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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Assembling Ourselves Together

Posted on June 21, 2019 by The Editor

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): Surely there is great force in the words, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): I think some Christians need to have their consciences exercised more than they are, in regard to gathering together with God’s people, where the Word of God is appreciated, and where they come together to sing His praises and to pray.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It is the duty of saints to assemble together for public worship, on account of God, who has appointed it, who approves of it, and whose glory is concerned in it; and on the account of the saints themselves, that they may be delighted, refreshed, comforted, instructed, edified, and perfected; and on account of others, that they may be convinced, converted, and brought to the knowledge and faith of Christ; and also, in imitation of the primitive saints.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Every man that professes Christianity should, in this respect also, copy their conduct: nor can any man be considered to have any religion, let his sentiments be what they may, who does not attend on the public worship of his Maker.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Many Christians today shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh, I am not interested in going to church. I don’t need to go; I can worship God just as well at home.”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): So they stay at home all day on Sunday―Yes, there are some who even make a bad use of what ought to be a great blessing, namely, the printing press and the printed sermon, by staying at home to read a sermon because, they say, it is better than going out to hear one!

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We should observe, in Luke 4:16, what marked honour our Lord Jesus Christ gave to the public means of grace. We are told that He went into the synagogue of Nazareth on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read the Scriptures, Luke 4:16. In the days when our Lord was on earth, the Scribes and Pharisees were the chief teachers of the Jews. We can hardly suppose that a Jewish synagogue enjoyed much of the Spirit’s presence and blessing under such teaching. Yet, even then, we find our Lord visiting a synagogue, and reading and preaching in it. It was the place where His Father’s day and Word were publicly recognized, and, as such, He thought it good to do it honour.

ADAM CLARKE: “As His custom was,” Luke 4:16. Our Lord regularly attended the public worship of God in the synagogues.

J. C. RYLE: We need not doubt that there is a practical lesson for us in this part of our Lord’s conduct. He would have us know that we are not lightly to forsake any assembly of worshipers, which professes to respect the name, the day, and the book of God. There may be many things in such an assembly which might be done better. There may be a want of fullness, clearness, and distinctness in the doctrine preached. There may be a lack of unction and devoutness in the manner in which the worship is conducted. But―it becomes a Christian to think much before he stays away. If there be but two or three in the congregation who meet in the name of Jesus, there is a special blessing promised. But there is no like blessing promised to him who tarries at home.

C. H. SPURGEON: David said, “In the congregations will I bless the Lord,” Psalm 26:12; by which I understand he felt that his blessing God might be useful to others, else he might have shut himself up in his room and praised God there. David was not like some of whom we know. I hear of some who say, “I shall not go to the place of worship in my village. I cannot get on with the minister. I buy Mr. So-and-So’s sermons and I find more truth in them, so I shall stay at home.” You remember the view the Apostle took of this when he wrote, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some”—a very bad manner, let me say, by the way the Apostle mentions it!

H. A. IRONSIDE: A man said to me once, “If I could find a perfect Church I would attend there.” I replied, “My dear friend, don’t. If you find a perfect Church don’t join it, because if you did it would be imperfect the moment you got into it.” There is no such thing as a perfect Church, but we can thank God for the places where people meet to hear the Word of God, and to join in praise and prayer.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): One important lesson we may learn from this is, how much we lose by our failure to cultivate the fellowship of Christian brethren.

H. A. IRONSIDE: We need one another; and because we do, the Spirit of God has come down to knit us together into one body. Think of one of the most frequently quoted verses in the Bible: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all, ” 2 Corinthians 13:14. Have you ever stopped to think what is meant by the communion of the Holy Ghost? It is God working in our hearts, helping us to enjoy the things of God together, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): United to Christ by faith, we become members of the Body, of which He is the Head. To that body we have duties―With that body we are to unite, both in its public and social meetings, and not by withdrawing ourselves from it, to shew an indifference to its welfare. Some there were, even in the Apostle’s days, who, through cowardice or worldly-mindedness, forsook the assemblies of the Church: and some there are who do so at the present day.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): This in all ages hath prevailed on many, in the times of trial and persecution, to withdraw themselves from those assemblies; and those who have done so are the “fearful and unbelieving,” Revelation 21:8.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): The apostle saw good reason to join both these in one exhortation: “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,”―as if he had said, ‘If you cannot agree to worship God one with another, you will have little love one for another.’

