The Valley of Vision

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Election

Holy Trinity,

All praise to thee for electing me
to salvation,
   by foreknowledge of God the Father,
   through sanctification of the Spirit,
   unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
      of Jesus;
I adore the wonders of thy condescending love,
   marvel at the true believer’s high privilege
   within whom all heaven comes to dwell,
   abiding in God and God in him;
I believe it, help me experience it to the full.
Continue to teach me that Christ’s righteousness
   satisfies justice and evidences thy love;
Help me to make use of it by faith as the ground
   of my peace
   and thy favour and acceptance,
   so that I may live always near the cross.

It is not feeling the Spirit that proves
   my saved state but the truth of what
   Christ did perfectly for me;
All holiness in him by faith made mine.
   as if I had done it;
Therefore I see the use of his righteousness,
   for satisfaction to divine justice and making
      me righteous.
It is not inner sensation that makes Christ’s death
      mine
   for that may be delusion, being without the Word,
   but hes death apprehended by my faith,
   and so testified by Word and Spirit.
I bless thee for these lively exercises of faith,
   for the righteousness that is mine in Jesus,
   for grace to resign my will to thee;
I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
   and I love to leave them there.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
   and all I can do is to adore and love thee.
I want not the favour of man to lean upon,
   for I know that thy electing grace
      is infinitely better.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 74
(Geneva Bible)
A Psalme to give instruction, committed to Asaph.
1 O God, why hast thou put vs away for euer? why is thy wrath kindled against the sheepe of thy pasture?
2 Thinke vpon thy Congregation, which thou hast possessed of olde, and on the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, and on this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift vp thy strokes, that thou mayest for euer destroy euery enemie that doeth euill to the Sanctuarie.
4 Thine aduersaries roare in the middes of thy Congregation, and set vp their banners for signes.
5 He that lifted the axes vpon the thicke trees, was renowmed, as one, that brought a thing to perfection:
6 But nowe they breake downe the carued worke thereof with axes and hammers.
7 They haue cast thy Sanctuarie into the fire, and rased it to the grounde, and haue defiled the dwelling place of thy Name.
8 They saide in their hearts, Let vs destroy them altogether: they haue burnt all the Synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signes: there is not one Prophet more, nor any with vs that knoweth howe long.
10 O God, howe long shall the aduersarie reproche thee? shall the enemie blaspheme thy Name for euer?
11 Why withdrawest thou thine hand, euen thy right hand? drawe it out of thy bosome, and consume them.
12 Euen God is my King of olde, working saluation in the middes of the earth.
13 Thou didest deuide the sea by thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the head of Liuiathan in pieces, and gauest him to be meate for the people in wildernesse.
15 Thou brakest vp the fountaine and riuer: thou dryedst vp mightie riuers.
16 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sunne.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemie hath reproched the Lord, and the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name.
19 Giue not the soule of thy turtle doue vnto the beast, and forget not the Congregation of thy poore for euer.
20 Consider thy couenant: for the darke places of the earth are full of the habitations of the cruell.
21 Oh let not the oppressed returne ashamed, but let the poore and needie prayse thy Name.
22 Arise, O God: mainteine thine owne cause: remember thy dayly reproche by the foolish man.
23 Forget not the voyce of thine enemies: for the tumult of them, that rise against thee, ascendeth continually.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Assurance

Almighty God,

I am loved with everlasting love,
clothed in eternal righteousness,
         my peace flowing like a river,
         my comforts many and large,
         my joy and triumph unutterable,
         my soul lively with a knowledge of salvation,
         my sense of justification unclouded.
I have scarce anything to pray for;
Jesus smiles upon my soul as a ray of heaven
   and my supplications are swallowed up in praise.
How sweet is the glorious doctrine of election
   when based upon thy Word
   and wrought inwardly within the soul!
I bless thee that thou wilt keep the sinner
      thou hast loved,
   and hast engaged that he will not forsake thee,
   else I would never get to heaven.
I wrong the grace in my heart
   if I deny my new nature and my eternal life.
If Jesus were not my righteousness and redemption,
   I would sink into nethermost hell
   by my misdoings, shortcomings, unbelief, unlove;
If Jesus were not by the the power of his spirit
   my sanctification,
   there is no sin I should not commit.
O when shall I have his mind!
   when shall I be conformed to his image?
All the good things of life are less than nothing
   when compared with his love,
   and with one glimpse of thy electing favor.
All the treasures of a million worlds could not
   make me richer, happier, more contented,
   for his unsearchable riches are mine.
One moment of communion with him, one view
   of his grace,
   is ineffable, inestimable.
But O God, I could not long after thy presence
   if I did not know the sweetness of it;
   and such I could not know except by the Spirit
   in my heart, nor love thee at all unless thou didst
   elect me,
   call me,
   adopt me,
   save me.
I bless thee for the covenant of grace.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 129
(Geneva Bible)
A song of degrees.
1 They haue often times afflicted me from my youth (may Israel nowe say)
2 They haue often times afflicted me from my youth: but they could not preuaile against me.
3 The plowers plowed vpon my backe, and made long furrowes.
4 But the righteous Lord hath cut the cordes of the wicked.
5 They that hate Zion, shalbe all ashamed and turned backward.
6 They shalbe as the grasse on the house tops, which withereth afore it commeth forth.
7 Whereof the mower filleth not his hand, neither the glainer his lap:
8 Neither they, which go by, say, The blessing of the Lord be vpon you, or, We blesse you in the Name of the Lord.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

