly, recommend them heartily, and practice them fervently.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): “Honesty”―A comprehensive word taking in the whole duty we owe to our neighbour.

CHARLES SIMEON: Next to this, and inseparably connected with it, is “justice.” A Christian is to know but one rule of conduct: he is, in all his intercourse with men, to do as he would be done unto; that is, to act towards others, as he, in a change of circumstances, would think it right for them to act towards him. To be guilty of fraud in a way of traffic, or in withholding just debts, or in evading taxes, or putting off base coin, or in any other way whatever, is as inconsistent with the Christian character as adultery or murder.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): Injustice is a part of unholiness.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): It is said, “he that is unjust, let him be unjust still,” Revelation 22:11; that is, he that will be unjust, and refuseth to turn, let him go on. This is a great sin, for God, you see, gives such a man over.

J. R. MILLER: If a man’s life is righteous, you know his thoughts are just; unjust thoughts will never yield righteousness in conduct.

CHARLES SIMEON: Besides these virtues which have respect to our words and actions, there is one virtue that extends to our very thoughts, and that is no less necessary to be cultivated by us―namely, “purity.”

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: There are some who seem to turn this apostolic precept right round about, and whatsoever things are illusory and vain, whatsoever things are mean, and frivolous, and contemptible, whatsoever things are unjust, and whatsoever things are impure, and whatsoever things are ugly, and whatsoever things are branded with a stigma by all men―they think on those things. Like the flies that are attracted to a piece of putrid meat, there are young men who are drawn by all the lustful, the lewd, the impure thoughts; and there are young women who are too idle and uncultivated to have any pleasure in anything higher than gossip and trivial fiction.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Would men dare to indulge their vain thoughts, their light notions, their trifles, their impurities, did they really believe that the LORD searched their hearts?

J. R. MILLER: Thoughts seem mere nothings, flecks of cloud flying through the air, flocks of birds flitting by and gone. But they are the most real things about our life. All things we do are thoughts first. Our thoughts fly out like birds, and take their place in the world. Then our heart is still their home-nest, whither they will return at last to dwell.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Once again, as thought makes deeds, and thought and deeds make character, so character makes destiny, here and hereafter. What is a man whose whole life has been one long thought about money-making, or about other objects of earthly ambition, or about the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, to do in heaven? A man will go to his own place, the place for which he is fitted, the place for which he has fitted himself by his daily life, and especially by the trend and the direction of his thoughts.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): What if God should place in your hand a diamond, and tell you inscribe on it a sentence which should be read at the last day, and shown there as an index of your thoughts and feelings!

CHARLES SIMEON: We are well aware that the best of men may have sinful thoughts rushing into their minds; but will they harbour them? No: every true Christian may say as in the presence of God, “I hate vain thoughts,” Psalm 119:113.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): In the midst of thee, in the very heart of thee, creep in they will, but why should they lodge there?

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: “Whatsoever things are noble and lovely, think on these things,” and get rid of all the others.

 

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Nehemiah’s Prayers

Posted on August 9, 2019 by The Editor

Nehemiah 1:1-4,11; Nehemiah 2:1-5,8

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven…O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer…

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it…

And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Do not let us forget that Heaven’s clock is different from ours.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): It was in November or December when those men arrived at that court, and this man prayed on until March or April before he spoke to the king. If a blessing doesn’t come tonight, pray harder tomorrow, and if it doesn’t come tomorrow, pray harder, and then, if it doesn’t come, keep right on, and you will not be disappointed. God in heaven will hear your prayers, and will answer them…Let your faith beget patience.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The time and way in which our prayers shall be answered are matters which we must leave entirely to God. But that every petition which we offer in faith shall certainly be answered, we need not doubt. Let us lay our matters before God again and again, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. The answer may be long in coming―but though it tarry, let us pray on and wait for it. At the right time it will surely come and not tarry.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Nehemiah also, upon the occasion of the king’s speech to him, interposeth a short prayer to God between the king’s question and his answer to it: “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king…” So soon was this holy man at heaven and back again—even in a trice —without any breach of manners in making the king wait for his answer. Sometimes you have the saints forming their desires into a few smart and passionate words, which fly with a holy force from their lips to heaven, as an arrow out of a bow.