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Extremely needed, therefore, by us all, is the admonition to be stimulated to love and not to separate from those whom God has joined to us, but to embrace with brotherly kindness all those who are united to us in faith―for doubtless the contempt of the brethren, moroseness, envy, an immoderate estimate of ourselves, and other sinful impulses, clearly show that our love is either very cold, or does not at all exist.

A. W. PINK: When Christians are in fellowship with Christ, they desire and seek the fellowship of His people; conversely, when they are out of fellowship with the Lord they have little or no desire for communion with believers.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): Fire increaseth by laying together many coals on one place; so is devotion inflamed by the union of many hearts, and by a joint presence; nor can the approach of the last day of judgment, or particular judgments upon a nation, give a writ of ease from such assemblies.

 

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A Reminder For Fathers & Grandfathers

Posted on June 14, 2019 by The Editor

Exodus 20:5,6; Exodus 34:6,7

I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): This law was not to serve a particular dispensation, or to endure a particular time, but it was a declaration of His Will, invariable in all places and all times; being founded upon the immutable nature of His being.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): He that sins against God not only wrongs his own soul, but perhaps wrongs his seed more than he thinks of.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): This is a terrible word of threatening, which justly afrights our hearts, and stirs up fears in us. It is quite contrary to our reason, for we conceive it to be a very unjust proceeding, that the children and posterity should be punished for their fathers’ and forefathers’ offences.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The Jews profanely characterized the Divine procedure by this proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,” Ezekiel 18:2.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): In the judgments of God there is always a deep abyss, into which if you fear to be plunged, adore that which it is not lawful to question.

MARTIN LUTHER: Forasmuch as God has so decreed, and is pleased so to proceed, therefore our duty is to know and acknowledge that He is a just God, and that He wrongs none. Seeing that these fearful threatenings are contrary to our understanding, therefore flesh and blood regard them not―but we that are true Christians believe the same to be certain, when the Holy Ghost touches our hearts, that this proceeding is just and right, and thereby we stand in the fear of God.

JOHN CALVIN: If it be objected that there is no reason why the sins of their fathers should be brought as an accusation against them, because it is written, “The soul that hath sinned shall die, and the children shall not be punished instead of the fathers,” Ezekiel 18:20, the answer will be easy. The Lord makes the children to bear the punishment of the sins of the fathers, when they resemble their fathers; and yet they are not punished for other men’s sins, for they themselves have sinned.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Anybody who studies human nature cannot help discovering that a child of a drunk has a greater tendency to drink than a child of a sober man.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): “He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the wind,” Proverbs 11:29. To trouble one’s own house is to walk so as to leave an evil example for succeeding generations. It is not merely physical ills handed down in judgment, as in the case of the alcoholic’s child being born with an inherent tendency to disease; but the father’s ways are copied by the children. This is what is so prominent in the case of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, “who made Israel to sin,” 1 Kings 14:16.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): National judgments, thus continued from generation to generation, appear to be what are designed by the words in the text―the punishment which the Jewish nation had been meriting for a series of years came now upon them, because they copied and increased the sins of their fathers, and the cup of their iniquity was full. Thus the children might be said to bear the sins of the fathers, that is, in temporal punishment, for in no other way does God visit these upon the children.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): That denunciation of the LORD is, of visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): The infants that perished in the flood (Genesis 7), and at the conflagration of Sodom (Genesis 19), died penally under the judgment that came for the sin of their parents―even in things moral, God threatens to “visit the iniquities of the fathers on the children.” So the Israelites wandered penally in the wilderness forty years, and bare the iniquity of their parents.

WILHELMUS à BRAKEL  (1635-1711): Everyone’s commission of sin is personal, but judgment may come upon the children—not eternal judgment, but temporal judgment.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means “clearing the impenitent,”—or perhaps, rather, ‘clearing I will not clear;’ that is, although He forgive, yet He will chastise, and not altogether leave unpunished.

GEORGE SWINNOCK (1627-1673): Even children that have been good, have suffered for their father’s sins.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): How can this be just?

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Was the wicked treatment of Joseph by his brethren to pass unpunished? No, that could not be. They, like all others, must reap what they had sown; reap the bitter harvest not only themselves but in their offspring too, for the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. So it proved here, for it was the “fourth generation” (Genesis 13:15) which came out of Egypt. Four generations, then, reaped the harvest, and reaped precisely “whatsoever” had been sown; for just as Joseph was sold into slavery, and carried down into Egypt, so in Egyptian slavery his brethren and their children suffered!

