Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc24/v26100

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 11KB | 186 lines

26100
 #12-19 Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to
 our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which
 seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and
 Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be
 set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and
 his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions.
 Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes
 now like water from a fountain. Afflictions bring us to secret
 prayer. Consider Christ as the Speaker addressing his church.
 His resurrection from the dead was an earnest of all the
 deliverance foretold. The power of his grace, like the dew or
 rain, which causes the herbs that seem dead to revive, would
 raise his church from the lowest state. But we may refer to the
 resurrection of the dead, especially of those united to Christ.

26108
 #20,21 When dangers threaten, it is good to retire and lie hid;
 when we commend ourselves to God to hide us, he will hide us
 either under heaven or in heaven. Thus we shall be safe and
 happy in the midst of tribulations. It is but for a short time,
 as it were for a little moment; when over, it will seem as
 nothing. God's place is the mercy-seat; there he delights to be:
 when he punishes, he comes out of his place, for he has no
 pleasure in the death of sinners. But there is hardly any truth
 more frequently repeated in Scripture, than God's determined
 purpose to punish the workers of iniquity. Let us keep close to
 the Lord, and separate from the world; and let us seek comfort
 in secret prayer. A day of vengeance is coming on the world, and
 before it comes we are to expect tribulation and suffering. But
 because the Christian looks for these things, shall he be
 restless and dismayed? No, let him repose himself in his God.
 Abiding in him, the believer is safe. And let us wait patiently
 the fulfilling of God's promises.
26110
 * God's care over his people. (1-5) A promise of their recall to
 Divine favour. (6-13)

 #1-5 The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his
 death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy
 him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that old
 serpent. The world is a fruitless, worthless wilderness; but the
 church is a vineyard, a place that has great care taken of it,
 and from which precious fruits are gathered. God will keep it in
 the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace
 and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous.
 God also takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We
 need the continual waterings of Divine grace; if these be at any
 time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Though God
 sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to
 be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and
 thorns instead of vines, and they are set in array against him,
 he will tread them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the
 doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered
 every moment. Ever since sin first entered, there has been, on
 God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most
 unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning
 mercy is called the power of our Lord; let us take hold on that.
 Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by lively faith
 take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy,
 believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a
 man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank,
 that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure
 way, to be saved. God is willing to be reconciled to us.

26115
 #6-13 In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel
 church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and
 shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and
 kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all
 goodness, righteousness, and truth. The Jews yet are kept a
 separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as
 those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through so
 many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divine origin of the
 Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continued warning
 against sin. But though winds are ever so rough, ever so high,
 God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will
 afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work
 for the good of their souls. According to this promise, since
 the captivity in Babylon, no people have shown such hatred to
 idols and idolatry as the Jews. And to all God's people, the
 design of affliction is to part between them and sin. The
 affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the
 occasions of sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it.
 Jerusalem had been defended by grace and the Divine protection;
 but when God withdrew, she was left like a wilderness. This has
 awfully come to pass. And this is a figure of the deplorable
 state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild
 grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with
 severely, because God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see
 how weak those pleas will be. Verses #12,13|, seem to predict
 the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and
 their recovery from their present dispersion. This is further
 applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are
 gathered into the grace of God; the gospel proclaims the
 acceptable year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding of
 the gospel trumpet, are brought in to worship God, and added to
 the church; and the last trumpet will gather the saints
 together.
26123
 * The desolations of Samaria. (1-4) The prosperity of Judah;
 with reproofs for sinfulness and unbelief. (5-15) Christ is
 pointed out as the sure Foundation for all believers. (16-22)
 God's dealings with his people. (23-29)

 #1-4 What men are proud of, be it ever so mean, is to them as a
 crown; but pride is the forerunner of destruction. How foolishly
 drunkards act! Those who are overcome with wine are overcome by
 Satan; and there is not greater drudgery in the world than hard
 drinking. Their health is ruined; men are broken in their
 callings and estates, and their families are ruined by it. Their
 souls are in danger of being undone for ever, and all merely to
 gratify a base lust. In God's professing people, like Israel, it
 is worse than in any other. And he is just in taking away the
 plenty they thus abuse. The plenty they were proud of, is but a
 fading flower. Like the early fruit, which, as soon as
 discovered, is plucked and eaten.

26127
 #5-15 The prophet next turns to Judah, whom he calls the residue
 of his people. Happy are those alone, who glory in the Lord of
 hosts himself. Hence his people get wisdom and strength for
 every service and every conflict. But it is only in Christ Jesus
 that the holy God communicates with sinful man. And whether
 those that teach are drunk with wine, or intoxicated with false
 doctrines and notions concerning the kingdom and salvation of
 the Messiah, they not only err themselves, but lead multitudes
 astray. All places where such persons have taught are filled
 with errors. For our instruction in the things of God, it is
 needful that the same precept and the same line should be often
 repeated to us, that we may the better understand them. God, by
 his word, calls us to what is really for our advantage; the
 service of God is the only true rest for those weary of the
 service of sin, and there is no refreshment but under the easy
 yoke of the Lord Jesus. All this had little effect upon the
 people. Those who will not understand what is plain, but scorn
 and despise it as mean and trifling, are justly punished. If we
 are at peace with God, we have, in effect, made a covenant with
 death; whenever it comes, it cannot do us any real damage, if we
 are Christ's. But to think of making death our friend, while by
 sin we are making God our enemy, is absurd. And do not they make
 lies their refuge who trust in their own righteousness, or to a
 death-bed repentance? which is a resolution to sin no more, when
 it is no longer in their power to do so.

26138
 #16-22 Here is a promise of Christ, as the only foundation of
 hope for escaping the wrath to come. This foundation was laid in
 Zion, in the eternal counsels of God. This foundation is a
 stone, firm and able to support his church. It is a tried stone,
 a chosen stone, approved of God, and never failed any who made
 trial of it. A corner stone, binding together the whole
 building, and bearing the whole weight; precious in the sight of
 the Lord, and of every believer; a sure foundation on which to
 build. And he who in any age or nation shall believe this
 testimony, and rest all his hopes, and his never-dying soul on
 this foundation, shall never be confounded. The right effect of
 faith in Christ is, to quiet and calm the soul, till events
 shall be timed by Him, who has all times in his own hand and
 power. Whatever men trust to for justification, except the
 righteousness of Christ; or for wisdom, strength, and holiness,
 except the influences of the Holy Ghost; or for happiness,
 except the favour of God; that protection in which they thought
 to shelter themselves, will prove not enough to answer the
 intention. Those who rest in a righteousness of their own, will
 have deceived themselves: the bed is too short, the covering too
 narrow. God will be glorified in the fulfilling of his counsels.
 If those that profess to be members of God's church, make
 themselves like Philistines and Canaanites, they must expect to
 be dealt with as such. Then dare not to ridicule the reproofs of
 God's word, or the approaches of judgements.

26145
 #23-29 The husbandman applies to his calling with pains and
 prudence, in all the works of it according to their nature. Thus
 the Lord, who has given men this wisdom, is wonderful in
 counsel, and excellent in his working. As the occasion requires,
 he threatens, corrects, spares, shows mercy, or executes
 vengeance. Afflictions are God's threshing instruments, to
 loosen us from the world, to part between us and our chaff, and
 to prepare us for use. God will proportion them to our strength;
 they shall be no heavier than there is need. When his end is
 answered, the trials and sufferings of his people shall cease;
 his wheat shall be gathered into the garner, but the chaff shall
 be burned with unquenchable fire.