D. L. MOODY: Nehemiah shot up a prayer to heaven right there in the king’s dining hall that the Lord would help him to make his request in the right way. He first looked beyond Artaxerxes to the King of Kings.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): A short but fervent prayer―silently, but powerfully sent up, for grace in the king’s sight.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): We are here reminded of one course of God’s Providential acting: His uncontrollable sway upon the most absolute of all wills—the king’s heart. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will,” Proverbs 21:1.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The king consented that he should go.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Nehemiah also asked for a convoy, and an order upon the governors, not only to permit and suffer him to pass through their respective provinces, but to supply him with what he had occasion for, with another order upon the keeper of the forest of Lebanon to give him timber for the work that he designed, Nehemiah 2:7,8.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “And the king granted me”―all the above favours.

MATTHEW HENRY: Nehemiah gained his point, not according to his merit, his interest in the king, or his good management, but “according to the good hand of his God upon him.” Gracious souls take notice of God’s hand, His good hand, in all events which turn in their favour.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): What an atmosphere of prayer surrounds this man! It is his constant resource throughout all his varied experiences. He walked with God because he talked with God.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Yea, let me add, if a man can with a good conscience say that he desires to fear the name of God, it will add boldness to his soul in his approaches into the presence of God. “O Lord,” said Nehemiah, “I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and servants, who desire to fear thy name.” He pleaded his desire of fearing the name of God, as an argument with God to grant him his request; and the reason was, because God had promised before “to bless them that fear him, both small and great,” Psalm 115:13.

D. L. MOODY: He has never failed, if a man has been honest in his petitions and honest in his confessions.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Blessed be God, when the heart is true to Him, He always comes in to cheer, to strengthen, and to fortify, at the right time.

D. L. MOODY: You need not make a long prayer.

MATTHEW HENRY: This may well be the summary of our petitions; we need no more to make us happy than this: “Remember me, O my God, for good,” Nehemiah 13:31.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): God will remember thee, as good Nehemiah prays in his last chapter, for thy zeal for God.

J. C. RYLE: We are never beyond the reach of His care. Our way is never hid from Him. He knows the path that we take, and is still able to help. He may not come to our aid at the time we like best, but He will never allow us utterly to fail. He that walked upon the water never changes. He will always come at the right time to uphold His people. Though He tarry, let us wait patiently. Jesus sees us, and will not forsake us.

 

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How Can Salt Lose Its Savour?

Posted on August 2, 2019 by The Editor

Matthew 5:13

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There are countries where there is found salt from which the pungency has completely gone. It is an altogether useless article.

WILLIAM McCLURE THOMSON (1806-1894): I have often seen just such salt, and the identical disposition of it that our Lord has mentioned. A merchant of Sidon having farmed of the Turkish government the revenue from the importation of salt, brought over an immense quantity from the marshes of Cyprus―enough, in fact, to supply the whole province of Sidon for at least twenty years. This he had transferred to the mountains, to cheat the government out of some small percentage. Sixty-five houses were rented and filled with salt. These houses have merely earthen floors, and the salt next the ground, in a few years, entirely spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally thrown into the street, to be trodden underfoot by people and beasts. It was “good for nothing.”

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): When our Lord reminds His people that they are “the salt of the earth,” He describes the state of all real believers in grace. The grace of God is that “salt,” apart from which all is corruption and spiritual decay.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Salt is good―to make meat savoury, and keep flesh from corrupting; and so is the grace of God, to season men’s hearts, make their discourse savoury, and preserve them from the corruption of sin: and so men made partakers of the grace of God; they are good and useful to others, both by their words and actions.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Grace is the salt with which all our religious performances must be seasoned, Colossians 4:6.

JOHN GILL: The “savour” here supposed that it may be lost, cannot mean the savour of  true grace itself, which cannot be lost, being an incorruptible seed.

MATTHEW HENRY: An everlasting covenant is called a “covenant of salt,” because it is incorruptible. The glory reserved for us is incorruptible and undefiled. and the grace wrought in us is the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: The indestructibility and imperishable nature of real grace in the soul of man is a truth that greatly impacts the holiness and happiness of the Christian and―what is of still greater importance―the glory of God…We should never forget that, where real grace exists, that grace is as imperishable as the God who implanted it; that, where true faith has led your trembling footsteps to Jesus, to receive Him as all your salvation, that faith is as deathless as its Author. But with this broad and emphatic truth, we must proceed to justify the affecting declaration of the Saviour’s words: That it may “lose its savour.”

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): By salt in this place our Saviour seems to mean a Christian life and profession. It is a good, a noble, a great thing to be a Christian: but one that is so in an outward profession may lose his savour.