A Convert’s First Prayer

My Father,

I could never have sought my happiness
in thy love,
   unless thou had’st first loved me.
Thy Spirit has encouraged me by grace to seek thee,
   has made known to me thy reconciliation in Jesus,
   has taught me to believe it,
   has helped me to take thee for my God
      and portion.
May he grant me to grow in the knowledge
      and experience of thy love,
   and walk in it all the way to glory.
Blessed for ever be thy fatherly affection,
   which chose me to be one of thy children
   by faith in Jesus:
I thank thee for giving me the desire to live as such.
In Jesus, my brother, I have my new birth,
      every restraining power,
      every renewing grace.
It is by thy Spirit I call thee Father,
      believe in thee, love thee;
Strengthen me inwardly for every purpose
      of my Christian life;
Let the Spirit continually reveal to me my interest
      in Christ,
      and open to me the riches of thy love in him;
May he abide in me that I may know my union
      with Jesus,
      and enter into constant fellowship with him;
By thy Spirit may I daily live to thee,
      rejoice in thy love,
      find it the same to me as to thy Son,
      and become rooted and grounded in it
         as a house on rock;
I know but little —
      increase my knowledge of thy love in Jesus,
      keep me pressing forward for clearer discoveries
         of it,
      so that I may find its eternal fullness;
Magnify thy love to me according to its greatness,
      and not according to my deserts or prayers,
      and whatever increase thou givest,
      let it draw out greater love to thee.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 21
(Geneva Bible)
To him that excelleth. A Psalme of Dauid.
1 The King shall reioyce in thy strength, O Lord: yea how greatly shall he reioyce in thy saluation!
2 Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire, and hast not denyed him the request of his lips. Selah.
3 For thou diddest preuent him with liberall blessings, and didest set a crowne of pure gold vpon his head.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gauest him a long life for euer and euer.
5 His glory is great in thy saluation: dignitie and honour hast thou laid vpon him.
6 For thou hast set him as blessings for euer: thou hast made him glad with the ioy of thy countenance.
7 Because the King trusteth in the Lord, and in the mercie of the most High, he shall not slide.
8 Thine hand shall finde out all thine enemies, and thy right hand shall finde out them that hate thee.
9 Thou shalt make them like a fierie ouen in time of thine anger: the Lord shall destroy them in his wrath, and the fire shall deuoure them.
10 Their fruite shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seede from the children of men.
11 For they intended euill against thee, and imagined mischiefe, but they shall not preuaile.
12 Therefore shalt thou put them aparte, and the strings of thy bowe shalt thou make readie against their faces.
13 Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy strength: so will we sing and prayse thy power.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

The Life Look

O God,

I bless thee for the happy moment
when I first saw thy love fulfilled in Christ;
   wrath appeased, death destroyed, sin forgiven,
      my soul saved.
Ever since, thou hast been faithful to me:
   daily have I proved the power of Jesus‘ blood,
   daily have I known the strength on the Spirit,
      my teacher, director, sanctifier.
I want no other rock to build upon than that I have,
   desire no other hope than that of gospel truth,
   need no other look than that which gazes
      on the cross.
Forgive me if I have tried to add anything
      to the one foundation,
   if I have unconsciously relied upon my knowledge,
   experience, deeds, and not seen them
      as filthy rags,
   if I have attempted to complete what is perfect
      in Christ;
May my cry be always, Only Jesus! only Jesus!
In him is freedom from condemnation,
   fullness in his righteousness,
   eternal vitality in his given life,
   indissoluble union in fellowship with him;
In him I have all that I can hold;
   enlarge me to take in more.
If I backslide,
   let me like Peter weep bitterly and return to him;
If I am tempted, and have no wit,
   give me strength enough to trust in him;
If I am weak,
   may I faint upon his bosom of eternal love;
If in extrremity,
   let me feel that he can deliver me;
If driven to the verge of hope and to the pit
      of despair,
   grant me grace to fall into his arms.
O God, hear me, do for me more
   than I ask, think or dream.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 63
(Geneva Bible)
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Victory

O Divine Redeemer,

Great was thy goodness
in undertaking my redemption,
         in consenting to be made sin for me,
         in conquering all my foes;
Great was thy strength
   in enduring the extremities of divine wrath
   in taking away the load of my iniquities
Great was thy love
   in manifesting thyself alive,
   in showing thy sacred wounds,
      that every fear might vanish,
      and every doubt be removed;
Great was thy mercy
   in ascending to heaven
   in being crowned and enthroned
      there to intercede for me,
      there to succour me in temptation,
      there to open the eternal book,
      there to receive me finally to thyself;
Great was thy wisdom
   in devising this means of salvation;
Bathe my soul in rich consolations
   of thy resurrection life;
Great was thy grace
   in commanding me to come hand in hand
      with thee to the Father,
      to be knit to him eternally,
      to discover in him my rest,
      to find in him my peace,
      to behold his glory,
      to honor him who is alone worthy;
   in giving me the Spirit as teacher, guide,
      power,
   that I may live repenting of sin,
   conquer Satan,
   find victory in life.
When thou art absent all sorrows are here,
When thou art present all blessings are mine.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 119:9–16
(Geneva Bible)
Beth.
9 Wherewith shall a yong man redresse his waie? in taking heede thereto according to thy woorde.
10 With my whole heart haue I sought thee: let me not wander from thy commandements.
11 I haue hid thy promise in mine heart, that I might not sinne against thee.
12 Blessed art thou, O Lord: teache mee thy statutes.
13 With my lippes haue I declared all the iudgements of thy mouth.
14 I haue had as great delight in the way of thy testimonies, as in all riches.
15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and consider thy waies.
16 I will delite in thy statutes, and I will not forget thy worde.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Freedom

O Holy Father, thou hast freely given thy Son,
O Divine Son, thou hast freely paid my debt,
O Eternal Spirit, thou hast freely bid me come,
O Triune God, thou dost freely grace me with salvation.

Prayers and tears could not suffice to pardon
my sins,
   nor anything less than atoning blood,
   but my believing is my receiving,
   for a thankful acceptance is no paying of the debt.
What didst thou see in me?
   that I a poor, diseased, despised sinner
      should be clothed in thy bright glory?
   that a creeping worm
      should be advanced to this high state?
   that one lately groaning, weeping, dying,
      should be as full of joy as my heart can hold?
   that a being of dust and darkness
   should be taken like Mordecai from captivity,
      and set next to the king?
   should be lifted like Daniel from a den
      and be made ruler of princes and provinces?
Who can fathom immeasurable love?
As far as the rational soul exceeds the senses,
   so does the spirit exceed the rational in its
      knowledge of thee.
Thou hast given me understanding to compass
      the earth,
   measure the sun, moon, stars, universe,
   but above all to know thee, the only true God.
I marvel that the finite can know the Infinite,
   here a little, afterwards in full-orbed truth;
Now I know but a small portion of what
      I shall know,
   here in part, there in perfection,
   here a glimpse, there a glory.
To enjoy thee is life eternal,
   and to enjoy is to know
Keep me in the freedom of experiencing thy
   salvation continually.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 119:57–64
(Geneva Bible)
Cheth.
57 O Lord, that art my portion, I haue determined to keepe thy wordes.
58 I made my supplication in thy presence with my whole heart: be mercifull vnto me according to thy promise.
59 I haue considered my waies, and turned my feete into thy testimonies.
60 I made haste and delaied not to keepe thy commandements.
61 The bandes of the wicked haue robbed me: but I haue not forgotten thy Lawe.
62 At midnight will I rise to giue thanks vnto thee, because of thy righteous iudgements.
63 I am companion of all them that feare thee, and keepe thy precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercie: teache me thy statutes.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Belonging to Jesus

O Heavenly Father.

