Samson’s Eye Problem

Posted on January 26, 2018 by The Editor

Judges 14:1,2,7

Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife…And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Samson saw this woman and she pleased him well. It does not appear that he had any reason to think her wise or virtuous, or in any way likely to be a help-meet for him; but he saw something in her face that was very agreeable to his fancy. And therefore nothing will serve but she must be his wife…God had forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the devoted nations, one of which the Philistines were, Deuteronomy 7:3―But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to be “of the Lord,” Judges 14:4.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): This fact, however, in no sense justified the sin of Samson in seeking a wife of the Philistines in violation of the expressed commands of God.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The creature, whatever his own mind and purpose may be, is only “a rod, or staff, or sword in Jehovah’s hand,” to execute His holy will. And though this does not excuse the creature, who, in fact, thinks of doing his own will only―there may be many events which seem unpropitious, and threaten the total destruction of the life of God in the soul: but God will overrule them all for the final accomplishment of His own gracious purposes.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Often, for the manifestation of His wisdom, power, and grace, in bringing good out of evil, He, for a season, gives them up so far to the effects of their own depravity.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Samson saw no doubt many other women besides her, but he took special notice of her, and entertained a particular affection for her. Or, in other words—on the sight of her, he fell in love with her.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Eye-gate is one of the avenues through which temptations assail the soul…Walking by sight is the cause of most of our failures and sorrows. So it was at the beginning: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof,” Genesis 3:6. Mark, too, the confession of Achan: “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them,” Joshua 7:21. How significant the order here I saw, I coveted, I took!

MATTHEW HENRY: “Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her,” Judges 16:1. His taking a Philistine to wife was in some degree excusable, but to join himself to a harlot that he accidentally saw among them was such a profanation of his honour as an Israelite, as a Nazarite, that we cannot but blush to read it…His sin began in his eye―he saw there one in the attire of a harlot, and the lust which conceived brought forth sin: he went in unto her.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Satan never ceases diligently to suggest those things that may incite us to sin. The senses both readily embrace the occasion of sin that is presented to them, and also eagerly and quickly convey it to the mind. Wherefore let every one endeavour sedulously to govern his eyes, and his ears, and the other members of his body, unless he wishes to open so many doors to Satan, into the innermost affections of his heart: and especially as the sense of the eyes is the most tender, no common care must be used in putting them under restraint.

RICHARD BAXTER (1615-1691): We can scarce open our eyes, but we are in danger―If we see beauty, it is a bait to lust.

ROBERT NISBET (1814-1874): The lust of the eyes, desire; the lust of the flesh, pleasure.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The first false step leads on to connections unforeseen, from which the man would have shrunk in horror, if he had been told that he would make them. Once on the incline, time and gravity will settle how far down we go.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah,” Judges 16:4. With lustful love, as a harlot; which though not certain, because the phrase is here ambiguous, she being neither called a harlot, as she of Gaza was; nor yet his wife, as she of Timnath was, yet it may seem more probable; partly, because the dreadful punishment now inflicted upon Samson for this sin, whom God spared for the first offence, is an intimation that this sin was not inferior to the former; partly, because the confidence which the Philistine lords had in her, and their bold and frequent treating with her, and the whole course of her carriage towards Samson, show her to be a mercenary and perfidious harlot, and not a wife, whose affection and interest would have obliged her to better things; and partly, because Samson did not carry her home to his house, as husbands do their wives, but lodged in her house, as appears from the whole story.

MATTHEW HENRY: The burnt child dreads the fire; yet Samson, that has more than the strength of a man, in this comes short of the wisdom of a child; for, though he had been more than once brought into the highest degree of mischief and danger by the love of women and lusting after them, yet he would not take warning, but is here again taken in the same snare, and this third time pays for all. Solomon seems to refer especially to this story of Samson when, in his caution against uncleanness, he gives this account of a whorish woman, that “she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her,” Proverbs 7:26.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Awfully let us remark the punishment suited to the offence; that is, I mean, not as it came from the hand of man, but from the correction of God. It was Samson’s eyes which had become the great inlet to evil, when he first saw this harlot.

G. S. BOWES (circa 1820’s-1880’s): Samson fell by the “lust of the eyes,” 1 John 2:16; and before his death the Philistines “put out his eyes,” Judges 16:21.

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): I remember a notable saying of Ambrose, speaking of Samson: “He broke the bonds of his enemies, but he could not break the bonds of his own lusts; he choked the lion, but he could not choke his own wanton love; he set on fire the harvest of strangers, and himself being set on fire with the spark of one strange woman, lost the harvest of his virtue.” And this saying of Ambrose puts me in mind of a great Roman captain, who, as he was riding in his triumphant chariot through Rome, had his eyes never off a courtesan that walked along the street, which made one say, “Behold how this goodly captain, that conquered such potent armies, is himself conquered by one silly woman.”

 

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The Tender Mercies of the Wicked

Posted on January 18, 2018 by The Editor

Proverbs 12:10; Psalm 74:20

The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): Cruelty is a characteristic of the wicked in general.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): They are violent, without mercy, ruthless. The wicked, influenced by Satan, can show no other disposition than what is in their master.

JOSEPH CARYL (1602-1673): Cruel men, or men so full of cruelty that they deserve rather to be called cruelty than cruel: this sort of men inhabit and fill up all those places where the light of holy truth doth not shine.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): In some there is no fear of God at all, and they are bold and daring enough to assert it.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “The tender mercies of the wicked,”―if any such thing there were; but they have no such tenderness, scarce a common humanity.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): And doubtless it is the fear of God alone which unites us together in the bonds of our common humanity, which keeps us within the bounds of moderation, and represses cruelty; otherwise we should devour each other like wild beasts…For God, in order that He may preserve mankind from destruction, holds in check, with His secret rein, the lusts of the ungodly. It must, however, be always taken into the account, that the door is opened to all kinds of wickedness, when piety and the fear of God have vanished. Of this, at the present day, too clear a proof is manifest, in the horrible deluge of crime, which almost covers the whole earth. For, from what other cause than this arise such a variety of deceptions and frauds, such perfidy and cruelty, that all sense of justice is extinguished by the contempt of God?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): That natural compassion which is in him, as a man, is lost, and, by the power of corruption, is turned into hard-heartedness.