MATTHEW HENRY: Degenerate Christians, who, rather than part with what they have in the world, will throw up their profession, and then of course become carnal, and worldly, and wholly destitute of a Christian spirit, are like salt that has lost its savour―the most useless worthless thing in the world; it has no manner of virtue or good property in it. It can never be recovered: Wherewith shall it be seasoned? You cannot salt it. This intimates that it is extremely difficult, and next to impossible, to recover an apostate, Hebrews 6:4-6. If Christianity will not prevail to cure men of their worldliness and sensuality, if that remedy has been tried in vain, their case must even be concluded desperate.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: Where divine grace, does not exist, nothing stunts the growth, impedes the progress, or restrains the power of the soul’s depravity.

MATTHEW HENRY: We must not only have this salt of grace, but we must always retain the relish and savour of it.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Our Lord’s supposition of the salt’s losing its savour is illustrated by Mr. Henry Maundrell.

HENRY MAUNDRELL (1665-1701): In the valley of salt, near Gebul, and about four hours’ journey from Aleppo, there is a small precipice, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt. In this, you may see how the veins of it lie: I broke a piece of it; the part exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savour, as in Matthew 5:13. But the innermost, which had been connected with the rock, retained its savour, as I found by proof.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: How does this apply to the spiritual life of the believer? It applies most clearly and indisputably to a relapsed state of grace, and of its consequent loss of vigorous influence.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): As salt, however good, may possibly “lose its saltness,” so as to become unfit for the service of God; so may immortal souls lose the divine savour which is pleasing to God.

MATTHEW POOLE: Though a man cannot fall away from the truth and reality of grace, yet he may fall away from his profession; he may be given up to believe lies, and embrace damnable errors; he may shake off that dread of God which he seemed to have upon him; and then what is he good for? Wherewith shall he be seasoned? He is neither fit for the land nor the dunghill: as some things will spoil dunghills, so debauched professors do but make wicked men worse, by prejudicing and hardening them against the ways and truths of God…If they have lost their soundness in the faith, and holiness of life, they are of no value.

THOMAS COKE: Those who profess to spread the lively truths of God, who adulterate the Word, and grow degenerate in their tempers and manners, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

MATTHEW HENRY: If you, who should season others, are yourselves unsavoury, void of spiritual life, relish, and vigour; if a Christian be so―especially if a minister be so, his condition is very sad; for, he is irrecoverable: Wherewith shall it be salted? Salt is a remedy for unsavoury meat, but there is no remedy for unsavoury salt. Christianity will give a man a relish; but if a man can take up and continue the profession of it, and yet remain flat and foolish, and graceless and insipid, no other doctrine, no other means, can be applied, to make him savoury. If Christianity does not do it, nothing will. He is unprofitable: It is thenceforth good for nothing; what use can it be put to, in which it will not do more hurt than good?

C. H. SPURGEON: Many a barren Christian has come into this mournful condition by a careless, unsanctified walk before the Lord. Let not saints who are now useful run the risk of enduring the loss of their mercies, but let them be watchful that all things may go well with them.

 

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Why Am I Here? In This Place? And At This Time?

Posted on July 26, 2019 by The Editor

Esther 4:14; Acts 17:25,26

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Nothing comes by chance in our affairs. The Lord determines the bounds of our habitations, appoints us our stations and offices, and assigns us our talents and opportunities…As men, we are not the creatures of chance. There is an “appointed time to man upon earth,” Job 7:1. And, as Christians, are we the offspring of contingency? Is conversion a happy accident? It is the work of God, and He does nothing without foreknowledge and design.

ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Nothing is by blind chance, all is under the management of infinite wisdom.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): How admirably does God determine even the place of our birth!

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): For every one of us, there is a decreed place; for He that determined the times beforehand, determined also the bounds of our habitation.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): But is that all? Surely, if we believe that God determines the bounds of our habitation, we must believe that other purposes affecting other people are also meant by God to be accomplished through us.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Every child of God is where God has placed Him for some purpose. The practical use of this first point is to lead you to inquire for what practical purpose has God placed each one of you where you now are.

MATTHEW HENRY: We should every one of us consider for what end God has put us in the place where we are, and study to answer that end; and, when any particular opportunity of serving God and our generation offers itself, we must take care that we do not let it slip; for we were entrusted with it that we might improve it.

C. H. SPURGEON: In every event of Providence God has a purpose―Times are hard. The people are famishing―and who knows but that, like Queen Esther, you may have come to the Kingdom of God for such a time as this? God may have brought you where you are to make use of you―perhaps the Lord intends, by some of you, to save multitudes of souls, to stir up His Churches and to awaken the slumbering spirit of religion.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): None but an infidel believes in things happening by chance, though there are many infidels now wearing the name of “Christian.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Listen, Friends, many people are not true to their occasions, whatever they may be. They do not consider that they have come to the Kingdom of God for such a time as this…Should not this cheer us—that the appointment of our lot has been made by a loving Father’s prudence?