Teach me to see
that if Christ has pacified thee and
            satisfied divine justice
      he can also deliver me from my sins;
   that Christ does not desire me, now justified,
      to live in self-confidence in my own strength,
      but gives me the law of the spirit of life
      to enable me to obey thee;
   that the spirit and his power are mine
      by resting on Christ’s death;
   that the spirit of life within answers to
      the law without;
   that if I sin not I should thank thee for it;
   that if I sin I should be humbled daily under it;
   that I should mourn for sin more than other
         men do,
      for when I see I shall die because of sin,
         that makes me mourn;
      when I see that sin caused Christ’s death,
         that makes me mourn;
   that sanctification is the evidence of reconciliation,
      proving that faith has truly apprehended Christ;
Thou hast taught me
   that faith is nothing else than receiving thy
      kindness;
   that it is an adherence to Christ, a resting on him,
      love clinging to him as a branch to a tree,
      to seek life and vigor to him.
I thank thee for showing me the vast difference
   between knowing things by reason,
   and knowing them by the spirit of faith.
By reason I see a thing is so;
   by faith I know it is as it is.
I have seen thee by reason and have not
   been amazed,
I have seen thee as thou art in thy Son and have
   been ravished to behold thee.
I bless thee that I am thine in my Savior,
   Jesus.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 119:105–112
(Geneva Bible)
Nun.
105 Thy worde is a lanterne vnto my feete, and a light vnto my path.
106 I haue sworne and will performe it, that I will keepe thy righteous iudgements.
107 I am very sore afflicted: O Lord, quicken me according to thy word.
108 O Lord, I beseeche thee accept the free offerings of my mouth, and teach mee thy iudgements.
109 My soule is continually in mine hande: yet doe I not forget thy Lawe.
110 The wicked haue layed a snare for mee: but I swarued not from thy precepts.
111 Thy testimonies haue I taken as an heritage for euer: for they are the ioy of mine heart.
112 I haue applied mine heart to fulfill thy statutes alway, euen vnto the ende.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Living for Jesus

O Saviour of Sinners,

Thy name is excellent,
thy glory high,
        thy compassions unfailing,
        thy condescension wonderful,
        thy mercy tender.
I bless thee for the discoveries, invitations,
      promises of the gospel
   for in them is pardon for rebels,
      liberty for captives,
      health for the sick,
      salvation for the lost.
I come to thee in thy beloved name of Jesus;
   re-impress thy image upon my soul;
Raise me above the smiles and frowns of the world,
   regarding it as a light thing to be judged by men;
May thy approbation be my only aim,
   thy Word my one rule.
Make me to abhor that which grieves thy
      Holy Spirit,
   to suspect consolations of a worldly nature,
   to shun a careless way of life,
   to reprove evil,
   to instruct with meekness those who oppose me,
   to be gentle and patient towards all men,
   to be not only a professor but an example
      of the gospel,
   displaying in every relation, office, and condition
      its excellency, loveliness and advantages.
How little have I illustrated my principles
   and improved my privileges!
How seldom I served my generation!
How often have I injured and not recommended
   my Redeemer!
How few are those blessed through me!
In many things I have offended,
   in all come short of thy glory;
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 119:153–160
(Geneva Bible)
Resh.
153 Beholde mine affliction, and deliuer mee: for I haue not forgotten thy Lawe.
154 Pleade my cause, and deliuer me: quicken me according vnto thy word.
155 Saluation is farre from the wicked, because they seeke not thy statutes.
156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord: quicken me according to thy iudgements.
157 My persecutours and mine oppressours are many: yet doe I not swarue from thy testimonies.
158 I saw the transgressours and was grieued, because they kept not thy worde.
159 Consider, O Lord, how I loue thy preceptes: quicken mee according to thy louing kindenesse.
160 The beginning of thy worde is trueth, and all the iudgements of thy righteousnesse endure for euer.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Kept by God

Jehovah God,

Thou Creator, Upholder, Proprietor of all
things,
I cannot escape from thy presence or control,
   nor do I desire to do so.
My privilege is to be under the agency of
   omnipotence, righteousness, wisdom,
   patience, mercy, grace.
Thou art love with more than parental affection;
I admire thy heart, adore thy wisdom,
   stand in awe of thy power, abase myself before
      thy purity.
It is the discovery of thy goodness alone that can
   banish my fear,
   allure me into thy presence,
   help me to bewail and confess my sins.
When I review my past guilt
   and am conscious of my present unworthiness
      I tremble to come to thee,
      I whose foundation is in the dust,
      I who have condemned thy goodness,
         defied thy power,
         trampled upon thy love,
         rendered myself worthy of eternal death.
But my recovery cannot spring from any cause
   in me,
   I can destroy but cannot save myself.
Yet thou hast laid help on One that is mighty,
   for there is mercy with thee,
   and exceeding riches in thy kindness
      through Jesus.
May I always feel my need of him.
Let thy restored joy be my strength;
May it keep me from lusting after the world,
   bear up heart and mind in loss of comforts,
   enliven me in the valley of death,
   work in me the image of the heavenly,
   and give me to enjoy the first fruits of spirituality,
      such as angels and departed saints know.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 1:15–18
15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

