Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc03/v03450

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 7KB | 127 lines

03456
 #20-26 In attendance upon holy ordinances, particularly the
 gospel passover, the great desire of our souls should be to see
 Jesus; to see him as ours, to keep up communion with him, and
 derive grace from him. The calling of the Gentiles magnified the
 Redeemer. A corn of wheat yields no increase unless it is cast
 into the ground. Thus Christ might have possessed his heavenly
 glory alone, without becoming man. Or, after he had taken man's
 nature, he might have entered heaven alone, by his own perfect
 righteousness, without suffering or death; but then no sinner of
 the human race could have been saved. The salvation of souls
 hitherto, and henceforward to the end of time, is owing to the
 dying of this Corn of wheat. Let us search whether Christ be in
 us the hope of glory; let us beg him to make us indifferent to
 the trifling concerns of this life, that we may serve the Lord
 Jesus with a willing mind, and follow his holy example.

03463
 #27-33 The sin of our souls was the trouble of Christ's soul,
 when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an
 offering for our sin. Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed
 to be saved from suffering. Prayer against trouble may well
 agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of God
 in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour,
 and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Father from
 heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his
 baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming
 that He had both glorified his name, and would glorify it.
 Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his death,
 broke the power of death, and cast out Satan as a destroyer.
 Christ, bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross,
 broke the power of sin, and cast out Satan as a deceiver. The
 soul that was at a distance from Christ, is brought to love him
 and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he would draw
 men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of
 Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospel that
 which exalts free grace, and we have heard also that which
 enjoins duty; we must from the heart embrace both, and not
 separate them.
03470
 #34-36 The people drew false notions from the Scriptures,
 because they overlooked the prophecies that spoke of Christ's
 sufferings and death. Our Lord warned them that the light would
 not long continue with them, and exhorted them to walk in it,
 before the darkness overtook them. Those who would walk in the
 light must believe in it, and follow Christ's directions. But
 those who have not faith, cannot behold what is set forth in
 Jesus, lifted up on the cross, and must be strangers to its
 influence as made known by the Holy Spirit; they find a thousand
 objections to excuse their unbelief.

03473
 #37-43 Observe the method of conversion implied here. Sinners
 are brought to see the reality of Divine things, and to have
 some knowledge of them. To be converted, and truly turned from
 sin to Christ, as their Happiness and Portion. God will heal
 them, will justify and sanctify them; will pardon their sins,
 which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions,
 which are as lurking diseases. See the power of the world in
 smothering convictions, from regard to the applause or censure
 of men. Love of the praise of men, as a by-end in that which is
 good, will make a man a hypocrite when religion is in fashion,
 and credit is to be got by it; and love of the praise of men, as
 a base principle in that which is evil, will make a man an
 apostate, when religion is in disgrace, and credit is to be lost
 for it.

03480
 #44-50 Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed
 on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but
 on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the
 Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily
 looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and
 more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and
 misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is
 everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation
 of all who despise it, or neglect it.
03487
 * Christ washes the disciples' feet. (1-17) The treachery of
 Judas foretold. (18-30) Christ commands the disciples to love
 one another. (31-38)

 #1-17 Our Lord Jesus has a people in the world that are his own;
 he has purchased them, and paid dear for them, and he has set
 them apart for himself; they devote themselves to him as a
 peculiar people. Those whom Christ loves, he loves to the end.
 Nothing can separate a true believer from the love of Christ. We
 know not when our hour will come, therefore what we have to do
 in constant preparation for it, ought never to be undone. What
 way of access the devil has to men's hearts we cannot tell. But
 some sins are so exceedingly sinful, and there is so little
 temptation to them from the world and the flesh, that it is
 plain they are directly from Satan. Jesus washed his disciples'
 feet, that he might teach us to think nothing below us, wherein
 we may promote God's glory, and the good of our brethren. We
 must address ourselves to duty, and must lay aside every thing
 that would hinder us in what we have to do. Christ washed his
 disciples' feet, that he might signify to them the value of
 spiritual washing, and the cleansing of the soul from the
 pollutions of sin. Our Lord Jesus does many things of which even
 his own disciples do not for the present know the meaning, but
 they shall know afterward. We see in the end what was the
 kindness from events which seemed most cross. And it is not
 humility, but unbelief, to put away the offers of the gospel, as
 if too rich to be made to us, or too good news to be true. All
 those, and those only, who are spiritually washed by Christ,
 have a part in Christ. All whom Christ owns and saves, he
 justifies and sanctifies. Peter more than submits; he begs to be
 washed by Christ. How earnest he is for the purifying grace of
 the Lord Jesus, and the full effect of it, even upon his hands
 and head! Those who truly desire to be sanctified, desire to be
 sanctified throughout, to have the whole man, with all its parts
 and powers, made pure. The true believer is thus washed when he
 receives Christ for his salvation. See then what ought to be the
 daily care of those who through grace are in a justified state,
 and that is, to wash their feet; to cleanse themselves from
 daily guilt, and to watch against everything defiling. This
 should make us the more cautious. From yesterday's pardon, we
 should be strengthened against this day's temptation. And when
 hypocrites are discovered, it should be no surprise or cause of
 stumbling to us. Observe the lesson Christ here taught. Duties
 are mutual; we must both accept help from our brethren, and
 afford help to our brethren. When we see our Master serving, we
 cannot but see how ill it becomes us to domineer. And the same
 love which led Christ to ransom and reconcile his disciples when
 enemies, still influences him.