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): It is sweet, it is precious, to eye the hand of the LORD in all events. And it is equally so to trust God upon all occasions. The Holy One of Israel is engaged for His people’s welfare, both by word, and by oath, and by the blood and righteousness of His dear Son. And He hath manifested His faithfulness, as all the saints have borne testimony to under all trials. Why then, Reader, shall you or I be an exception to this everlasting care and love that Jehovah hath to His people? Oh! for faith to give God in Christ the credit of GOD, and to believe in Him when matters are most dark and discouraging.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Think with thyself, I was converted, born again for such a time as this; shall I fail God now, and bid farewell to His friendship, when there are such obligations between God and me?

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): Consider that all the injuries and unkind usages we meet with from the world, do not fall out by chance, but are disposed of by the all-wise God for our good. Many are like the foolish cur that snarls at the stone, never looking to the hand that threw it―If we looked higher than instruments our hearts would grow meek and calm. David looked beyond Shimei’s rage: “Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him,” 2 Samuel 16:11. What wisdom were it for Christians to see the hand of God in all the barbarisms and incivilities of men! Job eyed God in his affliction, and that meekened his spirit.  “The Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord,” Job 1:21. He does not say, ‘The Chaldeans have taken away,’ but “The Lord hath taken away.” What made Christ so meek in His sufferings?  He did not look at Judas or Pilate, but at His Father: “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11.

WILLIAM JAY: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,” Isaiah 26:3. This confidence composes the mind in the events of life—and this is the thing principally intended.  We live in a world of changes, and uncertainties…And with regard to ourselves, our wisest schemes are frequently thwarted, our fairest hopes destroyed, our choicest comforts laid waste. Thus we are liable to be perpetually ruffled and dismayed: and there is only one principle that can sustain and solace the mind: It is holy confidence in God…God governs the world—if we could see what God sees, we should do precisely what God does. His people are His care; nothing can essentially injure them―yea, all things are working together for their good.

A. W. PINK: Yes, dear reader, a spiritual faith perceives that things do not happen by chance, but that everything is regulated by the Lord God. Second, faith recognizes that everything which enters our lives is ordered by Him who is our Father…There are no accidents in a world which is governed by the living God, for “of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen,” Romans 11:6. Therefore does faith perceive the hand of God in every thing which enters our lives, be it great or small.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): He arranges our movements for us; He fixes the bounds of our habitation; He tells us how long to stay in a place, and where to go next. He has charged Himself with all our concerns, all our movements, all our wants. His gracious word to us is, “Be careful far nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God,” Philippians 4:6. And what then? “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7.

A. W. PINK: And it is only as we recognize His hand molding all our circumstances that God is honoured, and our hearts are kept in peace. O for grace to say at all times, “It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good,” 1 Samuel 3:18.

BASIL (329-379): Never let us say of anything, ‘it happened by chance;’ there is nothing that has not been fore-arranged, nothing which has not its own special end, by which it forms a link in the chain of appointed order.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): We must all be witnesses for God in the place where we live, and shine as lights in a dark world. And if for our fidelity we be called to suffer, we must rejoice that we are so honoured of our God.

 

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The Key to Receiving God’s Guidance

Posted on July 19, 2019 by The Editor

Psalm 25:9

The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): What is meekness?

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The term “meekness” is of very extensive import. But, instead of entering into the variety of senses in which the word is used, we shall find it more profitable to confine ourselves to the precise view in which it is used in the passage before us. Men may be denominated “meek,” when they are sensible of their own ignorance, and when they are willing and desirous to be taught of God.

THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): The meek, here spoken of, are not those of naturally easy, quiet, and indolent tempers; but such as are rendered humble, teachable, submissive, and gentle, by the special grace of God. And as the Master in this school is “meek and lowly in heart,” and teaches with gentleness and wisdom; the scholars should surely be teachable, and learn in meekness and humility.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Humble, candid, teachable minds receive the Word, and are made wise unto salvation…He that is not willing to learn has not begun right.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): A deep sense of sin, a humble willingness to be saved in God’s way, a teachable readiness to give up our own prejudices when a more excellent way is shown, these are the principal things.

C. H. SPURGEON: True meekness is that which Grace gives.

JOHN BERRIDGE (1716-1793):  They have been made meek―desirous of being taught, and praying to be so; but, being now sensible of unworthiness, they are afraid that God will not teach them. This may be done to other sinners but not to them. Therefore they are told who may expect teaching, even they who desire and pray for teaching, verses 4 & 5, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me.”

