Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc30/v30200

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

30206
 #8-12 God is slow to anger, and is loath to abandon a people to
 utter ruin, who have been called by his name. When God was to
 give a sacrifice for sin, and a Saviour for sinners, he spared
 not his own Son, that he might spare us. This is the language of
 the day of his patience; but when men sin that away, then the
 great day of his wrath comes. Man's compassions are nothing in
 comparison with the tender mercies of our God, whose thoughts
 and ways, in receiving returning sinners, are as much above ours
 as heaven is above the earth. God knows how to pardon poor
 sinners. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
 therein declares his righteousness, now Christ has purchased the
 pardon, and he has promised it. Holy trembling at the word of
 Christ will draw us to him, not drive us from him. When he roars
 like a lion, the slaves tremble, and flee from him, the children
 tremble, and flee to him. And all that come at the gospel call,
 shall have a place and a name in the gospel church. The
 religious services of Israel were mere hypocrisy, but in Judah
 regard was had to God's laws, and the people followed their
 pious forefathers. Let us be faithful: those who thus honour
 God, he will honour, but such as despise Him shall be lightly
 esteemed.
30211
 * Judah and Israel reminded of the Divine favours. (1-6) The
 provocations of Israel. (7-14)

 #1-6 Ephraim feeds himself with vain hopes of help from man,
 when he is at enmity with God. The Jews vainly thought to secure
 the Egyptians by a present of the produce of their country.
 Judah is contended with also. God sees the sin of his own
 people, and will reckon with them for it. They are put in mind
 of what Jacob did, and what God did for him. When his faith upon
 the Divine promise prevailed above his fears, then by his
 strength he had power with God. He is Jehovah, the same that
 was, and is, and is to come. What was a revelation of God to
 one, is his memorial to many, to all generations. Then let those
 who have gone from God, be turned to him. Turn thou to the Lord,
 by repentance and faith, as thy God. Let those that are
 converted to him, walk with him in all holy conversation and
 godliness. Let us wrestle with Him for promised blessings,
 determined not to give over till we prevail; and let us seek Him
 in his ordinances.

30217
 #7-14 Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies a
 Canaanite. They carried on trade upon Canaanitish principles,
 covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, and
 falsely supposed that Providence favoured them. But shameful
 sins shall have shameful punishments. Let them remember, not
 only what a mighty prince Jacob was with God, but what a servant
 he was to Laban. The benefits we have had from the word of God,
 make our sin and folly the worse, if we put any slight upon that
 word. We had better follow the hardest labour in poverty, than
 grow rich by sin. We may form a judgment of our own conduct, by
 comparing it with that of ancient believers in the like
 circumstances. Whoever despises the message of God, will perish.
 May we all hear his word with humble, obedient faith.
30225
 * The abuse of God's favour leads to punishment. (1-8) A promise
 of God's mercy. (9-16)

 #1-8 While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped
 Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim
 forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that
 sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them,
 affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not
 give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images
 shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be
 expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the
 Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of
 Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's
 pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would
 meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that
 inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater
 severity.

30233
 #9-16 Israel had destroyed himself by his rebellion; but he
 could not save himself, his help was from the Lord only. This
 may well be applied to the case of spiritual redemption, from
 that lost state into which all have fallen by wilful sins. God
 often gives in displeasure what we sinfully desire. It is the
 happiness of the saints, that, whether God gives or takes away,
 all is in love. But it is the misery of the wicked, that,
 whether God gives or takes away, it is all in wrath, nothing is
 comfortable. Except sinners repent and believe the gospel,
 anguish will soon come upon them. The prophecy of the ruin of
 Israel as a nation, also showed there would be a merciful and
 powerful interposition of God, to save a remnant of them. Yet
 this was but a shadow of the ransom of the true Israel, by the
 death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He will destroy death
 and the grave. The Lord would not repent of his purpose and
 promise. Yet, in the mean time, Israel would be desolated for
 her sins. Without fruitfulness in good works, springing from the
 Holy Spirit, all other fruitfulness will be found as empty as
 the uncertain riches of the world. The wrath of God will wither
 its branches, its sprigs shall be dried up, it shall come to
 nothing. Woes, more terrible than any from the most cruel
 warfare, shall fall on those who rebel against God. From such
 miseries, and from sin, the cause of them, may the Lord deliver
 us.
30241
 * An exhortation to repentance. (1-3) Blessings promised,
 showing the rich comforts of the gospel. (4-8) The just and the
 wicked. (9)