The passage before us contains three great declarations about our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the three is among the foundation principles of Christianity.
   We are taught, firstly, that it is Christ alone who supplies all the spiritual wants of all believers. It is written that “of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace.”
   There is an infinite fulness in Jesus Christ. As St. Paul says, “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”—“In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Coloss. i. 19; ii. 8.) There is laid up in Him, as in a treasury, a boundless supply of all that any sinner can need, either in time or eternity. The Spirit of Life is His special gift to the Church, and conveys from Him, as from a great root, sap and vigour to all the believing branches. He is rich in mercy, grace, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Out of Christ’s fulness, all believers in every age of the world, have been supplied. They did not clearly understand the fountain from which their supplies flowed, in Old Testament times. The Old Testament saints only saw Christ afar off, and not face to face. But from Abel downwards, all saved souls have received all they have had from Jesus Christ alone. Every saint in glory will at last acknowledge that he is Christ’s debtor for all he is. Jesus will prove to have been all in all.
   We are taught, secondly, the vast superiority of Christ to Moses, and of the Gospel to the Law. It is written that “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
   Moses was employed by God “as a servant,” to convey to Israel the moral and ceremonial law. (Heb. iii. 5.) As a servant, he was faithful to Him who appointed him, but he was only a servant. The moral law, which he brought down from Mount Sinai, was holy, and just, and good. But it could not justify. It had no healing power. It could wound, but it could not bind up. It “worked wrath.” (Rom. iv. 15.) It pronounced a curse against any imperfect obedience.—The ceremonial law, which he was commanded to impose on Israel, was full of deep meaning and typical instruction. Its ordinances and ceremonies made it an excellent schoolmaster to guide men toward Christ. (Gal. iii. 24.) But the ceremonial law was only a schoolmaster. It could not make him that kept it perfect, as pertaining to the conscience. (Heb. ix. 9.) It laid a grievous yoke on men’s hearts, which they were not able to bear. It wag a ministration of death and condemnation. (2 Cor. iii 7—9.) The light which men got from Moses and the law was at best only starlight compared to noon-day.
   Christ, on the other hand, came into the world “as a Son,” with the keys of God’s treasury of grace and truth entirely in His hands. (Heb. iii. 6.) Grace came by Him, when He made fully known God’s gracious plan of salvation, by faith in His own blood, and opened the fountain of mercy to all the world.—Truth came by Him, when He fulfilled in His own Person the types of the Old Testament, and revealed Himself as the true Sacrifice, the true mercy-seat, and the true Priest. No doubt there was much of “grace and truth” under the law of Moses. But the whole of God’s grace, and the whole truth about redemption, were never known until Jesus came into the world, and died for sinners.
   We are taught, thirdly, that it is Christ alone who has revealed God the father to man. It is written that “no man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
   The eye of mortal man has never beheld God the Father. No man could bear the right. Even to Moses it was said, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) Yet all that mortal man is capable of knowing about God the Father is fully revealed to us by God the Son. He, who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, has been pleased to take our nature upon Him, and to exhibit to us in the form of man, all that our minds can comprehend of the Father’s perfections. In Christ’s words, and deeds, and life, and death, we learn as much concerning God the Father as our feeble minds can at present bear. His perfect wisdom,—His almighty power,—His unspeakable love to sinners,—His incomparable holiness,— His hatred of sin, could never be represented to our eyes more clearly than we see them in Christ’s life and death. In truth, “God was manifest in the flesh,” when the Word took on Him a body. “He was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person.” He says Himself, “I and my Father are one.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Coloss. ii. 9.) These are deep and mysterious things. But they are true. (1 Tim. iii. 16; Heb. i. 3; John x. 30; xiv. 9.)
   And now, after reading this passage, can we ever give too much honour to Christ? Can we ever think too highly of Him? Let us banish the unworthy thought from our minds for ever. Let us learn to exalt Him more in our hearts, and to rest more confidingly the whole weight of our souls in His hands. Men may easily fall into error about the three Persons in the holy Trinity if they do not carefully adhere to the teaching of Scripture. But no man ever errs on the side of giving too much honour to God the Son. Christ is the meeting-point between the Trinity and the sinner’s soul. “He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which sent Him.” (John v. 23.)

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:34–37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

A Christian’s Prayer

Blessed God,

Ten thousand snares are mine without
and within,
            defend thou me;
When sloth and indolence seize me,
   give me views of heaven;
When sinners entice me,
   give me disrelish for their ways;
When sensual pleasures tempt me,
   purify and refine me;
When I desire worldly possessions,
   help me to be rich toward thee;
When the vanities of the world ensnare me,
   let me not plunge into guilt and ruin.
May I remember the dignity of my spiritual release,
   never be to busy to attend my soul,
   never be so engrossed with time
      that I neglect the things of eternity;
   thus may I not only live, but grow towards thee.
Form my mind to right notions of religion,
   that I may not judge of grace by wrong
      conceptions,
   nor measure my spiritual advances by the efforts
      of my natural being.
May I seek after an increase of divine love to thee,
   after an unreserved resignation to thy will,
   after extensive benevolence to my fellow
      creatures,
   after a patience and fortitude of soul
   after a heavenly disposition
   after a concern that I may please thee in public
      and private.
Draw on my soul the lineaments of Christ,
   in every trace and feature of which thou wilt
   take delight, for I am
      thy workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,
      thy letter written in the Holy Spirit’s pen,
      thy tilled soil ready for sowing, then harvest.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 2:12–25

The second miracle which our Lord is recorded to have wrought demands our attention in these verses. Like the first miracle at Cana, it is eminently typical and significant of things yet to come. To attend a marriage feast, and cleanse the temple from profanation were among the first acts of our Lord’s ministry at His first coming. To purify the whole visible Church, and hold a marriage supper, will be among His first acts, when He comes again.
   We see, for one thing, in this passage, how much Christ disapproves all irreverent behavior in the house of God.
   We are told that He drove out of the temple those whom He found selling oxen and sheep and doves within its walls,—that He poured out the changers’ money and overthrew their tables,—and that He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things hence, make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise!” On no occasion in our Lord’s earthly ministry do we find Him acting so energetically, and exhibiting such righteous indignation, as on the occasion now before us. Nothing seems to have called from Him such a marked display of holy wrath as the gross irreverence which the priests permitted in the temple, notwithstanding all their boasted zeal for God’s law. Twice, it will be remembered, He discovered the same profanation of His Father’s house going on, within three years, once at the beginning of His ministry and once at the end. Twice we see Him expressing his displeasure in the strongest terms. “The thing is doubled” in order to impress a lesson more strongly on our minds.
   The passage is one that ought to raise deep searchings of heart in many quarters. Are there none who profess and call themselves Christians, behaving every Sunday just as badly as these Jews? Are there none who secretly bring into the house of God their money, their lands, their houses, their cattle, and a whole train of worldly affairs? Are there none who bring their bodies only into the place of worship, and allow their hearts to wander into the ends of the earth? Are there none who are “almost in all evil, in the midst of the congregation?” (Prov. v. 14.) These are serious questions! Multitudes, it may be feared, could not give them a satisfactory answer. Christian churches and chapels, no doubt, are very unlike the Jewish temple. They are not built after a divine pattern. They have no altars or holy places. Their furniture has no typical meaning. But they are places where God’s word is read, and where Christ is specially present. The man who professes to worship in them should surely behave with reverence and respect. The man who brings his worldly matters with him when he professes to worship, is doing that which is evidently most offensive to Christ. The words which Solomon wrote by the Holy Spirit are applicable to all times, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.” (Eccles. v. 1.)
   We see, for another thing, in this passage, how men may remember words of religious truth long after they are spoken, and may one day see a meaning in those who at first they did not see.
   We are told that our Lord said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” St. John informs us distinctly that “He spake of the temple of His body,” that he referred to His own resurrection. Yet the meaning of the sentence was not understood by our Lord’s disciples at the time that it was spoken. It was not until “He was risen from the dead,” three years after the events here described, that the full significance of the sentence flashed on their hearts. For three years it was a dark and useless saying to them. For three years it lay sleeping in their minds, like a seed in a tomb, and bore no fruit. But at the end of that time the darkness passed away. They saw the application of their Master’s words, and as they saw it were confirmed in their faith. “They remembered that He had said this,” and as they remembered “they believed.”
   It is a comfortable and cheering thought, that the same kind of thing that happened to the disciples is often going on at the present day. The sermons that are preached to apparently heedless ears in churches, are not all lost and thrown away. The instruction that is given in schools and pastoral visits, is not all wasted and forgotten. The texts that are taught by parents to children are not all taught in vain. There is often a resurrection of sermons, and texts, and instruction, after an interval of many years. The good seed sometimes springs up after he that sowed it has been long dead and gone. Let preachers go on preaching, and teachers go on teaching, and parents go on training up children in the way they should go. Let them sow the good seed of Bible truth in faith and patience. Their labour is not in vain in the Lord. Their words are remembered far more than they think, and will yet spring up “after many days.” (1 Cor. xv. 58; Eccles. xi. 1.)
   We see, lastly, in this passage, how perfect is our Lord Jesus Christ’s knowledge of the human heart.
   We are told that when our Lord was at Jerusalem, the first time, He “did not commit Himself” to those who professed belief in Him. He knew that they were not to be depended on. They were astonished at the miracles which they saw Him work. They were even intellectually convinced that He was the Messiah, whom they had long expected. But they were not “disciples indeed.” (John viii. 31.) They were not converted, and true believers. Their hearts were not right in the sight of God, though their feelings were excited. Their inward man was not renewed, whatever they might profess with their lips. Our Lord knew that nearly all of them were stony-ground hearers. (Luke viii. 13.) As soon as tribulation or persecution arose because of the word, their so-called faith would probably wither away and come to an end. All this our Lord saw clearly, if others around Him did not. Andrew, and Peter, and John, and Philip, and Nathanael, perhaps wondered that their Master did not receive these seeming believers with open arms. But they could only judge things by the outward appearance. Their Master could read hearts. “He knew what was in man.”
   The truth now before us, is one which ought to make hypocrites and false professors tremble. They may deceive men, but they cannot deceive Christ. They may wear a cloak of religion, and appear, like whited sepulchers, beautiful in the eyes of men. But the eyes of Christ see their inward rottenness, and the judgment of Christ will surely overtake them, except they repent. Christ is already reading their hearts, and as He reads He is displeased. They are known in heaven, if they are not known on earth, and they will be known at length to their shame, before assembled worlds, if they die unchanged. It is written, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” (Rev. iii. 1.)
   But the truth before us has two sides, like the pillar of cloud and fire at the Red sea. (Exod. xiv. 20.) If it looks darkly on hypocrites, it looks brightly on true believers. If it threatens wrath to false professors, it speaks peace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. A real Christian may be weak, but he is true. One thing, at any rate, the servant of Christ can say, when cast down by a sense of his own infirmity, or pained by the slander of a lying world. He can say, “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but I am in earnest, I am true. Thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest all hearts, and thou knowest that, weak as my heart is, it is a heart that cleaves to thee.” The false Christian shrinks from the eye of an all-seeing Saviour. The true Christian desires his Lord’s eye to be on him morning, noon, and night. He has nothing to hide.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:102–106

