home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Overload Trio 2
/
Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO
/
dir32
/
olbpnt1.zip
/
PNT.001
/
V00150
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-21
|
18KB
|
440 lines
00150
# Mt 6:12
\\Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.\\ Debts
means moral obligations unfulfilled--our shortcomings, our sins.
Let it be noted with emphasis that God is asked to forgive us as
we forgive others. We ask, in other words, that he may mete out
to us what we measure to others.
(PNT 42)
00151
# Mt 6:13
\\Lead us not into temptation.\\ The thought is that God may
preserve us from temptations that might lead us astray. No man
can pray these words who does not try to keep out of temptation.
\\For thine is the kingdom.\\ This clause, called the
doxology, is wanting in the oldest and best manuscripts, and
probably an addition based on
# 1Ch 29:11
(PNT 43 edited)
00152
# Mt 6:14-15
\\For if ye forgive men . . . your heavenly Father will also
\\forgive you.\\ Our Lord makes it a condition of our obtaining
forgiveness, that we shall have a merciful, forgiving spirit.
(PNT 43)
00154
# Mt 6:16
\\When ye fast.\\ This is the third example of the right and
wrong way of righteousness, in contrast. The same principle of
doing nothing for mere show is still insisted upon. Fasting is
not wrong, and, indeed, is often blessed richly, but not when
our object is to appear to men to fast.
\\Of a sad countenance.\\ It was common to assume a woe-
begone look, put ashes upon the head, and even wear sackcloth,
in order to show to the world deep humiliation. This is
condemned.
(PNT 43)
00155
# Mt 6:17
\\Anoint thy head.\\ That is, dress as usual.
\\Wash thy face.\\ The usual practice before eating.
(PNT 43)
00156
# Mt 6:18
\\Thy Father . . . shall reward thee.\\ Our self-denial must
be for the eyes of God, not of men.
(PNT 43)
00157
# Mt 6:19
\\Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.\\ This
forbids, not the laying up of treasures, but laying them up on
the earth; that is, the piling up of worldly wealth for worldly
purposes. Riches are no sin in themselves, but the improper use
of riches is a sin.
\\Where moth and rust doth corrupt.\\ Unused garments often
become moth-eaten; unused coins sometimes rust. All earth
treasure will finally perish.
\\Thieves break through.\\ Literally, "dig through." Often
robbers in the East dig through the house walls of mud or
unburnt brick.
(PNT 43)
00158
# Mt 6:20
\\Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.\\ This is the
only way to save our wealth. It is a positive precept. Our
wealth must be consecrated to God and used as his work demands.
Wealth used for doing good is treasure laid up in heaven.
(PNT 43)
00159
# Mt 6:21
\\For.\\ This introduces a reason for the preceding precepts.
\\Where thy treasure is, will your heart be.\\ This states a
universal truth. A man's heart will be upon what he treasures
most. If his treasure is in heaven, heaven will have his heart.
(PNT 43)
00160
# Mt 6:22-23
\\The light of the body is the eye.\\ This is not an abrupt
transition, but bears on the same subject. If one's eye is
diseased, all he sees is wrong. So the mind, or conscience, is
the light of the soul. If these be darkened, all is darkness; if
these see aright, all is light.
(PNT 43-44)
00162
# Mt 6:24
\\No man can serve two masters.\\ He cannot give his heart to
two services at the same time. He cannot follow two callings
successfully.
\\Ye cannot serve God and money.\\ This is the direct
application. The Chaldee word "Mammon" means money or riches. It
is here personified as an idol. "Mammon" originally meant
"trust," or confidence, and riches is the trust of worldly men.
If God be not the object of supreme trust, something else will
be, and it is more likely to be money.
(PNT 44)
00163
# Mt 6:25
\\Be not anxious.\\ The Greek word \\[merimnao]\\ means "to
have the mind distracted." Christ does not forbid prudent
forethought.
\\Is not the life more than food?\\ The argument is: God gave
the life, and it is higher than food. If he gave it, he will see
that it is sustained, if you trust in him. So, too, he made the
body. He will see that it is clothed.
