Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc03/v05700

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 10KB | 177 lines

05709
 #12-18 It is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use
 great plainness, or clearness, of speech. The Old Testament
 believers had only cloudy and passing glimpses of that glorious
 Saviour, and unbelievers looked no further than to the outward
 institution. But the great precepts of the gospel, believe,
 love, obey, are truths stated as clearly as possible. And the
 whole doctrine of Christ crucified, is made as plain as human
 language can make it. Those who lived under the law, had a veil
 upon their hearts. This veil is taken away by the doctrines of
 the Bible about Christ. When any person is converted to God,
 then the veil of ignorance is taken away. The condition of those
 who enjoy and believe the gospel is happy, for the heart is set
 at liberty to run the ways of God's commandments. They have
 light, and with open face they behold the glory of the Lord.
 Christians should prize and improve these privileges. We should
 not rest contented without knowing the transforming power of the
 gospel, by the working of the Spirit, bringing us to seek to be
 like the temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, and into union with Him. We behold
 Christ, as in the glass of his word; and as the reflection from
 a mirror causes the face to shine, the faces of Christians shine
 also.
05716
 * The apostles laboured with much diligence, sincerity, and
 faithfulness. (1-7) Their sufferings for the gospel were great,
 yet with rich supports. (8-12) Prospects of eternal glory keep
 believers from fainting under troubles. (13-18)

 #1-7 The best of men would faint, if they did not receive mercy
 from God. And that mercy which has helped us out, and helped us
 on, hitherto, we may rely upon to help us even to the end. The
 apostles had no base and wicked designs, covered with fair and
 specious pretences. They did not try to make their ministry
 serve a turn. Sincerity or uprightness will keep the favourable
 opinion of wise and good men. Christ by his gospel makes a
 glorious discovery to the minds of men. But the design of the
 devil is, to keep men in ignorance; and when he cannot keep the
 light of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares no
 pains to keep men from the gospel, or to set them against it.
 The rejection of the gospel is here traced to the wilful
 blindness and wickedness of the human heart. Self was not the
 matter or the end of the apostles' preaching; they preached
 Christ as Jesus, the Saviour and Deliverer, who saves to the
 uttermost all that come to God through him. Ministers are
 servants to the souls of men; they must avoid becoming servants
 to the humours or the lusts of men. It is pleasant to behold the
 sun in the firmament; but it is more pleasant and profitable for
 the gospel to shine in the heart. As light was the beginning of
 the first creation; so, in the new creation, the light of the
 Spirit is his first work upon the soul. The treasure of gospel
 light and grace is put into earthen vessels. The ministers of
 the gospel are subject to the same passions and weaknesses as
 other men. God could have sent angels to make known the glorious
 doctrine of the gospel, or could have sent the most admired sons
 of men to teach the nations, but he chose humbler, weaker
 vessels, that his power might be more glorified in upholding
 them, and in the blessed change wrought by their ministry.

05723
 #8-12 The apostles were great sufferers, yet they met with
 wonderful support. Believers may be forsaken of their friends,
 as well as persecuted by enemies; but their God will never leave
 them nor forsake them. There may be fears within, as well as
 fightings without; yet we are not destroyed. The apostle speaks
 of their sufferings as a counterpart of the sufferings of
 Christ, that people might see the power of Christ's
 resurrection, and of grace in and from the living Jesus. In
 comparison with them, other Christians were, even at that time,
 in prosperous circumstances.