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Amazing Grace

O thou giving God,

My heart is drawn out in thankfulness
      to thee,
   for thy amazing grace and condescension
      to me
   in influences and assistances of thy Spirit,
   for special help in prayer,
   for the sweetness of Christian service,
   for the thoughts of arriving in heaven,
   for always sending me needful supplies,
   for raising me new to life when I am
      like one dead.
I want not the favor of man to lean upon
   for thy favor is infinitely better.
Thou art eternal wisdom in dispensations
   towards me;
   and it matters not when, nor where, nor how
      I serve thee,
   nor what trials I am exercised with,
   if I might but be prepared for thy work and will.
No poor creature stands in need of divine grace
   more than I do,
And yet none abuses it more than I have done
   and still do.
How heartless and dull am I!
Humble me in the dust for mot loving thee more.
Every time I exercise any grace renewedly
   I renewedly indebted to thee,
   the God of all grace, for special assistance.
I cannot boast when I think how dependent
   I am on thee for the being and every act
      of grace;
I never do anything but depart from thee,
   and if I ever get to heaven it will be because
      thou willest it, and for no reason beside.
I love, as a feeble, afflicted, despised creature,
   to cast myself on thy infinite grace and goodness,
   hoping for no happiness but from thee;
Give me special grace fit me for special services,
   and keep me calm and resigned at all times,
   humble, solemn, mortified,
   and conformed to thy will.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 4:27–30
Christ Witnesses to the Disciples

