“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17 If I may use the expression, we want not a dead but a living, not an absent but a present, not a once but a now Jesus; we want a friend at the right hand of God at the present … Read more
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2 What Christ is to the Church, what the Church is to Christ, can … Read more
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30, 31 Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God has made Christ all these to his people. … Read more
“O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.” 2 Chronicles 20:12 Jehoshaphat did not know what to do; he was altogether at his wit’s end; and yet he took the … Read more
“I have poured out my soul before the Lord.” 1 Samuel 1:15 How much there is in that expression pouring out the soul before the Lord! Shall I use a familiar figure to illustrate it, as sometimes familiar figures are best adapted to that purpose? Look at a sack of corn; you know, when the … Read more
“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” James 1:18 If we look at the work of the Spirit on the heart, we shall see how, in all his sacred dealings and gracious movements, he invariably employs truth as his … Read more
“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me.” Psalm 25:5 By what steps do we usually embrace the truth as it is in Jesus? First of all, for the most part, we receive it as a doctrine; the judgment being more or less informed, the eyes of the understanding being enlightened to see it in … Read more
“Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?” Jeremiah 15:12 You see that the Lord, when he is pointing out the trials his people are passing through, compares them to “iron.” He does not diminish their weight; he does not at all lower their oppressive tendency. But, then, in order to administer a suitable … Read more
“But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.” Ephesians 5:13 Feeling is the first evidence of supernatural life; a feeling compounded of two distinct sensations, one referring to God, and the other referring to self. The same ray of light has manifested two opposite … Read more
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3 What God does, he does by the word of his grace and the influences which accompany that word; for ever bear in mind that God does nothing but by his word. The sanctifying, cleansing effects therefore which attend the word … Read more
“Fools die for want of wisdom.” Proverbs 10:21 the holy” (Prov. 30:3), and the fear of the Lord, and such a connection between ignorance of the Lord and sin, that saved saints are called “wise,” and lost sinners are called “fools,” not only in the Old Testament, as continually in the Proverbs, but in the … Read more
“As the truth is in Jesus.” Ephesians 4:21 Without truth there is no regeneration; for it is by “the word of truth” that we are begotten and born again (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). Without truth there is no justification; for we are justified by faith, which faith consists in crediting God’s truth, and so … Read more