A MONTHLY READING OF
INSIGHTS FROM RENOWNED CHRISTIANS
August
Day 1
GOD CAN BE KNOWN
THROUGH THE WORKING OF THE UNIVERSEJohn Calvin
"Listen to this, O Job;
stand still and consider the wondrous works of God."
Job 37:14God shows himself in the structure of the universe so clearly that men need only open their eyes to see him in his works. It is true that men cannot fully grasp his essence, for it is hidden from them. But there are clear and certain marks of his glory in what he has made. We have no excuse for not knowing him. We may turn our eyes to whatever part of creation we wish and see it glisten with something of the glory he has given it. The apostle Paul tells us that God has shown himself to men in the works of his hands, so that the invisible things of him--his eternal power and Godhead--are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.
There are so many things that show his wisdom. It is true that scientists can now search more deeply into the secrets of divine wisdom. They can use their knowledge to observe the movement of the stars and planets, sun and moon. They can measure their distance and admire their grandeur. But that does not mean that we who are not scientists have an excuse for not recognizing the maker of these things. We have eyes. We can see how many, how varied, and how orderly these heavenly bodies are. Quite clearly, God has revealed his wisdom in his wonderful works to ALL mankind.
In the same way, it takes a carefully trained doctor to fully recognize the structure, beauty, and usefulness of the human body. Yet it is admitted by all that the framework of the body proves the great skill of its maker. Truly, "God is not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27). Now, if we only need go as far as our own body to find the handiwork of God, we are inexcusable in our laziness if we refuse to seek him. In fact, this shows just how ungrateful men are. They have within themselves God's great works and immeasurable gifts, and swell with pride that they are so gifted. They should be praising the giver.
Let us admire God's wonderful works. By his power he holds up the heaven and earth. He makes the sky shake with thunder, and lights it up with lightning. He stirs up the air with storms and calms them in a moment. He gives a boundary to the roaring waves of the sea, lashes them up to fury with wild winds and again brings peace. The power of God leads us to think of his eternity. He from whom all things come must be eternal. He must have existence within himself.
We can also see God's work in human affairs. He is kind to all men, and yet he shows his working in such a way that he is plainly and constantly good to the righteous and severe to the wicked. He shows himself in punishment of crime and, just as clearly, as protector and avenger of innocence. The fact that he sometimes allows the wicked to triumph for awhile, and the innocent to suffer hardship and be oppressed by the wicked, does not hide his justice. In contrast to this thought, we should learn when he punishes one crime that he hates all crimes. And when we see that he leaves many for the present unpunished, we should learn that there is a judgment to come when they will be punished.
When we truly know God, we will look forward to the future life. When we know that God's present goodness and severity are incomplete, we must conclude that this life is only the beginning. There will be a fuller display of mercy and judgment in the world to come. When we see godly people suffer affliction from the wicked while the wicked live in comfort, we are right to think there will be another life when both good and bad will receive the treatment that is right for them.
Augustine wisely said, "If every sin were now visited with punishment, we might think that there was no judgment to come; and if no sin were immediately punished, we might think that there was no such thing as divine power and care."
In spite of the fact that God clearly displays his immortal power in his handiwork, mankind does not learn from the lesson. We do not look often on the natural things around and think of their maker. Too often we speak of events as chance instead of realizing they are God's work. The works of creation shine around us like lamps to show forth the glory of their maker. But they shine in vain. We do not take enough notice of them. Yet because they are there, we cannot say we had no way to know God. Notwithstanding, God has most graciously given us another guide, a brighter light, to bring us to the true knowledge of our creator. That light is the scriptures.
Biblical Christianity
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Day 2
CHRIST ETERNAL
J. C. Ryle
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:1-5
The five verses now before us contain a statement of matchless sublimity concerning the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. He it is, beyond all question, whom St. John means when he speaks of "the Word." No doubt there are heights and depths in that statement which are far beyond man's understanding. And yet there are plain lessons in it, which every Christian would do well to treasure up in his mind.
We learn, firstly, that our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. St. John tells us that "in the beginning was the Word." He did not begin to exist when the heavens and the earth were made. Much less did He begin to exist when the Gospel was brought into the world. He had glory with the Father "before the world was," (John 17:5). He was existing when matter was first created and before time began. He was "before all things," (Col. 1:17). He was from all eternity.
We learn, secondly, that our Lord Jesus Christ is a Person distinct from God the Father, and yet one with Him. St. John tells us that "the Word was with God." The Father and the Word, though two persons, are joined by an ineffable union. Where God the Father was from all eternity, there also was the Word, even God the Son--their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal, and yet their Godhead one. This is a great mystery! Happy is he who can receive it as a little child, without attempting to explain it.
We learn, thirdly, that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God. St. John tells us that "the Word was God." He is not merely a created angel, or a being inferior to God the Father and invested by Him with power to redeem sinners. He is nothing less than perfect God, equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds.
We learn, fourthly, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things. St. John tells us that "by Him were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made." So far from being a creature of God, as some heretics have falsely asserted, He is the Being who made the worlds and all that they contain.
We learn, lastly, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of all spiritual life and light. St. John tells us that "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men." He is the eternal fountain from which alone the sons of men have ever derived life. Whatever spiritual life and light Adam and Eve possessed before the fall, was from Christ. Whatever deliverance from sin and spiritual death any child of Adam has ever enjoyed since the fall, whatever light of conscience of understanding anyone has obtained, all has flowed from Christ. The vast majority of mankind in every age have refused to know Him, have forgotten the fall and their own need of a Saviour. The light has been constantly shining "in darkness." Most have "not comprehended the light." But if any men and women out of the countless millions of mankind have ever had spiritual life and light, they have owed all to Christ.
Such is a brief summary of the leading lessons which these wonderful verses appear to contain. There is much in them, without controversy, which is above our reason; but there is nothing contrary to it. There is much that we cannot explain and must be content humbly to believe. Let us, however, never forget that there are plain practical consequences flowing from the passage, which we can never grasp too firmly or know too well.
Would we know, for one thing, the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Let us often read these first five verses of St. John's Gospel. Let us mark what kind of Being the Redeemer of mankind must needs be in order to provide eternal redemption for sinners. If no one less than the Eternal God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, could take away the sin of the world, sin must be a far more abominable thing in the sight of God than most men suppose. The right measure of sin's sinfulness is the dignity of Him who came into the world to save sinners. If Christ is so great, then sin must indeed be sinful!
Would we know the strength of a true Christian's foundation for hope? Let us often read these first five verses of St. John's Gospel. Let us mark that the Savior in whom the believer is bid to trust is nothing less than the Eternal God, One able to save to the uttermost all that come to the Father by Him. He was "with God," and "was God," is also "Emmanuel, God with us." Let us thank God that our help is laid on One that is mighty. In ourselves we are great sinners. But in Jesus Christ we have a great Savior. He is a strong foundation stone, able to bear the weight of a world's sin. He that believes on Him shall not be confounded.
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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Day 3
THE SINNER'S REFUGE
Charles Spurgeon
"Then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there." Numbers 35:11
There are two things mentioned in Scripture which I do not believe God ever approved, but which, finding they were deep-seated, he did not forbid to the Jews. One was polygamy. The practice of marrying many wives had become so established that though God abhorred the thing himself, yet he allowed and permitted it to his people, the Jews, because he foresaw they would inevitably have broken the commandment even if he had made a command that they should have but one wife. It was even so with this matter of blood vengeance. It was so deeply seated in the mind that God, instead of refusing to the Jews what they regarded as the privilege of taking vengeance, passed a commandment which rendered it almost impossible for a man to be killed unless he were really a murderer. He appointed six cities, at convenient distances, so that when one man killed another by accident, he might at once flee to one of these cities. And though he must live there all his life, yet the avenger of blood could never touch him if he were innocent. He must have a fair trial, but even if he were found innocent, even then he must stay within the city into which the avenger of blood could not by any possibility come.
You must allow me to picture a scene. You see that man in the field? He has been at work and now has taken an ox-goad in his hand to use in some part of his husbandry. Unfortunately, instead of doing what he desires to do, he strikes a companion of his and he falls down dead! You see the poor man with horror on his face. He is a guiltless man, but, oh, what misery he feels when he sees the corpse lying at his feet. A pang shoots through his heart such as you and I have never felt--horror, dread, desolation! Who can describe the horror of a man at seeing his companion fall before him? Words are incapable of expressing the anguish of his spirit. He looks upon him, takes him up, and ascertains that he is really dead.
What next? Do you not see him? In a moment he flies out of the field where he was at labor and runs along the road with all his might. He has many miles before him, six long hours of hard running, and just as he passes the gate he turns his head, and there is the man's brother! He has just come into the field and seen his brother lying dead. Oh, can you conceive how the man's heart palpitates with fear? He has a little start upon the road. He just barely sees the other, with red face, hot and fiery, rushing out of the field with the ox-goad in his hand and running after him. The way lies through the village where the man's father lives, yet how he rushes through the streets. He does not even stop to bid goodbye to his wife nor kiss his children. But on, on he flies for his very life.
The dead man's brother calls his father and his other friends, and they all rush after him. Now there is a troop on the road. The man is still flying ahead, no rest for him. Though one of his pursuers rests, the others still track him. There is a horse in the village. They take it and pursue him. If they can find any animal that can assist their swiftness, they will take it. Can you not conceive him crying, "O, that I had wings that I might fly?" See how he spurns the earth beneath his feet! He stops not even so much as to wet his mouth. The sun is scorching him, but it is still on, on, on! He casts aside one garment after another. Still he rushes on, and the pursuers are behind him. He feels like the poor stag pursued by the hounds. He knows they are eager for his blood and that if they do but once overtake him, it will be a word, a blow--dead! See how he speeds his way!
Now do you see him? A city is rising into sight. He can see the towers of the city of refuge. His weary feet almost refuse to carry him further, the veins are standing out on his brow like whipcords. The blood spurts from his nostrils, he is straining to the utmost as he rushes on, and faster he would go if he were master of more strength.
The pursuers are after him, they have almost reached him. But see and rejoice! He has just gotten to the outskirts of the city. There is the line of demarcation, and he leaps over it and falls senseless to the ground. There is joy in his heart. The pursuers come and look at him, but they dare not slay him. The knives are in their hands, and the stones too, but they dare not touch him. He is safe, he is secure. His running has been just fast enough. He has just managed to leap into the kingdom of life and avoid death.
Sinner, that picture I have given you is a picture of yourself, in all but the man's guiltlessness, for you are a guilty man. Oh, if you did but know that the avenger of blood is after you! Oh, that God would give you grace that you could have a sense of your danger tonight, then you would not stop a solitary instant without flying to Christ. You would say, "Take me away where mercy is to be found," and you would neither sleep nor slumber until you had found in Christ a refuge for your spirit. Let me pick out one of you to be a case for all the rest. There is a young man here who is guilty. He knows himself to be a great transgressor. Young man, certainly as you are guilty, the avenger of blood is after you. Oh, he is a horrid thing, that avenger--God's fiery law. Did you ever see it? It speaks words of flame. If this avenger gets hold of you, it will not be temporal death merely; it will be death eternally. If the law gets its hand on you, you are damned. Can you describe the billows of eternal wrath, the lake of fire, the bottomless pit? No, you cannot know how dreadful these things are. Surely, if you could, you would be up on your feet and off for life, eternal life. Such stolid stupidity, sottish ignorance, and worse than brutal ignorance that makes men sit down in their sins and rest content!
I may have one here who is just awakened to see his sin as if it were a murdered corpse beneath his feet. God has shown you your guilt, and he sent me tonight to tell you that there is a refuge for you. Though you are guilty, he is good. Though you have revolted and rebelled, he will have mercy on those that repent and trust in the merits of his Son. And now he has bid me say to you, "Fly, fly, fly!" In God's name I say to you, fly to Christ. He has bid me warn you tonight against delays. He has bid me remind you that death surprises men when least they expect it. He has bid me warn you that the avenger will not spare, neither will his eye pity. His sword was forged for vengeance, and vengeance it will have. And he has bid me exhort you by the terrors of the law, by the day of judgment, by the wrath to come, by the uncertainty of life and the nearness of death, this night to fly to Christ.
Remember, none but Jesus can save you. But if God shall enable you to see your danger and fly to Christ, he will have mercy upon you forever, and the avenger of blood will never find you out, no, not even when the red lightnings shall be flashing from the hand of God in the day of Judgment. That city of refuge shall shelter you, and in the heart of Jesus, triumphant, blessed, secure, you shall sing the righteousness and the blood of Christ who sheltered sinners from the wrath to come.
Spurgeon's Sermons, Vol. 3
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Day 4
PSALM 8:5
Henry Melvill
"For you have made him a little lower than the angels."
Perhaps it was not so much in nature as in position that man, as first formed, was inferior to the angels. At all events, we can be sure that nothing higher could be affirmed of the angels than that they were made in the image of God. If, then, they had originally superiority over man, it must have been in the degree of resemblance. The angel was made immortal, intellectual, holy, powerful, glorious, and in these properties lay their likeness to the Creator. But were not these properties given also to man? Was not man made immortal, intellectual, holy, powerful, glorious? And if the angel excelled the man, it was not, we may believe, in the possession of properties which had no counterpart in the man; both bore God's image, and both therefore had lineaments of the attributes which center in Deity. Whether or not these lineaments were more strongly marked in the angel than in the man, it were presumptuous to attempt to decide. But it is sufficient for our present purposes that the same properties must have been common to both, since both were modeled after the same divine image. And whatever originally the relative positions of the angel and the man, we cannot question that since the fall man has been fearfully inferior to the angels. The effect of transgression has been to debase all his powers, and so bring him down from his high rank in the scale of creation. But, however degraded and sunken, he still retains the capacities of his original formation, and since these capacities could have differed in nothing but degree from the capacities of the angel, it must be clear that they may be so purged and enlarged as to produce, if we may not say to restore, the equality . . . . Oh! it may be, we again say, that an erroneous estimate is formed, when we separate by an immense space the angel and the man, and bring down the human race to a low station in the scale of creation. If I search through the records of science, I may indeed find that, for the furtherance of magnificent purposes, God has made man "a little lower than the angels;" and I cannot close my eyes to the melancholy fact, that as a consequence upon apostasy there has been a weakening and a rifling of those splendid endowments which Adam might have transmitted unimpaired to his children. And yet the Bible teems with notices, that so far from being by nature higher than men, angels even now possess not an importance which belongs to our race. It is a mysterious thing, and one to which we scarcely dare allude, that there has arisen a Redeemer of fallen men, but not of fallen angels. We would build no theory on so awful and inscrutable a truth. But is it too much to say that the interference on the behalf of man and the non-interference on the behalf of angels gives ground for the persuasion that men occupy at least not a lower place than angels in the love and the solicitude of their Maker? Besides, are not angels represented as "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation?" And what is the idea conveyed by such a representation if it be not that believers, being attended and waited on by angels, are as children of God marching forwards to a splendid throne, and so elevated amongst creatures that those who have the wind in their wings, and are brilliant as a flame of fire, delight to do them honor? And, moreover, does not the repentance of a single sinner minister gladness to a whole throng of angels? And who shall say that this sending of a new wave of rapture throughout the hierarchy of heaven does not betoken such immense sympathy with men as goes far towards proving him the occupant of an immense space in the scale of existence? We may add also that angels learn of men, inasmuch as Paul declares to the Ephesians that "now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places is made known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God." And when we further remember that in one of those august visions with which the Evangelist John was favored, he beheld the representatives of the church placed immediately before the eternal throne while angels standing at a greater distance thronged the outer circle, we seem to have accumulated proof that men are not to be considered as naturally inferior to angels--that however they may have cast themselves down from eminence and sullied the luster and sapped the strength of their first estate, they are still capable of the very loftiest elevation, and require nothing but the being restored to their forfeited position and the obtaining room for the development of their powers, in order to their shining forth as the illustrious ones of the creation, the breathing, burning images of the Godhead . . . . The Redeemer is represented as submitting to be humbled--"made a little lower than the angels," for the sake or with a view to the glory that was to be the recompense of his sufferings. This is a very important representation--one that should be most attentively considered; and from it may be drawn, we think, a strong and clear argument for the divinity of Christ.
We could never see how it could be humility in any creature, whatever the dignity of his condition, to assume the office of a Mediator and to work out our reconciliation. We do not forget to how extreme degradation a Mediator must consent to be reduced, and through what suffering and ignominy he could alone achieve our redemption. But neither do we forget the unmeasured exaltation which was to be the Mediator's reward, and which, if Scripture be true, was to make him far higher than the highest of principalities and powers. And we know not where would have been the amazing humility, where the unparalleled condescension, had any mere creature consented to take the office on the prospect of such a recompense. A being who knew that he should be immeasurably elevated if he did a certain thing can hardly be commended for the greatness of his humility in doing that thing. The nobleman who should become a slave, knowing that in consequence he should be made a king, does not seem to us to afford any pattern of condescension. He must be the king already, incapable of obtaining any accession to his greatness, ere his entering the state of slavery can furnish an example of humility. And, in like manner, we can never perceive that any being but a divine Being can justly be said to have given a model of condescension in becoming our Redeemer . . . . If he could not lay aside the perfections, he could lay aside the glories of Deity; without ceasing to be God he could appear to be man. And herein we believe was the humiliation--herein that self-emptying which Scripture identifies with our Lord's having been "made a little lower than the angels." In place of manifesting himself in the form of God and thereby centering on himself the delighted and reverential regards of all unfallen orders of intelligences, he must conceal himself in the form of a servant; and no longer gathering that rich tribute of homage, which had flowed from every quarter of his unlimited empire, produced by his power, sustained by his providence, he had the same essential glory, the same real dignity, which he had ever had. These belonged necessarily to his nature, and could no more be parted with even for a time than could that nature itself. But every outward mark of majesty and of greatness might be laid aside; and Deity, in place of coming down with such dazzling manifestations of supremacy as would have compelled the world he visited to fall prostrate and adore, might so veil his splendors and so hide himself in an ignoble form that when men saw him there should be no "beauty that they should desire him." And this was what Christ did in consenting to be "made a little lower than the angels;" and in doing this he emptied himself, or "made himself of no reputation." The very being who in the form of God had given its light and magnificence to heaven appeared upon earth in the form of a servant. And not merely so--for every creature is God's servant, and therefore the form of a servant would have been assumed had he appeared as an angel or an archangel--but in the form of the lowest of these servants, being "made in the likeness of men"--of men the degraded, the apostate, the perishing.