C. H. SPURGEON: We must begin with a teachable spirit.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): A peculiarly humble frame of spirit, which is teachable. As there is no grace that is either more useful unto our own souls or more acceptable with God than humility, I Peter 3:4, so it is in an especial manner required as a qualification in them who would be instructed in the mind of God out of His Word. So the promise is, “The meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way;”—that is, the humble and contrite ones. And it is the same that is twice expressed in that same psalm by “fear,” verse 12: “What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose;” and verse 14, “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant.”

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Those that, in an humble sense of their own nothingness, depend upon direction, them will He teach…By the meek is meant a man humble―that will submit himself to God whatever condition He shall appoint. This man God in His Word will teach and direct.

A. W. PINK: Meekness is not to be confounded with humility, for they are quite distinct qualities. This is clear from the words of the Saviour who said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart,” Matthew 11:29. The Greek word here rendered “lowly” is translated “humble” in James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Well then, what is meekness?

A. W. PINK: There should be no difficulty in discovering the force of this word―the fact that “meekness” is required in order to our being “guided” and “taught” suggests that it signifies a pliant and receptive heart. As humility is the opposite of pride and self-sufficiency, so meekness is the opposite of self-will and stubbornness. Thus, it should be evident that there is a real difference between true humility and meekness. Not only are they distinct—but they are not always operative in the same person. One may be humble and yet far from being meek. One may have a real sense of his own ignorance and stupidity, pray to God for light and wisdom, search His Word for the needed direction, and then when those directions are received, disregard them because unacceptable. Unless our wills be truly yielded to God’s, when His will crosses ours—then we shall decline to heed the same.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): It is a grand point in the soul’s history when one is enabled to bow with meekness to all the dispensations of our Father’s hand.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The meek are those who quietly submit themselves before God, to His Word, to His rod, who follow His directions and comply with His designs.

A. W. PINK: As pointed out above, this is not constitutional, but gracious—a precious fruit of the Spirit’s working. Godly sorrow softens the heart, so that it is made receptive to the entrance of the Word. Meekness consists in the spirit being made pliant, tractable, submissive, teachable…The moment any of us really takes it for granted that he already knows all that there is to be known on any subject treated of in Holy Writ, he at once cuts himself off from any further light thereon. That which is most needed by all of us in order to a better understanding of Divine things is not a brilliant intellect, but a truly humble heart and a teachable spirit, and for that we should daily and fervently pray—for we possess it not by nature.

J. C. RYLE: We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Ghost, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, “Teach me thy statutes,” Psalm 119:64. Such an one will understand, as well as hear.

C. H. SPURGEON: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go,” Psalm 32:8. Here the Lord is the speaker, and gives the Psalmist an answer to his prayer. Our Saviour is our instructor. The Lord Himself deigns to teach His children to walk in the way of integrity, His holy word, and the monitions of the Holy Spirit are the directors of the believer’s daily conversation. But “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding,” Psalm 32:9―not only David, but all of you. If God will guide you, be guided; if He will teach you, be teachable; if He will be gracious to you, be gracious towards Him.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The condition of our hearing and profiting by the guidance is meekness―of which the prime element is the submission of my own will to God’s.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Such a person has a teachable spirit.

MATTHEW HENRY: Meekness is wisdom.

 

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Do Christians have a “Right” To Die? Or An Obligation to the Lord?

Posted on July 12, 2019 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Romans 14:7,8

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

None of us liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): This evidently implies, waiting till God shall see fit to release us, without voluntarily hastening our death, either in a direct or indirect manner. There have been frequent instances in which persons who were weary of life, but who did not choose to die by their own hands, have thrown themselves in the way of danger, or exposed themselves to infectious disorders, or refused, when ill, to use any means for their recovery, with a view to hasten the approach of death. For all these indirect methods of suicide, as well as to direct acts of violence upon our own lives, the resolution in our text is evidently opposed.

RICHARD ROGERS (1550-1618): As the soldier may not discharge himself or forsake his station, without his Emperor’s permission, who has set him in his place; so neither ought any to destroy his own life and soul by wilful death, but wait the time that God hath appointed.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): All that is implied either in the precepts or the promises of our text is altogether unknown to those who experience not the power of religion in their hearts. Whatever burdens they have, are borne upon their own shoulders: they know not what it is to cast them upon the Lord. Hence, when oppressed with heavy trials, they faint and sink under them; and for want of the consolations and supports of religion, they not unfrequently meditate, and sometimes also carry into execution, the awful act of suicide.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): A believer’s death is intended to glorify God. The Holy Ghost tells us this truth in plain language. He graciously interprets the dark saying, which fell from our Lord’s lips about Peter’s end―He tells us that Jesus spake this, “signifying by what death he should glorify God,” John 21:19…We may glorify God in death, by patiently enduring its pains. The Christian whose spirit has complete victory over the flesh, who quietly feels the pins of his earthly tabernacle being plucked up with great bodily agonies, and yet never murmurs or complains, but silently enjoys inward peace—We may glorify God in death, by testifying to others the comfort and support that we find in the grace of Christ.