MARTIN LUTHER: God permits the external and corporal punishment to go on, yea, sometimes over the penitent children also for examples, to the end that others may fly from sin and lead a godly life.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The consequences of conduct do not die with the doers. “The evil that men do, lives after them.” The generations are so knit together, and the full results of deeds are often so slow-growing, that one generation sows and another reaps―it is true evermore and everywhere.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Does not this approach very near to that precious truth of the New Testament times, that we are members one of another, and that the conduct of one member affects all the rest?

A. W. PINK: Today we are suffering from the compromisings, unfaithfulness, sectarianism, pride, and wickedness, of those who went before us.

MARTIN LUTHER: But He will also do good and be merciful “unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” This is a great, glorious, and comfortable promise, far surpassing all human reason and understanding, that, for the sake of one godly person, so many should be partakers of undeserved blessings and mercies. For we find many examples, that a multitude of people have enjoyed mercies and benefits for the sake of one godly man; as for Abraham’s sake, many people were preserved and blessed, and also for Isaac’s sake; and for the sake of Naaman the whole kingdom of Assyria was blessed of God.

GEORGE SWINNOCK: The branches fare the worse for the defects that are in the root; and the branches thrive the better for the sap that is in the root. “The just man walks in his integrity, and his children are blessed,” Proverbs 20:7. Thy duty is to instruct thy children in the Word and Will of God.

 

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A Day of Pentecostal Power

Posted on June 7, 2019 by The Editor

Acts 2:1-4, 14, 17, 22-23, 32-33, 41

When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance…

Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upoon all flesh…Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain…This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear…

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Marvellous, beyond conception, was the miracle wrought on the day of Pentecost; when a company of illiterate fishermen were enabled, in one moment, to speak a great diversity of languages, with as much ease and fluency and propriety as their own native tongue.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): This produced an effect on the city which called forth the first recorded address in the power of Pentecost. It is arresting to see in that address how the apostle first referred to the Old Testament Scriptures, and, second, showed how all their predictions were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. The result of this message was immediate and glorious. Under conviction produced by the Holy Spirit, the people asked, “What shall we do?” Peter replied, by giving clear instructions, and by testimony and exhortation, until about 3,000 souls were added to the church.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We cannot too often read the story of that wondrous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; and let us never read it without asking the Lord to manifest in our midst the fullness of the Spirit’s power.

CHARLES SIMEON: The Christian Church—this is at a low ebb, and greatly needs a revival. Where are the Pentecostal effusions of the Spirit, and the simultaneous conversions of thousands unto God? In great and extensive countries, where religion once flourished, the very name of Christ is now scarcely known.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): I do not suppose that any man can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition, say, for instance, of Manchester, or of any of our great towns, and mark how the populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our Christianity, and never comes into our places of worship, and has no share in our hopes any more than if they lived in Central Africa.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): I do not hesitate to assert this―that the only hope of the church lies in revival…I see no hope whatsoever in any other movement, or organization, or any other kind of effort. The one supreme need of the church is revival.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): A revival of true, vital godliness in the souls of believers, or an increased number of conversions, is the work of God’s Spirit. Strictly speaking, He is the only Revivalist.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Revival is always His work―A revival, I would say, is a repetition in some degree or in some measure of that which happened on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. It is a pouring out, or a pouring forth of the Spirit of God upon a number of people at the same time.

C. H. SPURGEON: I fancy that if God were to give us Pentecostal blessings, it would be seen that many of us are by no means ready to receive them. Suppose there were 3,000 persons converted in one day here, most of the churches round here would say, “There is a shocking state of excitement over at the Tabernacle. It is really dreadful!” The very ‘sound’ Brethren would feel that we had gone off into Arminianism, or some other error and I expect some of you would say, very dolefully, “Oh, dear! Dear! Dear! Dear! We do hope they will all stand.” The first thought that would be excited in many Christian minds would be one of suspicion!―there is not one in a hundred who would think it was true! And we ministers would be very much of the same mind.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: My friends, when the next revival comes, it come as a surprise to everybody, and especially to those who have been trying to organize it.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Let us not fold our arms and vainly say, “The time is not come.” Let us not yield to that pernicious offshoot of a one-sided theology, which is rightly called fatalism, and say, “God is sovereign, and He works according to His own will. We must wait His time. Human effort is in vain. We cannot get up a revival.”