JOHN CALVIN: It will, indeed, sometimes happen, that they who are destitute of the fear of God, may cultivate the appearance of equity.

ADAM CLARKE: If they appear at any time merciful, it is a cloak which they use to cover purposes of cruelty. To accomplish its end, iniquity will assume any garb, speak mercifully, extol benevolence, sometimes even give to the poor!

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Francis Bacon observes upon this verse, that “the very kindnesses of the wicked, being treacherous, are a cruel cheat; nay, the highest expressions which they make of tenderness and compassion, whereby they induce others to repose a trust in them, are intended merely as a cover for the mischief which they mean more securely to do them.” The Greeks have a proverb nearly to the same purpose, Εχθρων δωρα αδωρα―“The gifts of enemies are no gifts.”

MATTHEW HENRY: Even that which they will have to pass for compassion is really cruel, as Pilate’s resolution concerning Christ the innocent, “I will chastise him and let him go,” Luke 23:22. Their pretended kindnesses are only a cover for purposed cruelties.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Christ comes forth from Pilate’s hall with the cumbrous wood upon His shoulder. Through weariness He travels slowly, and His enemies, urgent for His death, and half afraid, from His emaciated appearance, that He may die before He reaches the place of execution, allow another to carry His burden.

JOHN TRAPP: Not so much to ease Christ, who fainted under the burden, as to hasten the execution and to keep Him alive till He came to it.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Thus “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel,” having no right feeling; only a milder exercise of barbarity, and usually meted out for some selfish end.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): There is cruelty mixed even with their most merciful actions.

C. H. SPURGEON: “The soldiers also mocked Him, offering Him vinegar,” Luke 23:36. When our Lord cried, “Eloi, Eloi,” and afterwards said, “I thirst,” the persons around the Cross said, “Let Him be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him,” mocking Him; and, according to Mark 15:36, he who gave Him the vinegar uttered much the same words; he pitied the Sufferer, but he thought so little of Him that he joined in the voices of scorn. Even when man pities the sufferings of Christ—and the man would have ceased to be human if he did not—still he scorns Him! The very cup which man gives to Jesus is at once scorn and pity, for, “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It has ever been true, and still is today, that “the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.”―Human nature has not changed; Satan has not changed; the world has not changed.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Man today is as rotten as he was the moment he fell in the Garden of Eden.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Many specious pretenses persecutors have to disguise their malice.

C. H. SPURGEON: Persecutors are grieved to feel forced to be harsh—their “tender” spirits are wounded by being compelled to say a word against the Lord’s people! Gladly would they love them if they would not be so obstinate! With sweet language they inflict bitter wounds—their words are softer than butter—but inwardly they are drawn swords.

THOMAS COKE: The bitterest enmity lurks often under the most plausible professions and apparent civilities.

C. H. SPURGEON: Man, at his best, mingles admiration of the Saviour’s Person with scorn of His claims—writing books to hold Him up as an example and at the same moment rejecting His Deity! Admitting that He was a wonderful Man, but denying His most sacred mission! Extolling His ethical teaching and then trampling on His blood—thus giving Him drink, but that drink, vinegar!—To attempt to preach Christ without His cross, is to betray Him with a kiss.

JOHN GILL: The most tender things which are expressed or done by them are nothing but cruelty; and what then must be their more severe expressions and actions?

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): How much, then, do we owe to the restraining power of God, which holds in check the evil passions of men…Let the withholding hand of God be withdrawn for a short season, and even now, His people would be sorely “afflicted” too—and the more Christlike is our life, the more we shall drink, in our measure, of the cup He drank from.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): Whoever brings an affliction, it is God that sends it.

MATTHEW HENRY: Afflictions are in the covenant, and therefore they are not meant for our hurt but are intended for our good…Christ went by the cross to the crown, and we must not think of going any other way.

C. H. SPURGEON: The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel; but the cruel things of God are full of tender mercy!

JOHN MASON (1600-1672): This is the Christian’s plea and glory. While he knows “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel,” yet he also knows that the “merciful kindness of the Lord is great, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever,” Psalm 118:2.

 

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Lesson 3 From the Life of Lot: Lot’s Testimony to his Children

Posted on January 12, 2018 by The Editor

Genesis 19:1,12-14

And there came two angels to Sodom at even…

And [they] said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): God was about to destroy Sodom.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The angels commanded Lot to go to his relatives in the city, men who had married his daughters and tell them that tomorrow the judgment was to fall. But they mocked him when he talked to them about judgment—they thought he was demented.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): The Saviour tells us they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, Luke 17:28; all went on as usual. They did not believe there was any sign of the coming judgment.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Why? Because Lot had lived so much like the rest of them.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): It is vain to speak of approaching judgment, while finding our place, our portion, and our enjoyment, in the very scene which is to be judged.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): The world expects the Christian to be different and looks to him for something different.

D. L. MOODY: Ah! poor Lot has lost his testimony.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): One of the heaviest complaints made in the prophets against Jerusalem for her backsliding, is that she was a “comfort” to Samaria and Sodom, Ezekiel 16:54; that those who had the name and place of God’s people, so lived as to make the wicked feel at ease. If the salt retain its saltness, surrounding corruption will be made uneasy by the contact. If Christians live as much like the world as they can, the world will think itself safe in its sin; and those who should have been the deliverers, will become the destroyers of their neighbours.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If Christian men are so unwise as to conform themselves to the world, even if they keep up the Christian character in a measure, they will gain nothing by worldly association but being vexed with the conversation of the ungodly—and they will be great losers in their own souls—their character will be tarnished, their whole tone of feeling will be lowered and they themselves will be wretchedly weak and unhappy.

A. W. PINK: The powerlessness of Lot’s testimony appeared in the response made by his sons-in-law when he warned them―his words now had no weight because of his previous ways.