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.

J. C. RYLE: It is a great thing, when a mortal man can say with David, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me,” Psalm 23:4.

CHARLES SIMEON: Those who have no God to go to, often sink under their troubles, and not unfrequently seek refuge from them in suicide.

GEORGE SWINNOCK (1627-1673): Who ever, unless bereft of his wits and distracted, would murder his own body?

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Let us put the question in its strongest form—is it possible for a real Christian, under the pressure of sore trial and protracted trouble, for his mind to give way, and in a fit of madness take things into his own hands and make an end of his earthly sufferings?

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13, requires that we should preserve our own life…I can see no ground of hope for such as make away with themselves; for they die in the very act of sin, and cannot have time to repent. They murder their own souls.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Is it not probable that Satan had secretly tempted Job to self-murder? His wife had openly recommended it, Job 2:9.

A. W. PINK: But before weighing that, perhaps a word or two should be said upon what the Spirit has chronicled about Jonah, for the nearest approach to a saint actually committing suicide is his, for he distinctly bade the sailors in the ship to “take me up and cast me forth into the sea,” Jonah 1:12. But observe, first, that was designed for their good, “So shall the sea be calm unto you.”―As in the case of Samson, the providence of God had designed that he should be a remarkable type of Christ.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Samson said “Let me die with the Philistines,” and did what he did under the direction and influence of the Spirit of God.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Samson may very well be justified, and brought in not guilty of any sinful murder either of himself or the Philistines…It was not from a principle of passion or personal revenge, but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and Israel, that he desired to do this, as appears from God’s accepting and answering the prayer―this was done, not by any natural strength of Samson, but by the almighty power of God.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Samson’s death is no example nor encouragement to those that wickedly murder themselves―his case was not much unlike theirs, that in the heat of battle run upon the very mouth of the cannon to execute a design upon the enemy.

CHARLES SIMEON: Indeed God’s honour, if we may so speak, required such a signal act of vengeance to be inflicted on His enemies. The Philistines had assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their idol god. To him they ascribed praise and honour, as having triumphed over the God of Israel. Thousands of their chief men and women were assembled in the place, and three thousand others on the roof; and Samson was brought forth, to be made an object of profane mirth and triumph. Then it was that Samson offered this prayer, and willingly devoted himself to death, that he might be an instrument of God’s vengeance on them.

RICHARD ROGERS: What was that but a faithful serving of God, though with the loss of his life?

J. C. RYLE: Like Samson, we may do more for God in our death, than ever we did in our lives, Judges 16:30…We may die to the Lord as well as live to the Lord; we may be patient sufferers as well as active workers.

A. W. PINK: When, then, some insist that a real child of God may lay suicidal hands upon himself, we ask, Where is Scripture in support of such a horrible affirmation? And the answer is—there is none.

J. C. RYLE: Let us leave it to God to choose the where, and when, and how, and all the manner of our departing. Let us only ask that it may “glorify God.”

A. W. PINK: And to those Christians who are fearful lest such a terrible ending as suicide should be their lot, we close by reminding them of the sure promises of the preserving hand of the Most High over His saints. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous—but the Lord delivereth him out of them all,” Psalm 34:19, “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,” 1 Peter 1:5.

 

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Jesus Christ, the King of Empathy

Posted on July 5, 2019 by The Editor

John 11:32-35

When Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): This is one of those verses which bring out very strongly the real humanity of our Lord, and His power to sympathize with His people. As a real man, He was specially moved when He saw Mary and the Jews weeping.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): And a man, too, who, notwithstanding His amazing dignity and excellence, did not feel it beneath Him to sympathize with the distressed, and weep with those who wept―Jesus had humanity in its perfection, and humanity unadulterated is generous and sympathetic. A particular friend of Jesus was dead; and, as his friend, the affectionate soul of Christ was troubled, and he mingled his sacred tears with those of the afflicted relatives. Behold the man, in His deep, heart-felt trouble, and in His flowing tears!