Quoted by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
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Day 5
PSALM 25:11
Jonathan Edwards
"Pardon my iniquity, for it is great." David pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it. He enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his sins are very heinous. But how could he make this a plea for pardon? I answer: Because the greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much as if he had said, "Pardon my iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the punishment; my sin is so great that I am in necessity of pardon; my case will be exceedingly miserable unless thou be pleased to pardon me." He makes use of the greatness of his sin to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the greatness of calamity in begging for relief. When a beggar begs for bread, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more suitable plea can be urged than the extremity of his case? And God allows such a plea as this; for he is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us, but the miserableness of our case. He does not pity sinners because they are worthy, but because they need his pity. . . . Herein does the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ much consist; namely, in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end--to glorify the free grace of God. God had it on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute, and therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). The apostle, when telling how great a sinner he had been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt was the occasion. "Who was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 1:13,14). The Redeemer is glorified in that he proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceedingly sinful, in that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honor of Christ to save the greatest sinners when they come to him, as it is the honor of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners if they come to him; for he will not be backward to glorify himself and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing he has so laid out himself to redeem sinners, he will not be unwilling to show that he is able to redeem to the uttermost.
Quoted by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
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Day 6
PSALM 62:12
Edward Veal
"For You render to each one according to his work." Learn to admire the grace of God in rewarding your works. It is much that he accepts them; and what is it, then, that he rewards them? It is much that he does not damn you for them seeing they are all defiled and have something of sin cleaving to them; and what is it, then, that he crowns them? You would admire the bounty and munificence of a man who should give you a kingdom for taking up a straw at his foot, or give you a hundred thousand pounds for paying him a penny rent you owed him. How, then, should you adore the rich grace and transcendent bounty of God in so largely recompensing such mean services, in setting a crown of glory upon your heads as the reward of those works which you can scarcely find in your hearts to call good ones! You will even blush one day to see yourselves so much honored for what you are ashamed of and are conscious to yourselves that you have deserved nothing by. You will wonder then to see God recompensing you for doing what was your duty to do and what was his work in you; giving you grace and crowning that grace; enabling you to do things acceptable to him and then rewarding you as having done them.
Quoted by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
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Day 7
PSALM 119:75
Francis Bourdillon
"I know, O Yahweh, that your judgments are right,
And that in faithfulness you have afflicted me."The text is in the form of an address to God. We often find this in David, that, when he would express some deep feeling, or some point of spiritual experience, he does so in this way--addressing himself to God. Those who love God delight to hold communion with him; and there are some feelings which the spiritual mind finds peculiar comfort and pleasure in telling to God himself. "I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right." God orders all things, and his "judgments" here mean his general orderings, decisions, dealings--not afflictions only, though including them. And when the Psalmist says, "thy judgments," he means especially God's judgments towards him, God's dealings with him, and thus all that had happened to him or should happen to him. For in the Psalmist's creed there was no such thing as chance. God ordered all that befell him, and he loved to think so. He expresses a sure and happy confidence in all that God did and would do with regard to him. He trusted fully in God's wisdom, God's power, God's love. "I know thy judgments are right"--quite right, right in every way, without one single point that might have been better, perfectly wise and good. He shows the firmest persuasion of this. "I know," he says, not merely "I think." But these very words, "I know," clearly show that this was a matter of faith, not of sight. For he does not say, "I can see that thy judgments are right, but "I know." The meaning plainly is, "Though I cannot see all--though there are some things in thy dealings which I cannot fully understand--yet, I believe, I am persuaded, and thus I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right."
"Thy judgments." Not some of them, but all. He takes into view all God's dealings with him and says of them without exception, "I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right." When the things that happen to us are plainly for our comfort and good, as many of them are, then we thankfully receive what God thus sends to us and own him as the Giver of all, and bless him for his gracious dealing; and this is right. But all the faith required for this (and some faith there is in it) is to own God as dealing with us, instead of thanklessly receiving the gifts with no thought of the Giver. It is a far higher degree of faith that says of all God's dealings, even when seemingly not for our happiness, "I know that thy judgments are right."
Yet this is the meaning here, or certainly the chief meaning. For though the word "judgments" does mean God's dealings of every kind, yet here the words that follow make it apply especially to God's afflictive dealings, that is, to those dealings of his that do not seem to be for our happiness; "I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." The judgments which the Psalmist chiefly had in view, and which he felt so sure were right, were not joys but sorrows; not things bestowed but things taken away; those blessings in disguise, those veiled mercies, those gifts clad in the garb of mourning, which God so often sends to his children. The Psalmist knew, and knew against all appearance to the contrary, that these judgments were "right." Whatever they might be--losses, bereavements, disappointments, pain, sickness--they were right, perfectly right; so right that they could not have been better; just what were best; and all because they were God's judgments. That one thing satisfied the Psalmist's mind and set every doubt at rest. The dealings in themselves he might have doubted, but not him whose dealings they were. "Thy judgments." That settled all. "And that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." This means that, in appointing trouble as his lot, God had dealt with him in faithfulness to his word, faithfulness to his purposes of mercy, with a faithful, not a weak love. He had sent him just what was most for his good, though not always what was most pleasing; and in this he had shown himself faithful. Gently and lovingly does the Lord deal with his children. He gives no unnecessary pain; but that which is needful he will not withhold.
Quoted by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
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Day 8
PSALM 139:23
James Vaughan
(Condensed)
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my thoughts."Self-examination is not the simple thing which, at first sight, it might appear. No Christian who has ever really practiced it has found it easy. Is there any exercise of the soul which any one of us has found so unsatisfactory, so almost impossible, as self-examination? The fact is this, that the heart is so exceedingly complicated and intricate, and it is so very near the eye which has to investigate it, and both it and the eye are so restless and so shifting, that its deep anatomy baffles our research. Just a few things, here and there, broad and open, and floating upon the surface, a man discovers; but there are chambers receding within chambers, in that deepest of all deep things, a sinner's heart, which no mere human investigation ever will reach, . . . it is the prerogative of God alone to "search" the human heart.
To the child of God--the most intimate with himself in all the earth--I do not hesitate to say, "There are sins latent at this moment in you, of which you have no idea; but it only requires a larger measure of spiritual illumination to impress and unfold them. You have no idea of the wickedness that is now in you." But while I say this, let every Christian count well the cost before he ventures on the bold act of asking God to "search" him. For be sure of this, if you do really and earnestly ask God to "search" you, he will do it. And he will search you most searchingly; and if you ask him to "try" you, he will try you,--and the trial will be no light matter!
I am persuaded that we often little calculate what we are doing--what we are asking God to do--when we implore him to give us some spiritual attainment, some growth in grace, some increase in holiness, or peace. To all these things there is a condition, and that condition lies in a discipline, and that discipline is generally proportionate to the strength and the measure of the gift that we ask.
I do not know what may have been the state of the Psalmist at the period when he indited this Psalm; but I should think either one of Saul's most cruel persecutions, or the rebellion of his son Absalom, followed quick upon the traces of that prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts," etc.
Still, whatever his attainment, every child of God will desire, at any sacrifice, to know his own exact state before God; for, as he desires in all things to have a mind conformed to the mind of God, so he is especially jealous lest he should, by any means, be taking a different view, or estimate, of his own soul from that which God sees it.
Quoted by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
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Day 9
THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
Arthur W. Pink
"Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?" (Romans 9:28,19)
Election is a foundational doctrine. In the past, many of the ablest teachers were accustomed to commence their systematic theology with a presentation of the attributes of God, and then a contemplation of His eternal decrees; and it is our studied conviction, after perusing the writings of many of our moderns, that the method followed by their predecessors cannot be improved upon. God existed before man, and His eternal purpose long antedated His works in time. "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18). The divine councils went before creation. As a builder draws his plans before he begins to build, so the great Architect predestinated everything before a single creature was called into existence. Nor has God kept this a secret locked in His own bosom. It has pleased Him to make known in His Word the everlasting counsels of His grace, His design in the same, and the grand end He has in view.
When a building is in course of construction, onlookers are often at a loss to perceive the reason for many of the details. As yet, they discern no order or design; everything appears to be in confusion. But if they could carefully scan the builder’s "plan" and visualize the finished production, much that had puzzled them would become clear. It is the same with the outworking of God’s eternal purpose. Unless we are acquainted with His eternal decrees, history remains an insoluble enigma. God is not working at random; the gospel has been sent forth on no uncertain mission; the final outcome in the conflict between good and evil has not been left indeterminate; how many are to be saved or lost depends not on the will of the creature. Everything was infallibly determined and immutably fixed by God from the beginning, and all that happens in time is but the accomplishment of what was ordained in eternity.
The grand truth of election, then, takes us back to the beginning of all things. It antedated the entrance of sin into the universe, the fall of man, the advent of Christ, and the proclamation of the gospel. A right understanding of it, especially in its relation to the everlasting covenant, is absolutely essential if we are to be preserved from fundamental error. If the foundation itself be faulty, then the building erected on it cannot be sound; and if we err in our conceptions of this basic truth, then just in proportion as we do so will our grasp of all other truth be inaccurate. God’s dealings with Jew and Gentile, His object in sending His Son into this world, His design by the gospel, yea, the whole of His providential dealings, cannot be seen in their proper perspective till they are viewed in the light of His eternal election.
It is a difficult doctrine, and this in three respects, the first being in the understanding of it. Unless we are privileged to sit under the ministry of some Spirit-taught servant of God who presents the truth to us systematically, then great pains and diligence are called for in the searching of the Scriptures, so that we may collect and tabulate their scattered statements on this subject. It has not pleased the Holy Spirit to give us one complete and orderly setting forth of the doctrine of election, but instead "here a little, there a little"--in typical history, in psalm and prophecy, in the great prayer of Christ (John 17), in the epistles of the apostles. Second, it is a difficult doctrine in the acceptation of it. This presents a much greater difficulty, for when the mind perceives what the Scriptures reveal thereon, the heart is loath to receive such a humbling and flesh-withering truth. How earnestly we need to pray for God to subdue our enmity against Him and our prejudice against His truth. Third, it is difficult in the proclamation of it. No novice is competent to present this subject in its scriptural perspective and proportions.
But notwithstanding, these difficulties should not discourage us, still less deter us, from an honest and serious effort to understand and heartily receive all that God has been pleased to reveal thereon. Difficulties are designed to humble us, to exercise us, to make us feel our need of wisdom from on high. It is not easy to arrive at a clear and adequate grasp of any of the great doctrines of Holy Writ, and God never intended it should be so. Truth has to be "bought" (Prov. 23:23). Alas, that so few are willing to pay the price, namely, devotion to the prayerful study of the Word. These difficulties are not insurmountable, for the Spirit has been given to God’s people to guide them into all truth. Equally so for the minister of the Word. A humble waiting upon God, coupled with a diligent effort to be a workman that needs not to be ashamed, will in due time fit him to expound this truth to the glory of God and the blessing of his hearers.
It is an important doctrine, as is evident from various considerations. Perhaps we can express most impressively the momentousness of this truth by pointing out that, apart from eternal election, there had never been any Jesus Christ and, therefore, no divine gospel. For if God had never chosen a people unto salvation, He had never sent His Son; and if He had sent no Saviour, none had ever been saved. Thus, the gospel itself originated in this vital matter of election. "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (2 Thess. 2:13). And why are we "bound to give thanks?" Because election is the root of all blessings, the spring of every mercy that the soul receives. If election be taken away, everything is taken away. For those who have any spiritual blessing are they who have all spiritual blessings, "according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:3, 4).
It was well said by Calvin, "We shall never be clearly convinced, as we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the fountain of God’s free mercy until we are acquainted with His eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison: that He adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but He gives to some what He refuses to others. Ignorance of this principle detracts from the divine glory and diminishes real humility. If, then, we need to be recalled to the origin of election to prove that we obtain salvation from no other source than the mere good pleasure of God, then they who desire to extinguish this principle do all they can to obscure what ought to be magnificently and loudly celebrated."
It is a blessed doctrine, for election is the spring of all blessings. This is made unmistakably clear by Ephesians 1:3,4. First, the Holy Spirit declares that the saints have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Then He proceeds to show why and how they were so blessed: it is according as God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Election in Christ, therefore, precedes being blessed with all spiritual blessings, for we are blessed with them only as being in Him, and we are only in Him as chosen in Him. We see, then, what a grand and glorious truth this is, for all our hopes and prospects belong to it. Election, though distinct and personal, is not, as is sometimes carelessly stated, a mere abstract choice of persons unto eternal salvation irrespective of union with their Covenant-Head, but a choice of them in Christ. It therefore implies every other blessing, and all other blessings are given only through it and in accordance with it.
Rightly understood, there is nothing so calculated to impart comfort and courage, strength and security, as a heart-apprehension of this truth. To be assured that I am one of the high favorites of Heaven imparts the confidence that God most certainly will supply my every need and make all things work together for my good. The knowledge that God has predestinated me unto eternal glory supplies an absolute guarantee that no efforts of Satan can possibly bring about my destruction, for if the great God be for me, who can be against me! It brings great peace to the preacher, for he now discovers that God has not sent him forth to draw a bow at random, but that His Word shall accomplish that which He pleases and shall prosper whereto He sends it (Isa. 55:11). And what encouragement it should afford the awakened sinner. As he learns that election is solely a matter of divine grace, hope is kindled in his heart. As he discovers that election singled out some of the vilest of the vile to be the monuments of divine mercy, why then should he despair?
It is a distasteful doctrine. One would naturally think that a truth so God-honoring, Christ-exalting, and so blessed, would have been cordially espoused by all professing Christians who had it clearly presented to them. In view of the fact that the terms "predestinated," "elect," and "chosen," occur so frequently in the Word, one would surely conclude that all who claim to accept the Scriptures as divinely inspired would receive with implicit faith this grand truth, referring the act itself--as becomes sinful and ignorant creatures so to do--unto the sovereign good pleasure of God. But such is far, very far from being the actual case. No doctrine is so detested by proud human nature as this one, a doctrine which makes nothing of the creature and everything of the Creator. Yea, at no other point is the enmity of the carnal mind so blatantly and hotly evident.
We commenced our addresses in Australia by saying, "I am going to speak tonight on one of the most hated doctrines of the Bible, namely, that of God’s sovereign election." Since then we have encircled this globe, and have come into more or less close contact with thousands of people belonging to many denominations, and thousands more of professing Christians attached to none, and today the only change we would make in that statement is, that while the truth of eternal punishment is the one most objectionable to non-professors, that of God’s sovereign election is the truth most loathed and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers. Let it be plainly announced to them that salvation originated not in the will of man but in the will of God (see John 1:13; Rom. 9:16), that were it not so none would or could be saved--for as the result of the fall man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good (John 5:40; Rom. 3:11)--, and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing (Ps. 110:3), and loud will be the cries of indignation raised against such teaching.
It is at this point the issue is drawn. Merit-mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency unto good of the human will. Consequently, they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God are the warmest in crying up the freewill of fallen man. In the decrees of the council of Trent--wherein the Papacy definitely defined her position on the leading points raised by the Reformers and which Rome has never rescinded--occurs the following: "If any one should affirm that since the fall of Adam man’s free will is lost, let him be accursed." It was for their faithful adherence to the truth of election, with all that it involves, that Bradford and hundreds of others were burned at the stake by the agents of the pope.
But whatever aversion men may now have to this blessed truth, they will be compelled to hear it in the last day, hear it as the voice of final, unalterable, and eternal decision. When death and hades, the sea and dry land, shall give up the dead, then shall the Book of Life--the register in which was recorded from before the foundation of the world the whole election of grace--be opened in the presence of angels and demons, in the presence of the saved and of the lost, and that voice shall sound to the highest arches of Heaven, to the lowest depths of hell, to the uttermost bound of the universe: "And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15). Thus, this truth which is hated by the non-elect above all others is the one that shall ring in the ears of the lost as they enter their eternal doom! Ah, my reader, the reason why people do not receive and duly prize the truth of election is because they do not feel their due need of it.
It is a separating doctrine. The preaching of the sovereignty of God, as exercised by Him in foreordaining the eternal destiny of each of His creatures, serves as an effectual flail to divide the chaff from the wheat. "He that is of God hears God’s words" (John 8:47), yes, no matter how contrary they may be to his ideas. It is one of the marks of the regenerate that they set to their seal that God is true. Nor do they pick and choose, as will religious hypocrites. Once they perceive a truth is clearly taught in the Word, even though it be utterly opposed to their own reason and inclinations, they humbly bow to it and implicitly receive it, and would do so though not another person in the whole world believed it. But it is far otherwise with the unregenerate. As the apostle declares, "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (1 John 4:5, 6).
We know of nothing so devisive between the sheep and the goats as a faithful exposition of this doctrine. If a servant of God accepts some new charge, and he wishes to ascertain which of his people desire the pure milk of the Word and which prefer the Devil’s substitutes, let him deliver a series of sermons on this subject, and it will quickly be the means of "taking forth the precious from the vile" (Jer. 15:19). It was thus in the experience of the Divine Preacher. When Christ announced "no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father," we are told, "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:65, 66). True it is that by no means all who intellectually receive "Calvinism" as a philosophy or theology give evidence (in their daily lives) of regeneration. Yet equally true is it that those who continue to cavil [raise irritating and trivial objections] against, and steadfastly refuse, any part of the truth are not entitled to be regarded as Christians.
It is a neglected doctrine. Though occupying so prominent a place in the Word of God, it is today but little preached and still less understood. Of course, it is not to be expected that the "higher critics" and their blinded dupes should preach that which makes nothing of man; but even among those who wish to be looked up to as "orthodox" and "evangelical," there are scarcely any who give this grand truth a real place in either their pulpit ministrations or their writings. In some cases, this is due to ignorance: not having been taught it in the seminary, and certainly not in the "Bible Institutes," they have never perceived its great importance and value. But in too many cases, it is a desire to be popular with their hearers which muzzles their mouths. Nevertheless, neither ignorance, prejudice, nor enmity can do away with the doctrine itself or lessen its vital momentousness.
In bringing to a close these introductory remarks, let it be pointed out that this blessed doctrine needs to be handled reverently. It is not a subject to be reasoned about and speculated upon, but approached in a spirit of holy awe and devotion. It is to be handled soberly. "When thou art in disputation, engaged upon a just quarrel to vindicate the truth of God from heresy and distortion, look into thy heart, set a watch on thy lips, beware of wild fire in thy zeal" (E. Reynolds, 1648). Nevertheless, this truth is to be dealt with uncompromisingly and plainly, irrespective of the fear or favor of man, confidently leaving all "results" in the hand of God. May it be graciously granted us to write in a manner pleasing to God, and you to receive whatever is from Himself.
pbministries.org/books/pink/Election/elec_01.htm
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Day 10
THE FOLLY OF THE COVETOUS MAN
WILLIAM LAW
Real happiness is only to be had from the greatest degrees of piety, the greatest denials of our passions, and the strictest rules of religion. This truth will appear from a consideration of human misery. If we look into the world and view the anxiety and troubles of human life, we shall find that they are all owing to our own violent and irreligious passions. Now all trouble and uneasiness is founded in the desire of worldly things. Would we know the true cause of our troubles and anxiety, we must find out the cause of our desire, because that which creates and increases our desire does in the same degree create and increase our trouble and uneasiness.