D. L. MOODY: He couldn’t get them out. I see him going through the streets with his head bowed down and great tears trickling down his cheeks.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city,” Genesis 19:15. He was now returned from his sons-in-law, and by this time it began to be light: “then the angels hastened Lot;”―urged him to get out of his house as fast as he could.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand,” Genesis 19:16. The angels first urged him by words; now seizing him by the hand, and indeed with apparent violence, they compel him to depart. His tardiness is truly wonderful, since, though he was certainly persuaded that the angels did not threaten in vain, he could yet be moved, by no force of words, until he is dragged by their hands out of the city.

C. H. SPURGEON: Why should Lot want to linger in Sodom? He had often been vexed there. The very night, before, he had his house beset with rioters! Why should he want to linger?

A. W. PINK: The words “while he lingered” show plainly where his heart was.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): Lot was a “righteous soul,” but he was seduced [by worldliness].

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The world tightens its grasp as we grow older.

D. L. MOODY: He had been there twenty years. He could not bear the thought of leaving his loved ones there to perish.

C. H. SPURGEON: When Lot lingered, he was defeating his own purpose and doing the worst imaginable thing, if he wanted to convince his sons-in-law that he spoke the truth, for while he lingered, they would say, “The old fool does not believe it himself, for if he did believe it, he would pack up and hasten away!”—The mischief that Lot did to his daughters was yet more aggravated, for all the while he was hesitating, they were sure to hesitate, too.

D. L. MOODY: His own children do not believe him—I tell you, when men live so like the world that their own children have no confidence in their piety, they have sunk very low.

C. H. SPURGEON: Actions speak louder than words. Conformity to the world is sure to end badly sooner or later―to the man himself it is injurious, and to his family ruinous.

D. L. MOODY: You take your children to Sodom, and you will find it will not be long before they will want to stay there. It is easier to lead your children into temptation than it is to lead them out. What a mistake Lot had made! He had taken them away from the society of Sarah and Abram, that holy family living out on the plain in communion with heaven daily. He had taken them down to Sodom, and they were steeped in the sins of Sodom…Ask Lot now about his life, and he will tell you it has been a total failure.

ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Through a long life I have invariably noticed, that when such children turn out improperly, you may trace a defect in the religious character of one, or both of the parents. If the father is a godly man, the wife may have much of the world about her; or, if the mother is wholly devoted to God, the children may see a want of cooperation in the father in advancing the mother’s plans.

JOSEPH ALLEINE (1634-1668): Well then, pause a little, and look within. Does not this concern you? You pretend to be for Christ, but does not the world sway you?  Do you not take more real delight and contentment in the world than in Him?

H. A. IRONSIDE: Are you and I so living that our testimony really counts when we warn men to flee from the wrath to come, or are we living so near to the edge of the world, are we so much like those around us, that others question whether we really believe what we are professing?

 

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Walking with God in an Ungodly World

Posted on January 5, 2018 by The Editor

Genesis 5:21-24; Jude 14, 15; Hebrews 11:5

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied…saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): What does Enoch’s walking with God imply?

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): He walked “in the fear of the Lord,” as the Chaldee paraphrases it: and this he did without intermission, not for a time or two, but continually, constantly: he walked with God by a humble familiarity, and a holy conformity; as a man doth with his friend.

C. H. SPURGEON: When we read that Enoch walked with God we are to understand that he realized the Divine Presence. You cannot consciously walk with a person whose existence is not known to you. When we walk with a man, we know that he is there…We have some very clear perception that there is a person at our side. Now, if we look to Hebrews again, Paul tells us, “He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,” Hebrews 11:6. Enoch’s faith, then, was a realizing faith. He did not believe things as a matter of creed and then put them up on the shelf out of the way, as too many of us do today—he was not merely orthodox in his head—but the Truth of God had entered into his heart. What he believed was true to him, practically true, true as a matter of fact in his daily life.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): So, then, “practise the presence of God.” An old mystic says: “If I can tell how many times today I have thought about God, I have not thought about Him often enough.”

C. H. SPURGEON: It was not that he merely thought of God, that he speculated about God, that he argued about God, that he read about God, that he talked about God—he walked with God, which is the practical and experimental part of true godliness! In his daily life he realized that God was with him and he regarded Him as a living God, in whom he confided and by whom he was loved―his life must also have been a holy life, because he walked with God, for God never walks out of the way of holiness.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Enoch’s name—“dedicated, disciplined, well-regulated,”—was significant of his character. He was a dedicated man, whose life was disciplined and his habits regulated by the guiding hand of God. He saw the promises afar off, and was persuaded of them, and embraced them; and by faith lived as one alive from the dead, yielding his members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

C. H. SPURGEON: If we walk with God, we must walk according to truth, justice and love.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Enoch loved his God―if I may so speak, with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength: God would never have given him a special testimony of His approbation, if his heart had been destitute of the sacred flame of love.

C. H. SPURGEON: What circumstances were connected with his remarkable life? These are highly instructive.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Enoch was a prophet.

C. H. SPURGEON: He is called “the seventh from Adam.” He was a notable man and looked up to as one of the fathers of his age. A Patriarch in those days must have been a marked man, loaded with responsibility as well as with honour.

D. L. MOODY: Enoch was translated fifty-seven years after the death of Adam―and the young prophet may have talked with him―perhaps he stood with the ancients round the grave of the father of our race.

C. H. SPURGEON: Enoch must have been a man of profound knowledge and great wisdom as to Divine things. He must have dived into the deep things of God beyond most men.

D. L. MOODY: I will venture to say that Enoch, in his day, was considered a most singular and visionary man—an “eccentric” man—the most peculiar man who lived in that day. He was a man out of fashion—out of the fashion of this world, which passeth away. He was one of those who set their affections on things above. He lived days of heaven upon earth; for the essence of heaven is to walk with God. He did not go with the current and the crowd.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): He not only himself lived for God, but he laboured for God.

JOHN TRAPP: He kept a constant counter-motion to the corrupt courses of the times; not only not swimming down the stream with the wicked, but pronouncing God’s severe judgment against them.

