Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc00/v02250

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 7KB | 123 lines

02257
 #38-42 A good sermon is not the worse for being preached in a
 house; and the visits of our friends should be so managed, as to
 make them turn to the good of their souls. Sitting at Christ's
 feet, signifies readiness to receive his word, and submission to
 the guidance of it. Martha was providing for the entertainment
 of Christ, and those that came with him. Here were respect to
 our Lord Jesus and right care of her household affairs. But
 there was something to be blamed. She was for much serving;
 plenty, variety, and exactness. Worldly business is a snare to
 us, when it hinders us from serving God, and getting good to our
 souls. What needless time is wasted, and expense often laid out,
 even in entertaining professors of the gospel! Though Martha was
 on this occasion faulty, yet she was a true believer, and in her
 general conduct did not neglect the one thing needful. The
 favour of God is needful to our happiness; the salvation of
 Christ is needful to our safety. Where this is attended to, all
 other things will be rightly pursued. Christ declared, Mary hath
 chosen the good part. For one thing is needful, this one thing
 that she has done, to give up herself to the guidance of Christ.
 The things of this life will be taken away from us, at the
 furthest, when we shall be taken away from them; but nothing
 shall separate from the love of Christ, and a part in that love.
 Men and devils cannot take it away from us, and God and Christ
 will not. Let us mind the one thing needful more diligently.
02262
 * The disciples taught to pray. (1-4) Christ encourages being
 earnest in prayer. (5-13) Christ casts out a devil, The
 blasphemy of the Pharisees. (14-26) True happiness. (27,28)
 Christ reproves the Jews. (29-36) He reproves the Pharisees.
 (37-54)

 #1-4 "Lord, teach us to pray," is a good prayer, and a very
 needful one, for Jesus Christ only can teach us, by his word and
 Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord,
 stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray
 for; teach me what I should say. Christ taught them a prayer,
 much the same that he had given before in his sermon upon the
 mount. There are some differences in the words of the Lord's
 prayer in Matthew and in Luke, but they are of no moment. Let us
 in our requests, both for others and for ourselves, come to our
 heavenly Father, confiding in his power and goodness.

02266
 #5-13 Christ encourages fervency and constancy in prayer. We
 must come for what we need, as a man does to his neighbour or
 friend, who is kind to him. We must come for bread; for that
 which is needful. If God does not answer our prayers speedily,
 yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray. Observe what to
 pray for; we must ask for the Holy Spirit, not only as necessary
 in order to our praying well, but as all spiritual blessings are
 included in that one. For by the influences of the Holy Spirit
 we are brought to know God and ourselves, to repent, believe in,
 and love Christ, and so are made comfortable in this world, and
 meet for happiness in the next. All these blessings our heavenly
 Father is more ready to bestow on every one that asks for them,
 than an indulgent parent is to give food to a hungry child. And
 this is the advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and
 establishes the heart in God.

02275
 #14-26 Christ's thus casting out the devils, was really the
 destroying of their power. The heart of every unconverted sinner
 is the devil's palace, where he dwells, and where he rules.
 There is a kind of peace in the heart of an unconverted soul,
 while the devil, as a strong man armed, keeps it. The sinner is
 secure, has no doubt concerning the goodness of his state, nor
 any dread of the judgment to come. But observe the wonderful
 change made in conversion. The conversion of a soul to God, is
 Christ's victory over the devil and his power in that soul,
 restoring the soul to its liberty, and recovering his own
 interest in it and power over it. All the endowments of mind of
 body are now employed for Christ. Here is the condition of a
 hypocrite. The house is swept from common sins, by a forced
 confession, as Pharaoh's; by a feigned contrition, as Ahab's; or
 by a partial reformation, as Herod's. The house is swept, but it
 is not washed; the heart is not made holy. Sweeping takes off
 only the loose dirt, while the sin that besets the sinner, the
 beloved sin, is untouched. The house is garnished with common
 gifts and graces. It is not furnished with any true grace; it is
 all paint and varnish, not real nor lasting. It was never given
 up to Christ, nor dwelt in by the Spirit. Let us take heed of
 resting in that which a man may have, and yet come short of
 heaven. The wicked spirits enter in without any difficulty; they
 are welcomed, and they dwell there; there they work, there they
 rule. From such an awful state let all earnestly pray to be
 delivered.

02288
 #27,28 While the scribes and Pharisees despised and blasphemed
 the discourses of our Lord Jesus, this good woman admired them,
 and the wisdom and power with which he spake. Christ led the
 woman to a higher consideration. Though it is a great privilege
 to hear the word of God, yet those only are truly blessed, that
 is, blessed of the Lord, that hear it, keep it in memory, and
 keep to it as their way and rule.

02290
 #29-36 Christ promised that there should be one sign more given,
 even the sign of Jonah the prophet; which in Matthew is
 explained, as meaning the resurrection of Christ; and he warned
 them to improve this sign. But though Christ himself were the
 constant preacher in any congregation, and worked miracles daily
 among them, yet unless his grace humbled their hearts, they
 would not profit by his word. Let us not desire more evidence
 and fuller teaching than the Lord is pleased to afford us. We
 should pray without ceasing that our hearts and understandings
 may be opened, that we may profit by the light we enjoy. And
 especially take heed that the light which is in us be not
 darkness; for if our leading principles be wrong, our judgment
 and practice must become more so.

02298
 #37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be
 cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great
 things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the
 smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch
 something out of our mouths, that they may ensnare us, O Lord,
 give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil
 purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may
 glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit
 may rest upon us.