C. H. SPURGEON: I was preaching in Bedford, and I prayed that God would bless the sermon and give me at least some few souls that afternoon. When I had done, there was an old Wesleyan Brother there who gave me a good scolding, which I richly deserved. He said to me, “I did not say, ‘Amen,’ when you were asking for a few souls to be converted, for I thought you were limiting the Holy One of Israel! Why did you not pray with all your heart for all of them to be saved? I did,” he added, “and that was why I did not say, ‘Amen,’ to your narrow prayer.” It is often the case that we preachers do not honour God by believing that He will give great blessings and, therefore, He does not honour us by giving those great blessings! But if we maintained a closer adherence to the Truth of God and had a firmer confidence that God’s Word shall never return unto Him void, He would do far greater things by us than He has ever yet done!

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Let us seek to get together according to God; to come as one man and prostrate ourselves before the mercy-seat, and perseveringly wait upon our God for the revival of His work.

CHARLES SIMEON: We want to see the lighting down of His arm amongst us; and such displays of His power and glory as when He “shook the room where His people were assembled, and filled them all with the Holy Ghost,” and with power, Acts 4:31-33. We are looking for “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” Acts 3:19. And for these we should be earnestly pleading with God in prayer; saying, with the prophet, “O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down; that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,” Isaiah 64:1!

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Oh! blessed Pentecost of a blessed God! Lord! grant in this latter day of thy Church a renewed Pentecost to manifest Thy glory!

CHARLES SIMEON: “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” Psalm 85:6. But the petition may be offered also, for our own souls in particular—Who amongst us does not need to offer it? We are but too apt, all of us, to experience changes in the divine life—how often do we see reason to deplore the loss of those ardent affections which once glowed in our souls! so that we have need particularly to cry, “O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of my years!”

 

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God’s Provision in Times of Famine

Posted on May 31, 2019 by The Editor

1 Kings 17:1-9

Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  Elijah foretold a long and grievous famine, with which Israel should be punished for their sins. That fruitful land, for want of rain, should be turned into barrenness, for the iniquity of those that dwelt therein, but Elijah himself was taken care of in that famine.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In the very worst of times God will show Himself strong on behalf of His own. Whoever else starves, they shall be fed: “Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure,” Isaiah 33:16.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Blessed indeed it is to see how rich and full is God’s provision for our need. There isn’t a single need that can possibly arise in the history of God’s people, that He has not foreseen, and made provision for. And it is well if our hearts, have drunk in this blessed fact, for it will help to give us confidence in God, and enable us to go to Him in every time of need.

A. W. PINK: Nevertheless, it was real testing of Elijah’s faith. Whoever heard of such instruments being employed—birds of prey bringing food in a time of famine! Could the ravens be depended upon? Was it not far more likely that they would devour the food themselves than bring it to the prophet? Ah, his trust was not to be in the birds, but in the sure word of Him that cannot lie: “I have commanded the ravens.” It was the Creator and not the creature, the Lord Himself, and not the instruments, that Elijah’s heart was to be fixed upon.

MATTHEW HENRY: Let us learn hence to encourage ourselves in God in the greatest straits, and never to distrust Him. He that could furnish a table in the wilderness, and make ravens purveyors, cooks, and servitors to His prophet, is able to supply all our need according to His riches in glory…Elijah had but one meal brought him at a time, every morning and every evening, to teach him not to take thought for the morrow. Let those who have but from hand to mouth learn to live upon Providence, and trust it for the bread of the day in the day; thank God for bread this day, and let tomorrow bring bread with it.

A. W. PINK: Why does God suffer the brook to dry up?

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Brooks will dry up, even if godly men are being sustained by them.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The little stream dried up “after a while;” and Elijah, no doubt, would wonder what was to be done next, as he saw it daily sending a thinner thread to Jordan. But he was not told till the channel was dry, and the pebbles in its bed bleaching in the sun. God makes us sometimes wait on beside a diminishing rivulet, and keeps us ignorant of the next step, till it is dry.

JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): Providence many times suffers our wants to pinch hard, and many fears to arise, out of design to magnify the care and love of God in the supply, Deuteronomy 8:3.