D. L. MOODY: Enoch dared to do right. He took his position, and dared to stand against an ungodly generation. There he stood; and he was not ashamed to stand alone. He testified against the sins of a generation which was filling the earth with violence, and crying out for the judgment of God upon it.

C. H. SPURGEON: Enoch lived in a day of mockers and despisers―therefore we may be sure he had his trials and bore the brunt of opposition from the powerful ungodly party which opposed the ways of godliness―he was a man who stood firm amidst a torrent of blasphemy and rebuke, carrying on the great controversy for the truth of God against the wicked lives and licentious tongues of the scoffers of his age.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): A remarkable example is set before us in the person of one man, who stood firmly in the season of most dreadful dissipation; in order that, if we wish to live rightly and orderly, we may learn to regard God more than men.

D. L. MOODY: Now there is one thing we can settle in our minds distinctly: if he pleased God, he did not please men. It is impossible to do the two things. This world is at war with God; it has been for six thousand years, and will be as long as man is on the earth. We cannot please God and man.

CHARLES SIMEON: “Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” This testimony of His approbation God vouchsafed to Enoch. He was a bold and faithful witness for God, and doubtless incensed many against him. And God took him from a persecuting and ungodly world, who probably enough were seeking to destroy him on account of his pungent admonitions.

D. L. MOODY: Enoch was alone, yet not alone, for he walked with God. And when he was translated, he changed his place, but not his company.

C. H. SPURGEON: Enoch walked with God for many a year till, at last, he walked away with God.

 

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A New Year’s Lesson From Elijah’s Last Day on Earth

Posted on December 29, 2017 by The Editor

2 Kings 2:1-6

And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan…

J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): God leads us on step by step, each step a new revelation. He led Elijah on with new calls to new errands, from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, from Jericho to Jordan, and then over the river and up among the hills, until at last, as he went on, the chariot came down and lifted him away. In this same beautiful way does God lead each one of His children through life. We know not what any day may bring forth. But He knows; and He calls us forward, to this duty and experience today, to others tomorrow, and so on and on, until we come to the last step, and that will be into glory.

Elijah’s prompt obedience teaches us our side of the lesson. He went swiftly from task to task. He would finish his work before the end came. It was to visit the schools of the prophets that he went to Bethel and to Jericho. He wanted to give his last counsels to the young students whom he had been training and on whom the future religious work among the people would depend.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work,” John 9:4. Saith Christ, I have a set time to work in; that is, that which he here calleth day, the time wherein Christ was to live upon the earth. I am not to be here always, there will come a time when I must be absent from the earth, then none of this work can be done. A good argument to persuade every Christian to work while the time of his life lasts, for the night of death will come.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” John 11:9. Christ here divides the day into twelve hours, according to ancient custom; for though the days are longer in summer and shorter in winter, yet they had always twelve hours of the day, and twelve of the night.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): To say to a man, ‘there are twelve hours in the day of life, and then comes darkness, the blackness that swallows up all activity,’ may either be made into a support of all lofty and noble thoughts, or, by the baser sort, it may be, and has been, made into a philosophy of the ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die’ kind; ‘Gather ye roses while ye may’; ‘A short life and a merry one.’

JOHN CALVIN: God doth not prolong the lives of His people, that they may pamper themselves with meat and drink, sleep as much as they please, and enjoy every temporal blessing.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Christ’s saying is one which should be remembered by all professing Christians. The life that we now live in the flesh is our day. Let us take care that we use it well, for the glory of God.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): We are not sent here to eat, and to drink, and to pass our time in pleasure; but to do the work assigned to us. Every moment of our time is given us for that purpose, and should be employed for that end. When we rise in the morning, we should inquire, What duties have I to perform this day? And, when we lie down again at night, we should inquire, how far we have executed the will of our heavenly Master. The performance of our work should supersede every thing else.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): This made John Calvin answer his friends with some indignation, when they admonished him, for his health’s sake, to forbear studying so hard, “What! would you that Christ when He cometh should find me idle?”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): “Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening,” Psalm 104:23. There is the work of every day, which is to be done in its day, which man must apply to every morning―for the lights are set up for us to work by, not to play by―and which he must stick to till evening; it will be time enough to rest when the night comes.

CHARLES SIMEON: Through the mercy of our God, the day is yet continued to you; that day, which, within the last year, has closed on thousands, who, humanly speaking, were as likely to live as you. And, to multitudes of them, how dreary a night has commenced!

MATTHEW HENRY: The night comes―it will come certainly―may come suddenly―and is coming nearer, and nearer…The consideration of our death approaching should quicken us to improve all the opportunities of life.

JOHN CALVIN: So, when we see that a short period of life is allotted to us, we ought to be ashamed of languishing in idleness.

J. R. MILLER: The nearing of the end of life should intensify our earnestness.

J. C. RYLE: Our time is very short. Our daylight will soon be gone. Opportunities once lost can never be retrieved. A second lease of life is granted to no man. Whatever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might.

CHARLES SIMEON: Those who are more advanced in years—much of your day is obviously gone: and little, according to the course of nature, remains. Your glass is well nigh run down. Is it not then time for you to awake, and to begin the work which God has sent you to perform?

A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): We have much to do and little time in which to get it done!

CHARLES SIMEON: Let me entreat you, beloved brethren, to be of that happy number; that, when you come to die, you may be able to adopt the words of our blessed Lord, and say, “Father, I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou hast given me to do,” John 17:4.