God Almighty has sent us into the world with very few needs. Meat and drink and clothing are the only things necessary in life, and as these are only our present needs, so the present world is well furnished to supply them. If a man had half the world in his power, he can make no more of it than this. As he needs it only to support an animal life, so is it unable to do anything else for him or to afford him any other happiness. This is the state of man--born with few needs and into a large world very capable of supplying them. One would reasonably suppose that men should pass their lives in contentment and thankfulness to God, at least that they should be free from violent anxieties and vexations, as being placed in a world that has more than enough to relieve all their needs.
But if to all this we add that this short life, thus furnished with all that we need in it, is only a short passage to eternal glory (where we shall be clothed with the brightness of angels and enter into the joys of God), we might still more reasonably expect that human life should be a state of peace and joy and delight in God. It would certainly be so if reason had its full power over us. But, alas, though God, nature, and reason make human life thus free from needs and so full of happiness, yet our passions create a new world of evils and fill human life with imaginary needs. The man of pride has a thousand desires which only his own pride has created, and these render him as full of trouble as if God had created him with a thousand appetites without creating anything that was proper to satisfy them. Envy and ambition have also their endless desires which grieve the souls of men, and by their contradictory motions render them foolishly miserable. Let any complaining, grievous man tell you the ground of his anxiety, and you will plainly see that he is the author of his own torment; that he is vexing himself at some imaginary evil which will cease to torment him as soon as he is content to be who God and nature and reason require him to be.
If you should see a man passing his days in anxiety because he could not walk upon the water or catch birds as they fly by, you would readily confess that he had only himself to thank for such vexation. But now, if you look into all the most tormenting anxieties of life, you will find them all just as absurd. People are only tormented by their own folly, and they vex themselves at things which no more concern them than walking upon the water or catching birds. Can you conceive of anything more silly and extravagant than a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly? Wandering from his own house and home, wearying himself with climbing upon every hill, cringing and courting everybody he meets to lift him up from the ground, bruising himself with continual falls and at last breaking his own neck? Would you not readily own that such a one was disturbed only by his own folly? Wherever you see an ambitious man, there you see this vain and senseless flier.
Again, consider a man who has a large pond of water yet living in continual thirst, not allowing himself half a drink for fear of decreasing his water supply. You see him wasting his time and strength continually fetching water for his pond. He is always thirsty, even though he has in his hand a bucket of water. He watches constantly in order to catch every drop of rain, gapes after every cloud, and runs greedily into every mire and mud hole in hopes of water. He is always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into his pond. You see him grow gray and old in these anxious labors and, at last, he ends a careful, thirsty life by falling into his own pond. Would you not say that such a man was not only the author of all his own vexations, but was foolish enough to be reckoned among idiots and madmen? But yet, foolish and absurd as this picture is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd anxieties of the covetous man.
I could now easily proceed to show the same effects of all our other passions, and make it plainly appear that all our miseries, vexations, and complaints are entirely of our own making in the same absurd manner as in these instances of the covetous and ambitious man. Look where you will, you will see all worldly vexations just like the vexation of him who was always in the mire and mud in search of water to drink, when he had at home more than was sufficient for a hundred horses.
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
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Day 11
WATER TURNED TO WINE
J. C. RYLE
In John 2:1-11, we read of a miracle which should always possess a special interest in the eyes of a true Christian. It is the first, in order of time, of the many mighty works which Jesus did when He was upon earth. We are distinctly told, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee." Like every other miracle which John was inspired to record, it is related with great minuteness and particularity. And, like every other miracle in John's Gospel, it is rich in spiritual lessons.
We learn, firstly, from these verses, how honorable in the sight of Christ is the estate of matrimony. To be present at a marriage was almost the first public act of our Lord's earthly ministry. Marriage is not a sacrament, as the Church of Rome asserts. It is simply a state of life ordained by God for man's benefit. But it is a state which ought never to be spoken of with levity or regarded with disrespect. The Prayerbook service has well described it as "an honorable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, and signifying unto us the mystical union that is between Christ and his Church." Society is never in a healthy condition, and true religion never flourishes in that land where the marriage tie is lightly esteemed. They who lightly esteem it have not the mind of Christ. He who "beautified and adorned the estate of matrimony by His presence and first miracle wrought in Cana of Galilee," is One who is always of one mind. "Marriage," says the Holy Spirit by Paul, "is honorable in all." One thing, however, ought not to be forgotten. Marriage is a step which so seriously affects the temporal happiness and spiritual welfare of two immortal souls that it ought never to be taken in hand "unadvisedly, lightly, wantonly, and without due consideration." To be truly happy, it should be undertaken "reverently, discreetly, soberly, and in the fear of God." Christ's blessing and presence are essential to a happy wedding. The marriage at which there is no place for Christ and His disciples is not one that can justly be expected to prosper.
We learn, secondly, from these verses, that there are times when it is lawful to be merry and rejoice. Our Lord Himself sanctioned a wedding-feast by His own presence. He did not refuse to be a guest at "a marriage in Cana of Galilee." "A feast," it is written, "is made for laughter, and wine makes merry." Our Lord, in the passage before us, approves both the feast and the use of wine.
True religion was never meant to make men melancholy. On the contrary, it was intended to increase real joy and happiness among men. The servant of Christ unquestionably ought to have nothing to do with races, balls, theaters, and such-like amusements, which tend to frivolity and indulgence, if not to sin. But he has no right to hand over innocent recreations and family gatherings to the devil and the world. The Christian who withdraws entirely from the society of his fellow-men and walks the earth with a face as melancholy as if he was always attending a funeral, does injury to the cause of the Gospel. A cheerful, kindly spirit is a great recommendation to a believer. It is a real misfortune to Christianity when a Christian cannot smile. A merry heart and a readiness to take part in all innocent mirth are gifts of inestimable value. They go far to soften prejudices, to take up stumbling-blocks out of the way, and to make way for Christ and the Gospel.
The subject, no doubt, is a difficult and delicate one. On no point of Christian practice is it so hard to hit the balance between that which is lawful and that which is unlawful, between that which is right and that which is wrong. It is very hard indeed to be both merry and wise. High spirits soon degenerate into levity. Acceptance of many invitations to feasts soon leads to waste of time and begets leanness of soul. Frequent eating and drinking at other men's tables soon lowers a Christian's tone of religion. Going often into company is a heavy strain on spirituality of heart. Here, if anywhere, God's children have need to be on their guard. Each must know his own strength and natural temperament, and act accordingly. One believer can go without risk where another cannot. Happy is he who can use his Christian liberty without abusing it! It is possible to be sorely wounded in soul at marriage feasts and the tables of friends.
One golden rule on the subject may be laid down, the use of which will save us much trouble. Let us take care that we always go to feasts in the spirit of our divine Master, and that we never go where He would not have gone. Like Him, let us endeavor to be always "about our Father's business." Like Him, let us willingly promote joy and gladness, but let us strive that it may be sinless joy, if not joy in the Lord. Let us endeavor to bring the salt of grace into every company, and to drop the word in season in every ear we address. Much good may be done in society by giving a healthy tone to conversation. Let us never be ashamed to show our colors and to make men see whose we are and whom we serve. We may well say, "Who is sufficient for these things?" But if Christ went to a marriage feast in Cana, there is surely something that Christians can do on similar occasions. Let them only remember that if they go where their Master went, they must go in their Master's spirit.
We learn, lastly, from these verses, the Almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are told of a miracle which He wrought at the marriage feast when the wine failed. By a mere act of will He changed water into wine, and so supplied the need of all the guests. The manner in which the miracle was worked deserves special notice. We are not told of any outward visible action which preceded or accompanied it. It is not said that He touched the waterpots containing the water that was made wine. It is not said that He commanded the water to change its qualities or that He prayed to His Father in Heaven. He simply willed the change, and it took place. We read of no prophet or apostle in the Bible who ever worked a miracle after this fashion. He who could do such a mighty work, in such a manner, was nothing less than very God.
It is a comfortable thought that the same almighty power of will which our Lord here displayed is still exercised on behalf of His believing people. They have no need of His bodily presence to maintain their cause. They have no reason to be cast down because they cannot see Him with their eyes interceding for them, or touch Him with their hands that they may cling to Him for safety. If He "wills" their salvation and the daily supply of all their spiritual need, they are as safe and well provided for as if they saw Him standing by them. Christ's will is as mighty and effectual as Christ's deed. The will of Him who could say to the Father, "I will that they whom you have given me be with me where I am," is a will that has all power in heaven and earth, and must prevail.
Happy are those who, like the disciples, believe on Him by whom this miracle was wrought. A greater marriage feast than that of Cana will one day be held, when Christ Himself will be the bridegroom and believers will be the bride. A greater glory will one day be manifested, when Jesus shall take to Himself His great power and reign. Blessed will they be in that day who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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Day 12
MAN'S DISTRESS
ANDREW MURRAY
"0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 7:24,25)
You know the wonderful location that this text has in the epistle to the Romans. It stands here at the end of the seventh chapter as the gateway into the eighth. In the first sixteen verses of the eighth chapter, the name of the Holy Spirit is found sixteen times. You have there the description and promise of the life that a child of God can live in the power of the Holy Spirit. This begins in the second verse: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." From that, Paul goes on to speak of the great privileges of the child of God who is to be led by the Spirit of God. The gateway into all this is found at the end of chapter seven: "0 wretched man that I am!" There you have the words of a man who has come to the end of himself. He has in the previous verses described how he had struggled and wrestled in his own power to obey the holy law of God and had failed. But in answer to his own questions, he now finds the true answer and cries out, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
I want to describe the path by which a man can be led out of the spirit of bondage into the spirit of liberty. You know how distinctly it is said, "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." We are continually warned that this is the great danger of the Christian life--to go again into bondage. I want to describe the path by which a man can get out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Indeed, I want to describe the man himself. Notice first, that these words are the language of a regenerate man; second, of a weak man; third, of a wretched man; and fourth, of a man on the border of complete liberty.
THE REGENERATE MAN. There is much evidence of regeneration from the fourteenth verse of chapter seven to the twenty-third verse: "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me." That is the language of a regenerate man, a man who knows that his heart and nature have been renewed and that sin is now a power in him that is not himself. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man." That again is the language of a regenerate man. He dares to say when he does evil, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells me." It is of great importance to understand this.
In the first two great sections of the epistle, Paul deals with justification and sanctification. In dealing with justification, he lays the foundation of the doctrine in the teaching about sin. He does not speak of the singular sin, but of the plural--sins--the actual transgressions. In the second part of the fifth chapter, he begins to deal with sin, not as actual transgression but as a power. Just imagine what a loss it would have been to us if we did not have this second half of the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans; if Paul had omitted in his teaching this vital question of the sinfulness of the believer. We should have missed the question we all want answered as to sin in the believer. What is the answer? The regenerate man is one in whom the will has been renewed, and who can say, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
THE WEAK MAN. Here is the great mistake made by many Christians. They think that when there is a renewed will, it is enough. But that is not the case. This regenerate man tells us: "I will to do what is good, but the power to perform I find not." How often people tell us that if you set yourself determinedly, you can perform what you will! But this man was as determined as any man can be, and yet he made the confession, "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not." But, you ask, "How is it God makes a regenerate man utter such a confession, he being with a right will, with a heart that longs to do good, and longs to do its very utmost to love God?"
Let us look at this question. What has God given us our will for? The will of man is nothing but an empty vessel in which the power of God is to be made manifest. Man must seek in God all that is to be. You have it in the second chapter of Philippians, and you have it here also, that God's work is to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Here is a man who appears to say, "God has not worked to do in me." But we are taught that God works both to will and to do. How is the apparent contradiction to be reconciled?
You will find that in this passage, Romans 7:6-25, the name of the Holy Spirit does not occur once nor does the name of Christ occur. The man is wrestling and struggling to fulfill God's law. Instead of the Holy Spirit and Christ, the law is mentioned nearly twenty times. It shows a believer doing his very best to obey the law of God with his regenerate will. Not only this, but you will find that the little words, "I, me, my," occur more than forty times. It is the regenerate "I" in its weakness seeking to obey the law without being filled with the Spirit. This is the experience of almost every saint. After conversion, a man begins to do his best and fails. But if we are brought into the full light, we no longer need to fail. Nor need we fail at all if we have received the Spirit in His fullness.
God allows that failure so that the regenerate man should be taught his own utter inability. It is in the course of this struggle that the sense of our utter sinfulness comes to us. It is God's way of dealing with us. He allows man to strive to fulfill the law so that, as he strives and wrestles, he may be brought to this: "I am a regenerate child of God, but I am utterly helpless to obey His law." See what strong words are used all through the chapter to describe this condition: "I am carnal, sold under sin;" "I see another law in my members bringing me into captivity;" and last of all, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This believer, who bows here in deep contrition, is utterly unable to obey the law of God.
THE WRETCHED MAN. Not only is the man who makes this confession a regenerate and a weak man, but he is also a wretched man. He is utterly unhappy and miserable. What is it that makes him so utterly miserable? It is because God has given him a nature that loves Him. He is deeply wretched because he feels he is not obeying his God. He says, with brokenness of heart, "It is not I that do it, but I am under the awful power of sin, which is holding me down. It is I, and yet not I. Alas! it is myself, so closely am I bound up with it and so closely is it intertwined with my very nature." Blessed be God when a man learns to say, "0 wretched man that I am!" from the depth of his heart. He is on the way to the eighth chapter of Romans. There are many who make this confession a pillow for sin. They say that if Paul had to confess his weakness and helplessness in this way, who are they that they should try to do better? So the call to holiness is quietly set aside. Pray God that every one of us would learn to say these words in the very spirit in which they are written here! When we hear sin spoken of as the abominable thing that God hates, do not many of us wince before the word? If only all Christians who go on sinning would take this verse to heart. If only we would take it into our hearts every time we say sharp things, and every time we sin against the Lord God and against the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray God that we could forget everything else and cry out, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
Why should you say this whenever you commit sin? Because it is when a man is brought to this confession that deliverance is at hand. And remember, it was not only the sense of being weak and taken captive that made him wretched. It was, above all, the sense of sinning against his God. The law was doing its work, making sin exceedingly sinful in his sight. Once every sin gives new intensity to the sense of wretchedness, and we feel our whole state as one of not only helplessness but actual, exceeding sinfulness, we will be pressed not only to ask, "Who shall deliver us?" but to cry, "I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord."
THE ALMOST-DELIVERED MAN. The man has tried to obey the beautiful law of God. He has loved it, he has wept over his sin, and he has tried to conquer. He has tried to overcome fault after fault, but every time has ended in failure. What did he mean by "the body of this death"? Did he mean, my body when I die? Surely not. In the eighth chapter you have the answer to this question in the words, "If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live." That is the body of death from which he is seeking deliverance.
And now he is on the brink of deliverance! In 7:23 we have the words, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." It is a captive that cries, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" He is a man who feels himself bound. But look to the contrast in the second verse of chapter eight: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." That is the deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord, the liberty to the captive which the Spirit brings. Can you keep captive any longer a man made free by the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"?
But, you say, the regenerate man did not have the Spirit of Jesus when he spoke in the sixth chapter. Yes, he did [but did] not know what the Holy Spirit could do for him. God does not work by His Spirit as He works by a blind force in nature. He leads His people on as reasonable, intelligent beings. Therefore, when He wants to give us that Holy Spirit whom He has promised, He first brings us to the end of self, brings us to the conviction that though we have been striving to obey the law, we have failed. When we have come to the end of that, then He shows us that in the Holy Spirit we have the power of obedience, the power of victory, and the power of real holiness. God works to will, and He is ready to work to do, but many Christians misunderstand this. They think because they have the will, it is enough, and that now they are able to do. This is not so. The new will is a permanent gift, an attribute of the new nature. The power to do is not a permanent gift, but must be received each moment from the Holy Spirit. It is the man who is conscious of his own weakness as a believer who will learn that by the Holy Spirit he can live a holy life. This man is on the brink of that great deliverance; the way has been prepared for the glorious eighth chapter.
I now ask this solemn question: Where are you living? With you, is it, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" with now-and-then a little experience of the power of the Holy Spirit? Or is it, "I thank God through Jesus Christ! The law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and of death"? What the Holy Spirit does is to give the victory. "If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live". It is He who, when the heart is opened wide to receive Him, comes in and reigns there, and mortifies the deeds of the body, day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment. Remember, dear friend, what we need is to come to decision and action. There are in Scripture two very different sorts of Christians. The Bible speaks about yielding to the flesh, and that is the life of tens of thousands of believers. All their lack of joy in the Holy Spirit and their lack of the liberty He gives is just owing to the flesh. The Spirit is within them, but the flesh rules the life. To be led by the Spirit of God is what they need. If only I could make every child of His realize what it means that the everlasting God has given His dear Son, Christ Jesus, to watch over you every day, and that what you have to do is to trust. If only I could make His children understand that the work of the Holy Spirit is to enable you every moment to remember Jesus, and to trust Him! The Spirit has come to keep the link with Him unbroken every moment. Praise God for the Holy Spirit!
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Day 13
A CHAT ABOUT COMMENTARIES
CHARLES SPURGEON
In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion. Like a little coterie [clique] who thinks as you, you would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves should think so little of what he has revealed to others. My chat this afternoon is not for these great originals, but for you who are content to learn from holy men, taught of God, and mighty in the Scriptures.
It has been the fashion of late years to speak against the use of commentaries. If there were any fear that the expositions of Matthew Henry, Gill, Scott, and others would be exalted into Christian Targums, we would join the chorus of objectors, but the existence or approach of such a danger we do not suspect. The temptations of our times lie rather in empty pretensions to novelty of sentiment than in a slavish following of accepted guides. A respectable acquaintance with the opinions of the giants of the past might have saved many an erratic thinker from wild interpretations and outrageous inferences. Usually we have found the despisers of commentaries to be men who have no sort of acquaintance with them; in their case, it is the opposite of familiarity which has bred contempt.