(PNT 44)
00164
# Mt 6:26
\\Behold the fowls of the air.\\ God feeds the birds without
their sowing or reaping, but they do the work for which they
were created, and God takes care of them. So, too, he will take
care of us--not in idleness or improvidence--but if we do the
work for which God created us.
(PNT 44)
00165
# Mt 6:27
\\Which of you by being anxious,\\ etc. There can hardly be
a doubt that this ought to be rendered, "add one cubit to his
age," or period of life. The idea is: "What is the use of
anxiety? Who, by his anxiety, can add anything to life's
journey?" If it is proper to speak of "length of life," it is
also appropriate to speaking of adding a cubit to its length.
(PNT 44)
00166
# Mt 6:28
\\Consider the lilies.\\ While the lilies do not toil or
spin, they do their work, draw up sustenance from the earth, and
drink in the dew, rain and sunbeams. So we are to do our
appointed work. It we do this, trusting in God, he will supply
all our needs.
(PNT 44)
00167
# Mt 6:29
\\Even Solomon in all his glory.\\ To the Jew the court of
Solomon was the highest representation of human glory. The
magnificence of the court is not only celebrated in Jewish
writings, but in all Oriental literature, and it is still
proverbial throughout the East. Yet he was never arrayed with
the taste and beauty of \\one of these.\\ It is probable that
both birds and lilies were in sight from where the Lord was
sitting.
(PNT 44)
00168
# Mt 6:30
\\If God so clotheth the grass of the field.\\ Wild flowers
belong to the herbage that is cut with the grass. In Palestine
the forests in many localities disappeared thousands of years
ago, and in the scarcity of fuel, dried grass and weeds are
often used to heat the oven.
(PNT 44-45)
00169
# Mt 6:31
\\Therefore be not anxious.\\ Have no anxiety over the
question of food and raiment. Do your duty, with a full trust in
God that he will see that you do not lack for these things.
(PNT 45)
00170
# Mt 6:32
\\For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.\\ This
worldliness, anxiety, and distrust, might do in heathen, who
have no knowledge of a heavenly Father, but you have a heavenly
Father, and he knows that ye "need of all these things."
(PNT 45)
00171
# Mt 6:33
\\Seek ye first the kingdom of God.\\ The promise is made that if
we seek it first, and its rightness, earthly needs will be supplied.
The condition demands,
(1) That we seek the kingdom \\first\\ in point of time. Does God
use those who give him only their spare time?
(2) We must make it \\first\\ in importance. Nothing else deserves
priority over it.
(3) It must be \\first\\ in our affections, have our whole hearts. We
must "love the Lord our God with the whole heart."
# 27:37
\\His righteousness.\\ We seek true righteousness whenever we seek
to advance his kingdom and obey his will.
(PNT 45 edited)
00172
# Mt 6:34
\\Be not anxious for to morrow.\\ Have no anxiety about
tomorrow.
\\To morrow will be anxious for the things of itself.\\ Not
"take care of itself," but bring its own cares, anxieties and
troubles. We should not foolishly increase our present burden by
borrowing trouble about tomorrow.
(PNT 45)
00173
# Mt 7:1
SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 7
\\The Sermon on the Mount (concluded)\\
Motes and Beams
Casting Pearls before Swine
Asking and Receiving
The Golden Rule
The Broad and Strait Gates
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
The Tree Known by Its Fruits
The Kingdom Entered by Obedience
The Wise and Foolish Builders
The Wonderful Teacher
\\Judge not, that ye be not judged.\\ The term "judge" is
used in more than one sense, but Christ's meaning is plain.
(1) He does not prohibit the civil judgment of the courts upon
evil doers, for this is approved throughout the whole
Bible.
(2) He does not prohibit the judgment of the church, through
its officers, upon those who walk disorderly, for both he
and the apostles have enjoined this.
(3) He does not forbid those private judgments that we are
compelled to form the wrong-doers, for he himself tell us
that we are to judge men by their fruits.
# 7:15-20
What he designs to prohibit is rash, uncharitable
judgments, a fault-finding spirit, a disposition to condemn
without examination of charges.