J. C. RYLE: Jesus is no less certainly perfect man—able to sympathize with man in all his bodily sufferings, and acquainted by experience with all that man’s body has to endure. Power and sympathy are marvelously combined in Him who died for us on the cross―If we saw His divine acts only, we might forget that He was man. If we saw His seasons of poverty and weakness only, we might forget that He was God. But we are intended to see in Jesus divine strength and human weakness united in one person. We cannot explain the mystery; but we may take comfort in the thought, “this is our Saviour, this is our Christ—one able to sympathize, because He is man, but one Almighty to save, because He is God.”

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): As God, He of necessity possessed every perfection: but, as man and mediator, He learned much from His own experience. By His own temptations, He learned our need of succour. He Himself, under His own grievous sufferings, “prayed to God with strong crying and tears, and was heard,” and was strengthened from above, Hebrews 5:7; Luke 22:42,43. Hence then, He knows how much we must need assistance under our trials, and how certainly we must faint, if we be not supported by His almighty power…Are we exposed to severe afflictions and manifold temptations? In Him is boundless compassion to sympathize with us, and irresistible power to succour and support us.

WILLIAM PRINGLE (1790-1858): How needful it was for Him to become man, and to suffer as He did―In being capable of sympathy with His people, God made Him perfectly qualified to be the Captain or leader in our salvation, that is, in the work of saving us, even through sufferings, as thereby He procured our salvation and became experimentally acquainted with the temptations and trials of humanity.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  Christ is a brother to us, not only on account of unity as to flesh and nature, but also by becoming a partaker of our infirmities.

CHARLES SIMEON: A consciousness of His relation to us calls forth His sympathy―yet He could not know this experimentally, but by being reduced to a suffering condition; this therefore was one benefit which He derived from His sufferings. He learned by them more tenderly to sympathize with His afflicted people, and more speedily to succour them when imploring His help.

J. C. RYLE: One comfortable practical lesson stands out on the face of this truth, which ought never to be overlooked. Our Lord is able to sympathize with man in every stage of man’s existence, from the cradle to the grave. He knows by experience the nature and temperament of the child, the boy, and the young man. He has stood in their place. He has occupied their position. He knows their hearts.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): It is our mercy that the Lord Jesus perfectly knew, and as truly felt the whole of what human nature is in all its parts, yet without sin. Had it been otherwise, He would have been man in appearance, and not in reality. Whereas, the Holy Ghost expressly saith, that “in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren,” Hebrews 2:17.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Now look back to Psalm 22, verses 14 and 15, and you will see how fully Christ can sympathize with His people, because He also walked through the valley of the shadow of death even as they have to do. Hear Him crying there, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me”—remember that this is the Saviour speaking here―“thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” Well then, there is great comfort for the sheep in the fact that their Shepherd has been along that gloomy way before them.

CHARLES SIMEON: We are assured that “he learned obedience by the things that he suffered,” Hebrews 5:8. Now, as obedience consists entirely in love to God and man, sympathy, which is the highest office of love, must of necessity have been learned by Him. And how perfectly He had learned it, His address to the persecuting Saul declares, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Acts 9:4―Whether it be good or evil, He considers it as done to Himself. Thus it is with our blessed Lord. Are we persecuted? He feels in his inmost soul the dagger that pierces us, Zechariah 2:8. Do we labour under distresses of any kind? “In all our afflictions he is afflicted,” Isaiah 63:9.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): And the same tenderness He retains still toward His afflicted.

J. C. RYLE: He did not leave behind Him His human nature when He ascended up into heaven. At this moment, at God’s right hand, He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and can understand tears as well as ever―Our Lord Jesus Christ never changes. He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,” Hebrews 13:8. His heart is still as compassionate as when He was upon earth. His sympathy with sufferers is still as strong.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Such an one is Christ, a merciful King, as well as High Priest, who is touched with a feeling of His people’s infirmities.

JOHN CALVIN: Therefore whenever any evils pass over us, let it ever occur to us, that nothing happens to us but what the Son of God has Himself experienced in order that He might sympathize with us; nor let us doubt but that He is at present with us as though He suffered with us.

CHARLES SIMEON: Let this be a source of comfort to you under every affliction.

 

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God’s Law & God’s Gospel Illustrated

Posted on June 28, 2019 by The Editor

1 Kings 19:9-13

And [Elijah] came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.