A. W. PINK: Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the blesser Himself.

C. H. SPURGEON: Is there anyone here whose brook is drying up? Has it quite dried up? Still trust you in God; for, if the ravens are put out of commission, God will employ some other agency―when the brook dried up, God sent His servant Elijah to Zarephath where there was a widow woman who would sustain him…Famine may be in the land, there may be neither dew nor rain, and even the brook Cherith may at last be dried up, but since Jehovah is my Shepherd, “I shall not want,” Psalm 23:1.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): A very sweet thought it is to me, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): We love to repeat the words, but how many believe them? How often we get panicky when the purse is empty and we are out of employment!

C. H. MACKINTOSH: It is one thing to talk of the life of faith, and another thing altogether to live it. The theory is one thing; the living reality, quite another. But let us never forget that it is the privilege of every child of God to live by faith; and, further, that the life of faith takes in everything that the believer can possibly need, from the starting-post to the goal of his earthly career.

C. H. SPURGEON: Remember that God is still the same God, and He that helped Elijah, will help you…He is just as faithful now as ever! Elijah, remember, was “a man of like passions” with you, James 5:17. No raven may come flying into your window, but He will send you bread in another way…I think I hear you say, “My store of meal is running very short. My flask of oil is almost empty. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Why, He is still with His Elijah and He is still with such widows as the widow of Zarephath. Do you think that He is dead? Has it crossed your mind that Divine Providence is a failure and that God will no more provide for His own? Oh, think not so! If you do, your unbelief will prove a scourge to you—it will break that meal barrel, it will dash in pieces that oil flask! You will get nothing of the Lord if you waver! But if you keep strong in faith, you shall find that Jehovah Jireh is still His name—“The Lord will provide,” Genesis 22:8; “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11

A. W. PINK: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19. It is profitless to ask, How? The Lord has ten thousand ways of making good His Word. Some reader of this very paragraph may be living from hand to mouth, having no stock of money or store of victuals: yea, not knowing where the next meal will come from. But if you be a child of His, God will not fail you, and if your trust be in Him, it shall not be disappointed. In some way or other “The Lord will provide.” “O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing,” Psalm 34:9,10; “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things”―food and clothing―“shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33. These promises are addressed to us, to encourage us to cleave unto God and do His will.

H. A. IRONSIDE: There is one thing to do, and that is turn to Him and leave all with Him.

C. H. SPURGEON: If you have trusted Jesus to be the Saviour of your immortal spirit, can you not also trust Him to be the Provider for this poor flesh of the things which perish?

HUDSON TAYLOR (1832-1905): There is a living God. He has spoken in His Word. He means just what He says and will do all that He has promised.

JOHN STEVENSON (Circa 1850): Who dares deny that the promise of the living God is an absolute security?

C. H. SPURGEON: Let us write this down, both in spirituals and temporals—“The Lord will provide.”

 

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Noah’s Faith

Posted on May 24, 2019 by The Editor

Matthew 24:37-39; Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 7:6,11

As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth…In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It is not without reason that Moses again mentions the age of Noah. For old age has this among other evils, that it renders men more indolent and morose; whence the faith of Noah was the more conspicuous, because it did not fail him in that advanced period of life.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Aged persons are apt to be peevish, fretful, and passionate; and therefore need to be on their guard against such infirmities and temptations. Faith, love, and patience, are three main Christian graces, and soundness in these is much of gospel perfection. There is enduring patience and waiting patience, both of which must be looked after; to bear evils becomingly, and contentedly to wait for the good till we are fit for it, and it for us, being “followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises,” Hebrews 6:12.

