Nothing More Nothing Less than what the Lord Commands

This post has 283 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 24 secondes for reading it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ directs his apostles to teach his disciples “to do and observe whatever he commanded them.” Those who contend for the latter [i.e. puritan] interpretation of those and the like precepts before mentioned, affirm that there is in these words a restriction of the matter of their commission to the express commands of Christ what he commands, they say, they were to teach men to observe, and nothing else; nor will he require the observance of aught else at our hands. The others would have his intention to be, whatever he commanded, and whatever seemeth good to them to command, so it be not contrary unto what was by him commanded; as if he had said, “Teach men to observe whatever you think meet, so it be not contrary to my commands.” Certainly this gloss at first view seems to defeat the main intendment of Christ, in that express limitation of their commission unto his own commands. So also under the Old Testament: giving order about his worship, the Lord lets Moses know  that he must do all things according to what he should show and reveal unto him. In the close of the work committed unto him, to show what he had done was acceptable to God, it is eight or ten times repeated that he did all as the Lord commanded him; nothing was omitted, nothing added by him. that the same course might be observed in the following practice which was taken in the first institution [i.e.., of the New Testament Church] the Lord commands nothing be added to what was so appointed by him, nothing diminished from it.
—John Owen “works Volume 15, pp 41-2″

Deriving our Life and Principles from the Word

This post has 367 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 50 secondes for reading it.

O blessed man! that thus fears the Lord, that delights in his Word, and derives his principles, motives, maxims and consolations, from that unfailing source of light and strength. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf is always green, and fruit abundant. The wisdom that is above, shall direct his plans, inspire his counsels; and the power of God shall guard him on every side, and prepare his way through every difficulty: he shall see mountains sink into plains, and streams spring up in the dry wilderness. The Lord’s enemies will be his; and they maybe permitted to fight against him, but they shall not prevail, for the Lord is with him to deliver him. The conduct of such a one, though in a narrow and retired sphere of life, is of more real excellence and importance, than the most splendid actions of kings and conquerors, which fill the annals of history, Prov. xvi. 32, And if the God whom he serves is pleased to place him in a more public light, his labours and cares will be amply compensated, by the superior opportunities afforded him of manifesting the power and reality of True Religion, and promoting the good of mankind.
I hope I may say that I desire to be thus entirely given up to the Lord; I am sure I must say, that what I have written is far from being my actual experience. Alas! I might be condemned out of my own mouth, were the Lord strict to mark what is amiss. But, O the Comfort! We are not under the law, but under grace. The Gospel is a dispensation for sinners, and we have an Advocate with the father. There is the unshaken ground of hope. A reconciled Father, a prevailing Advocate, a powerful Shepherd, a compassionate Friend, a Saviour who is able and willing to save to the uttermost. He knows our frame; he remembers that we are but dust; and has opened for us a new and blood-be-sprinkled way of access to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.
—John Newton [Letters]

I Shall Not Want

This post has 265 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 19 secondes for reading it.

I might want otherwise, but when the Lord is my Shepherd he is able to supply my needs, and he is certainly willing to do so, for his heart is full of love, and therefore “I shall not want.” I shall not lack for temporal things. Does he not feed the ravens, and cause the lilies to grow? How, then, can He leave His children to starve? I shall not want for spirituals, I know that His Grace will be sufficient for me. Resting in him He will say to me, “As thy day so shall thy strength be.” I may not possess all that I wish for, but “I shall not want.” Others, far wealthier and wiser than I, may want, but “I shall not.” The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” It is not only “I do not want,” but “I shall not want.” Come what may, if famine should devastate the land, or calamity destroy the city, “I shall not want.” Old age with its feebleness shall not bring me any lack, and even death with its gloom shall not find me destitute. I have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because “the Lord is my Shepherd.” The wicked always want, but the righteous never; a sinners heart is far from satisfaction, but a gracious spirit dwells in the Palace of content.
– – Charles H Spurgeon

The Refiner's Fire

This post has 223 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 6 secondes for reading it.

Job served God in truth, and yet was punished, and so Lazarus; but this was not so much for their own sin as for the trial of their faith and that after them, the Church might receive great comfort by their examples. For as it hurts not the gold to be put into the fire, both because it is tried, and also made more pure–so it is not evil for the children of God to have their faith tried. If it be a strong faith, it will bear the fire; if it be weak, it will shine yet brighter. The Lord often… by outward crosses draweth us from the state of security and untowardness to good works. Neither can we truly repent, unless by some cross we know this world to be a place of sorrow, and not of mirth and delight. We must be as birds on a bough, to remove at God’s pleasure, and that without resistance when the Lord shall visit us. And because we are too much given to think that we have the things in our own right, which we hold of the free goodness of God, we are taught in affliction how heinous unthankfulness it were to bind the Lord continually to entertain us in this life at so full charge and cost.
—Richard Greenham

Diligently Study the Scriptures

This post has 300 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 30 secondes for reading it.