And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In the phenomena of the mount we may perceive a striking illustration of the vivid contrast between the Law and the Gospel. Thus we may see in this incident a figure of God’s ordinary manner of dealing with souls, for it is customary for Him to use the Law before the Gospel.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): The manner in which God manifested Himself to His prophet on this occasion, resembles, in many respects, the manner in which He now manifests himself to men, when He comes to reprove them for their sins, and thus prepare the way for their conversion and salvation…It is, however, necessary to explain in what sense it is said that God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. It is certain that, in one sense, He was in each of them―they were all the effect of His power; they were all proofs of His presence, and in all of them some of His natural perfections might be seen. But in another sense He was in none of them. They were rather the precursors, the heralds of the approaching Deity, than the Deity Himself. And like heralds they proclaimed, though without a voice, the greatness, the majesty, and the power of Him whose heralds they were.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): These first terrible apparitions might well be to humble the prophet, and to prepare him to hearken more heedfully to the still voice, and to whatsoever God should say unto him.

A. W. PINK: As the plough and the harrow are necessary in order to break up the hard earth and prepare it for the seed, so a sense of the majesty, holiness and wrath of God is the harbinger which prepares us to appreciate truly His grace and love. The careless must be awakened, the soul made sensible of its danger, the conscience convicted of the sinfulness of sin, ere there is any turning unto God and fleeing from the wrath to come.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679):  The field is not fit for the seed to be cast into it till the plough hath broken it up.  Nor is the soul prepared to receive the mercy of the gospel till broken with the terrors of the law.

A. W. PINK: Self-complacency has to be rudely shattered and the rags of self-righteousness torn off if a sense of deep need is to fill the heart. The Hebrews had to come under the whip of their masters and to be made to groan in the brick kilns before they longed to be delivered from Egypt. A man must know himself to be utterly lost before he will crave salvation. The wind and fire must do their work before we can appreciate the “joyful sound.” Sentence of death has to be written upon us ere we turn to Christ for life. Yet those experiences are not saving ones: they do but prepare the way, as the ministry of John the Baptist fitted men to behold the Lamb of God.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Terrible judgments appear as if they must convert sinners, yet there certainly are those in many places who have passed through a whole series of judgments and are rather hardened than softened by them!―That which effectually wins human hearts to God and to His Christ is not an extraordinary display of power. Men can be made to tremble when God sends pestilence, famine, fire and others of His terrible judgments—but these things usually end in the hardening of men’s hearts, not in the winning of them. See what God did to Pharaoh and his land. Surely those plagues were thick and heavy—the like of which had never been seen before, yet what was the result? “And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” Exodus 9:7. So it usually is. These things are well enough as preliminaries to the Divine Gospel which gently conquers the heart, but they do not, of themselves, affect the soul.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Not the most dreadful things of God’s wrath, the terrors of the law, the alarms of threatening justice, nor even the apprehensions of hell and everlasting misery, though passing before his view, will compel him to cover his face in shame and confusion, and make him tremblingly cry out, “Lord! save or I perish.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Men are not converted by judgments. They may submit themselves in a false way, but power and displays of terror do not win the heart. What, then, does God use to touch the heart?

GIOVANNI DIODATI (1576-1649): God’s saving revelation of Himself is in the Gospel only, which soundeth grace and comfort, and not in His terrible law.

C. H. SPURGEON: That which conquered Elijah’s brave heart was not a whirlwind, nor the earthquake, nor fire—it was the still small voice!—Observe that where there was a display of power, as in wind, earthquake and fire, we read afterwards, “God was not in it,” but here, in this still small voice in which there was no display of power, God was at work! Here, then, we see the weakness of power, but we learn also the power of weakness, and how God often makes that which seems most resistible to be irresistible—the still small voice succeeds where “terrible things in righteousness” are of no avail.

ROBERT HAWKER: The strong wind rending the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces, the earthquake, the fire―the Lord was not discovered by the prophet any of them: neither did he cover his face in his mantle until he heard the still small voice.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): In the same way also does God accomplish His purposes in the souls of men. It is not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, that God manifests Himself to them, but in the still small voice.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Now the prophet perceives the present Deity. Wrapped in his mantle, his face is hid, ashamed, afraid to look upon God, yet standing in the mouth of the cave, attentive to the words of the eternal Jehovah.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Prophet did not come out of the cave until he heard that voice. He was called upon by God to come out and stand in the open before the Most High―but as I read it, he had not done this until the still small voice called him and drew him in the way of the command, so that obedience is a second blessed effect. Shamefaced on account of his errors, he is now resolved to follow his Lord’s word at once. And he stands at the opening of the cave to hear what God, the Lord, will speak. If the Spirit of God shall work effectually upon any of us, one of the first marks of it will be that while we are humbled because of sin, we shall grow earnest to work righteousness. Grace makes us tender in the matter of obedience.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Blessed are the people that hear this still, small, gentle voice―“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance,” Psalm 89:15.

ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! have you heard that voice? Hath your soul passed under the condemning sentence of God’s law, and are you fled from it to the Lamb of God for salvation?

 

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