A Goodly Heritage

It may be proper here to make a few general remarks, explanatory of what is often the state of a sinner's mind immediately before conversion. He discovers that the Bible is a revealer of the secrets of his soul, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart. He is ready to say, "Come see a book which hath told me all things that ever I did." At such times God's Word is as a glass, in which a man beholds his natural face. It reflects his image and shows him his sad deficiencies and his great deformity. He finds his heart to be exceedingly depraved. He is convinced that the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually. In this state of mind, David compared his pains to "broken bones" (Psalm 51:8 ). If you have ever had a broken bone, you may have an idea of his meaning. Thoughts of it occupy the mind day and night. For a moment, company may seem to create a diversion of the thoughts, but soon they revert to the fractured limb....

ABSALOM was the eldest son of David, whose mother was the daughter of a king. His name signifies "the father of peace" or "the peace of a father." It was not given him by prophecy, but only expressed the hopes entertained of him. He was probably a favorite with his father, was not well governed and became a spoiled child. Many a parent is preparing wormwood and gall for his old age. When he was yet a young man, with much hypocrisy, malice and cunning, Absalom perpetrated the death of his wicked brother Amnon. Stained with his brother’s blood and fearing his father’s displeasure, he fled to his grandfather, Talmai, king of Geshur, who gave him refuge. But David loved Absalom and longed after him. In three years he yielded to an artful stratagem laid by the bloody Joab and executed by a woman of Tekoah for Absalom’s return. He was not, indeed, admitted into his father’s presence for two years. Ambition is ever...

Everywhere in the Scriptures great stress is laid on faith. In scores of passages, its absolute necessity is explicitly declared. With the Word of God, Christian experience well agrees. The young convert had neither hope nor joy till he believed. His faith being weak, he manifests great instability. But as it increases, he grows stronger until he is undaunted and cries, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15 ). Old Christians speak much of faith and always love to have the truth concerning it clearly explained. But what is the faith on which the Scriptures so much insist? This is a matter of chief importance. An error here will affect our whole religious life. Faith is either human or divine. In human faith we rely upon what men say. This we do by the constitution of our minds. Thus, children rest upon what their parents tell them. Human faith is properly confined to things on which God has not spoken. Its basis is human testimony. Divine faith rests on t...

Everywhere in the Scriptures great stress is laid on faith. In scores of passages, its absolute necessity is explicitly declared. With the Word of God, Christian experience well agrees. The young convert had neither hope nor joy till he believed. His faith being weak, he manifests great instability. But as it increases, he grows stronger until he is undaunted and cries, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15 ). Old Christians speak much of faith and always love to have the truth concerning it clearly explained. But what is the faith on which the Scriptures so much insist? This is a matter of chief importance. An error here will affect our whole religious life. Faith is either human or divine. In human faith we rely upon what men say. This we do by the constitution of our minds. Thus, children rest upon what their parents tell them. Human faith is properly confined to things on which God has not spoken. Its basis is human testimony. Divine faith rests on the...

Repentance belongs exclusively to the religion of sinners. It has no place in the exercises of unfallen creatures. He who has never done a sinful act nor had a sinful nature needs neither forgiven. But sinners need all these blessings. To them they are indispensable. The wickedness of the human heart makes it necessary. Under all dispensations, since our first parents were expelled from the Garden of Eden, God has insisted on repentance. Among the patriarchs, Job said, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6 ). Under the Law, David wrote the thirty-second and fifty-first psalms. John the Baptist cried, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2 ). Christ's account of Himself is that He "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17 ). Just before His ascension, Christ commanded "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusal...

It may be proper here to make a few general remarks, explanatory of what is often the state of a sinner's mind immediately before conversion. He discovers that the Bible is a revealer of the secrets of his soul, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart. He is ready to say, "Come see a book which hath told me all things that ever I did." At such times God's Word is as a glass, in which a man beholds his natural face. It reflects his image and shows him his sad deficiencies and his great deformity. He finds his heart to be exceedingly depraved. He is convinced that the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually. In this state of mind, David compared his pains to "broken bones" (Psalm 51:8 ). If you have ever had a broken bone, you may have an idea of his meaning. Thoughts of it occupy the mind day and night. For a moment, company may seem to create a diversion of the thoughts, but soon they revert to the fractured limb. S...

Having spoken of the offices of Christ as Mediator, let us consider his glory therein: I. His glory as a PROPHET . He spoke with authority, and not as the scribes. He spoke with such power that the very men sent to arrest him were disarmed. When asked how this was, all they could answer was, "Never man spoke like this man." John 7:46. Those who heard him felt that the Searcher of hearts was speaking to them. As he himself was truth, all he said was true, and he was its author. He was also the substance of truth. He made known to us the true nature of God. He said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." John 14:9. Nor did any one else ever so reveal the true nature of God: "Neither knows any man the Father, but the Son, and he to whoever the Son will reveal him." Matt. 1:27. The reason why that which was spoken by the prophets was good and pure, was because they spoke by the Spirit of Christ. 1 Pet...

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) There is a great mystery in sanctification. It is a mystery for the love it displays, for the power it manifests, for the method it employs, and for the work it accomplishes. When Moses looked upon that bright effulgence in the mount, he gradually caught some of the same glory, so that his face shone. When we behold the image of the invisible God, as it is presented in the person and character of Christ, we too are made like it, not indeed by a mere natural effect, but "by the Spirit of the Lord." Likeness to God alone is holiness. Growth in this likeness is growth in grace. It is all by Jesus Christ. It is true that "the best of men are men at the best," and so are far from being as perfect as ...

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; y...