When the Spirit does in an ordinary way help us in remembering or meditating on any text or holy doctrine, He does it according to our capacity and disposition, and therefore there is much of our weakness and error usually mixed with the Spirit’s help in the product. An example, when you hold the hand of a child in writing, you write not so well by his hand, as by your own alone, but your skill and his weakness and unskillfulness do both appear in the letters which are made. So it is in the ordinary assistance of the Spirit in our studies, meditations, prayers, etc., otherwise all that we do would be perfect, in which we have the Spirit’s help. But Scripture and all Christian experience contradict this….
It is not the work of the Spirit to tell you the meaning of Scripture, and give you the knowledge of divinity, without your own study and labour, but to bless that study, and give you knowledge thereby.. Does not experience commonly tell you that men know more who study and have l earning than those who do not? Are not ministers and other earned men and godly people that have studied the Scriptures long, the mot knowing people in the world? Nothing but mad ignorance or impudence can deny it. What man breathing knew as much as the first hour he received the Spirit, as he does after many years of study and diligent labour?
To reject study on the pretense of the sufficiency of the Spirit, is to reject the Scripture itself. As a man rejects his land that refuses to till it… though he praise it never so much; so does he reject the Scriptures that refuses to study it.
—Richard Baxter “A Homiletic Encyclopedia pp. 2868.

God Saves Bad People

This post has 4 words. It will take approximately 1 seconde for reading it.

Video by Art Azurdia

In All Things Give Thanks

This post has 206 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 1 seconde for reading it.

“Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy Word.” [Psalm 119:65]

The addresses that are made to God in this Psalm are mostly prayers; while we are in the world, we are compassed about with divers necessities and wants; but yet there is an inter-mixture of thanksgivings: we must not always be complaining, but sometimes giving thanks. David was often exercised with various calamities; but, as soon as he got rid of any danger, or obtained any deliverance, he is ready with his thanks and praises. Blessed will that time be when our mourning’s are altogether turned into triumphs, and our complaints into thanksgivings; but now, here in the world, gratulation should not wholly shut out, but find a room in our addresses to God, as well as acknowledgements of sin and supplications for grace. None have to do with God, but they find him bountiful; and there is no reason but present mercies should be acknowledged. In this verse you have the working of a thankful soul, sensible of the benefits already obtained in prayer, ad making hearty acknowledgement of them to God: “Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy Word.”
—Thomas Manton “Psalm 119″ Volume II

Faith and Hope and Wait Quietly on the Lord

This post has 425 words. It will take approximately 2 minutes, 7 secondes for reading it.

Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

What would his goodness benefit us if we did not grasp it? In fact, it is grasped by faith, hope, and diligent search. God is good, but only if we have faith in him or seek him. Frequently in the Holy Scriptures, hope is distinguished little, or not at all, from faith. If by some mark they are to be mutually differentiated from one another, hope, more than fidelity, speaks of a certain perseverance and patient waiting for a good thing that linger and delays. We know that we are not be deceived by it or to be so covered with shame that we are sorry that we had hoped. Paul is witness, who said in Romans, “Tribulation works patience, patience approval, and approval hope; hope indeed does not confound.” truly God is sought principally in Truth. For by prayers and faith, by our abnegation, by a pure life, he is said to be sought. for the present, all those things work to find him, provided they are pure, not simulated or feigned. “Near is the Lord to those calling on him but in truth.” Christ said to the Samaritan woman that they are to be considered true worshipers who worship in Spirit and in truth.”
Thus, whoever seeks the Lord and puts his faith in him, God’s goodness is already propagated in him, so that he himself may also be said to be good. For those are the ways of God’s goodness come down to us. God is good in and of himself, from which source we for our part are good, if we hope and are silent. “To be silent” has here been employed for “to stay, to await silently, not to be moved by terrors, not to be estranged from God nor speak against him, if he does not seem to act for us in conformity with our plan or wish.” that the verb means what we said is plain from 1 Samuel 14, where Jonathan, wishing to be on his guard against recklessness of attacking the enemy said, “If they should say, “be still (or, “stay) until we come to you.” Here is marked the mind of a religious person who so hopes in God that he does not move himself even a nail’s breadth from God’s promises, however much the flesh clamours against him by the ways and means just made plain above.
—Peter Martyr Vermigli “Commentary on Lamentations”

Man's Malice Knows No Bounds

This post has 864 words. It will take approximately 4 minutes, 19 secondes for reading it.