At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

These verses continue the well-known story of the Samaritan woman’s conversion. Short as the passage may appear, it contains points of deep interest and importance. The mere worldling, who cares, nothing about experimental religion, may see nothing particular in these verses. To all who desire to know something of the experience of a converted person, they will be found full of food for thought.
   We see, firstly, in this passage, how marvelous in the eyes of man are Christ’s dealings with souls. We are told that the disciples “marvelled that he talked with the woman.” That their Master should take the trouble to talk to a woman at all, and to a Samaritan woman, and to a strange woman at a well, when He was wearied with His journey,—all this was amazing to the eleven disciples. It was a sort of thing which they did not expect. It was contrary to their idea of what a religious teacher should do. It startled them and filled them with surprise.
   The feeling displayed by the disciples on this occasion, does not stand alone in the Bible. When our Lord allowed publicans and sinners to draw near to Him and be in His company, the Pharisees marvelled. They exclaimed, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” (Luke xv. 2.)—When Saul came back from Damascus, a converted man and a new creature, the Christians at Jerusalem were astonished. “They did not believe that he was a disciple.” (Acts ix. 26.)—When Peter was delivered from Herod’s prison by an angel, and brought to the door of the house where disciples were praying for his deliverance, they were so taken by surprise that they could not believe it was Peter. “When they saw him they were astonished.” (Acts xii. 16.)
   But why should we stop short in Bible instances? The true Christian has only to look around him in this world in order to see abundant illustrations of the truth before us. How much astonishment every fresh conversion occasions. What surprise is expressed at the change in the heart, life, tastes, and habits of the converted person! What wonder is felt at the power, the mercy, the patience, the compassion of Christ! It is now as it was eighteen hundred years ago. The dealings of Christ are still a marvel both to the Church and to the world.
   If there was more real faith on the earth, there would be less surprise felt at the conversion of souls. If Christians believed more, they would expect more, and if they understood Christ better, they would be less startled and astonished when He calls and saves the chief of sinners. We should consider nothing impossible, and regard no sinner as beyond the reach of the grace of God. The astonishment expressed at conversions is a proof of the weak faith and ignorance of these latter days. The thing that ought to fill us with surprise is the obstinate unbelief of the ungodly, and their determined perseverance in the way to ruin. This was the mind of Christ. It is written that He thanked the Father for conversions. But He marvelled at unbelief. (Matt xi. 25; Mark vi. 6.)
   We see, secondly, in this passage, how absorbing is the influence of grace, when it first comes into a believer’s heart. We are told that after our Lord had told the woman He was the Messiah, “She left her water-pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.” She had left her home for the express purpose of drawing water. She had carried a large vessel to the well, intending to bring it back filled. But she found at the well a new heart, and new objects of interest. She became a new creature. Old things passed away. All things became new. At once everything else was forgotten for the time. She could think of nothing but the truths she had heard, and the Saviour she had found. In the fullness of her heart she “left her water-pot,” and hastened away to tell others.
   We see here the expulsive power of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Grace once introduced into the heart drives out old tastes and interests. A converted person no longs cares for what he once cared for. A new tenant is in the house. A new pilot is at the helm. The whole world looks different. All things have become new. It was so with Matthew the tax-collector. The moment that grace came into his heart he left the receipt of custom. (Matt. ix. 9.)—It was so with Peter, James, and John, and Andrew. As soon as they were converted they forsook their nets and fishing-boats. (Mark i.19.)—It was so with Saul the Pharisee. As soon as he became a Christian he gave up all his brilliant prospects as a Jew, in order to preach the faith he had once despised. (Acts ix. 20.)—The conduct of the Samaritan woman was precisely of the same kind. For the time present the salvation she had found completely filled her mind. That she never returned for her water-pot would be more than we have a right to say. But under the first impressions of new spiritual life, she went away and “left her water-pot” behind.
   Conduct like that here described is doubtless uncommon in the present day. Rarely do we see a person so entirely taken up with spiritual matters, that attention to this world’s affairs is made a secondary matter, or postponed. And why is it so? Simply because true conversions to God are uncommon. Few really feel their sins, and flee to Christ by faith. Few really pass from death to life, and become new creatures. Yet these few are the real Christians of the world. These are the people whose religion, like the Samaritan woman’s, tells on others. Happy are they who know something by experience of this woman’s feelings, and can say with Paul, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ!” Happy are they who have given up everything for Christ’s sake, or at any rate have altered the relative importance of all things in their minds! “If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Philip. iii. 8; Matt. iv. 22.)
   We see, lastly, in this passage, how zealous a truly converted person is to do good to others. We are told that the Samaritan woman “went into the city, and said to the men, Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” In the day of her conversion she became a missionary. She felt so deeply the amazing benefit she had received from Christ, that she could not hold her peace about Him. Just as Andrew told his brother Peter about Jesus, and Philip told Nathanael that he had found Messiah, and Saul, when converted, immediately preached Christ, so, in the same way, the Samaritan woman said, “Come and see Christ.” She used no abstruse arguments. She attempted no deep reasoning about our Lord’s claim to be the Messiah. She only said, “Come and see.” Out of the abundance of her heart her mouth spoke.
   That which the Samaritan woman here did, all true Christians ought to do likewise. The Church needs it. The state of the world demands it. Common sense points out that it is right. Every one who has received the grace of God, and tasted that Christ is gracious, ought to find words to testify of Christ to others. Where is our faith, if we believe that souls around us are perishing, and that Christ alone can save them, and yet remain silent? Where is our charity if we can see others going down to hell, and yet say nothing to them about Christ and salvation?—We may well doubt our own love to Christ, if our hearts are never moved to speak of Him. We may well doubt the safety of our own souls, if we feel no concern about the souls of others.
   What are we ourselves? This is the question, after all, which demands our notice. Do we feel the supreme importance of spiritual things, and the comparative nothingness of the things of the world? Do we ever talk to others about God, and Christ, and eternity, and the soul, and heaven, and hell? If not, what is the value of our faith? Where is the reality of our Christianity? Let us take heed lest we awake too late, and find that we are lost forever, a wonder to angels and devils, and, above all, a wonder to ourselves, because of our own obstinate blindness and folly.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:227–232

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The Great Discovery

Glorious God,

I bless thee that I know thee.
I once lived in the world, but was ignorant
      of its Creator,
   was partaker of thy providences, but knew not
      the Provider
   was blind while enjoying the sunlight,
   was deaf to all things spiritual, with voices
      all around me,
   understood many things, but had no knowledge
      of thy ways,
   saw the world, but did not see Jesus only.
O happy day, when in thy love’s sovereignty
   thou didst look down on me, and call me by grace.
Then did the dead heart begin to beat,
   the darkened eye glimmer with light,
   the dull ear catch thy echo,
   and I turned to thee and found thee,
   a God ready to hear, willing to save.
Then did I find my heart at enmity to thee,
   vexing thy Spirit;
Then did I fall at thy feet and hear thee thunder,
   ‘The soul that sinneth, it must die’,
But when grace made me to know thee,
   and admire a God who hated sin,
   thy terrible justice held my will submissive.
My thoughts were then as knives cutting my head.
Then didst thou come to me in silken robes of love,
   and I saw thy Son dying that I might live,
   and in that death I found my all.
My soul doth sing at the remembrance of
   that peace;
The gospel cornet brought a sound unknown
   to me before that reached my heart — and I lived —
   never to lose my hold on Christ or his hold on me.
Grant that I may always weep to the praise of
      mercy found,
   and tell others as long as I live,
   that thou art a sin-pardoning God,
   taking the blasphemer and the ungodly,
   and washing them from their deepest stain.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 5:30–39

I can do nothing on My own initiative As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Witness of John the Baptist

