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.”

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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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