It is true there are a number of expositions of the whole Bible which are hardly worth shelf room. They aim at too much and fail altogether. The authors have spread a little learning over a vast surface and have badly attempted for the entire Scriptures what they might have accomplished for one book with tolerable success. But who will deny the preeminent value of such expositions as those of Calvin, Ness, Henry, Trapp, Poole, and Bengel, which are as deep as they are broad? And yet further, who can pretend to biblical learning who has not made himself familiar with the great writers who spent a life in explaining some one sacred book? Without attempting to give in detail the names of all, I intend in a familiar talk to mention the more notable.
First among the mighty for general usefulness we are bound to mention the man whose name is a household word, MATTHEW HENRY. He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, terse and trustworthy. You will find him to be glittering with metaphors, rich in analogies, overflowing with illustrations, superabundant in reflections. He delights in apposition and alliteration. He is usually plain, quaint, and full of pith. He sees right through a text directly. Apparently he is not critical, but he quietly gives the result of an accurate critical knowledge of the original fully up to the best critics of his time. He is not versed in the manners and customs of the East, for the Holy Land was not so accessible as in our day, but he is deeply spiritual, heavenly, and profitable, finding good matter in every text, and from all deducing most practical and judicious lessons. His is a kind of commentary to be placed where I saw it, in the old meeting house at Chester--chained in the vestry for anybody and everybody to read. It is the poor man's commentary, the old Christian's companion, suitable to everybody, instructive to all. You are aware, perhaps, that the latter part of the New Testament was completed by other hands, the good man having gone the way of all flesh. The writers have executed their work exceedingly well, have worked in much of the matter which Henry had collected, and have done their best to follow his methods, but their combined production is far inferior to Matthew Henry himself, and any reader will soon detect the difference. Every minister ought to read Matthew Henry entirely and carefully through once at least.
It would not be possible for me too earnestly to press upon you the importance of reading the expositions of that prince among men, JOHN CALVIN. I have often felt inclined to cry out with Father Simon, a Roman Catholic, "Calvin possessed a sublime genius", and with Scaliger, "Oh! how well has Calvin reached the meaning of the prophets--no one better." You will find forty-two or more goodly volumes worth their weight in gold. Of all commentators, I believe John Calvin to be the most candid. In his expositions he is not always what moderns would call Calvinistic. That is to say, where Scripture maintains the doctrine of predestination and grace, he flinches in no degree, but inasmuch as some Scriptures bear the impress of human free action and responsibility, he does not shun to expound their meaning in all fairness and integrity. He was no trimmer and pruner of texts. He gave their meaning as far as he knew it. His honest intention was to translate the Hebrew and the Greek originals as accurately as he possibly could, and then to give the meaning which would naturally be conveyed by such Greek and Hebrew words. He labored, in fact, to declare not his own mind upon the Spirit's words, but the mind of the Spirit as couched in those words. Dr. King very truly says of him, "No writer ever dealt more fairly and honestly by the Word of God. He is scrupulously careful to let it speak for itself, and to guard against every tendency of his own mind to put upon it a questionable meaning for the sake of establishing some doctrine which he feels to be important, or some theory which he is anxious to uphold. This is one of his prime excellences."
A very distinguished place is due to DR. GILL. Beyond all controversy, Gill was one of the most able Hebraists of his day, and in other matters no mean proficient. When an opponent in controversy had ventured to call him "a botcher in divinity", the good doctor, being compelled to become a fool in glorying, gave such a list of his attainments as must have covered his accuser with confusion. His great work on the Holy Scriptures is greatly prized at the present day by the best authorities, which is conclusive evidence of its value, since the set of the current of theological thought is quite contrary to that of Dr. Gill. Probably no man since Gill's days has at all equaled him in the matter of Rabbinical learning. Say what you will about that lore, it has its value. Of course, a man has to rake among perfect dunghills and dust heaps, but there are a few jewels which the world could not afford to miss. Gill was a master cinder-sifter among the Targums, the Talmuds, the Mishna, and the Gemara. Richly did he deserve the degree of which he said, "I never bought it, nor thought it, nor sought it." He was always at work. It is difficult to say when he slept, for he wrote 10,000 folio pages of theology. The portrait of him which belongs to this church (and hangs in my private vestry and from which all the published portraits have been engraved) represents him, after an interview with an Arminian gentleman, turning up his nose in a most expressive manner as if he could not endure even the smell of freewill. In some such a vein he wrote his commentary. He hunts Arminianism throughout the whole of it. His frequent method of reflection is, "This text does not mean this", nobody ever thought it did; "It does not mean that", only two or three heretics ever imagined it did; and again it does not mean a third thing, or a fourth, or a fifth absurdity. But, at last, he thinks it does mean so-and-so and tells you so in a methodical, sermon-like manner. For good, sound, massive, sober sense in commenting, who can excel Gill?
Gentlemen, if you want something full of marrow and fatness, cheering to your own hearts by way of comment and likely to help you in giving to your hearers rich expositions, buy DR. HAWKER'S POOR MAN'S COMMENTARY. Dr. Hawker was the very least of commentators in the matter of criticism. He had no critical capacity and no ability whatever as an interpreter of the letter. But he sees Jesus, and that is a sacred gift which is most precious whether the owner be a critic or no. It is to be confessed that he occasionally sees Jesus where Jesus is not legitimately to be seen. He allows his reason to be mastered by his affections, which, vice as it is, is not the worst fault in the world. There is always such a savor of the Lord Jesus Christ in Dr. Hawker that you cannot read him without profit. He has the peculiar idea that Christ is in every Psalm, and this often leads him totally astray, because he attributes expressions to the Saviour which really shock the holy mind to imagine our Lord's using. However, not as a substantial dish, but as a condiment, place the Plymouth vicar's work on the table. His writing is all sugar, and you will know how to use it--not devouring it in lumps, but using it to flavor other things.
I must also add to the list A COMMENTARY, CRITICAL, EXPERIMENTAL, AND PRACTICAL, ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Of this I have a very high opinion. It is the joint work of Dr. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and Dr. David Brown. It is to some extent a compilation and condensation of other men's thoughts, but it is sufficiently original to claim a place in every minister's library. Indeed, it contains so great a variety of information that if a man had no other exposition, he would find himself at no great loss if he possessed this and used it diligently.
spurgeon.org/misc/c&cl1.htm
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Day 14
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
MATTHEW HENRY
"So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried." (Luke 16:22)
Death is the common lot of rich and poor, godly and ungodly. There they meet together. One dies in his full strength, and another in the bitterness of his soul, but they shall lie down alike in the dust. Death favors not man for his poverty. Saints die that they may bring their sorrow to an end and may enter upon their joys. Sinners die that they may go to give their account. It concerns both rich and poor to prepare for death, for it waits for them both.
The beggar died first. God often takes godly people out of the world, when he leaves the wicked to flourish still. It was an advantage to the beggar that such a speedy end was put to his miseries, and, since he could find no other shelter or resting place, he was hid in the grave where the weary are at rest.
The rich man died and was buried. Nothing is said of the interment of the poor man. They dug a hole anywhere and tumbled his body in, without any solemnity. He was buried with the burial of an ass. It is well if they that let the dogs lick his sores did not let them gnaw his bones. But the rich man had a pompous funeral, lay in state, had a train of mourners to attend him to his grave and a stately monument set up over it. Probably he had a funeral oration in praise of him, his generous way of living, and the good table he kept--which those would commend who had feasted at it. It is said (in Job) of the wicked man, that he is brought to the grave with no small ado, laid in the tomb, and the clods of the valley, were it possible, are made sweet to him.
The beggar died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. How much did the honor done to his soul by this convoy of it to its rest exceed the honor done to the rich man by the carrying of his body with so much magnificence to its grave. Observe that his soul existed in a state of separation from the body. It did not die or fall asleep with the body. His candle was not put out with him, but lived, acted, and knew what it did and what was done to it. His soul removed to another world, to the world of spirits. It returned to God who gave it, to its native country. This is implied in its being carried. It was carried by angels. They are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, not only while they live but when they die, and have a charge concerning them to bear them up in their hands. One angel, one would think, would be sufficient, but here are more, as many as were sent for Elijah. What were the bearers at the rich man's funeral, though probably those of the first rank, in comparison with Lazarus's bearers?
It was carried into Abraham's bosom. The Jews expressed the happiness of the righteous at death in three ways: they go to the garden of Eden, they go to be under the throne of glory, and they go to the bosom of Abraham. This poor Lazarus, who might not be admitted within the rich man's gate, is conducted into the dining room, into the bedchamber, of the heavenly palace.
"Then he [the rich man] cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me...for I am tormented in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things.'" This is a cutting word--remember. The memories of damned souls will be their tormentors, and conscience will then be awakened and stirred up to do its office, which here they would not allow it to do. Now sinners are called upon to remember, but they do not, will not, and find ways to avoid it. What a dreadful peal will this ring in our ears, "Son, remember the many warnings that were given you not to come to this place of torment, but which you would not regard. Remember the fair offers made to you of eternal life and glory which you would not accept."
He is now reminded that in his own lifetime he received his good things. Abraham does not tell him that he had abused them, but that he had received them. "Remember what a bountiful benefactor God has been to you, how ready he was to do you good. You cannot therefore say that he owes you anything, no, not a drop of water. What he gave you, you received, and that was all. You never gave a thankful acknowledgment of them, much less did you ever make any grateful return for them or improvement of them. You received them and used them as if they had been your own. They were your reward, your consolation, the penny you had agreed on. You lived for the good things of your lifetime and had no thought of better things in another life, and therefore you have no reason to expect them. The day of your good things is past and gone, and now is the day of your evil things, of recompense for all your evil deeds."
Matthew Henry's Commentary
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Day 15
HOLY COVETEOUSNESS
SAMUEL LOGAN BRENGLE
"Covet earnestly the best gifts," wrote Paul to his officers and soldiers at Corinth. Not the highest promotions, not the best positions, but "the best gifts," which God bestows upon the people who earnestly covet them and diligently seek Him. Nero sat upon the throne of the world. He held the highest position in the reach of man. But a poor, despised Jew in a dungeon in Rome, whose head Nero cut off as a dog's head, possessed the best gifts. While Nero's name rots, Paul's name and works are a foundation upon which the righteous continuously build. There were deacons, archdeacons, and venerable archdeacons, bishops, and archbishops in England some hundreds of years ago, who held high places and power and to whom other men bowed low. But a poor, despised tinker in the filthy Bedford jail had coveted earnestly and received "the best gifts." While these church dignitaries are forgotten by the mass of men, the world knows and loves the saintly tinker, John Bunyan, and is ever being made better and lifted nearer to God by his wise works and words.
Comrades, you and I should seek these best gifts with all our hearts, and we should be satisfied with nothing short of them. It makes but little difference what our position and rank. If we have these gifts, we shall have a name and bless the world, but without them we shall prove to be only a sham.
What are these gifts? There is one which, in a sense, includes them all--the gift of the Holy Ghost. Have you received the Holy Ghost? Is He dwelling in your heart? Covet Him. Live not a day without His blessed presence in you.
Then there is the gift of wisdom. Covet this. The world is full of foolish men and women who don't know how to save themselves, nor how to promote salvation and peace among their fellow foolish ones who stumble along in darkness and perish in their folly. The world needs wise men--men who know when to speak, what to say, when to be silent, who know God and His way and walk in it. God gives wisdom to those that seek Him. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...and it shall be given him," if he ask in faith without wavering. Nothing will so distinguish a man and exalt him among his fellows as fullness of wisdom.
There are several marks by which to know this heavenly wisdom. James tells us what they are. The wisdom that is from above is first "pure." The man who is truly wise will keep himself pure. He will flee from all impurity in thought, word, and act. Filthy habits of every kind are broken and put away by this heavenly wisdom.
It is "peaceable." The man who has this gift and wisdom from God does not meddle with strife. He seeks peace and runs after it. He is essentially a peacemaker. He has learned the secret of the soft answer which turns away wrath. He is not quick to take offense.
It is "gentle." The man who lives in the Spirit of this world may be rough and boorish, but he who is wise from above is gentle and considerate. This gentleness may exist in the same heart with lion-like strength and determination. Jesus was as "a Lamb slain," but He was also "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." He was gentle as a mother, and at the same time immeasurably strong.
It is "easy to be entreated." Though he is sinned against seventy times seven in a day, yet this heavenly-wise man stands ready to forgive. His heart is an exhaustless fountain of good will. While, if it be his lot to rule, he rules with diligence, and, if necessary, with vigor. Yet he counts not his life dear unto himself, but is willing to lay it down for the good of his brethren.
It is "full of mercy and good fruits." Like his Heavenly Father, he is rich in mercy.
It is "without partiality." He is not a party man. He rises above party and class prejudice and is a lover of all men. He stands for the fair deal.
And it is "without hypocrisy." There is no guile in his heart, no white lies on his tongue, no double-dealing in his actions. He is square and open and above-board in all his ways and dealings. He lives in constant readiness for the Judgment Day. Blessed be God for such wisdom, which He waits to bestow upon all those who covet it, and who ask for it in faith. Covet wisdom.
Then there is the gift of faith. Covet faith. In every man there is, in some measure, the power to believe, but added to this is a gift of faith which God bestows upon those who diligently seek Him. Covet this, O my comrades! Be steady, strong, intelligent believers. Cultivate faith. Stir it up in your hearts as you stir up the fire in your stove. Feed your faith on God's Word. I once heard a mighty evangelist say that he used to pray and pray for faith, but one day he read, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Then he began to study God's Word and hide it in his heart, and his faith began to grow and grow until through faith his works girded the globe. Covet faith.
There is the gift of the spirit of prayer. Anybody can pray, if he will, but how few have the spirit of prayer! How few make a business of prayer, and wrestle with God for blessing and power and wisdom! Real prayer is something more than a form of words, or a hasty address to God just after breakfast, before the meeting, or before going to bed at night. It is an intense, intelligent, persistent council with the Lord in which we wait on Him, and reason and argue and plead our cause and listen for His reply and will not let Him go till He blesses us. But how few pray in this way! Let us covet earnestly and cultivate diligently the spirit of prayer.
We should also covet the spirit of prophecy--that ability to speak to the hearts and minds of men so that they shall see and feel that God is in us and in our words. We may not be able to preach like the General, but there is probably not one of us but might preach and prophesy far more pungently, powerfully and persuasively than we do if we earnestly coveted this gift, and sought it in fervent prayer, faithful study, and constant and deep meditation. God would help us, and how greatly it would add to our power and usefulness! Let us earnestly covet this gift, asking God to touch our lips with fire and with grace.
Above all, covet a heart that is full, flaming and overflowing with love. Pray for love. Stir up what love you have. Exercise love. It is good for us to take the Bible and, with a concordance, hunt out the word love until we know all the Bible says on the subject. And then with a heart full of love, we can pour it out on the children, soldiers, backsliders, cranky folks, and poor loveless sinners until that wondrous text has its fulfillment: "Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goes forth in His might." How the frost and snows melt, the frozen earth thaws, the trees burst into bud and leaf, the flowers blossom, the birds sing, and all nature wakes to a revelry of life and joy when the sun goes forth in his might! Then indeed we shall be a blessing. Souls dead in trespasses and sin shall come to life under our loving ministry and message. The weak shall be made strong, the sorrowing shall receive Divine comfort, the ignorant shall be taught, and heavenly light shall illumine those that are in darkness. Let us then "covet earnestly the best gifts."
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Day 16
THE VISION OF DRY BONES
ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE
"The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' So I answered, 'O Lord GOD, You know.' Again He said to me,'Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: ‘Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live’"....Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.’" (Ezekiel 37:1-5, 11)
In early life, the prophet Ezekiel had been witness to sieges and battlefields. He had himself experienced many of the horrors and calamities of war, and this seems to have tinged his natural character in such a way that his prophecies, more than those of any other prophet, are full of terrific images and visions of dreadful things. In these words we have the description of a vision which, for grandeur and terrible sublimity, is perhaps unequaled in any other part of the Bible.
He describes himself as set down by God in the midst of a valley that was full of bones. It seemed as if he were stationed in the midst of some spacious battlefield, where thousands and tens of thousands had been slain and none left behind to bury them. The eagles had many a time gathered over the carcasses, and none frightened them away; and the wolves of the mountains had eaten the flesh of these mighty men and drunk the blood of princes. The rains of heaven had bleached them, and the winds that sighed over the open valley had made them bare. Many a summer sun had whitened and dried the bones. As the prophet went round to view the dismal scene, these two thoughts arose in his mind: "Behold, they are very many; and, lo, they are very dry."
If the place had not been an open valley, it might have seemed, to his wondering gaze, like some vast repository for dead bodies; as if the wanton hand of violence had rifled the vast cemeteries of Egypt and cast forth the mummied bones of other ages to bleach and whiten in the light of heaven. How expressive are the brief words of the seer: "Behold, they are very many; and, lo, they are very dry!" No doubt there was an awful silence spread over this scene of desolateness and death; but the voice of his heavenly guide breaks in upon his ear: "Son of man, can these bones live?"
How strange a question was this to ask concerning dry, whitened bones! When Jesus said of the damsel, "She is not dead, but sleeps," they laughed him to scorn. But here were not bodies newly dead, but bones--bare, whitened bones. They were not even skeletons, for bones were separated from their adjoining bones, and yet God asks, "Can these bones live?" Had he asked this question of the world, they would have laughed a louder laugh of scorn. But he asked it of one who, though once dead, had himself been made alive by God, and he answered, "O Lord God, you know." They cannot live of themselves, for they are dead and dry; but if you will put your living Spirit into them, they shall live. So, then, you only know.
Receiving this answer of faith, God bids Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones, and say unto them: "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord."
Had the prophet walked by sight and not by faith, he would have staggered at this promise through unbelief. Had he been a worshiper of reason, he would have argued, "These bones have no ears to hear, why should I preach to them, Hear the word of the Lord"? But no. He believed God rather than himself. He had been taught "the exceeding greatness of his mighty power," and therefore he obeyed. "So I prophesied as I was commanded."
If the scene which Ezekiel first beheld was dismal and desolate, the scene which now opened on his eyes was more dismal and revolting still: "And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them." If it was a hideous sight before (to see the valley full of bones all cleansed by the rains and winds and whitened in the summer suns), how much more hideous now to see these slain ones with bone joined to sinews and skin upon them, but yet with no breath! Here was a battlefield indeed with its thousands of unburied dead--masses of unbreathing flesh, cold and immovable, ready only to putrify, every hand stiff and motionless, every bosom without a heave, every eye glazed and lifeless, every tongue cold and silent as the grave.
But the voice of God again breaks the silence: "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." Before, Ezekiel had bent over the dead, dry bones and preached unto them--a vast but lifeless congregation. Now he lifts his head and raises his eyes, for his word is to the living Spirit of God. Unbelief might have whispered to him, "To whom are you going to prophesy now?" Reason might have argued, "What sense is there in speaking to the invisible wind, to one whom you see not?" But he staggered not at the word through unbelief. "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."