 #1-3 Israel is exhorted to return unto Jehovah, from their sins
 and idols, by faith in his mercy, and grace through the promised
 Redeemer, and by diligently attending on his worship and
 service. Take away iniquity; lift it off as a burden we are
 ready to sink under, or as the stumbling-block we have often
 fallen over. Take it all away by a free and full forgiveness,
 for we cannot strike any of it off. Receive our prayer
 graciously. They do not say what good they seek, but refer it to
 God. It is not good of the world's showing, but good of God's
 giving. They were to consider their sins, their wants, and the
 remedy; and they were to take, not sacrifices, but words stating
 the desires of their hearts, and with them to address the Lord.
 The whole forms a clear description of the nature and tendency
 of a sinner's conversion to God through Jesus Christ. As we draw
 near to God by the prayer of faith, we should first beseech him
 to teach us what to ask. We must be earnest with him to take
 away all iniquity.

30244
 #4-8 Israel seeks God's face, and they shall not seek it in
 vain. His anger is turned from them. Whom God loves, he loves
 freely; not because they deserve it, but of his own good
 pleasure. God will be to them all they need. The graces of the
 Spirit are the hidden manna, hidden in the dew; the grace thus
 freely bestowed on them shall not be in vain. They shall grow
 upward, and be more flourishing; shall grow as the lily. The
 lily, when come to its height, is a lovely flower, #Mt 6:28,29|.
 They shall grow downward, and be more firm. With the flower of
 the lily shall be the strong root of the cedar of Lebanon.
 Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root, which
 is out of sight. They shall also spread as the vine, whose
 branches extend very widely. When believers abound in good
 works, then their branches spread. They shall be acceptable both
 to God and man. Holiness is the beauty of a soul. The church is
 compared to the vine and the olive, which bring forth useful
 fruits. God's promises pertain to those only that attend on his
 ordinances; not such as flee to this shadow only for shelter in
 a hot gleam, but all who dwell under it. When a man is brought
 to God, all who dwell under his shadow fare the better. The
 sanctifying fruits shall appear in his life. Thus believers grow
 up into the experience and fruitfulness of the gospel. Ephraim
 shall say, God will put it into his heart to say it, What have I
 to do any more with idols! God's promises to us are more our
 security and our strength for mortifying sin, than our promises
 to God. See the power of Divine grace. God will work such a
 change in him, that he shall loathe the idols as much as ever he
 loved them. See the benefit of sanctified afflictions. Ephraim
 smarted for his idolatry, and this is the fruit, even the taking
 away his sin, #Isa 27:9|. See the nature of repentance; it is a
 firm and fixed resolution to have no more to do with sin. The
 Lord meets penitents with mercy, as the father of the prodigal
 met his returning son. God will be to all true converts both a
 delight and a defence; they shall sit under his shadow with
 delight. And as the root of a tree; From me is thy fruit found:
 from Him we receive grace and strength to enable us to do our
 duty.

30249
 #9 Who profit by the truths the prophet delivered? Such as set
 themselves to understand and know these things. The ways of
 God's providence towards us are right; all is well done. Christ
 is a Foundation Stone to some, to others a Stone of stumbling,
 and a Rock of offence. That which was ordained to life, becomes,
 through their abuse of it, death to them. The same sun softens
 wax and hardens clay. But those transgressors certainly have the
 most dangerous, fatal falls, who fall in the ways of God, who
 split on the Rock of Ages, and suck poison out of the Balm of
 Gilead. Let sinners in Zion fear this. May we learn to walk in
 the right ways of God, as his righteous servants, and may none
 of us be disobedient and unbelieving, and stumble at the word.