 

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No Room for Jesus Christ

Posted on December 22, 2017 by The Editor

Luke 2:7

And [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Jesus was laid in a manger because there was no room for Him.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Now also, there is seldom room for Christ in an inn.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Now, they are frequently haunts for the idle and the profligate, the drunkard and the infidel―in short, for any kind of guests except Jesus and His genuine followers.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Here I am induced to relate a memorable story. While we were supping in a certain inn, and speaking of the hope of the heavenly life, a profane despiser of God happened to be present, who treated our discourse with derision, and now and then mockingly exclaimed, “The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s.” Instantly afterwards he was seized with dreadful pain, and began to vociferate, “O God! O God!” and, having a powerful voice, he filled the whole apartment with his cries. Then I, who had felt indignant at his conduct, proceeded in my own way, to tell him warmly that now at least he perceived that they who mocked God were not permitted to escape with impunity.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): And this leads us to the second remark, that there were other places besides the inn which had no room for Christ. Might there not be found some room for Christ in what is called good society? Were there not in Bethlehem some people that were very respectable, who kept themselves aloof from the common multitude; persons of reputation and standing—could not they find room for Christ?

Ah! dear friends, it is too much the case that there is no room for Him in what is called good society. There is room for all the silly little forms by which men choose to trammel themselves; room for the vain niceties of etiquette; room for frivolous conversation; room for the adoration of the body, there is room for the setting up of this and that as the idol of the hour, but there is too little room for Christ, and it is far from fashionable to follow the Lord fully. The advent of Christ would be the last thing which society would desire; the very mention of His name by the lips of love would cause a strange sensation. Should you begin to talk about the things of Christ in many a circle, you would be tabooed at once. “I will never ask that man to my house again,” so-and-so would say, “if he must bring his religion with him.” Folly and finery, rank and honour, jewels and glitter, frivolity and fashion, all report that there is no room for Jesus in their abodes.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): Christ, who had all riches, scorned earthly riches; He was born poor, the manger was His cradle, the cobwebs His curtains: He lived poor, He had not where to lay His head: He died poor, He had no crown-lands, only His coat was left, and that the soldiers parted among them: and His funeral was suitable, for as He was born in another man’s house, so He was buried in another man’s tomb.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): When the love of money begins to creep over us, let us think of the manger at Bethlehem, and of Him who was laid in it.

C. H. SPURGEON: Who would think of finding Christ there?

A. W. PINK: He was laid in a manger to show His contempt for worldly riches and pomp. We might think it more fitting for the Christ of God to be born in a palace and laid in a cradle of gold, lined with costly silks.

C. H. SPURGEON: Alas! my brethren, seldom is there room for Christ in palaces! How could the kings of earth receive the Lord? He is the Prince of Peace, and they delight in war!…How could kings accept the humble Saviour? They love grandeur and pomp, and he is all simplicity and meekness. He is a carpenter’s son, and the fisherman’s companion. How can princes find room for the new-born monarch? Why He teaches us to do to others as we would that they should do to us, and this is a thing which kings would find very hard to reconcile with the knavish tricks of politics and the grasping designs of ambition…State-chambers, cabinets, throne-rooms, and royal palaces, are about as little frequented by Christ as the jungles and swamps of India by the cautious traveler. He frequents cottages far more often than regal residences, for there is no room for Jesus Christ in regal halls.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): As there was no room for Him in the inn in Bethlehem, so there was no quiet room for Him in the land of Judea.

C. H. SPURGEON: But there were senators, there were forums of political discussion, there were the places where the representatives of the people make the laws. Was there no room for Christ there? Alas! my brethren, none, and to this day there is very little room for Christ in parliaments. How seldom is religion recognised by politicians! One or two will give Him a good word, but if it be put to the vote whether the Lord Jesus should be obeyed or no, it will be many a day before the ayes have it.

WILLIAM GREENHILL (1591-1677): Politicians think it weakness, foolishness, to suffer for religion. They can change it at pleasure, and fall in with that which hath most pomp and applause in the world.

C. H. SPURGEON: But is there not room for Him on the exchange? Cannot He be taken to the marts of commerce?―Ah! dear friends, how little of the spirit, and life, and doctrine of Christ can be found here! The trader finds it inconvenient to be too scrupulous; the merchant often discovers that if he is to make a fortune he must break his conscience…Bankruptcies, swindlings, frauds are so abundant that in hosts of cases there is no room for Jesus in the mart or the shop.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): And now, universities and schools of learning have too little.

C. H. SPURGEON: There is very little room for Christ in colleges and universities, very little room for Him in the seats of learning―universities and colleges often obscure the truth by their modes of speech.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): I much fear the universities will become wide gates to hell.

A. W. PINK: How solemnly this brings out the world’s estimate of the Christ of God―there is no room for Him in the schools, in society, in the business world, among the great throngs of pleasure seekers, in the political realm, in the newspapers, nor in many of the churches. It is only history repeating itself. All that the world gave the Saviour was a manger, a cross on which to die, and a borrowed grave to receive His murdered body.

C. H. SPURGEON: ‘Ye are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world,’ John 15:19. Thank God, you need not ask the world’s hospitality. If it will give you but a stage for action, and lend you for an hour a grave to sleep in, ’tis all you need; you will require no permanent dwelling-place here, since you seek a city that is to come, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

 

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Angelic Messengers

Posted on December 15, 2017 by The Editor

Genesis 16:7-12

And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go?

And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands…

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Here is the first mention we have in Scripture of an angel’s appearance.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Hagar, being hardly used by her mistress, runs away. She is met by an angel, and counselled to return to her mistress…Angels are in a peculiar sense the attendants and messengers of the Almighty.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The word מלאך, malak, means a messenger; and angels are called מלאכים, melakim.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): The Bible teaches us that God uses the angels as the instruments of His will.  How has he done so?  Well, here are some of the ways in which He has done so―First of all, we are told that the law was given to the children of Israel through the medium of the angels. If you want the authority for that, you’ll find it Galatians 3:19, in Acts 7:53, and in Hebrews 2:2―Indeed, in Galatians we are told that the law was “ordained by angels.”

JOHN CALVIN: Angels were the messengers of God and His witnesses in publishing the law, that the authority thereof might be firm and stable.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Another function of the angels is make known and to reveal God’s purposes.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Sometimes such are God’s messengers, sent by Him on errands to men, and are interpreters of things to them, as Gabriel was to Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21).