(PNT 45)
00174
# Mt 7:2
\\With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.\\ Not by
men, but by God. He takes note of the unkind, harsh, censorious
spirit, and deals with the man according to his own spirit.
There is declared here a great principle that runs through the
moral government of God: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap."
# Ga 6:7
(PNT 45-46)
00175
# Mt 7:3
\\Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye?\\
The Lord uses a figure to show the absurdity of judging severely
the faults of others, while we have greater ones. The term
translated "mote" means a little splinter, while the beam is
something very large.
(PNT 7:3)
00177
# Mt 7:5
\\Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thy own
\\eye.\\ The man who finds fault with another for sin, while he
is more guilty, is a hypocrite. A great many are very zealous to
convert the world, who are themselves unconverted.
(PNT 46)
00178
# Mt 7:6
\\Give not that which is holy to dogs.\\ The dog was regarded
an unclean animal by the Jewish law. They probably represent
snarling, scoffing opposers. The characteristic of dogs is
brutality. To try to instill holy things into such low, unclean,
and sordid brutal minds is useless.
\\Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.\\ The swine were
also unclean. They would have no use for pearls, and perhaps
would rush upon those who scattered the pearls. So, too, there
are men so dull, imbruted and senseless, as to reject the pearls
of truth. It is our duty to help and to try to save others, but
we must use common sense.
(PNT 46)
00179
# Mt 7:7
\\Ask, . . . seek, . . . knock.\\ The terms are here used
with reference to prayer, and these constitute a climax.
\\Ask\\ implies a simple petition.
\\Seek\\ indicates an earnest search.
\\Knock\\ shows perseverance in spite of hindrances.
The three represent earnest prayer.
(PNT 46)
00180
# Mt 7:8
\\For every one that asketh receiveth,\\ etc. Every one of
the class concerning whom the Saviour speaks. That class is those
who can say, "Our Father in heaven; Hallowed be thy name; Thy
will be done."
# 6:9
(PNT 46)
00181
# Mt 7:9-10
\\If his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone?\\ The
assurance of an answer to prayer is based on the fact that God
is our Father. He treats his children as a good and wise earthly
parent would. No kind parent would mock his child by answering
his cry for bread with stones. Bread and fish were the chief
articles of food of the Galilean peasant.
(PNT 46)
00183
# Mt 7:11
\\If ye then, being evil.\\ Men who have the natural
affection of parents, even though sinful men, will not do such
things. Whoever believes that the term "Father," as applied to
God, is more than a figure of speech, must believe in prayer.
\\Give good gifts.\\ Luke, in the parallel passage, says,
instead of "good gifts," "the Holy Spirit," as though this is
heaven's greatest blessing.
# Lu 11:13
(PNT 46-47)
00184
# Mt 7:12
\\Whatever . . . do ye even so to them.\\ This does not imply
that we are always to do to others as they wish, but what we
would like to have done to ourselves if we were placed in their
condition and they in ours. We might injure them by complying
with their foolish wishes.
A maxim similar to the Golden Rule is found in the teachings
of various sages; Socrates among the Greeks, Buddha and
Confucius among the Orientals, and Hillel among the Jews. But
the other teachers do not come up to Christ's standard. Their
maxim is negative and passive. They say: "Do not do to others
what you would not have done to you." It is a rule of NOT doing,
rather than of DOING.
(PNT 47)
00185
# Mt 7:13
\\Enter ye in at the narrow gate.\\ The leading thought of
the whole discourse is the kingdom of heaven and its conditions.
Hence, when the Lord says, "Enter ye in," he means into the
kingdom of heaven. Nearly every town in Palestine is surrounded
by walls and is entered by gates. The principal ones are wide,
with double doors, closed with locks and fastened with iron
bars. The "strait gates" are in retired corners, are narrow, and
are only opened to those who knock.
(PNT 47)
00186
# Mt 7:14
\\For small [is] the gate.\\ What is it, Augustine asks, that
makes this gate so small to us? It is not that it is small, or
narrow, in itself, but that we want to take in our pride, our
self-will, our darling sins.
\\Few there are that find it.\\ It has been to be sought. The
reason that men do not find it is not because it is hard to
find, but because they prefer to walk in the broad way.
