A Goodly Heritage

 Do you belong to an evangelical congregation? Many do and, alas, go no further! They hear the truth Sunday after Sunday and remain as hard as the nether millstone. Sermon after sermon sounds in their ears. Month after month they are invited to repent, to believe, to come to Christ and to be saved. Year after year passes away, and they are not changed. They keep their seat under the teaching of a favorite minister, and they also keep their favorite sins. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."  J C Ryle

We have just had our thoughts directed to the beautiful inspired picture of the Shepherd conducting His flock through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The next delineation of Christ's pastoral relation to His Church and people is a pre-eminently sublime one. The Shepherd-love and leadings of the wilderness are at no end. Earth's diverse experiences– its green pastures and still waters– its rough and rugged paths– its places of temptation– its lairs of wild beasts– its cloudy and dark days– and the Valley of death-shade terminating all– these are over and past. The flock is now seen on the Great day of Judgment, as depicted in the magnificent imagery of the passage which heads this chapter– a passage which stands almost unrivaled in sacred Scripture for its pathos and grandeur. Viewing Christ as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the time and circumstances in which He uttered the words are remarkable. It was but a few days previous to the fulfillment of the awful prophetic an

How Preaching May be Called "The Word of God" The subject matter to be preached is here called "the word of God." Although that which is spoken by ministers is only the sound of a man's voice, yet that which true ministers of God preach in exercising their ministerial function is the word of God. Thus it is said of the apostles, "They spoke the word of God," Acts 4:31, and it is said of the people of Antioch, that "almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God," Acts 13:44. That which ministers do or ought to preach is called the word of God in four respects. 1. In regard to the primary author of it, which is God. God did immediately inspire extraordinary ministers, and thereby informed them in his will. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Peter 1:21. Therefore they would commonly use these introductory phrases, "The word

Christ was much in prayer, and will you neglect prayer or pray very rarely? Prayer is the ordinary exercise of every child of God. Why do you not pray? Are you so rich, that you need no supplies of grace; or so careless, that you desire them not? Oh, learn of Christ to be frequent, and fervent, and reverent in prayer! To be frequent, Christ prayed early and late, night and day. "In the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35). Yes, "He continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). Did Christ spend nights in prayer, and will you not spend hours in prayer? Why do you pray by fits, and not constantly? Why are you so seldom with God, pouring out your hearts to Him?  Are you afraid of coming to God too often? You may come too seldom, but you can never come too often to God. Is there not occasion for prayer to God early and late? Are there not sins early and late to be pardoned, mercie

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord’s” (Isaiah 44:3-5a, KJV). These words describe a time of refreshing. There are no other words in the whole Bible that have been more often in my heart and on my tongue since I began my ministry. Although God has never left me without some tokens of His presence, He has not yet fulfilled this promise. I have taken it up today in order that we may consider it more fully and plead it more earnestly with God. God Is the Author of a Work of Grace It is God who begins to convict dead souls of their spiritual condition. So it is in Zechariah 12:10: “I will pour . . . the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn.” Likewise, this is the promise in John 16:8-9a: “An

“My Beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.” Song of Solomon 2:16, 17 Surely if there be a happy verse in the Bible it is this—“My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” So peaceful, so full of assurance, so overrunning with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been written by the same hand which penned the twenty-third Psalm. Yet though the prospect is exceeding fair and lovely—earth cannot show its superior—it is not entirely a sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the sky which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.” There is a word, too, about the “mountains of Bether,” or, “the mountains of division,” and to our love, anything like division is bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state of mind; you do not doubt your salvation; you know that Christ is

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me,  Fear not ; I am the first and the last; I am He who lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen—and have the keys of hell and of death." — Revelation 1:17, 18. The spirit of this book, as of all others written by God, is the 'testimony of Jesus.' It bears witness to him throughout—to His person, His work, His kingdom. Here are things both new and old concerning Him. He is the Revealer, and He is the revealed One; the Teacher and the lesson; the Sower and the seed. In the marvelous visions of this prophecy respecting Him and His kingdom, faith has much to rest on, and hope much to feed on. They are worthy of all study—and 'blessed is he who reads.' The three things in this passage which need our notice, are— (1) The vision. (2.) The apostle's alarm. (3.) The comfort administered by Christ. I. The VISION.   "And when

God's word clearly teaches that there is a fear which is consistent with true religion. Once the Scriptures assert that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," Proverbs 1:7; and twice they say that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10, and Proverbs 9:10. There is no higher wisdom than to fear God, as there is no true wisdom until he is feared. The fear of God is both alpha and omega in wisdom. "The very first, and indeed the principal thing, to be instilled into all men's minds, is a biblical sense of the divine Majesty, and a solemn regard towards him." With the foregoing well agrees the prophet Isaiah: "The fear of the Lord is his treasure." Isa. 33:6. It is the more important to dwell upon this grace, as it seems not to be much spoken of. Very seldom is it a subject of pulpit discourse; rarely do we find it treated of at length in modern books; yet the Bible is full of it. Not only the Old

The Daily Exercise of God’s Most Holy & Sacred Word by John Knox The following passage is excerpted from a letter written by John Knox in 1557 before leaving Scotland for exile in Geneva. This part of the letter addresses the duty of the head of the household to read and discuss the Bible with his family: Dear brethren, if you look for a life to come, of necessity it is that you exercise yourselves in the book of the Lord your God. Let no day slip or want some comfort received from the mouth of God. Open your ears, and he will speak even pleasant things to your heart. Close not your eyes, but diligently let them behold what portion of substance is left to you within your Father’s testament. Let your tongues learn to praise the gracious goodness of him, whose mere mercy has called you from darkness to life. Neither yet may you do this so quietly that you admit no witness. No, Brethren, you are ordained of God to rule your own houses in his true fear, and according to h