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: We are told about Gabriel that he “stands in the presence of God,” waiting, as it were, to be given a message. And he has been given messages. It was he, you remember, that was given the special message to tell Mary what was to happen to her, and how she was to become the mother to the Son of God…It was he who gave the message to Zacharias―remember that Zacharias was told about the birth of his son, who became known as John the Baptist, through an angel that appeared to him when he was in the temple? God tells His people what He’s going to do, and His purposes, through angels…And, of course, we have this crucial statement in that last verse of the first chapter of Hebrews, where they are described as “ministering spirits”―“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

MATTHEW HENRY: They are employed by the Redeemer as His messengers, and they go cheerfully on His errands, because they are His Father’s humble servants, and His children’s hearty friends and well-wishers.

JOHN GILL: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip,” Acts 8:26. This angel was one of the ministering spirits sent forth by Christ, to serve a gracious purpose of His, and for the good of one of the heirs of salvation.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): How ready are the holy angels to serve the saints, rejoicing more in their names of office than of honour, of employment than preferment―so those heavenly courtiers rejoice rather to be styled angels―that is, “messengers,” and “ministering spirits,” than thrones, principalities, powers.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Do you remember how God revealed His will to Abraham His purpose with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah through angels? Read it in Genesis 18. Do you remember how He revealed His will to Jacob more than once through the medium of angels? Do you remember how He told Gideon what he’d got to do and what God purposed through an angel?

ADAM CLARKE: An angel appears to the wife of Manoah, foretells the birth of her son, and gives her directions how to treat both herself and her child, who was to be a deliverer of Israel. She informs her husband [and] Manoah prays that the Angel may reappear; he is heard, and the Angel appears to him and his wife, and repeats his former directions concerning the mother and the child, Judges 13:2-14.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Angels―and it should seem a multitude, though one only came forward to the shepherds to be the speaker―came from heaven to proclaim the wonders of Christ’s birth, Luke 2:8-14.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): This publication of His birth is made by an angel, but whether the angel Gabriel before mentioned, or another, is not certain.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Let me remind you also how it was an angel that told Joseph that he needn’t worry about the condition of his espoused wife Mary; it was an angel that told him to flee to Egypt; it was an angel that told him to come out of Egypt―all along this intimation was given through the medium of an angel.

ADAM CLARKE: See the case of Cornelius, Acts 10:3―an angel appears to Cornelius, a centurion, and directs him to send to Joppa, for Peter, to instruct him in the way of salvation.

MATTHEW HENRY: The orders are given him from heaven, by the ministry of an angel, to send for Peter to come to him, which he would never have done if he had not been thus directed to do it…How far God may now, in an invisible way, make use of the ministration of angels, for extricating His people out of their straits, we cannot say; but this we are sure of, they are all ministering spirits for their good.

JOHN CALVIN: Though the angels are not nigh us, or at least do not appear to us in a visible form, yet God can by other means afford us help when there is any perplexity in His Word: He promises to give us the spirit of understanding and wisdom, whenever there is need.

MATTHEW HENRY: Though angels were not employed to preach the gospel, they were often employed in carrying messages to ministers for advice and encouragement. We cannot now expect such guides in our way; but doubtless there is a special providence of God conversant about the removes and settlements of ministers, and one way or other He will direct those who sincerely desire to follow Him.

JOHN CALVIN: If any man object, that angels come not down daily from heaven to reveal unto us what we ought to do, the answer if ready, that we are sufficiently taught in the Word of God what we ought to do, and that they are never destitute of the counsel who ask it of Him, and submit themselves to the government of the Spirit.

 

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The Difficulties of Consistent & Inconsistent Preaching

Posted on December 8, 2017 by The Editor

Acts 20:27

I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): Is the doctrine I preach truly evangelical? Let me not take this matter for granted; but examine whether it quadrates with the Scriptures.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): There is nothing so dangerous as to exaggerate a part of truth into the whole of truth.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Take any doctrine, and preach upon it exclusively, and you distort it.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): There is a balance of truth to be observed―why? Because it is required of the Christian minister that he should declare “all the counsel of God,” and not only favourite portions thereof…When the Son of God became incarnate He came here in “the form of a servant,” Philippians 2:6; nevertheless, in the manger He was “Christ the Lord,” Luke 2:11! “All things are possible with God,” Matthew 19:26, yet God “cannot lie,” Titus 1:2. Scripture says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” Galatians 6:2, yet the same chapter insists “every man shall bear his own burden,” verse 5. We are enjoined to take “no thought for the morrow,” Matthew 6:34, yet “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” 1 Timothy 5:8. No sheep of Christ’s can perish, John 10:28,29, yet the Christian is bidden to make his “calling and election sure,” 2 Peter 1:10. And so we might go on multiplying illustrations. These things are not contradictions, but complementaries: the one balances the other.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Balance is all-important.

JOHN CLAYTON (1754-1843): The faithful preacher may bear harder on one string than another: but he has respect unto all.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): We should endeavour to maintain a consistency in our preaching; but unless we keep the plan and manner of the Scripture constantly in view, and attend to every part of it, a design of consistency may fetter our sentiments, and greatly preclude our usefulness.

JONATHAN EDWARDS: If half my time be taken up in beating off the rough edges of certain passages, to make them square with my principles, I am not in the gospel scheme. If one part of scripture requires to be passed over, lest I should appear inconsistent, I am not sound in the faith, in God’s account, but have imbibed some false system instead of the gospel.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Have you ever seen the hard work that some brethren have to shape a Scripture to their mind? One text is not Calvinistic, it looks rather Arminian—of course it cannot be so and, therefore, they twist and tug to get it right. As for our Arminian brethren, it is wonderful to see how they hammer away at the ninth Chapter of Romans—steam-hammers and screwjacks are nothing to their appliances for getting rid of election from that chapter! We have all been guilty of racking Scripture, more or less, and it will be well to have done with the evil, forever!

JOHN NEWTON: We need not wish to be more consistent than the inspired writers, nor be afraid of speaking as they have spoken before us. We may easily perplex ourselves and our hearers, by nice reasonings on the nature of human liberty, and the Divine agency on the hearts of men; but such disquisitions are better avoided. We shall, perhaps, never have full satisfaction on these subjects, till we arrive in the world of light.