05728
 #13-18 The grace of faith is an effectual remedy against
 fainting in times of trouble. They knew that Christ was raised,
 and that his resurrection was an earnest and assurance of
 theirs. The hope of this resurrection will encourage in a
 suffering day, and set us above the fear of death. Also, their
 sufferings were for the advantage of the church, and to God's
 glory. The sufferings of Christ's ministers, as well as their
 preaching and conversation, are for the good of the church and
 the glory of God. The prospect of eternal life and happiness was
 their support and comfort. What sense was ready to pronounce
 heavy and long, grievous and tedious, faith perceived to be
 light and short, and but for a moment. The weight of all
 temporal afflictions was lightness itself, while the glory to
 come was a substance, weighty, and lasting beyond description.
 If the apostle could call his heavy and long-continued trials
 light, and but for a moment, what must our trifling difficulties
 be! Faith enables to make this right judgment of things. There
 are unseen things, as well as things that are seen. And there is
 this vast difference between them; unseen things are eternal,
 seen things but temporal, or temporary only. Let us then look
 off from the things which are seen; let us cease to seek for
 worldly advantages, or to fear present distresses. Let us give
 diligence to make our future happiness sure.
05734
 * The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory. (1-8) This
 excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with
 zeal for the Corinthians. (9-15) The necessity of regeneration,
 and of reconciliation with God through Christ. (16-21)

 #1-8 The believer not only is well assured by faith that there
 is another and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good
 hope, through grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a
 resting-place, a hiding-place. In our Father's house there are
 many mansions, whose Builder and Maker is God. The happiness of
 the future state is what God has prepared for those that love
 him: everlasting habitations, not like the earthly tabernacles,
 the poor cottages of clay, in which our souls now dwell; that
 are moulding and decaying, whose foundations are in the dust.
 The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are
 a heavy load. But believers groan, being burdened with a body of
 sin, and because of the many corruptions remaining and raging
 within them. Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and
 all the comforts of life, as well as end all our troubles here
 below. But believing souls shall be clothed with garments of
 praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. The present
 graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting
 grace and comfort. And though God is with us here, by his
 Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we
 hope to be. Faith is for this world, and sight is for the other
 world. It is our duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by
 faith, till we live by sight. This shows clearly the happiness
 to be enjoyed by the souls of believers when absent from the
 body, and where Jesus makes known his glorious presence. We are
 related to the body and to the Lord; each claims a part in us.
 But how much more powerfully the Lord pleads for having the soul
 of the believer closely united with himself! Thou art one of the
 souls I have loved and chosen; one of those given to me. What is
 death, as an object of fear, compared with being absent from the
 Lord!

05742
 #9-15 The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty.
 Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and
 sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is
 called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance
 the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle
 and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men
 to believe in the Lord Jesus, and to act as his disciples. Their
 zeal and diligence were for the glory of God and the good of the
 church. Christ's love to us will have a like effect upon us, if
 duly considered and rightly judged. All were lost and undone,
 dead and ruined, slaves to sin, having no power to deliver
 themselves, and must have remained thus miserable for ever, if
 Christ had not died. We should not make ourselves, but Christ,
 the end of our living and actions. A Christian's life should be
 devoted to Christ. Alas, how many show the worthlessness of
 their professed faith and love, by living to themselves and to
 the world!

05749
 #16-21 The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules,
 with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew;
 his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him.
 He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good
 works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character
 and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward
 reformation. The man who formerly saw no beauty in the Saviour
 that he should desire him, now loves him above all things. The
 heart of the unregenerate is filled with enmity against God, and
 God is justly offended with him. Yet there may be
 reconciliation. Our offended God has reconciled us to himself by
 Jesus Christ. By the inspiration of God, the Scriptures were
 written, which are the word of reconciliation; showing that
 peace has been made by the cross, and how we may be interested
 therein. Though God cannot lose by the quarrel, nor gain by the
 peace, yet he beseeches sinners to lay aside their enmity, and
 accept the salvation he offers. Christ knew no sin. He was made
 Sin; not a sinner, but Sin, a Sin-offering, a Sacrifice for sin.
 The end and design of all this was, that we might be made the
 righteousness of God in him, might be justified freely by the
 grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
 Can any lose, labour, or suffer too much for Him, who gave his
 beloved Son to be the Sacrifice for their sins, that they might
 be made the righteousness of God in him?