The first application made of this vision is to the restoration of the Jews. It teaches that, at present, they are like dry bones in the open valley: scattered over all lands, very many and very dry, without any life to God. It teaches that the preaching of Jesus, though foolishness to the world, is to be the means of their awakening, and that prayer to the all-quickening Spirit is to be the means of their new life. It teaches that when these means are used with them, God's ancient people shall yet stand up and be an exceeding great army; shall be as they used to be when they marched through the wilderness, when God went before them in the pillar of cloud; that they shall then be led back to their own land and planted in their own land, and not plucked up any more.
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Day 17
SENTIMENT AND EMOTION
SAMUEL P. TREGELLES
There is sternness in the truth of God which might almost seem like harsh severity, when it is regarded by those whose thoughts on the subject of revelation have been formed in a great measure from sentiment and emotion. An imaginative feeling may exist, and this may be so cherished that even the Scripture is only used for sentimental purposes. The force of definite truth is by no means felt, because the mind has sunk into a kind of spiritual reverie. Indeed, there is a disposition to avoid definite truth. Thus, when the details of revealed promises and purposes are stated from the Word of God, there is a feeling that there is but little, if anything, in them that is really edifying or that can afford nourishment for spiritual life. Consequently, dreamy indefinite thoughts of God's love are cherished, a view is taken of the person and work of Christ and of His coming glory as may stir up spiritual emotions, or what are supposed to be such. But it must never be forgotten that holiness is not the only thing taught us respecting the Holy Ghost: He is the Spirit of Truth as well as the Holy Spirit of God. We are not to accredit any supposed holiness irrespective of truth.
Emotional religion has always a tendency to make feeling the standard of what should be received or rejected as truth. A certain kind of feeling--approaching to mysticism--is that which is allowed to rule the judgment as to what God has revealed. Sometimes these indefinite claims to spirituality are accepted by others. The doctrines of such teachers are supposed to be worthy of all acceptance, not because they are found in Holy Scripture, but because they are said to be true by such holy and devoted men. But if we would judge according to God, we must test all claims to holiness and devotion by means of truth.
It is very manifest that the doctrine of a secret coming of Christ and a secret removal of the Church to be with Him is peculiarly suited to those who cherish the religion of sentiment. What more cheering (they say) than the thought that the Lord may take His people to Himself at any moment? What more animating than the belief that this may take place this very day? And when anyone brings them to Scripture and tries to point out the revealed hope of the Lord's coming, it seems as if there were nothing but coldness in the teaching. They ask if such chilling doctrines can be consistent with love to the Lord. But know that whatever makes the feelings sit in judgment on Scripture and leads to the avoidance of the force of that Scripture teaching which is not in accordance with such feelings, must, however apparently sanctified and spiritual, be of nature and not of God. Are we to seek to be guided by other hopes than those which animated the Apostolic Church? They knew that days of darkness would set in before Christ's coming. They were instructed respecting the many Antichrists and the final Antichrist. But so far from their hope of the coming of the Lord and of resurrection being thus set aside, they were able to look onward through the darkness to the brightness of the morning.
It may freely be owned that those who think it right to expect the Lord at any moment, and who sternly condemn others who maintain that His appointed signals shall take place first, have often in their hearts much real love to Him. But let such remember the prayers of the Apostle: "That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." It is not only of importance that love should be rightly directed as to its object, but there should also be in the soul real spiritual intelligence.
A wife has the promise of her husband's return from a distant country, and she has his written directions for the rule of the house during his absence. Part of these directions includes a statement how his return shall be expected--that a letter will arrive first to say by what ship he will come. There would be no lack of love on her part if she sought to be occupied by-by-day as he directed. She would show that she believed that the promised letter should come and that he would then himself arrive by the appointed vessel. No one could reproach her for lack of love to her husband if she were not on the tiptoe of momentary expectation. But if the wife were to say that the part of her husband's directions related to the servants and not to her, and if she were to be constantly on the shore expecting her husband's landing and refused to simply attend to what her husband had said, she would show that she was a visionary and not one guided by the simple intelligence of her husband's mind. Feeling would have led away from true obedience.
Those who sentimentally make the secret rapture the center of all their thoughts, have habitually shown how utterly their love fails toward any Christians who object to this theory. They often speak of them as if such were devoid of love to Christ. It might seem as if they made that one point (in which they are led by feeling and not by Scripture) the very test of Christian profession. It is remarkable to notice how the sentimental expectation of the Lord's coming has led away from the close and reverential study of Holy Scripture. Indeed, it has been painful to hear of earnest and real desire to study the Word of God regarded as being "occupied with the letter of Scripture." But do those who say this know what they mean? They speak of principles, and of having their minds occupied with Christ, but how can we obtain true principles except from God's revelation in the Word? And how does the Spirit lead the mind to be occupied with Christ except from the definite truth of Holy Scripture?
Of course, with this feeling all critical study of Scripture is denounced. It is deemed a waste of time. Even the study of the Word of God in the original Hebrew and Greek is spoken of as if it were a secular occupation. The English Bible is thought to be enough for teachers. Exact scholarship is deemed superfluous if the original languages are looked at. How different is this from the real study of God's Word; from using and valuing each portion, however minute, as being from Him; as being that of which He can unfold to us the meaning by the teaching of His Spirit. How different is this from the practical application of the most definite rules of grammar which lead to absolute persuasion that apostles and evangelists wrote nothing at random, but that even as to the most delicate shades of thought they used the right cases, moods, and tenses. All diligent and careful inquiry, all laborious examination of authorities so as to know what were the very words in which the inspired writers gave forth the Scripture, is regarded as merely intellectual and secular.
This is not healthy. Should not those who believe in the Divine authority of Holy Scripture know better than to neglect its critical study? And if it be truly inspired, ought they not to feel it is of some importance to inquire what is its true text, and, as far as existing evidence can show, what were the very words in which the Holy Ghost gave it forth? It is most difficult to arouse Christians in general to a sense of the full importance of critical study of Scripture, especially when dreamy apprehensions are cherished and vague idealism has taken the place of truth, and sentimental asceticism is the substitute of Christian holiness.
He who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ and is guided by His Spirit will be the most subject to that which is written in the Word. True acquaintance with Scripture is the best check to mere sentimental emotion.
The Hope of Christ's Second Coming
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Day 18
WISODM FOR MAN
JONATHAN EDWARDS
"Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth."
Proverbs 27:1The design of the wise man in this book of Proverbs is to give us the precepts of true wisdom, or to teach us how to conduct ourselves wisely in the course of our lives. Wisdom very much consists in making a wise improvement of time, and of the opportunities we enjoy. He advises us here to a wise improvement of the present season.
The precept given: not to boast of tomorrow. That is, not to speak or act as though it were our own. It is absurd for men to boast of that which is not theirs. The wise man would not have us behave ourselves as though any time were ours but the present.
The reason given for this precept: for you do not know what a day may bring forth. We have no hold of future time; we know not whether we shall see the morrow; or if we do know that we shall see it, we know not what we shall see on it. We ought to carry ourselves as though we knew we should not live another day and improve the current one as if it were the last. In particular, we should live every day as conscientiously and in as holy a manner as if we knew it were the last. We should be as careful to avoid all sin as if we knew that this night our souls should be required of us. We should be as careful to do every duty which God requires of us, and take as much care that we have a good account to give to our Judge of our improvement of that day, as if we concluded that we must be called to give an account before another day arrives.
Yet in many other respects, we are not to behave ourselves as though we concluded that we should not live another day. For instance, in such a case it would not be the duty of any person to make provision for his temporal subsistence. It would never be man’s duty to plow or sow the field, or to lay up for winter. But these things are man’s duty: “Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
On the other hand, if we were certain that we should not live another day, some things would be our duty today which now are not so. For instance, it would be proper for us to spend our time in giving our dying counsels, in setting our houses in order, in doing those things which immediately concern our departure. Therefore, the words that forbid us to boast of tomorrow cannot be extended to signify that we ought in all respects live as if we knew we should not see another day. Yet they undoubtedly mean that we ought not to behave ourselves as though we depended on another day.
Those who act as if they had another day set their hearts on the enjoyments of this life. I do not mean that we cannot have some affection for the enjoyments of this world; otherwise they would cease to be enjoyments. If we might have no degree of rejoicing in them, we would not be thankful for them. Persons may in a degree take delight in earthly friends and other earthly enjoyments. It is agreeable to the wise man’s advice that we should do so: “It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun." But when we set our hearts on these things, place our happiness in them, turn and fix our inclinations so much upon them that we cannot enjoy ourselves without them, we show that we have our dependence on another day.
When people are distressed with the loss of any temporal enjoyments or temporal disappointments, it shows that they set their hearts upon them. If they are very much distressed and the comfort of their lives destroyed by it, it shows that those temporal enjoyments were too much the foundation on which their comfort stood. That which makes a building totter and threatens its destruction is not the removal of some of the exterior parts of the superstructure, but the removal of some considerable part of the foundation on which the house stands.
I shall ask you now to examine yourselves and see whether you do not boast of tomorrow. Do you not set your hearts much more on this world than you would if you had no dependence on another day? Is not the language of the rich man in the gospel the secret language of your hearts? “Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years.” If you did not depend on having considerably more time in this world, would you spend so much time asking, "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Would you not rather ask, "How shall we make our calling and election sure?" Would so much of your time be spent in laying up treasure on earth and so little in laying up treasure in heaven, were it not that you put death at a distance?
God has concealed from us the day of our death partly for this end, that we might be excited to be always ready, and might live as those that are always waiting for the coming of their Lord. Now therefore let me, in Christ’s name, renew the call and counsel of Jesus Christ to you: Watch as those that know not what hour their Lord will come. Let me call upon you who are this day in an unsaved condition. Do not depend upon another day; that you will not be in hell before tomorrow morning. You have no reason for any such dependence.
Works of Jonathan Edwards
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Day 19
THE SUM AND SUBSTANCE OF THEOLOGY
CHARLES SPURGEON
"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me,
and he who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."
John 6:37Now, as God shall help me this morning, I want to expand both sentences of my text with equal fidelity and plainness. I shall not expect to please some of you while speaking on the first sentence, and I shall not be surprised if I fail to please others of you when I come to the second sentence. Reject what I say if it be not true, but if it be the Word of God, receive it. Be it known unto you that it is at your peril if you dare to reject the truthful Word of the glad tidings of God.
I will begin with the first sentence of the text: "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." We have here, first, THE FIRM FOUNDATION UPON WHICH OUR SALVATION RESTS. It rests, you perceive, not on something which man does, but on something which God the Father does. The Father gives certain persons to His Son, and the Son says, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." I take it that the meaning of the text is this: that if any do come to Jesus Christ, it is those whom the Father gave to Christ. And the reason why they come--if we search to the very bottom of things--is that the Father puts it into their hearts to come. The reason why one man is saved and another man is lost is to be found in God, not in anything which the saved man did or did not do, nor in anything which he felt or did not feel, but in something altogether irrespective of himself, even in the sovereign grace of God. In the day of God's power, the saved are made willing to give their souls to Jesus. The language of Scripture must explain this point. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12,13). "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy" (Romans 9:16). If you want to see the fount of grace, you must go to the everlasting God even as, if you want to know why that river runs in this direction and not in that, you must trace it up to its source. In the case of every soul that is now in heaven, it was the will of God that drew it there. In the case of every spirit that is on its way to glory now, unto God and unto Him alone must be the honor of its salvation, for He it is who makes one "differ from another" (1 Cor. 4:7).
I do not care to argue upon this point except to put it thus: If any say, "It is man himself who makes the difference," I reply, "You are involving yourself in a great dilemma. If man himself makes the difference, then man himself must have the glory." Now, I am certain you do not mean to give man the glory of his own salvation. You would not have men throw up their caps in heaven and shout, "Unto ourselves be the glory, for we, ourselves, were the hinge and turning point of our own salvation." No, you would have all the saved cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus, and give to Him alone all the honor and all the glory. This, however, cannot be unless, in that critical point--that diamond hinge upon which man's salvation shall turn--God shall have the control, and not the will of man. You know that those who do not believe this truth as a matter of doctrine, do believe it in their hearts as a matter of experience.
The doctrine of Election is God's purposing in His heart that He would make some men better than other men; that He would give to some men more grace than to other men; that some should come out and receive the mercy and that others, left to their own free will, should reject it; that some should gladly accept the invitations of mercy while others, of their own accord, stubbornly refuse the mercy to which the whole world of mankind is invited. All men, by nature, refuse the invitations of the gospel. God, in the sovereignty of His grace, makes a difference by secretly inclining the hearts of some men by the power of His Holy Spirit to partake of His everlasting mercy in Christ Jesus. I am certain that whether we are Calvinists or Arminians, if our hearts are right with God, we shall all adoringly testify: "We love Him, because He first loved us." If that be not Election, I know not what it is.
Now, in the second place, note THE CERTAINTY OF THE ETERNAL SALVATION OF ALL WHO WERE GIVEN TO JESUS: "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." This is eternally settled, and so settled that it cannot be altered by either man or devil. All whose names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, all whom God the Father designed to save when He gave up His well-beloved Son to die upon the cross of Calvary, shall in time be drawn by the Holy Spirit, and shall surely come to Christ and be kept by the Spirit through the precious blood of Christ. They shall be folded forever with His sheep on the hill-tops of glory.
Note: "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Not one of those whom the Father has given to Jesus shall perish. If any were lost, the text would have to read, "Almost all," or, "All but one." But it positively says "All," without any exception, even though one may have been, in his unregenerate state, the very chief of sinners. Yet even that chosen one, that given one, shall come to Jesus. When he has come, he shall be held by that strong love that at first chose him, and he shall never be let go but shall be held fast, even unto the end.
"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." "But suppose they will not come?" I cannot suppose any such thing, for He says they "shall come." They shall be made willing in the day of God's power. God knows how to make a passage through the heart of man, and though man is a free agent, yet God can incline him, willingly, to come to Jesus. There are many sentences even in Wesley's hymn-book which contain this truth. If God took away freedom from man and then saved him, it would be but a small miracle. For God to leave man free to come to Jesus and yet to so move him as to make him come is a divinely-wrought miracle indeed. If we were for a moment to admit that man's will could be more than a match for God's will, do you not see where we should be landed? Who made man? God! Who made God? Shall we lift up man to the sovereign throne of Deity? Who shall be master and have his way, God or man? The will of God that says they "shall come" knows how to make them come.
I shall now turn very briefly to the second sentence of my text: "And he who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." "Now," says somebody, "he is going to knock down all that he has been building up." Well, I would rather be inconsistent with myself than with my Master, but I dare not alter this second sentence, and I have no desire to alter it. Let it stand in all its glorious simplicity: "HE WHO COMES TO ME I WILL BY NO MEANS CAST OUT."
Let the whole world come. This promise is big enough to embrace them all in its arms. There is no mistake here, the wrong man cannot come. If any sinner come to Christ, he is sure to be the right one. As there is no limitation in the person coming, so there is no limitation in the manner of his coming. Says one, "Suppose I come the wrong way?" You cannot come the wrong way. It is written, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him." "No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father" (John vi.44,65). If, then, you come to Christ in any way, you are drawn of the Father, and He cannot draw the wrong way. If you come to Christ at all, the power and will to come have been given you of the Father. If you come to Christ, He will in no wise cast you out. There is no possible or conceivable reason for Jesus ever to cast out any sinner who comes to Him. There is no reason in hell, on earth, or in heaven why Jesus should cast out the soul that comes to Him. If Satan, the foul accuser of the brethren, brings reasons why the coming sinner should not be received, Jesus will "cast down" the accuser, but He will not "cast out" the sinner. "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," is still His invitation and His promise, too.
Let us suppose a case by way of illustration. Here is a ragged, dirty, coal-begrimed man in Swansea who has received a message from Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria. It reads: "You are hereby commanded to come, just as you are, to our palace at Windsor to receive great and special favors at our hand. You will stay away at your peril." The man reads the message and at first scarcely understands it. So he thinks, "I must wash and prepare myself." Then, he rereads the royal summons and the words arrest him: "Come, just as you are." So he starts out and tells the people in the train where he is going. They laugh at him. He arrives at Windsor Castle where he is stopped by the guard and questioned. He explains why he has come and shows the Queen's message. He is allowed to pass. Next, he meets with a gentlemen in waiting who, after some explanations and expressions of astonishment, allows him to enter the ante-room. When there, our friend becomes frightened on account of his begrimed and ragged appearance. He is half inclined to rush from the place with fear when he remembers the words of the royal command: "Stay away at your peril." Presently, the Queen herself appears and tells him how glad she is that he has come just as he was. She says that he shall be suitably clothed and be made one of the princes of her court. She adds, "I told you to come as you were. It seemed to be a strange command to you, but I am glad you have obeyed, and so come."
I do think this is what Jesus Christ says to every creature under heaven. The gospel invitation says, Come, come, come to Christ, just as you are. "But, let me feel more." No, come just as you are. "But let me get home to my own room and let me pray." No, no, come to Christ just as you are. As you are, trust in Jesus and He will save you. Oh, do dare to trust Him! If anybody shall ask, "Who are you?" answer, "I am nobody." If anyone objects, "You are such a filthy sinner," reply, "Yes, 'tis true, so I am, but He Himself told me to come." If anyone shall say, "You are not fit to come," say, "I know I am not fit, but He told me to come."
Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity joined with power.
He is able,
He is willing, doubt no more.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requires
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you,
'Tis the Spirit's rising beam.Sinner, trust in Jesus. If you should perish trusting in Him, I will perish with you. I will make my bed in hell side by side with you, sinner, if you can perish trusting in Christ. You shall lie there and taunt me to all eternity, if we perish, for having taught you falsely. But that can never be. Those who trust in Jesus shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of His hand. Come to Jesus, and He will by no means cast you out.
May the Lord bless the words I have spoken! Though hastily suggested to my mind and feebly delivered to you, the Lord bless them, for Christ's sake! Amen.
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Day 20
GOD CONTINUES TO GOVERN
EVERY PART OF HIS UNIVERSEJOHN CALVIN
"For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or power. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist." (Colossians 1:15-17)
We do not believe that God merely created the universe and then left it to run its own course. This is one of the main points of difference between Christians and unbelievers. We recognize the work of God in the continuous course of nature as much as we do in its origin. Many people are convinced that there is a creator God when they see his work, but it requires faith in the heart to see his continued work.