A. W. PINK: That there are difficulties in an attempt to set forth the truth of God’s sovereignty is readily acknowledged. The hardest thing of all, perhaps, is to maintain the balance of truth. It is largely a matter of perspective. That God is sovereign is explicitly declared in Scripture: that man is a responsible creature is also expressly affirmed in Holy Writ. To define the relationship of these two truths, to fix the dividing line betwixt them, to show exactly where they meet, to exhibit the perfect consistency of the one with the other, is the weightiest task of all. Many have openly declared that is impossible for the finite mind to harmonize them.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: But of course there is no contradiction here―there is no contradiction in Biblical teaching.

C. H. SPURGEON: If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and I find that in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Christian simplicity will teach us to receive every Divine Truth upon this formal ground―that it is the Word of God.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Let every thing be received from Him with the simplicity of little children. And if there be in His word things which you cannot understand, sit not in judgment upon them with unhallowed confidence; but spread them before the Lord, saying, “What I know not, teach thou me,” Job 34:32.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Pray, observe―Paul doth not say he “hath de­clared all the counsel of God.” No; who can, but God Himself? The same apostle saith, “We prophesy but in part,” 1 Corinthians 13:9. There is a terra incognita—an unknown land, in the Scriptures, mysteries that yet were never fully discovered. We cannot declare all that know not all. But Paul saith, he “shunned not to declare all.” When he met a truth, he did not step back to shun it; as when we see a man in the street with whom we have no mind to speak, we step into some house or shop till he be past. The holy apostle was not afraid to speak what he knew to be the mind of God; as he had it from God, so should they from him. He did not balk in his preaching what was profitable for them to know.

C. H. SPURGEON: We cannot know everything and we cannot understand even half what we know! I have given up wanting to understand. As far as I can, I am content with believing all that I see in God’s Word. People say, “But you contradict yourself.” I dare say I do, but I never contradict God to my knowledge, nor the Bible. If I do, may my Lord forgive me…The sin of being inconsistent with my poor fallible self does not trouble me a tenth as much as the dread of being inconsistent with what I find in God’s Word!

CHARLES SIMEON: Those who are disposed to follow the counsel of their God—Remember to follow “the whole of it,” “without partiality and without hypocrisy,” 1 Timothy 5:21, James 3:17.

LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801-1885): Consistency is a noble thing in a right cause, but sinfulness in error.

C. H. SPURGEON: Mind that you are always consistent with yourselves. Yet not like the woman who, when in court, was asked by the judge, “How old are you?”

“Thirty,” she replied.

“Why, I heard you give the same age three years ago.”

“Yes, yer honour, but I am not one of those people who say one thing today, and another tomorrow.”

 

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Lesson 2 From the Life of Lot: Lot’s Influential Achievements

Posted on December 1, 2017 by The Editor

Genesis 13:10-13; Genesis 19:1

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east…and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom…

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Lot began with choosing the plain; then he crept a little nearer, and pitched his tent ‘towards’ Sodom; next time we hear of him, he is living in the city, and mixed up inextricably with its people. The first false step leads on to connections unforeseen, from which the man would have shrunk in horror, if he had been told that he would make them.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Step by step he “entered into temptation.”

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): What shall we say of those who hope to be delivered and who profess to be Christians, but who are now seeking to get all the pleasure and good times the world can give them? One thinks of Lot and his family so long ago. They moved down to Sodom in order that they might participate in worldly things, tired of the life of separation lived up there on the hills of Palestine.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Lot’s history teaches what comes of setting the world first, and God’s kingdom second. For one thing, the association with it is sure to get closer.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The two angels found Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): By this time Lot had attained to a position of eminence in Sodom. The phrase, “sitting in the gate,” indicates that.

A. W. PINK: Behold how great a fire a little matter kindleth. From a lifting up of the eyes to behold the land and seek pasturage for his flocks, to becoming an official in the city of wickedness!―And in response to Lot’s request that they partake of his hospitality, the angels said, “Nay, but we will abide in the street all night.” Their reluctance to enter Lot’s dwelling intimates the condition of Lot’s soul.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Lot “pressed upon them greatly,” Genesis 19:3; partly because he would be no means have them to expose themselves to the inconveniences and perils of lodging in the street of Sodom, and partly because he was desirous of their company and converse. He had not seen two such honest faces in Sodom this great while.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): As Lot pressed them vehemently, and they knew him to be a righteous man, but not yet willing to make themselves known, they consented to take shelter under his hospitable roof. The men of this abandoned city, being informed of the arrival of these strangers―who probably were of a very beautiful appearance―flocked from all quarters of the town, numbers of every age, with the most infamous purpose, shocking to relate or think of.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “The men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them,” Genesis 19:4,5. Their meaning was, that they might commit that unnatural sin with them they were addicted to, and in common used, and which from them to this day bears the name of Sodomy.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him. And said unto them, I pray you, brethren, do not do so wickedly,” Genesis 19:6,7. It appears from the fact that Lot went out and exposed himself to danger, how faithfully he observed the sacred right of hospitality. It was truly a rare virtue, that he preferred the safety and honour of the guests whom he had once undertaken to protect, to his own life. As the constancy of Lot, in risking his own life for the defense of his guests, deserves no common praise, so now Moses relates that a defect was mixed with this great virtue―Lot devises an unlawful remedy: “Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof,” Genesis 19:8.

JOHN GILL: This was a very great evil in Lot to make such an offer of his daughters; it was contrary to parental love and affection, and exposing the chastity of his daughters, which should have been his care to preserve; nor had he a power to dispose of them in such a manner: and though fornication is a lesser evil than sodomy, yet all evil is to be avoided, and even it is not to be done that good may come: nothing can be said to excuse this good man, but the hurry of spirit, and confusion of mind that he was in, not knowing what to say or do to prevent the base designs of those men.