(PNT 47)
00187
# Mt 7:15
\\Beware of false prophets.\\ The word "prophet," as used in
the Scriptures, means any one who teaches authoritatively the
will of God. A false prophet is one who is a false teacher.
Christ refers to the scribes and Pharisees.
\\Come to you in sheep's clothing.\\ While appearing as
harmless as sheep they are wolves.
(PNT 47)
00188
# Mt 7:16
\\Ye shall know them by their fruits.\\ This common figure is
wonderfully expressive. Not leaves (professions), or appearance,
are the proper tests of the life that is in the tree, but the
fruit it bears. We are to test men and every institution by this
principle.
\\Grapes from thorns.\\ Two of the most highly valued fruits
of Palestine are grapes and figs. Nothing is more common than
thorns and thistles. Geike says that it is the land of thorns
and thorny plants. Good fruit cannot be expected on such evil
stocks.
(PNT 47)
00190
# Mt 7:18
\\A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit.\\ The Lord points
to the uniform law of nature. Every tree bears after its kind.
The same principle holds good in the moral world. A good man
will show forth good deeds, while a bad man will bear fruit
according to his nature.
(PNT 47)
00191
# Mt 7:19-20
\\Every tree . . . is hewn down, and cast into the fire.\\
The test of good and bad trees, good and bad men, good and bad
systems, has been presented. Now the figure is carried further
to show their destiny. The Saviour states a principle that seems
to run through the whole government of God. Whatever is useless
and evil shall finally be swept away.
(PNT 47-48)
00193
# Mt 7:21
\\Not every one\\, etc. It is not all who call him "Lord" but
those who are truly obedient, who submit to his Lordship, enter
the "small gate" and follow the narrow way.
\\that doeth the will of my Father.\\ No one can be a citizen
of the kingdom who does not obey the King.
(PNT 48 edited)
00194
# Mt 7:22
\\Many will say to me in that day.\\ The great day of the
Lord.
\\Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?\\ The Lord
chooses out of the greatest class of non-doers to show that all
such will fail of entrance. They have omitted the one thing
needful, a faithful obedience.
(PNT 48)
00195
# Mt 7:23
\\I never knew you.\\ "I never knew you" must be accepted in
its deeper signification of "recognizing the disciples."
Augustine says that for Christ to say, "I never knew you," is
only another way of saying, "You never knew me."
\\Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.\\ In spite of all
their professions they had been evil doers. Their religion
expended itself in professions and prayers. Hence, in "that day"
they are commanded to depart. What it is to so depart we may
learn from
# 25:41
It is evident from this passage that many are self-deceived.
(PNT 48)
00196
# Mt 7:24
\\Whoever heareth these sayings of mine.\\ The words that he
has spoken in this discourse, and all his teachings.
\\I will liken him to a wise man.\\ The wise man, with wise
forethought, has built on a firm foundation. In a country with a
rainy season and heavy floods this was essential. The man who
"hears and does" Christ's words is building upon the rock.
# 16:16
(PNT 48)
00197
# Mt 7:25
\\The rain descended, . . . and it fell not.\\ Palestine is a
country of torrents and sands. This verse gives a picture of the
sudden violent storms and sweeping floods which are so common
during the rainy season. The house founded upon the rock could
not be undermined and destroyed, but would stand firm. So, says
the Lord, shall it be with those who hear and obey. "They shall
stand in the judgment."
# Ps 1:5
(PNT 48)
00198
# Mt 7:26
\\Heareth these sayings . . . and doeth them not.\\ The
hearer who obeys not is likened to the foolish man who built his
house on the sand. Every one knows how transitory and shifting
is a sandy foundation. Whole towns on the Missouri or lower
Mississippi have been undermined and gone into the vortex
because they were built upon the sand. So will fall the
disobedient.
(PNT 48)
00199
# Mt 7:27
\\Great was its fall.\\ The Lord describes the thoughtfulness
of the builder on the sand, the storm and the utter destruction.
There is an awful solemnity about this close to the wonderful
sermon.
(PNT 48-49)