We must clearly see that the providence of God has nothing to do with fortune or chance. For hundreds of years, and even in our own time, men have thought many happenings were by chance. If a man was attacked by robbers, shipwrecked at sea, found an oasis in a desert or had a hairbreadth escape from death, it was all ascribed to chance. But we know that even the hairs of our head are numbered. We know that the One who cares for us does not allow anything to happen to us just by chance. All events are controlled by the secret counsel of God.
God is not idle now that he has completed creation. He is watchful, powerful, always working. He is all-powerful, not because he set the world going, but because he governs heaven and earth with his kindly care. And this does not mean, merely, that he has set in order the course of nature. His goodness continues in fatherly love to all his people.
Another point that we must have clear in our minds is that God's care is much more than foreknowledge. His care is shown in continued action. To say that God governs the world in general without controlling each individual person is not true. The human being does not move or act by accident nor by his own free will. God's care in the world today means that he continues to work in the affairs of men. The decision about what occurs in the world is not partly God's choice and partly man's--the choice is always God's.
God controls both animate and inanimate things. By his fatherly care we have a good harvest or a bad one, a safe voyage or a shipwreck. God is all-powerful. We must realize that it is by his decision whether we have good times or bad. We know that he is so kind as to provide the good things we need. And when we go through bad times, we must not think that it is because he could not provide anything better for us. Christ has proclaimed as a universal truth that not even so small a creature as a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of the Father in heaven. We know that God made the world for man. We must expect that he governs it for the benefit of man.
The teaching that God controls every part of his world all the time can be made to sound horrible by making it seem as if the world is controlled by "fate." The idea of fate controlling mankind is completely non-Christian. We believe our loving God watches over everything with fatherly care. Often, however, our minds are too dull to reach to the heights of understanding God's actions. Though all things are ordered by God's sure will, to us they appear to happen by chance. The purpose of many happenings is hidden from us. If we have faith, we will be able to see that what looks to us like chance is the secret working of God's power.
The parts of scripture that say Satan and all wicked people are controlled by the will of God are very difficult to understand. We begin to think that God is to blame when evil is done. Some people have tried to solve this problem by saying that some things God does, and some others he permits. But we know from the book of Job that God actually did the things that happened to him. Job says, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away." Solomon tells us that it is God who turns the mind of a king. The fact that God controls our minds is also clearly stated in the New Testament, where it frequently says that God hardened their hearts or blinded their eyes.
Some people suggest that God must disagree with himself. They say he must want one thing--the good thing--and yet cause the evil to happen. But God has only one will although it may appear divided to us. A saying of Augustine may help us here: "Some men have good wishes which are not according to God's will, and others have bad wishes which are according to God's will. For instance, a good son may rightly wish that his father should live while it is God's will that he should die; and a bad son may wickedly wish that his father should die when it is also God's will that the father should die. And yet the godly son pleases God by wishing what God does not will, while the wicked son displeases God by wishing what God wills."
God sometimes fulfills his own righteous purposes by means of the evil purposes of the wicked. God would not allow evil to be done unless he, as the omnipotent God, were able to bring good out of it. Christ was crucified by God's appointment even though the action was done by wicked men.
Other people object to this teaching and say that if God uses wicked people, even governs their plans, he must be committing their crimes. So people must then be punished merely for obeying God's orders. But this reasoning is wrong. God's commandments must always be obeyed. A person who deliberately breaks a commandment deserves punishment. God's commands are unalterable. God's will is also unalterable. The difficulty comes when it seems that God has willed something that is contrary to his commandments. In this case, perhaps we do not understand the purpose of what he wills. His will may include someone doing a wicked act, but that act is still wicked. God willed that David's adultery should be avenged by Absalom's incest, but it does not follow that God commanded Absalom to commit incest. A wicked man is still guilty--even though he may act in accordance with God's plan--because it was his own wish to act wickedly.
Biblical Christianity
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Day 21
THE BEATITUDES
J. C. RYLE
Every word of the Lord Jesus ought to be most precious to professing Christians. It is the voice of the Chief Shepherd; it is the charge of the great Bishop and Head of the Church; it is the Master speaking; it is the word of Him who "spake as never man spake," and by whom we shall all be judged at the last day. Would we know what kind of people Christians ought to be? Would we know the character at which Christians ought to aim? Would we know the outward walk and inward habit of mind which become a follower of Christ? Then let us often study the Sermon on the Mount. Let us often ponder each sentence and prove ourselves by it. Not least, let us often consider who they are that are called "blessed" at the beginning of the Sermon. Those whom the great High Priest blesses are blessed indeed!
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are poor in spirit. He means the humble, lowly-minded, and self-abased. He means those who are deeply convinced of their own sinfulness in God's sight. These are they who are not "wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight." They are not "rich and increased with goods." They regard themselves as "wretched, miserable, and poor." Blessed are all such! Humility is the very first letter in the alphabet of Christianity. We must begin low if we would build high.
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who mourn. He means those who sorrow for sin and grieve daily over their own short-comings. These are they who trouble themselves more about sin than about anything on earth. The remembrance of it is grievous to them; the burden of it is intolerable. Blessed are all such! "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart," (Ps. 51:17). One day they shall weep no more: "they shall be comforted."
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are meek. He means those who are of a patient and contented spirit. They are willing to put up with little honor here below. They can bear injuries without resentment. They are not ready to take offense. Like Lazarus in the parable, they are content to wait for their good things. Blessed are all such! They are never losers in the long run. One day they shall "reign on the earth," (Rev. 5:10).
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who hunger and thirst after righteousness. He means those who desire above all things to be entirely conformed to the mind of God. They long not so much to be rich, wealthy, or learned, as to be holy. Blessed are all such! They shall have enough one day. They shall "be satisfied when they awake in God's likeness," (Psalm 17:15).
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are merciful. He means those who are full of compassion toward others. They pity all who are suffering either from sin or sorrow, and are tenderly desirous to make their sufferings less. They are "full of good works," and endeavor to do good, (Acts 9:36). Blessed are all such! Both in this life and in that which is to come they shall reap a rich reward.
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are pure in heart. He means those who do not aim merely at outward correctness, but at inward holiness. They are not satisfied with a mere external show of religion. They strive to have always a conscience void of offense and to serve God with the spirit and the inner man. Blessed are all such! The heart is the man. "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart," (1 Sam. 16:7). He that is most spiritually minded will have most communion with God.
The Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are peacemakers. He means those who use all their influence to promote peace and charity on earth, in private and in public, at home and abroad. He means those who strive to make all men love one another by teaching that Gospel which says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law," (Rom. 13:10). Blessed are all such! They are doing the very work which the Son of God began when He came to earth the first time, and which He will finish when He returns the second time.
Lastly, the Lord Jesus calls those "blessed" who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. He means those who are laughed at, mocked, despised, and ill used because they endeavor to live as true Christians. Blessed are all such! They drink of the same cup which their Master drank. They are now confessing Him before men, and He will confess them before His Father and the angels at the last day. "Great is their reward."
Such are the eight foundation stones which the Lord lays down at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Eight great testing truths are placed before us. May we mark well each one of them, and learn wisdom.
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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Day 22
REGENERATION
(PART ONE)ASAHEL NETTLETON
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)
The important and simple doctrine taught by these words is that those who receive Christ--who have power given them to become the sons of God and who believe on his name--are born of God. In other words, every real Christian becomes such by a special exertion of Almighty power to change his heart. The phrase "born of God," "begotten of God," so often used by the writers of the New Testament, is figurative. Its propriety, when applied to things of a spiritual nature, arises from the analogy which exists between the beginning of our natural and spiritual existence. Believers are the sons of God, and this must be understood in a peculiar sense. All men equally receive their existence and natural faculties from the Creator, and in this sense are all the children of God. But when the Scriptures apply the phrases "sons of God" and "children of God" to the saints by way of distinction, it must be to point out a relation to God which is not common to all men. This relation is wholly of a new and spiritual nature, and God is the sole author of it. By virtue of it they are his sons; they are said to be born of him, begotten of him, in allusion to the relation between earthly parents and their children.
The object of this text is to deny that our relation to God as his spiritual children is produced in any way but by his [God's] own special and sovereign power. It was originally adapted to oppose the carnal prejudices of the Jews. For the common opinion was that all who could be counted as the children of Abraham were heirs of the divine promises and entitled to eternal life. This notion was uniformly opposed by Christ and his apostles. Leaving an attempt to ascertain the precise meaning of the phrases “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,” I observe that there were three ways in which individuals became the reputed children of Abraham: by regular descent, by unlawful connection, and by adoption. Let the method be which it might, the Jews supposed that whoever became a child of Abraham of course became a child of God. The celebrated Lightfoot supposes the object of the Evangelist is to cut off the false hopes of the Jews by denying that either method, and of course any method, of becoming the children of Abraham would make them the children of God. Another birth is necessary; a new filiation from above. They must be born again--born of God. Whatever may be the particular meaning of the text, the obvious general impression from it, and the one designed to be made by the sacred writer, is that all other ways of becoming the sons of God are false and visionary, except that of being born of him. It was spoken to meet the prevailing prejudices of the day and may now be used in the same manner.
Of all subjects, that which respects change from death unto life is certainly one of the most important and interesting to us. To have clear and definite ideas here is of great moment. Error on such a fundamental point is awfully perilous. In one sense, all things are of God. He is the Creator and governor of all. All of man’s powers and faculties are from God, and all the means of grace and institutions of religion are ordained by him. But when the Scriptures speak of being born of God, they mean something more than that a man is influenced by these means and institutions in the use of his ordinary powers and faculties. To prevent misconception, I have said that regeneration is the special work of Almighty power. Errorists have never dared to deny, directly, that saints are born of God, because this would be to renounce all appearance of belief in the Scriptures. They have chosen a surer method of propagating their sentiments. While they retain the language of the sacred writers, they have attacked and frittered away their meaning until regeneration becomes the mere application of an external rite, or a persuasion of mind affected in an ordinary manner and a consequent reformation of morals. I shall briefly consider some false notions respecting regeneration and then proceed to illustrate what it is to be born of God.
I need not consume time in laboring to prove that baptism is not regeneration. Nothing is plainer than that an external rite cannot change the heart. Baptism is only a sign or token of the saving influences of the Holy Spirit and is not that work itself. It cannot be the token of a thing and the thing itself at the same time. Both the Scriptures and experience show that all who are baptized are not regenerated. On this, I shall only add the words of an eminent English divine: “This scheme” (speaking of regeneration by water baptism), he says, “is the utter rejection and overthrow of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And again, “The vanity of this presumptuous folly is destructive of the grace of the gospel, invented to countenance men in their sins, and to hide from them the necessity of being born again and therein of turning unto God. But my beloved Christian brethren, you have not so learned Christ.”
Pelagius, in the 4th century, first invented and advocated a scheme of regeneration which, with a few modifications--sometimes in the phraseology and sometimes by partial additions or diminutions--has been the scheme of the great body of all sectaries who have dissented from orthodox evangelical sentiments. Authors have appeared in different periods and in various countries who have brought forward this specious scheme of the new birth, as principally illustrated or defined by themselves, and many whose reading is superficial have been deceived into this supposition. The fact is that almost the whole system of vague and inadequate notions on this great subject is only the heresy of Pelagius, so universally condemned by the ancient Church, which has now been newly dressed up after the modern fashion to secure a better reception. The fundamental truths of the Pelagian and Arminian scheme--for they are in substance the same--are these:
(1) That God not only proclaims the offers of grace and salvation to all men alike, but that the Holy Spirit is equally and sufficiently distributed to all men to insure their salvation, provided they duly improve the benefits bestowed upon them.
(2) That the precepts and promises of the gospel are not only good and desirable in themselves, but so suited to the natural reason and interests of mankind that they will of course be inclined to receive them, unless overpowered by prejudice and a habitual course of sin.
(3) That the consideration of the threatenings and promises of the gospel is sufficient to remove these prejudices and reform that course.
(4) That those who thus seriously reflect and amend their lives have the promise of the Holy Spirit, and are entitled to the benefits of the new covenant.
Under this specious statement of fundamental principles, which is apt to strike an inconsiderate mind in a favorable manner, the very life and soul of gospel truth is taken away. On this scheme, all men are regenerated alike, originally; all have an equal measure of the Spirit, and the difference between one man and another is to be ascribed wholly to himself by the improvement he has made of the blessings vouchsafed. And regeneration is a reformation of life, induced by moral persuasions or commenced in consequence of the understanding being enlightened and the affections being moved by divine truth alone. If you ask, How does salvation proceed from divine grace on this plan? the answer is, that all the means of improvement are bestowed by God, and herein is the grace.
The whole scheme is simply this: God gives faculties and grace to all and to all alike, and thus furnished, they work out their own salvation being persuaded to do this by the promises and threatenings of the gospel. The dreadful mischief which this extensive and popular scheme has caused springs from its plausibility, from such an appearance of truth mixed with so many great and dangerous errors. That the Holy Spirit makes use of the word and many other instruments to bring sinners to Christ, I have no doubt. But that men are naturally so inclined as to approve of and obey the precepts of the gospel, unless some peculiar course of sin or prejudice prevent them, contradicts the whole tenor of the gospel, in which it is a fundamental principle that by nature we are children of wrath, and that we are at enmity with God and blinded to the light of his truth and dead in trespasses and sins. That the Holy Spirit is communicated to all in a sufficient manner to save them, entirely overthrows the idea of any special grace and makes one man as much born of God as another! Our text says that as many as received Christ and believed on his name were born of God. If so, others who did not were not born of God, and the undistinguishing influences of the Spirit cannot be maintained.
It is a great stumbling block in the way of many that God should give more of his Spirit to one than another. To remove this subject of prejudice, Pelagius and multitudes ever since have maintained that all men receive gifts alike, and are alike furnished to work out their salvation. I know such doctrine is agreeable to corrupt nature, and the easy reception it has met with ever since it was first preached proves how agreeable it is to carnal reason. But neither the Scriptures nor experience afford us any reason to believe it. I do not doubt that the Spirit of God strives with all men who are not reprobates. I fully admit it. I admit that the promises and threats of the gospel would be sufficient to persuade us to a holy life if our understandings were neither darkened nor our affections depraved. But after all this, I deny that common grace makes us the sons of God or that we are persuaded to be Christians without any special divine influence, or that all men receive the same measure of the Spirit.
After all preparatory means--all the promises and threats of the gospel, all the operations of common grace, and all exertions of unregenerate sinners--they must be born of God to become his children. There must be a new creation, a work accomplished by Almighty power; a sovereign, special, supernatural act like making a world or raising the dead, and without such an act no one can ever see the kingdom of heaven. Persuasion is not sufficient to make men new creatures. If the Spirit operates on the minds of men only by setting persuasive arguments or motives before them, then it depends on the will of man whether any shall be regenerated or not. On this scheme, the glory of regeneration would belong to ourselves. It would be uncertain also whether Christ would have any spiritual seed, as it would depend upon the uncertain determination of each individual before whom the motives were set.
Moral persuasion to a better life confers no new real, supernatural strength to the soul. No new taste, no new spiritual discernment springs from persuasion. If regeneration comes thus, then a man begets himself, he is born of himself, he makes himself to differ from others. Besides, this is not for what we pray. We pray not that motives may be set before us to regenerate ourselves, but that God would change us, create us anew.
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Day 23
REGENERATION
(PART TWO)ASAHEL NETTLETON
There is then only one way left for a creature dead in trespasses and sins to rise to life. This is by the power of God which quickens him, creates him anew. Observe in what language sacred writers have chosen to communicate their ideas on this subject: born of God, begotten of God, quickened or made alive from the dead, created anew. If it be said this is figurative language, I agree to it, but if there be any correctness in the figures, the work of regeneration must be the commencement of a new spiritual existence. On any other grounds the language of the Scriptures is of all books the most fancied, unmeaning, and obscure.
You may suppose all the preparation (the knowledge, motives, morality--in the common acceptation of the term--unregenerate strivings) which you please. After all, there must be a new creation. The dead must be quickened, believers must be born of God. The same energy which brought Christ from the dead must perform the work. This is the apostle’s statement: "That we may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." Indeed, my friends, where else can we look for the origin of such a change as makes believers pass from death to life but the omnipotence of the divine Spirit? Is it our understanding which accomplishes this change? But our understanding is darkened: “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them.” Is it our will? But we are “prone to evil as the sparks fly upward.” Our wills are perverse and rebellious. Is it our strength? Christ died for the ungodly who are without strength. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think a good thought. Is it our merits? We merit nothing but utter rejection. Is it the ministers of God who persuade us? Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God gives the increase.
Every effort has been made by the ingenuity of man--by palpably erroneous schemes and by plausible ones--to wrest the glory of this work from the hands of the divine Spirit and claim the operation for ourselves, at least to share in the honor of it. But after all, its origin can be traced only to the free and sovereign grace and Almighty power of God. The work is all his, and the glory must and will forever belong exclusively to him.
It is a doctrine supported by the great light of the Reformation and by the pillars of the evangelical churches ever since, that regeneration is a physical work. And by this they mean there is an actual new creation, as absolutely so as when the world was created; that a new spiritual taste, or discernment, and principle is implanted by a sovereign creative operation and not simply a new direction given to the old faculties. Such a work being proved, the whole system of evangelical truth--the doctrines of grace, of divine sovereignty, of election, of redemption only by Christ, of human depravity and others connected with them--all flow from it. There is one grand, harmonious, and perfect system, and God is the sum, the substance and the glory of all.
My friends, I am fully aware of the difficulties incident to the doctrines here laid down. I know full well how ready the natural heart is both to oppose and misconstrue them. But if the Bible supports them, it is enough. Here our carnal reason must bow. Here our proud hearts must submit. Charge them with mystery, with inconsistency, with unprofitableness, O sinner, and you assail not man but God. Look on his word and read, for there it stands written in characters of light: “which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is the only birth which can fit us for heaven. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We may please our fancies and gratify our self-righteousness by adopting loose Pelagian sentiments on this subject; we may remonstrate against such absolute dependence on the grace of God as has now been advocated; but a new heart and a right spirit will, after all, be found of such absolute necessity that without them we must perish forever.
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Day 24
HOLINESS AND WORRY
SAMUEL LOGAN BRENGLE
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you." (I Peter 5:6,7)
Worry is a great foe to holiness, and perfect trust puts an end to worry. "I would as soon swear as fret," said John Wesley. The murmuring and complaining of His children has ever been a great sin in the sight of God, and has led to untold suffering on their part. Most people do not see this to be a sin, but it is. It dishonors God, blinds the eyes to His will, and deafens the ears to His voice. It is the ditch on one side of the pathway of trust. Lazy or heartless indifference is on the other. Happy is the Christian who keeps out of either ditch and walks securely on the pathway. Though it may be often narrow and difficult, it is safe.