This so resembles some things I have experienced in my manifold afflictions I felt led to post it, as it is probably more common than we may imagine even in our day, that while our brethren may lie languishing in want, poverty and need, we sit down and feast and forget all about them. And By it the whole order of society is broken, let alone the bond of Christian fellowship, and its an abomination before God for us to behave in such a way.

Genesis 37:24-25 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread:

Thus our Lord Jesus was stripped of his seamless coat, and thus his suffering saints have first been industriously divested of their privileges and honours, and then made the off-scouring of all things. 2. They went about to starve him, throwing him into a dry pit, to perish there with hunger and cold, so cruel were their tender mercies, Ge 37:25. Note, Where envy reigns pity is banished, and humanity itself is forgotten, Pr 27:4. So full of deadly poison is malice that the more barbarous any thing is the more grateful it is. Now Joseph begged for his life, in the anguish of his soul (Ge 42:21), entreated, by all imaginable endearments, that they would be content with his coat and spare his life. He pleads innocence, relation, affection, submission; he weeps and makes supplication, but all in vain. Reuben alone relents and intercedes for him, Ge 42:22. But he cannot prevail to save Joseph from the horrible pit, in which they resolve he shall die by degrees, and be buried alive. Is this he to whom his brethren must do homage? Note, God’s providences often seem to contradict his purposes, even when they are serving them, and working at a distance towards the accomplishment of them. 3. They slighted him when he was in distress, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph; for when he was pining away in the pit, bemoaning his own misery, and with a languishing cry calling to them for pity, they sat down to eat bread, Ge 37:25. (1.) They felt no remorse of conscience for the sin; if they had, it would have spoiled their appetite for their meat, and the relish of it. Note, A great force put upon conscience commonly stupefies it, and for the time deprives it both of sense and speech. Daring sinners are secure ones. But the consciences of Joseph’s brethren, though asleep now, were roused long afterwards, Ge 42:21. (2.) They were now pleased to think how they were freed from the fear of their brother’s dominion over them, and that, on the contrary, they had turned the wheel upon him. They made merry over him, as the persecutors over the two witnesses that had tormented them, Re 11:10. Note, Those that oppose God’s counsels may possibly prevail so far as to think they have gained their point, and yet be deceived. 4. They sold him. A caravan of merchants very opportunely passed by (Providence so ordering it), and Judah made the motion that they should sell Joseph to them, to be carried far enough off into Egypt, where, in all probability, he would be lost, and never heard of more. (1.) Judah proposed it in compassion to Joseph (Ge 37:26): “What profit is it if we slay our brother? it will be less guilt, and more gain, to sell him.” Note, When we are tempted to sin, we should consider the unprofitableness of it. It is what there is nothing to be got by. (2.) They acquiesced in it, because they thought that if he were sold for a slave he would never be a lord, if sold into Egypt he would never be their lord; yet all this was working towards it. Note, The wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain, Ps 76:10. Joseph’s brethren were wonderfully restrained from murdering him, and their selling him was as wonderfully turned to God’s praise. As Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas. Reuben (it seems) had gone away from his brethren, when they sold Joseph, intending to come round some other way to the pit, and to help Joseph out of it, and return him safely to his father. This was a kind project, but, if it had taken effect, what had become of God’s purpose concerning his preferment in Egypt? Note, There are many devices in man’s heart, many devices of the enemies of God’s people to destroy them and of their friends to help them, which perhaps are both disappointed, as these were; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone, because the child was sold: I, whither shall I go? Ge 37:30. He being the eldest, his father would expect from him an account of Joseph; but, as it proved, they would all have been undone if he had not been sold.
—Matthew Henry

Hatred of Sin should be Universal, Our Own as well as Others

This post has 151 words. It will take approximately 45 secondes for reading it.

Good men witness against their own sin, as well as against other men’s sins. They do not only wish for the reformation of others, but they endeavour their own. If  possible, they would be so innocent as not to sin at all. It is their ambition and prayer that their thoughts, words and deeds maybe all acceptable to God (Ps. 19.14). If they could avoid it they would not even dream extravagantly or allow a vain thought to lodge within them. It is indeed possible that some men may declaim bitterly against other men’s sins and yet indulge their own, as if they would see other men reform than themselves, and as if virtue were a more pleasant thing to talk of than to be possessed of. But godly men dare not do so; they are against sin in others and against sinning themselves.
—-Ralph Venning “The Sinfulness of Sin”