Witness of the Works of Christ

Witness of the Father

Witness of the Scriptures

In these verses we see the proof of our Lord Jesus Christ being the promised Messiah, set forth before the Jews in one view. Four different witnesses are brought forward. Four kinds of evidence are offered. His Father in heaven,—His forerunner, John the Baptist,—the miraculous works He had done,—the Scriptures, which the Jews professed to honour,—each and all are named by our Lord, as testifying that He was the Christ, the Son of God. Hard must those hearts have been which could hear such testimony; and yet remain unmoved! But it only proves the truth of the old saying,—that unbelief does not arise so much from lack of evidence, as from lack of will to believe.
   Let us observe for one thing in this passage, the honour Christ puts on His faithful servants. See how He speaks of John the Baptist.—“He bore witness of the truth;”—“He was a burning and a shining light.” John had probably passed away from his earthly labours when these words were spoken. He had been persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death by Herod,—none interfering, none trying to prevent his murder. But this murdered disciple was not forgotten by his Divine Master. If no one else remembered him, Jesus did. He had honoured Christ, and Christ honoured him.
   These things ought not to be overlooked. They are written to teach us that Christ cares for all His believing people, and never forgets them. Forgotten and despised by the world, perhaps, they are never forgotten by their Saviour. He knows where they dwell, and what their trials are. A book of remembrance is written for them. “Their tears are all in His bottle.” (Psalm lvi. 8.) Their names are engraved on the palms of His hands. He notices all they do for Him in this evil world, though they think it not worth notice, and He will confess it one day publicly, before His Father and the holy angels. He that bore witness to John the Baptist never changes. Let believers remember this. In their worst estate they may boldly say with David,—“I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” (Psalm xl. 17.)
   Let us observe, for another thing, the honour Christ puts upon miracles, as an evidence of His being the Messiah. He says,—“The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.”
   The miracles of the Lord receive far less attention, in the present day, as proofs of His Divine mission, than they ought to do. Too many regard them with a silent incredulity, as things which, not having seen, they cannot be expected to care for. Not a few openly avow that they do not believe in the possibility of such things as miracles, and would like to strike them out of the Bible as weak stories, which, like burdensome lumber, should be cast overboard, to lighten the ship.
   But, after all, there is no getting over the fact, that in the days when our Lord was upon earth, His miracles produced an immense effect on the minds of men. They aroused attention to Him who worked them. They excited inquiry, if they did not convert. They were so many, so public, and so incapable of being explained away, that our Lord’s enemies could only say that they were done by satanic agency. That they were done, they could not deny. “This man,” they said, “doeth many miracles.” (John xi. 47.) The facts which wise men pretend to deny now, no one pretended to deny eighteen hundred years ago.
   Let the enemies of the Bible take our Lord’s last and greatest miracle—His own resurrection from the dead—and disprove it if they can. When they have done that, it will be time to consider what they say about miracles in general. They have never answered the evidence of it yet, and they never will. Let the friends of the Bible not be moved by objections against miracles, until that one miracle has been fairly disposed of. If that is proved unassailable, they need not care much for quibbling arguments against other miracles. If Christ did really rise from the dead by His own power, there is none of His mighty works which man need hesitate to believe.
   Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, the honour that Christ puts upon the Scriptures. He refers to them in concluding His list of evidences, as the great witnesses to Him. “Search the Scriptures,” He says: “these are they which testify of me.”
   The “Scriptures” of which our Lord speaks are of course the Old Testament. And His words show the important truth which too many are apt to overlook, that every part of our Bibles is meant to teach us about Christ. Christ is not merely in the Gospels and Epistles. Christ is to be found directly and indirectly in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. In the promises to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David,—in the types and emblems of the ceremonial law,—in the predictions of Isaiah and the other prophets,—Jesus, the Messiah, is everywhere to be found in the Old Testament.
   How is it that men see these things so little? The answer is plain. They do not “search the Scriptures.” They do not dig into that wondrous mine of wisdom and knowledge, and seek to become acquainted with its contents. Simple, regular reading of our Bibles is the grand secret of establishment in the faith. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the root of all error.
   And now what will men believe, if they do not believe the Divine mission of Christ? Great indeed is the obstinacy of infidelity. A cloud of witnesses testify that Jesus was the Son of God. To talk of lacking evidence is childish folly. The plain truth is, that the chief seat of unbelief is the heart. Many do not wish to believe, and therefore remain unbelievers.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:300–302

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

A Neophyte’s Devotion

Glorious and holy God,

Provocations against thy divine majesty have
   filled my whole life.
My offenses have been countless and aggravated.
   Conscience has rebuked me,
   friends have admonished me,
   the examples of others have reproached me,
   thy rod has chastised me,
   thy kindness allured me.
Thou hast seen and abhorred all my sins and
   couldst easily and justly have punished me,
   yet thou hast spared me,
      been gracious unto me,
      given me thy help,
      invited me to thy table.
Lord, I thankfully obey thy call,
   accept of thy goodness,
   acquiesce in thy gospel appointments.
I believe that Jesus thy Son has plenteous
   redemption;
I apply to him for his benefits,
   give up my mind implicitly to his instructions,
   trust and glory in his sacrifices,
   revere and love his authority,
   pray that his grace may reign in my life.
I will not love a world that crucified him,
   neither cherish nor endure the sin,
      that put him to grief,
   nor suffer him to be wounded by others.
At the cross that relieves my conscience
   let me learn lessons of self-denial, forgiveness
      and submission,
   feel motives to obedience,
   find resources for all needs of the divine life.
then let me be what I profess,
   do as well as teach,
   live as well as well as hear religion.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 6:35–40

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Three of our Lord Jesus Christ’s great sayings are strung together, like pearls, in this passage. Each of them ought to be precious to every true Christian. All taken together, they form a mine of truth, into which he that searches need never search in vain.
   We have, first, in these verses, a saying of Christ about Himself. We read that Jesus said,—“I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
   Our Lord would have us know that He himself is the appointed food of man’s soul. The soul of every man is naturally starving and famishing through sin. Christ is given by God the Father, to be the Satisfier, the Reliever, and the Physician of man’s spiritual need. In Him and His mediatorial office,—in Him and His atoning death,—in Him and His priesthood,—in Him and His grace, love, and power,—in Him alone will empty souls find their needs supplied. In Him there is life. He is “the bread of life.”
   With what divine and perfect wisdom this name is chosen! Bread is necessary food. We can manage tolerably well without many things on our table, but not without bread. So is it with Christ. We must have Christ, or die in our own sins. Bread is food that suits all. Some cannot eat meat, and some cannot eat vegetables. But all like bread. It is food both for the Queen and the pauper. So is it with Christ. He is just the Saviour that meets the needs of every class. Bread is food that we need daily. Other kinds of food we take, perhaps, only occasionally. But we need bread every morning and evening in our lives. So is it with Christ. There is no day in our lives but we need His blood, His righteousness, His intercession, and His grace. Well may He be called, “The bread of life!”
   Do we know anything of spiritual hunger? Do we feel anything of craving and emptiness in conscience, heart, and affections? Let us distinctly understand that Christ alone can relieve and supply us, and that it is His office to relieve. We must come to Him by faith. We must believe on Him, and commit our souls into His hands. So coming, He pledges His royal word we shall find lasting satisfaction both for time and eternity. It is written,—“He that cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
   We have, secondly, in these verses, a saying of Christ about those who come to Him. We read that Jesus said,—“Him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out.”
   What does “coming” mean? It means that movement of the soul which takes place when a man, feeling his sins, and finding out that he cannot save himself, hears of Christ, applies to Christ, trusts in Christ, lays hold on Christ, and leans all his weight on Christ for salvation. When this happens, a man is said, in Scripture language, to “come” to Christ.
   What did our Lord mean by saying,—“I will in nowise cast him out”? He meant that He will not refuse to save any one who comes to Him, no matter what he may have been. His past sins may have been very great. His present weakness and infirmity may be very great. But does he come to Christ by faith? Then Christ will receive him graciously, pardon him freely, place him in the number of His dear children, and give him everlasting life.
   These are golden words indeed! They have smoothed down many a dying pillow, and calmed many a troubled conscience. Let them sink down deeply into our memories, and abide there continually. A day will come when flesh and heart shall fail, and the world can help us no more. Happy shall we be in that day, if the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we have really come to Christ!
   We have, lastly, in these verses, a saying of Christ about the will of His Father. Twice over come the solemn words,—“This is the will of him that sent me.” Once we are told it is His will, “that every one that seeth the Son may have everlasting life.” Once we are told it is His will that, “of all which he has given to Christ he shall lose nothing.”
   We are taught by these words that Christ has brought into the world a salvation open and free to everyone. Our Lord draws a picture of it, from the story of the bronze serpent, by which bitten Israelites in the wilderness were healed. Every one that chose to “look” at the bronze serpent might live. Just in the same way, every one who desires eternal life may “look” at Christ by faith, and have it freely. There is no barrier, no limit, no restriction. The terms of the Gospel are wide and simple. Every one may “look and live.”
   We are taught, furthermore, that Christ will never allow any soul that is committed to Him to be lost and cast away. He will keep it safe, from grace to glory, in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not one bone of His mystical body shall ever be broken. Not one lamb of His flock shall ever be left behind in the wilderness. He will raise to glory, in the last day, the whole flock entrusted to His charge, and not one shall be found missing.
   Let the true Christian feed on the truths contained in this passage, and thank God for them. Christ the Bread of life,—Christ the Receiver of all who come to Him,—Christ the Preserver of all believers,—Christ is for every man who is willing to believe on Him, and Christ is the eternal possession of all who so believe. Surely this is glad tidings and good news!