JOHN CALVIN: Others would excuse Lot by a different pretext, namely, that he knew his daughters would not be desired. But I have no doubt that, being willing to avail himself of the first subterfuge which occurred to him, he turned aside from the right way…He should rather have endured a thousand deaths, than have resorted to such a measure.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: It is evident how he had failed in the life of faith…Moreover, the deterioration of his own character is vividly portrayed.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Now see how much influence he has got: “And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door,” verse 9.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: The man who had attempted to compromise with principle is here seen hated of the world, having lost his personal peace, his testimony paralyzed, and utterly unable to influence his city toward righteousness.

H. A. IRONSIDE: How many other dear children of God since, who have sought and obtained positions of power and influence in this poor “Christ-less world,” hoping thereby to be used in its improvement, only to be bitterly disappointed at last, besides being degraded themselves.

D. L. MOODY: These worldly Christians that talk about having an influence over the world—where is it? I would like to see it.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): To attempt to reprove the world’s ways, while we profit by association with it, is vanity; the world will attach very little weight to such reproof and such testimony.

 

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The Financial Security & Freedom of Individuals & Nation States

Posted on November 24, 2017 by The Editor

Proverbs 22:7; Deuteronomy 28:12; Deuteronomy 15:5,6

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow…Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The matter of debt should be of greater concern among Christians.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Such obligations as that of the borrower to the lender, often force the dependant to a servile bondage…Often also the influence of capital is an iron rule of the rich over the poor. Many, who profess to resist conscientiously state-interference, have little regard for the consciences of their dependants.

H. A. IRONSIDE: The rich almost invariably lord their position over the poor, except where grace intervenes to check the potential pride of the human heart. Therefore it is natural that he who lends should consider himself superior to the borrower. The borrower destroys his own freedom by his neglect of the divine command―he who obeys the Scriptural injunction to “owe no man any thing, but to love one another,” Romans 13:8, will escape the awful bondage of the debtor.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A borrower is another name for a beggar.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Some sell their liberty to gratify their luxury.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): This disease is prevalent in the community―If at the first they took borrowed money, as they might take opium, as a medicine to relieve an acute disease which would not yield to other means, they chew it now every day and all day, as the staff of their life―they count debt their element; they live in it; they do not expect to get out of it; they scarcely wish―at least, they never energetically strive to get out.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Bible never tells us to get out of debt; it tells us we are not to have any.

MATTHEW HENRY: To be able to lend, and not to have need to borrow, we must look upon as a great mercy―Therefore it is part of Israel’s promised happiness that they should lend and not borrow. And it should be our endeavour to keep as much as may be, out of debt.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Now I say that this is something that is absolutely vital for us as a starting point. This is true of nations, it’s true of classes, it’s true of individuals. And surely there is nothing that is quite so pathetic, as the way in which people think along one line when they’re thinking of nations, and along another line when they’re thinking of individuals.

MATTHEW HENRY: “Thou shalt lend to many nations”―upon interest―which they were allowed to take from the neighbouring nations―“but thou shalt not have occasion to borrow.” This would give them great influence with all about them; for the borrower is servant to the lender. It may be meant of trade and commerce, that they should export abundantly more than they should import, which would keep the balance on their side.

WILLIAM ARNOT: We are met here by the old cry, that business cannot be conducted at all if these principles are closely insisted on.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): We do not enter into the question as to how far persons engaged in trade can carry out this holy and happy rule. There are certain terms―such as “cash in a month,” or the like, and so long as these terms are observed, it may be questioned how far one is actually in debt.

WILLIAM ARNOT: In some cases it may be right to borrow, and in others it is certainly wrong.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The magnitude of our National Debt is a frequent topic of conversation. We have, indeed, but an indistinct idea of a number not very far short of two hundred millions; yet we can form some conception of it…What is commonly called our National Debt, is swelled to an enormous greatness. It may be quickly expressed in figures; but a person must be something well versed in calculation to form a tolerable idea of accumulated millions.*

C. H. SPURGEON: We know many persons who are always doing a great deal and yet do nothing—just before a general election there is a manifestation of most remarkable men—generally persons who know everything and a few things besides, who, if they could but be sent to Parliament, would turn the whole world upside down and put even pandemonium to rights! They would pay the National Debt within six months and do any other trifle that might occur to them.

JOHN NEWTON: Some people are startled at the enormous sum of our National Debt: they who understand spiritual arithmetic may be well startled if they sit down and compute the debt of national sin…But what arithmetic is sufficient to compute the immensity of our national debt in a spiritual sense? or, in other words, the amount of our national sins? The spirit of infidelity―like a river―which was restrained within narrow bounds, has of late years broken down its banks, and deluged the land. This wide-spreading evil has, in innumerable instances, as might be expected, emboldened the natural heart against the fear of God, hardened it to an insensibility of moral obligation, and strengthened its prejudices against the Gospel. The consequence has been, that profligate wickedness has become almost as universal as the air we breathe; and is practiced with little more reserve or secrecy than the transactions of common business.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): It is an observation of Benjamin Franklin, “that one vice costs more to keep, than two children.” True piety is the most economical thing in the world—and sin the most expensive thing in the world. How much do the drunkard, debauchee, and frequenter of theaters—pay for their sinful gratifications! What is spent in this nation every year in the grosser sensual indulgences, would pay the remainder of the National Debt. Piety would save all this to the nation.

C. H. SPURGEON: Lying pays no tax. The more’s the pity. It might bring in enough to pay the National Debt.

JOHN NEWTON: Proverbs 14:34. There I read that “righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a reproach,” and if persisted in, the ruin of any people.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): National judgments are always the consequence of national sins.

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*Editor’s Note: In John Newton’s day, a British National Debt of £200,000,000 represents a modern equivalent of about $70 billion in 2017 US dollars. However, in 2017, the actual US National Debt is $21 trillion―an amount of financial debt 300 times greater than that which concerned John Newton. This US National Debt, as well as its spiritual component, grows higher every single second, while the inevitable day of reckoning draws ever closer. It takes time for great nations to destroy themselves with the accumulated interest of continued folly; but time is all that it takes.

 

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