JOHN CALVIN: So Noah’s promptitude deserves no little commendation; because, being commanded to enter the ark, he immediately obeyed―he, being moved with fear by the Word, perceived by faith the approach of that deluge which all others ridiculed. Wherefore, his faith is again commended in this place, because, indeed, he raised his eyes above heaven and earth.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): He was nearly five hundred years old when he began to preach about the flood—a good old age to take up such a subject. For a hundred and twenty years he pursued his theme—three times as long as most men are ever able to preach, and now, at last God’s time of long-suffering is over, and He proves the truthfulness of the testimony of His servant by sending the flood that Noah had foretold.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): He was five hundred old when God first foretold the flood, and promised the old world one hundred and twenty years’ respite: but, wearied out with their obstinacy in sin, He “cut the work short in righteousness,” Romans 9:28, and brought the flood upon them twenty years sooner:* as it is said of Christ’s second coming, that, “for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened,” Matthew 24:22; so, for the contumacy of these ungodly sinners, their judgment was hastened.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): And remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man.” Some would have us to believe, that ere the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven, this earth shall be covered, from pole to pole, with a fair mantle of righteousness. They would teach us to look for a reign of righteousness and peace, as the result of agencies now in operation; but the brief passage just quoted cuts up by the roots, in a moment, all such vain and delusive expectations. How was it in the days of Noah? Did righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea? Was God’s truth dominant? Was the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord? Scripture replies, “the earth was filled with violence,” Genesis 6:13; “all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth,” Genesis 6:12; “the earth also was corrupt before God,” Genesis 6:11.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): I don’t find any place where God says the world is to grow better and better…I find that the earth is to grow worse and worse.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Well, then, “so shall it be in the days of the Son of man.” This is plain enough. “Righteousness” and “violence” are not very like each other. Neither is there any similarity between universal wickedness and universal peace. It only needs a heart subject to the Word, and freed from the influence of preconceived opinions, in order to understand the true character of the days immediately preceding “the coming of the Son of man.” Let not my reader be led astray. Let him reverently bow to Scripture. Let him look at the condition of the world, “in the days before the flood;” and let him bear in mind, that “as” it was then, “so” shall it be at the close of this present period. This is most simple―most conclusive. There was nothing like a state of universal righteousness and peace then, neither shall there be anything like it by and by.

MATTHEW HENRY: The Lord will come in a day when we look not for Him, and an hour when men are not aware. The time which men think to be the most improper and unlikely, and when therefore they are most secure, will be the time of the Lord’s coming. Let us then beware how we in our thoughts and imaginations put that day far away from us; but rather suppose it to be so much nearer in reality, by how much further off it is in the opinion of the ungodly world.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): This is the way of sinners: “because judgment is not executed speedily upon them,” they think it never will. The scoffers in the last days will say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” But God assures us, that “the judgment of sinners now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not,” 2 Peter 2:3.

JOHN TRAPP: For God is not asleep, or gone a journey, “because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness,” Acts 17:31.

C. H. SPURGEON: Noah is the picture of one who is the Lord’s witness during evil days, and lives through them faithfully, enduring unto the end.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): When Noah built the Ark, there were few with him, and many mocked at him; but he was found to be in the right at last. There was an ark for Noah, in the day of the flood―and there shall be a hiding-place for all believers in Jesus, when the wrath of God at last bursts on this wicked world.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): May it be my mercy, to remember, while reading the account of Noah’s finding favour with God, that it is by the Lord Jesus Christ alone, of whom Noah was a type, that I can find favour and acceptance with God in this life, or salvation in another. In Him, as the True Ark, may I be found, when God shall arise to judge the world.

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*Editor’s Note: John Trapp’s analysis of the timing of the flood is based upon comparing Genesis 5:32, Genesis 6:1-3, and Genesis 7:6, in addition to the Scriptures that he has cited.

►Editor’s Note: Today’s publication marks the six hundredth article posted on the Bible Truth Chat Room website. All these posts are accessible from the links on the sitemap page.

 

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Holy Hate Speech

Posted on May 17, 2019 by The Editor

Proverbs 6:16-19; Psalm 97:10; Psalm 139:21,22

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Ye that love the LORD, hate evil.

Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The Lord hates sin with a perfect hatred.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He hates every sin; He can never be reconciled to it; He hates nothing but sin. But there are some sins which He does in a special manner hate; and all those here mentioned are such as are injurious to our neighbour. It is an evidence of the good-will God bears to mankind that those sins are in a special manner provoking to Him which are prejudicial to the comfort of human life and society.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): To represent the Most High as simply a loving Father to His creatures is not only extremely partial, but altogether an erroneous view of His relations to us. His love is indeed the originating impulse of all the blessings of the covenant. But God is also a moral Governor, a righteous King, whose character is reflected in the government which He exercises; and therefore does He manifest His holy hatred of sin and justly punishes it. Hence it is that when He seeks the return of sinners unto Himself it is by a system of mediation which vindicates His perfections and magnifies His law. Calvary supplied the most solemn and awe-inspiring display of God’s hatred of sin that time or eternity will ever furnish!

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): The torments of the bottomless pit are not so dreadful a demonstration of God’s hatred of sin, as the agonies of the cross!