Worrying prevents quiet thought and earnest believing prayer, and it is, therefore, always bad. If circumstances are against us, we need quietness of mind, clearness of thought, decision of will, and strength of purpose with which to face these circumstances and overcome them. But all this is prevented or hindered by fret or worry.
We should not worry over things that we can help, but set to work manfully to put them right. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest of men, labored for eight years preparing the manuscript of one of his great works when one day he came into his study and found that his little dog, Diamond, had knocked over a candle and burned all his papers. Without a sign of anger or impatience, the great, good man quietly remarked, "Ah, Diamond, little do you know the labor and trouble to which you have put your master!" And without worrying, he sat down to do that vast work over again.
We should not worry over the things we cannot help, but quietly and confidently look to the Lord for such help as He sees best to give. There is no possible evil that may befall us from which God cannot deliver us or give us grace to bear. Paul says, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Again, Isaiah says: "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusts in Thee." Our business is, then, always to pray, give thanks for such blessings as we have, and keep our minds stayed on God and worry about nothing.
Holiness makes a man so sure of the presence and love and care of God that, while doing with his might what his hands find to do, he refuses to worry and sings from his heart, "I will trust Thee, I will trust Thee, All my life Thou shall control." He is certain that while he trusts and obeys, neither devils nor men can do him real harm nor defeat God's purpose for him.
The heart realization of heavenly help, of God's presence in time of trouble, of angels encamping round about them that fear Him, is the secret of a life of perfect peace. It is a life in which anxious care is not shunned but joyously and constantly rolled on the Lord, who cares for us and who bids us cast our care on him. Are you poor, and tempted to worry about your daily bread? God sent the ravens to feed Elijah. Later God made him dependent upon a poor widow woman with only enough flour and oil to make one meal for herself and her child. But through long months of famine, God did not allow that flour and oil to fail. The God of Elijah is the God of those who trust in Him forevermore.
Such trust is not a state of lazy indifference but of the highest activity of heart and will, and it is both a privilege and a duty. Only a perfect trust can save from undue anxiety, and this trust is an unfailing fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling in a clean heart. We can keep this trust by always obeying the Holy Spirit, paying strict attention to daily duty, watching against temptation, engaging in believing, persevering, unhurried prayer, and by nourishing our faith daily in God's Word. The promises are given us to believe, and so we may rest in God's love and care, and not worry and fret ourself with useless anxiety.
Has someone talked unkindly or falsely about you? Don't worry, but pray and go on loving them and doing your duty. Some day God will "bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day." Are you sick? Don't worry, but pray. The Lord can raise you up or make the sickness work for good. Have your own wrong doings brought you into trouble? Don't worry, but repent to the very bottom of your heart, trust in Jesus, walk in your present light. The Blood will cleanse you, and God will surely help you. Are you troubled about the future? Don't worry. Walk with God today in obedient trust, and tomorrow He will be with you. He will never fail you, nor forsake you.
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Day 25
INTERCESSION: EVERY CHRISTIAN'S DUTY
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men." I Timothy 2:1
If we ask why there is so little love to be found among Christians, we shall find it in a great measure owing to a neglect, or superficial performance of, that excellent part of prayer known as Intercession--imploring the divine grace and mercy in behalf of others.
Prayer is a duty founded on natural religion; the very heathens never neglected it, though many Christian heathens among us do. It is so essential to Christianity that you might as reasonably expect to find a living man without breath as a true Christian without the spirit of prayer and supplication. No sooner was St. Paul converted, but “behold he prays,” says the Lord Almighty. In the heart of every true believer there is a heavenly tendency, a divine attraction which draws him to converse with God.
All sincere Christians are earnest and importunate in praying for themselves, but, not having so lively, lasting, and deep a sense of the needs of their Christian brethren, they are for the most part remiss and defective in their prayers for them. If we loved our neighbor in the manner which the Son of God our savior loves us, and according to his command and example, we could not but be as importunate for their spiritual and temporal welfare as for our own. We would earnestly desire and endeavor that others should share in the benefits of the death and passion of Jesus Christ as we ourselves.
Let not any one think that this is an uncommon degree of charity, a high pitch of perfection to which not everyone can attain. If we are all commanded to “love our neighbor (that is every man) even as ourselves,” nay to “lay down our lives for the brethren,” then it is the duty of all to pray for their neighbors as much as for themselves, and by all possible acts and expressions of love and affection show their readiness even to lay down their lives for them, if ever it should please God to call them to it. Our blessed Savior has set us an example. Intercession, then, is certainly a duty incumbent upon all Christians.
Our intercession must be universal. "I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men." As God's mercy is over all his works, as Jesus Christ died to redeem a people out of all nations and languages, so we should pray that all men may come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.
We should, according to St. Paul's rule, pray for kings so that we may lead quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty. If we consider how heavy the burden of government is, how much the welfare of any people depends on the zeal and godly conversation of those that the rule over them, if we set before us the many dangers and difficulties to which governors by their station are exposed and the continual temptations they be under to luxury and self-indulgence, we shall not only pity but pray for them.
We should especially pray for those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over us. This is what St. Paul begs, again and again, of the churches to whom he writes: “Brethren, pray for us.” And again, in his epistle to the Ephesians: “Praying always, with all manner of supplication, and for me also that I may open my mouth boldly to declare the mystery of the gospel.” If the great St. Paul, that chosen vessel, that favorite of heaven, needed the most importunate prayers of his Christian converts, much more do the ordinary ministers of the gospel stand in need of the intercession of their respective flocks. Shall not they be remembered in your prayers who daily feed and nourish your souls? Praying for your ministers will be a manifest proof of your believing the word, that though Paul plants and Apollos waters, yet it is God alone who gives the increase.
Our friends claim a place in our intercessions, but then we should not content ourselves with praying in general terms for them but suit our prayers to their particular circumstances. When the nobleman came to Jesus in behalf of his child, he said, “Lord, my little daughter lies at the point of death. I pray thee come and heal her.” In like manner, when our friends are under any afflicting circumstances, we should pray for them with a particular regard to those circumstances. Is a friend sick? We should pray that if it be God's good pleasure, it may not be unto death. But if it be so, that God would give him grace, and after his painful life ends, that he may dwell with him in life everlasting. Is a friend in doubt on an important matter? We should lay his case before God, as Moses did that of the daughters of Zelophehad, and pray that God's Holy Spirit may lead him into all truth and give all seasonable direction. Is he in need? We should pray that his faith may never fail, and that in God's due time he may be relieved.
We also pray for our enemies. “Bless them who curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.” Jesus enforced this command in the strongest manner by his own example: in the very agonies and pangs of death, he prayed even for his murderers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This is a difficult duty, yet not impracticable to those who have renounced the things of this present life.
I shall now proceed to offer some considerations to excite you to the practice of daily intercession. First, it will fill your hearts with love for one another. He who heartily intercedes at the throne of grace for all mankind cannot but in a short time be filled with love and charity to all. Envy, malice, revenge, and such like hellish tempers can never harbor long in a gracious intercessor's breast. Abound in acts of general and particular intercessions, and when you hear of your neighbor's faults, lay them in secret before God and beg of him to correct and amend them. You cannot imagine what a blessed alteration this practice will make in your heart, and how much you will increase day by day in the spirit of love and meekness toward all mankind!
Consider the many instances in holy scripture of the power and efficacy of intercession. It has stopped plagues; it has opened and shut heaven; it has frequently turned away God's fury from his people. When Daniel humbled and afflicted his soul and interceded for the Lord's inheritance, how quickly was an angel dispatched to tell him his prayer was heard!
Remember that it is the never-ceasing employment of the holy and highly exalted Jesus himself. He sits at the right hand of God hearing all our prayers and making continual intercession for us! When you are lifting up holy hands in prayer for one another, imagine that you see the heavens opened, and the Son of God in all his glory pleading for you the all-sufficient merit of his sacrifice before the throne of his heavenly Father! This picture will strengthen your faith and excite a holy earnestness in your prayers.
ccel.org/ccel/whitefield/sermons.lvi.htmlS
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Day 26
JOHN 3:16
J. C. RYLE
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Our Lord, in this verse, shows Nicodemus another "heavenly thing." Nicodemus probably thought, like many Jews, that God's purposes of mercy were entirely confined to his chosen people Israel, and that when Messiah appeared, he would appear only for the special benefit of the Jewish nation. Our Lord here declares to him that God loves all the world, without any exception; that the Messiah, the only-begotten Son of God, is the Father's gift to the whole family of Adam; and that everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, who believes on him for salvation may have eternal life. A more startling declaration to the ears of a rigid Pharisee it is impossible to conceive! A more wonderful verse is not to be found in the Bible! That God should love such a wicked world as this and not hate it, that he should love it so as to provide salvation, that in order to provide salvation he should give not an angel but such a priceless gift as his only-begotten Son, that this great salvation should be freely offered to everyone that believes, all this is wonderful indeed! This was indeed a "heavenly thing."
The words, "God loved the world," have received two very different interpretations. The importance of the subject in the present day makes it desirable to state both views fully.
Some think that the "world" here means God's elect out of every nation, whether Jews or Gentiles, and that the "love" with which God is said to love them is that eternal love with which the elect were loved before creation began, and by which their calling, justification, preservation and final salvation are completely secured. This view, though supported by many and great divines, does not appear to me to be our Lord's meaning. For one thing, it seems to me a violent straining of language to confine the word "world" to the elect. "The world" is undoubtedly a name sometimes given to the "wicked" exclusively. But I cannot see that it is a name ever given to the saints. For another thing, to interpret the word "world" of the elect only, is to ignore the distinction which, to my eyes, is plainly drawn in the text between the whole of mankind and those out of mankind who "believe." If the "world" means only the believing portion of mankind, it would have been quite enough to say, "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that the world should not perish." But our Lord does not say so. He says, "that whosoever believes;" in other words, "that whosoever out of the world believes." Lastly, to confine God's love to the elect is taking a harsh and narrow view of God's character and fairly lays Christianity open to the modern charges brought against it as cruel and unjust to the ungodly: If God takes no thought for any but his elect, and cares for none beside, how shall God judge the world? I believe in the electing love of God the Father as strongly as anyone. I regard the special love with which God loves the sheep whom he has given to Christ from all eternity as a most blessed and comfortable truth, and one most cheering and profitable to believers. I only say, that it is not the truth of this text.
The true view of the words, "God loved the world," I believe to be this. The "world" means the whole race of mankind, both saints and sinners, without any exception. The word, in my opinion, is so used in John 1:10,29; 6:33,51; 8:12; Rom. 3:19; 2 Cor. 5:19; 1 John 2:2 and 4:14. The "love" spoken of is that love of pity and compassion with which God regards all his creatures, and specially regards mankind. It is the same feeling of "love" which appears in Psalm 145:9, Ezek. 33:11, John 6:32, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:10, 2 Pet. 3:9, and I Tim. 2:4. It is a love unquestionably distinct and separate from the special love with which God regards his saints. It is a love of pity and not of approbation or complaisance. But it is, not the less, a real love. It is a love which clears God of injustice in judging the world.
I am quite familiar with the objections commonly brought against the theory I have just propounded. I find no weight in them. Those who confine God's love exclusively to the elect appear, to me, to take a narrow and contracted view of God's character and attributes. They refuse to God that attribute of compassion with which even an earthly father can regard a profligate son, who can offer to him pardon even though his compassion is despised and his offers refused. I have long come to the conclusion that men may be more systematic in their statements than the Bible, and may be led into grave error by idolatrous veneration of a system. The following quotations from one whom, for convenience sake, I must call a thorough Calvinist--I mean Bishop Davenant--will show that the view I advocate is not new.
"The general love of God toward mankind is so clearly testified in Holy Scripture, and so demonstrated by the manifold effects of God's goodness and mercy extended to every particular man in this world, that to doubt thereof were infidelity, and to deny it plain blasphemy." (Davenant's Answer to Hoard, p. 1)
"God hates nothing which Himself created. And yet it is most true that He hates sin in any creature, and hates the creature infected with sin, in such manner as hatred may be attributed to God. But for all this, He so generally loved mankind, fallen in Adam, that He has given His only begotten Son, that what sinner soever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And this everlasting life is so provided for man by God, that no decrees of His can bring any man thither without faith and repentance; and no decrees of His can keep any man out who repents and believes. As for the measure of God's love exhibited in the external effect unto man, it must not be denied that God pours out His grace more abundantly on some men than on others, and works more powerfully and effectually in the hearts of some than of others, and that out of His alone will and pleasure. But yet, when this more special love is not extended, His less special love is not restrained to outward and temporal mercies, but reaches to internal and spiritual blessings, even such as will bring men to an eternal blessedness, if their voluntary wickedness hinders not." (Davenant's Answer to Hoard, p. 469)
Calvin observes on this text, "Christ brought life, because the heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish." Again he says, "Christ employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite indiscriminately all to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers. Such also is the import of the term world. Though there is nothing in the world that is worthy of God's favor, yet He shows Himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when He invites all men without exception to the faith of Christ."
The little word "so" in this verse has called forth many remarks on account of its depth of meaning. It doubtless signifies "so greatly, so much, so dearly." Bishop Sanderson observes: "How much that 'so' contains, no tongue or wit of man can reach: nothing expresses it better to the life than the work itself does."
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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Day 27
THE LAST SUPPER
ALFRED EDERSHEIM
It is difficult to decide how much of the ceremonial in regards to the Paschal Supper was obligatory at the time of Christ. Too often ceremonialism develops in proportion to the absence of spiritual life. But we may be fairly certain that, as prescribed, all men would appear at the Paschal Supper in festive array. We also know that they reclined on pillows, or divans, around a low table, each one resting on his left hand so as to leave the right free. But ancient Jewish usage casts a strange light on the painful scene with which the Last Supper opened. Sadly humiliating as it reads, and almost incredible as it seems, the Supper began with "a contention among them, which of them should be accounted to be greatest." We can have no doubt that its occasion was the order in which they should occupy their places at the table. We know that this was a subject of contention among the Pharisees, and that they claimed to be seated according to their rank. A similar feeling now appeared in the circle of disciples. We instinctively associate such a strife with Judas. We believe there is ample evidence to show that he not only claimed the chief seat at the table next to the Lord, but actually obtained it.
The table around which they reclined was an oval or elongated table of which one end was used for setting down the dishes. This end of the table was not covered with the tablecloth. The pillows, or divans, were placed around the perimeter of the table in the shape of an elongated horseshoe, and each guest reclined on his left side on a pillow with his feet stretching out behind him. This would make it necessary for the table to extend beyond the line of guests in order to place or remove anything from the table.
Jewish documents are explicit that in a company of more than two, say three, the chief personage or head, in this instance Christ, reclined on the middle divan. We know from the gospel record that John occupied the place on Jesus' right at the end of the divans. From this position he could lean back on the Savior. The chief place next to Jesus would be that to his left, or above him, and we believe this place was claimed and actually occupied by Judas. This explains how, when Christ whispered to John by what sign to recognize the traitor, none of the other disciples heard it. It also explains how Christ would first hand the sop to Judas as the chief guest, which formed part of the Paschal ritual, and not excite special notice. Lastly, it accounts for the circumstance that no one at the table knew what had passed when Judas, desirous of ascertaining whether his treachery was known, dared to ask whether it was he and received the affirmative answer. As regards Peter, we can quite understand how, when the Lord with such loving words rebuked their self-seeking and taught them of the greatness of Christian humility, he should in his impetuosity of shame, have rushed to take the lowest place at the other end of the table. Finally, we can now understand how Peter could have beckoned to John, who sat across the table from him, and ask John who the traitor was.
The Paschal Supper began, as always, with the head of the company taking the first cup and speaking the thanksgiving over it. This thanksgiving consisted of two benedictions; one over the wine, the other for the return of this Feast day with all that it implied and for being preserved once more to witness it. From the gospels, the words seem to imply that Jesus made use of the ordinary thanksgiving so as to speak both these benedictions. The cup of wine, mixed with water according to Rabbinic testimony, was passed round. The next part of the ceremonial was for the head of the company to rise and wash hands. It is this part of the ritual that Christ adapted and transformed by washing the disciples' feet. There were two handwashings during the ceremony, but the second required all to wash, not the head only, and that would have meant that all were standing and thus not in the position to have their feet washed. Also, the footwashing was intended both as a lesson and as an example of humility and service, and evidently was connected with the dispute about which of them should be accounted the greatest. It was natural that the Lord should have begun with Peter who occupied the end of the table. This explains his expostulation. If Christ had turned to the others first, then Peter would have had to remonstrate before his own feet were washed, or else his later expostulation when the Lord came to him would be either an act of self-righteousness or of needless voluntary humility.
After the washing, the dishes were immediately brought to the table. Jesus would dip some of the bitter herbs into the salt water or vinegar, speak a blessing, partake of them, and then hand them to each of the disciples. Next, he would break one of the unleavened cakes of which half was set aside for after supper. This is called the Aphiqomon, or after dish, and we believe it was the bread of the holy eucharist. The dish in which the broken cake lies (not the Aphiqomon) is elevated, and these words are spoken. "This is the bread of misery which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. All that are hungry, come and eat; all that are needy, come, keep the Pascha." As we think of the Lord's comment on the Passover and Israel's deliverance, the words spoken have deeper meaning attached to them.
After this the cup is elevated and the service proceeds somewhat lengthily, the cup being raised a second and then a third time. A prayer is spoken and the cup drunk. This ends the first part of the service.
The Paschal meal begins by all washing their hands, a part of the ritual that we scarcely think Christ observed. It was during this part of the meal that Jesus became troubled in spirit, and he solemnly testified to them of his near betrayal. It is no wonder that they all became exceedingly sorrowful and each asked, "Lord, is it I?" According to St. John, the disciples were looking at each other, wondering of whom he spoke. In this agonizing suspense, Peter beckoned from across the table to John, whose head was resting on the Lord's bosom, and asked him of whom Jesus spoke. And to the whispered question of John, the Lord gave the sign that it was he to whom he would give the sop when he had dipped it. Even this perhaps was not clear to John since each one in turn received the sop, Judas naturally receiving it first since he was reclining to Jesus' left in the first and chief position. But before Jesus did so, probably while he was dipping the sop in the dish, Judas, who could not but hear that his purpose might be known, whispered into the Master's ear, "Is it I, Rabbi?" It must have been whispered, for no one at the table either heard the question nor Christ's answer.
The meal was scarcely begun, and Judas rushed out into the night. None of the others knew why there was this strange haste, unless it was from obedience to something that Jesus had bidden him to do; perhaps to purchase something needful for the feast, or to give something to the poor. It is sufficient here to state that anything needful for the Feast was allowed on the 15th Nisan. And this must have been especially necessary when, as in this instance, the first festive day, or the 15th Nisan, was to be followed by a Sabbath on which no work was permitted. In the Paschal night when the great Temple gates were opened at midnight to begin early preparations for the offering of the Chagigah, or festive sacrifice that was not voluntary but mandatory, such preparations would be quite natural. And equally so that the poor who gathered around the Temple might then seek to obtain help from the charitable.
The institution of the Lord's Supper took place after the departure of Judas. The meal continued to its end, and then the third cup was filled. We can have little doubt that the Institution of the Cup was in connection with this third cup of blessing. A question arises: to what part of the Paschal Service does the breaking of bread correspond? While the Paschal Lamb was still being offered, before the destruction of the Temple, it was the Law that after eating its flesh, nothing else should be eaten. But after the Paschal Lamb could no longer be offered, it became the custom after the meal had ended to break and partake of the after dish, that is, the half of unleavened cake which had been set aside before the supper. Christ anticipated this, and because his death was truly the last Paschal Sacrifice, and consciously so to all the disciples, he connected the breaking of the unleavened cake at the close of the meal with the Institution of the Bread in the Holy Eucharist.
As far as we can judge, the Institution of the Holy Supper was followed by the discourse in John xiv. The concluding psalms of the Hallel were sung after which the Master left the upper chamber. While still in the house, Jesus gives the discourse recorded in John xv. The last of the parting discourses was that recorded in John xvi. And last of all, before leaving the house, is recorded for us in John xvii, Christ's High-Priestly prayer.
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
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Day 28
"HE GIVES HIS BELOVED SLEEP"
Psalm 127:2HENRY MELVILL
1798-1871"So he gives his beloved sleep." The world would give its favorites power, wealth, distinction; God gives "sleep." Could he give anything better? To give sleep when the storm is raging; to give sleep when conscience is arraying a long catalog of sins; to give sleep when evil angels are trying to overturn our confidence in Christ; to give sleep when death is approaching, when judgment is at hand--oh! what gift could be more suitable? What more worthy of God? Or what more precious to the soul?
But we do not mean to enlarge upon the various senses which might thus be assigned to the gift. You will see for yourselves that sleep, as denoting repose and refreshment, may be regarded as symbolizing "the rest which remains for the righteous," which is the gift of God to his chosen. "Surely he gives his beloved sleep" may be taken as parallel to what is promised in Isaiah--"Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." Whatever you can understand by the "peace" in the one case you may also understand by the "sleep" in the other. But throughout the Old and New Testaments, and especially the latter, sleep, as you know, is often put for death. "He slept with his fathers" is a common expression in the Jewish Scriptures. To "sleep in Jesus" is a common way of speaking of those who die in the faith of the Redeemer.
Suppose, then, we take the "sleep" in our text as denoting death and confine our discourse to an illustration of the passage under this one point of view. "Surely he gives his beloved sleep." What an aspect will this confer on death--to regard it as God's gift--a gift which he vouchsafes [graciously grants] to those whom he loves!
It is not "he sends his beloved sleep," which might be true while God himself remained at a distance; it is "he gives his beloved sleep," as though God himself brought the sleep and laid it on the eyes of the weary Christian warrior. And if God himself has to do with the dissolution, can we not trust him that he will loosen gently the silver cord and use all kindness and tenderness in "taking down the earthly house of this tabernacle"? I know not more comforting words than those of our text, whether for the being uttered in the sickroom of the righteous or breathed over their graves. They might almost take the pain from disease, as they certainly do the dishonor from death. What is bestowed by God as a "gift on his beloved" will assuredly occupy his care, his watchfulness, his solicitude. And I conclude, therefore, that he is present in some special and extraordinary sense when the righteous lie dying.; aye, and that he sets his seal and plants his guardianship where the righteous lie dead. "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" Let the saint be but constant in the profession of godliness, and his last hours shall be those in which Deity himself shall stand almost visibly at his side and his last resting place that which he shall shadow with his wings. Sickness may be protracted and distressing. "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" may be plaintively breathed over the unconscious dead. But nothing in all this lengthened struggle, nothing in all this apparent defeat can harm the righteous man--nay, nothing can be other than for his present good and his eternal glory, seeing that death with all its accompaniments is but joy--God's gift to his beloved.
Dry your tears, you that stand around the bed of the dying believer. The parting moment is almost at hand--a cold damp is on the forehead, the eye is fixed, the pulse too feeble to be felt. Are you staggered at such a spectacle? Nay, let faith do its part! The chamber is crowded with glorious forms--angels are waiting there to take charge of the disembodied soul, a hand gentler than any human is closing those eyes, and a voice sweeter than any human is whispering, "Surely the Lord gives his beloved sleep."
From a sermon entitled "Death the Gift of God" sited by Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David.
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Day 29
A DIVINE CORDIAL
THOMAS WATSON
If the whole Scripture be the feast of the soul, as Ambrose said, then Romans 8:28 may be a dish at that feast, and with its sweet variety may very much refresh and animate the hearts of God's people. In the preceding verses, the apostle had been wading through the great doctrines of justification and adoption, mysteries so arduous and profound that without the help and conduct of the Spirit, he might soon have waded beyond his depth. In this verse, the apostle touches upon that pleasant string of consolation, “We know that all things work together for good, to them that love God.” Not a word but is weighty; therefore I shall gather up every filing of this gold, that nothing be lost.
Here are two things to be considered: (1) The certainty of the privilege--“We know.” (2) The excellency of the privilege--“All things work together for good.”
“We know.” It is not a matter wavering or doubtful. The apostle does not say, we hope, or we conjecture, but it is like an article in our creed, We know that all things work for good. Hence observe that the truths of the gospel are evident and infallible. A Christian may come not merely to a vague opinion, but to a certainty of what he holds. As axioms and aphorisms are evident to reason, so the truths of religion are evident to faith. “We know,” says the apostle. Though a Christian has not a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel, yet he has a certain knowledge. “We see through a glass darkly,” therefore we have not perfection of knowledge; but “we behold with open face," therefore we have certainty. The Spirit of God imprints heavenly truths upon the heart, as with the point of a diamond. A Christian may know infallibly that there is an evil in sin, and a beauty in holiness. He may know that he is in the state of grace. “We know that we have passed from death to life." He may know that he shall go to heaven. “We know that if our earthly tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The Lord does not leave His people at uncertainties in matters of salvation. The apostle says, "We know." We have arrived at a holy confidence. We have both the Spirit of God and our own experience, setting seal to it.
“All things work together for good.” This is as Jacob’s staff in the hand of faith, with which we may walk cheerfully to the mount of God. What will satisfy or make us content if this will not? All things work together for good. This expression “work together” refers to medicine. Several poisonous ingredients put together, being tempered by the skill of the apothecary, make a sovereign medicine, and work together for the good of the patient. So all God’s providences being divinely tempered and sanctified, do work together for the best to the saints. He who loves God and is called according to His purpose may rest assured that every thing in the world shall be for his good. This is a Christian’s cordial. Why should a Christian destroy himself? Why should he kill himself with care, when all things shall sweetly concur, yea, conspire for his good? The result of the text is this: All the various dealings of God with His children do by a special providence turn to their good. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant.” If every path has mercy in it, then it works for good.
We shall consider what things work for good to the godly, and here we shall show that both the best things and the worst things work for their good. We begin with the best things.
God’s attributes work for good to the godly. God’s power works for good. It is a glorious power, and it is engaged for the good of the elect. God’s power works for good in supporting us in trouble. “Underneath are the everlasting arms." What upheld Daniel in the lion’s den? Jonah in the whale’s belly? The three Hebrews in the furnace? Only the power of God. Is it not strange to see a bruised reed grow and flourish? How is a weak Christian able, not only to endure affliction, but to rejoice in it? He is upheld by the arms of the Almighty. “My strength is made perfect in weakness."
The power of God works for us by supplying our needs. God creates comforts when means fail. He that brought food to the prophet Elijah by ravens will bring sustenance to His people. God can preserve the “oil in the cruse." The power of God subdues our corruptions. “He will subdue our iniquities." Is your sin strong? God is powerful, He will break the head of this leviathan. Is your heart hard? God will dissolve that stone in Christ’s blood. “The Almighty makes my heart soft." When we say as Jehoshaphat, “We have no might against this great army,” the Lord goes up with us and helps us fight our battles. He strikes off the heads of those goliath lusts which are too strong for us.
The wisdom of God works for good. God’s wisdom is our oracle to instruct us. We are oftentimes in the dark, and, in matters intricate and doubtful know not which way to take. Here God comes in with light. “I will guide thee with mine eye."
The goodness of God works for good to the godly. God’s goodness is a means to make us good. “The goodness of God leads to repentance." The goodness of God is a spiritual sunbeam to melt the heart into tears. Oh, says the soul, has God been so good to me? Has He reprieved me so long from hell, and shall I grieve His Spirit any more? Shall I sin against goodness?
The promises are notes of God’s hand. They are as cordials to a soul that is ready to faint. Are we under the guilt of sin? There is a promise, “The Lord is merciful and gracious." God is more willing to pardon than to punish. Are we under the defilement of sin? There is a promise working for good. “I will heal their backslidings." God will not only bestow mercy, but grace. Are we in great trouble? “I will be with him in trouble." God does not bring His people into troubles and leave them there. He will stand by them. He will hold their heads and hearts when they are fainting. Either He will make His hand lighter, or our faith stronger. Do we fear outward needs? There is a promise, “They that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." If it is good for us, we shall have it; if it is not good for us, then the withholding of it is good.
Christ’s intercession works for good. Christ is in heaven, and He prays for all believers as He did for the apostles. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for all them that shall believe in me." When a Christian is weak and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him. He prays for three things. First, that the saints may be kept from sin.“I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” We live in the world as in a pest house. Christ prays that His saints may not be infected with the contagious evil of the times. Second, for His people’s progress in holiness. “Sanctify them." Let them have constant supplies of the Spirit and be anointed with fresh oil. Third, for their glorification. “Father, I will that those which thou hast given me, be with me where I am." Christ is not content till the saints are in His arms. What a comfort is this! When Satan is tempting, Christ is praying!
All Things for Good
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Day 30
THE EVIL OF AFFLICTION
WORKS FOR GOOD TO THE GODLYTHOMAS WATSON
It is one heart-quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us, that God has a special hand in them. Instruments can no more stir without God giving them a commission than the ax can cut of itself without a hand. Job eyed God in his affliction: therefore, as Augustine observes, he does not say, "The Lord gave, and the devil took away," but "The Lord has taken away." Whoever brings an affliction to us, it is God that sends it.
Another heart-quieting consideration is that afflictions work for good. Afflictions to the godly are medicinal. Out of the most poisonous drugs God extracts our salvation. Afflictions are as needful as ordinances. No vessel can be made of gold without fire; so it is impossible that we should be made vessels of honor unless we are melted and refined in the furnace of affliction. I shall show you several ways how affliction works for good.
Affliction is our preacher and tutor--"Hear ye the rod," Micah 6:9. Luther said that he could never rightly understand some of the Psalms until he was in affliction. Affliction teaches what sin is. In the word preached, we hear what a dreadful thing sin is, that it is both defiling and damning, but we fear it no more than a painted lion. Therefore, God lets loose affliction, and then we feel sin bitter in the fruit of it. A sickbed often teaches more than a sermon. In prosperity we are for the most part strangers to ourselves. God makes us know affliction that we may better know ourselves. We see the corruption in our hearts in the time of affliction which we would not believe was there.
Afflictions work for good as they are the means of making the heart more upright. In prosperity the heart is apt to be divided, cleaving partly to God and partly to the world. Now God takes away the world that the heart may cleave more to him in sincerity. Oh how good it is, that when sin has bent the soul awry from God, affliction should straighten it again!
Afflictions work for good as they put to silence the wicked. How ready are they to malign the godly, that they serve God only for self-interest. Therefore, God will have his people endure sufferings for religion, that he may put a padlock on the lying lips of wicked men.
Afflictions work for good as they make way for glory. Not that they merit glory, but they prepare for it. As plowing prepares the earth for a crop, so afflictions prepare and make us meet for glory. The painter lays his gold upon dark colors, so God first lays the dark colors of affliction and then lays the golden color of glory. The vessel is first seasoned before wine is poured in. The vessels of mercy are first seasoned with affliction and the wine of glory is poured in. Thus we see that afflictions are not prejudicial but beneficial to the saints. We should not so much look at the evil of affliction as the good; not so much at the dark side of the cloud as the light. The worst that God does to his children is to whip them to heaven.
All Things for Good
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Day 31
A CONVERSATION WITH NICODEMUS
J. C. RYLE
"I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’ The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)
The conversation between Christ and Nicodemus is one of the most important passages in the whole Bible. Nowhere else do we find stronger statements about those two mighty subjects--the new birth, and salvation by faith in the Son of God. The servant of Christ will do well to make himself thoroughly acquainted with this chapter. A man may be ignorant of many things in religion and yet be saved. But to be ignorant of the matters handled in this chapter is to be in the broad way which leads to destruction.
We should notice, firstly, what a weak and feeble beginning a man may make in religion and yet finally prove a strong Christian. We are told of a certain Pharisee, named Nicodemus, who feeling concerned about his soul, "came to Jesus by night." There can be little doubt that Nicodemus acted as he did from the fear of man. He was afraid of what man would think, say or do if his visit to Jesus was known. He came "by night," because he had not faith and courage enough to come by day. And yet there was a time afterwards when this very Nicodemus took our Lord's part in open day in the council of the Jews. "Does our law judge any man," he said, "before it hear him, and know what he does." Nor was this all. There came a time when this very Nicodemus was one of the only two men who did honor to our Lord's dead body. He helped Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus, when even the apostles had forsaken their Master and fled. His last things were more than his first. Though he began badly, he ended well.
The history of Nicodemus is meant to teach us that we should never "despise the day of small things" in religion. We must not set down a man as having no grace because his first steps toward God are timid and wavering, and the first movements of his soul are uncertain, hesitating, and stamped with much imperfection. We must remember our Lord's reception of Nicodemus. He did not "break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax." Like Him, let us take inquirers by the hand and deal with them gently and lovingly. In everything there must be a beginning. It is not those who make the most flaming profession of religion at first who endure the longest and prove the most steadfast. Judas Iscariot was an apostle when Nicodemus was just groping his way slowly into full light. Yet afterward, when Nicodemus was boldly helping to bury his crucified Savior, Judas Iscariot had betrayed Him and hanged himself! This is a fact which ought not to be forgotten.
We should notice, secondly, what a mighty change our Lord declares to be needful to salvation, and what a remarkable expression He uses in describing it. He speaks of a new birth. He says to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." He announces the same truth in other words, in order to make it more plain to his hearer's mind: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." By this expression, He meant Nicodemus to understand that "no one could become His disciple, unless his inward man was as thoroughly cleansed and renewed by the Spirit as the outward man is cleansed by water." To possess the privileges of Judaism, a man only needed to be born of the seed of Abraham after the flesh. To possess the privileges of Christ's kingdom, a man must be born again of the Holy Spirit. The change which our Lord here declares needful to salvation is evidently no slight or superficial one. It is not merely reformation, or amendment, or moral change, or outward alteration of life. It is a thorough change of heart, will, and character. It is a resurrection. It is a new creation. It is a passing from death to life. It is the implanting into our dead hearts of a new principle from above. It is the calling into existence of a new creature, with a new nature, new habits of life, new tastes, new desires, new appetites, new judgments, new opinions, new hopes, and new fears. All this, and nothing less than this, is implied when our Lord declares that we all need a "new birth."
This change of heart is rendered absolutely necessary to salvation by the corrupt condition in which we are all, without exception, born. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Our nature is thoroughly fallen. The carnal mind is enmity against God. We come into the world without faith, love, or fear toward God. We have no natural inclination to serve Him or obey Him, and no natural pleasure in doing His will. Left to himself, no child of Adam would ever turn to God. The truest description of the change which we all need in order to make us real Christians is the expression, "new birth."
This mighty change, it must never be forgotten, we cannot give to ourselves. The very name which our Lord gives to it is a convincing proof of this. He calls it "a birth." No man is the author of his own existence, and no man can quicken his own soul. We might as well expect a dead man to give himself life, as expect a natural man to make himself spiritual. A power from above must be put in exercise, even that same power which created the world. Man can do many things, but he cannot give life either to himself or to others. To give life is the peculiar prerogative of God. Well may our Lord declare that we need to be "born again!"
We should notice, lastly, the instructive comparison which our Lord uses in explaining the new birth. He saw Nicodemus perplexed and astonished by the things he had just heard. He graciously helped his wondering mind by an illustration drawn from "the wind." A more beautiful and fitting illustration of the work of the Spirit it is impossible to conceive.
There is much about the wind that is mysterious and inexplicable. "You cannot tell," says our Lord, "whence it comes and where it goes." We cannot handle it with our hands or see it with our eyes. When the wind blows, we cannot point out the exact spot where its breath first began to be felt, and the exact distance to which its influence shall extend. But we do not on that account deny its presence. It is just the same with the operations of the Spirit in the new birth of man. They may be mysterious, sovereign, and incomprehensible to us in many ways, but it is foolish to stumble at them because there is much we cannot explain. Whatever mystery there may be about the wind, its presence may always be known by its sound and effects. "You hear the sound thereof," says our Lord. When our ears hear it whistling in the windows and our eyes see the clouds driving before it, we do not hesitate to say, "There is wind." It is just the same with the operations of the Holy Spirit in the new birth of man. Marvelous and incomprehensible as His work may be, it is work that can always be seen and known. The new birth is a thing that "cannot be hidden." There will always be visible "fruits of the Spirit" in every one that is born of the Spirit.
Would we know what the marks of the new birth are? We shall find them already written for our learning in the First Epistle of John. The man born of God "believes that Jesus is the Christ,"--"does not commit sin,"--"does righteousness,"--"loves the brethren,"--"overcomes the world,"--"keeps himself from the wicked one." This is the man born of the Spirit! Where these fruits are to be seen, there is the new birth of which our Lord is speaking. He that lacks these marks is yet dead in trespasses and sins.
And now let us solemnly ask ourselves whether we know anything of the mighty change of which we have been reading? Have we been born again? Can any marks of the new birth be seen in us? Can the sound of the Spirit be heard in our daily conversation? Is the image and superscription of the Spirit to be discerned in our lives? Happy is the man who can give satisfactory answers to these questions! A day will come when those who are not born again will wish that they had never been born at all.
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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