JOHN NELSON DARBY (1800-1882): Upon the cross, all that God was in His holy hatred of sin fell on Christ for our sakes; and hence it was not then a question of love and fellowship, but all else that God was—His holiness, truth, majesty, righteousness—all was against Him, because on the cross He was as the One made sin for us.

C. H. SPURGEON: When sin was laid on Christ, even though it was none of His, yet the Father forsook Him…Unless we believe that sin cost Christ His life, we shall never have that holy enmity towards sin which we ought to have, that blessed intolerance of sin which ought to take possession of every Christian’s heart and mind!

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Sin is to be hated, because of the evil nature of it, it being exceeding sinful; and because of its evil consequences, bringing death, ruin, and destruction with it to the souls of men, unless grace prevents; and disquietude, distress, and trouble to the saints themselves; and because it is hateful to God, being contrary to His nature, will, and law, and is hated by Christ; and therefore those that love Him should hate that, shun it, avoid it, depart from it, and abstain from all appearance of it; as all such will, that love Him in sincerity.

RICHARD SIBBES (1577-1635): It is evident that our conversion is sound when we loathe and hate sin from the heart: a man may know his hatred of evil to be true, first, if it be universal: he that hates sin truly, hates all sin. Secondly, true hatred is fixed; there is no appeasing it but by abolishing the thing hated. Thirdly, hatred is a more rooted affection than anger: anger may be appeased, but hatred remains and sets itself against the whole kind.

WILLIAM PERKINS (1558-1602): And all this must proceed from a good ground, even from a good heart hating sin perfectly, that is, all sin, as David, “I hate them with perfect hatred;” and not as some, who can hate some sin, but cleave to some other: as many can hate pride, but love covetousness or some other darling sin: but we must attain to the hatred of all, before we can come to the practice of this precept.

RICHARD SIBBES: If our hatred be true, we hate all evil, in ourselves first, and then in others; he that hates a toad, would hate it most in his own bosom. Many, like Judah, are severe in censuring others (Genesis 38:24), but partial to themselves. Fifthly, he that hates sin truly, hates the greatest sin in the greatest measure; he hates all evil in a just proportion. Sixthly, our hatred is right if we can endure admonition and reproof for sin, and not be enraged; therefore, those that swell against reproof do not appear to hate sin.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Spirit also, very graciously, sanctifies us, and it is a part of His work to discover sin in us and to excite a holy hatred of it. He burns in our soul like flames of fire consuming evil.

RICHARD SIBBES: God is a Spirit, and He looks to our very spirits; and what we are in our spirits, in our hearts and affections, that we are to Him. Therefore, what ill we shun, let us do it from the heart, by hating it first. A man may avoid an evil action from fear, or out of other respects, but that is not sincerity. Therefore look to thy heart, see that thou hate evil, and let it come from sincere looking to God. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil,” saith David: not only avoid it, but hate it; and not only hate it, but hate it out of love to God.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): True Christians will maintain a holy hatred to all the ways of sin.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): To hate evil is to walk in light.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Who is there that enters into the interests of God with such oneness of soul as to say, “I hate them that hate thee, with perfect hatred”?

AUGUSTINE (354-430): What is “with a perfect hatred?”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Literally it is, “I hate them with a perfection of hatred.”

AUGUSTINE: How then will he fulfil in them both his own saying, “Have not I hated those that hated thee, Lord,” and the Lord’s command, “Love your enemies”?

C. H. SPURGEON: We are bound to love our own enemies, but not God’s enemies, since they are haters of all that is good and true, and the essentially good One Himself. We love them as our fellow-beings, but we hate them as haters of God…To hate a man for his own sake, or for any evil done to us, would be wrong; but to hate a man because he is the foe of all goodness and the enemy of all righteousness, is nothing more nor less than an obligation. The more we love God the more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse Him their affection. “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha,” 1 Corinthians 16:22.

JOHN GILL: Wicked men are haters of God; of His Word, both Law and Gospel; of His ordinances, ways, and worship; of His people, cause, and interest; and therefore good men hate them: not as men, as the creatures of God, and as their fellow creatures, whom they are taught by the Gospel to love, to do good unto, and pray for; but as haters of God, and because they are so; not their persons, but their works.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Hate we may, but then it must be not the man, but his evil qualities.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: Therefore let His saints learn the lesson and “hate evil.”

C. H. SPURGEON: We cannot love God without hating that which He hates.

 

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