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:367–370

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The ‘Nevers’ of the Gospel

O Lord,

May I never fail to come to the knowledge
      of the truth,
   never rest in a system of doctrine, however
      scriptural, that does not bring or further
         salvation,
      or teach me to deny ungodliness and
         worldly lusts,
      or help me live soberly, righteously, godly;
   never rely on my own convictions and resolutions,
      but be strong in thee and in thy might;
   never cease to find thy grace sufficient
      in all my duties, trials, and conflicts;
   never forget to repair to thee
      in all my spiritual distresses and outward
         troubles,
      in all the dissatisfactions experienced in
         creature comforts;
   never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace
      and truth, the friend that loveth at all times,
      who is touched with feelings of my infirmities,
      and can do exceedingly abundantly for me;
   never confine my religion to extraordinary
      occasions, but acknowledge thee in all my ways;
   never limit my devotions to particular seasons
      but be in they fear all the day long;
   never be godly only on the Sabbath,
      or in thy house, but on every day abroad
         and at home;
   never make piety a dress but a habit,
      not only a habit but a nature,
      not only a nature but a life.
Do good to me in all thy dispensations,
   by all means of grace,
   by worship, prayers, praises,
And at last let me enter that world where is
   no temple, but only thy glory
   and the Lamb’s.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 7:14–24

Christ’s Authority from the Father

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
   19 Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

We learn first in this passage, that honest obedience to God’s will is one way to obtain clear spiritual knowledge. Our Lord says, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
   The difficulty of finding out “what is truth” in religion is a common subject of complaint among men. They point to the many differences which prevail among Christians on matters of doctrine, and profess to be unable to decide who is right. In thousands of cases this professed inability to find out truth becomes an excuse for living without any religion at all.
   The saying of our Lord before us is one that demands the serious attention of people in this state of mind. It supplies an argument whose edge and point they will find it hard to evade. It teaches that one secret of getting the key of knowledge is to practice honestly what we know, and that if we conscientiously use the light that we now have, we shall soon find more light coming down into our minds.—In short, there is a sense in which it is true, that by doing we shall come to knowing.
   There is a mine of truth in this principle. Well would it be for men if they would act upon it. Instead of saying, as some do,—“I must first know everything clearly, and then I will act,”—we should say,—“I will diligently use such knowledge as I possess, and believe that in the using fresh knowledge will be given to me.” How many mysteries this simple plan would solve! How many hard things would soon become plain if men would honestly live up to their light, and “follow on to know the Lord!” (Hosea vi. 3.)
   It should never be forgotten that God deals with us as moral beings, and not as beasts or stones. He loves to encourage us to self-exertion and diligent use of such means as we have in our hands. The plain things in religion are undeniably very many. Let a man honestly attend to them, and he shall be taught the deep things of God.
   Whatever some may say about their inability to find out truth, you will rarely find one of them who does not know better than he practices. Then if he is sincere, let him begin here at once. Let him humbly use what little knowledge he has got, and God will soon give him more.—“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Matt. vi. 22.)
   We learn, secondly, in this passage, that a self-exalting spirit in ministers of religion is entirely opposed to the mind of Christ. Our Lord says, “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh His glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.”
   The wisdom and truth of this sentence will be evident at once to any reflecting mind. The minister truly called of God will be deeply sensible of his Master’s majesty and his own infirmity, and will see in himself nothing but unworthiness. He, on the other hand, who knows that he is not “inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost,” will try to cover over his defects by magnifying himself and his office. The very desire to exalt ourselves is a bad symptom. It is a sure sign of something wrong within.
   Does any one ask illustrations of the truth before us? He will find them, on the one side, in the Scribes and Pharisees of our Lord’s times. If one thing more than another distinguished these unhappy men, it was their desire to get praise for themselves.—He will find them, on the other side, in the character of the Apostle St. Paul. The keynote that runs through all his Epistles is personal humility and zeal for Christ’s glory:—”I am less than the least of all saints—I am not fit to be called an Apostle—I am chief of sinners—we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (Ephes. iii. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 9; 1 Tim. i. 15; 2 Cor. iv. 5.)
   Does any one ask for a test by which he may discern the real man of God from the false shepherd in the present day? Let him remember our Lord’s weighty words, and notice carefully what is the main object that a minister loves to exalt. Not he who is ever crying,—“Behold the Church! behold the Sacraments! behold the ministry!” but he who says,—“Behold the Lamb!”—is the pastor after God’s own heart. Happy indeed is that minister who forgets self in his pulpit, and desires to be hid behind the cross. This man shall be blessed in his work, and be a blessing.
   We learn, lastly, in this passage, the danger of forming a hasty judgment. The Jews at Jerusalem were ready to condemn our Lord as a sinner against the law of Moses, because He had done a miracle of healing on the Sabbath-day. They forgot in their blind enmity that the fourth commandment was not meant to prevent works of necessity or works of mercy. A work on the Sabbath our Lord had done, no doubt, but not a work forbidden by the law. And hence they drew down on themselves the rebuke, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
   The practical value of the lesson before us is very great. We shall do well to remember it as we travel through life, and to correct our estimate of people and things by the light which it supplies.
   We are often too ready to be deceived by an appearance of good. We are in danger of rating some men as very good Christians, because of a little outward profession of religion, and a decent Sunday formality,—because, in short, they talk the language of Canaan, and wear the garb of pilgrims. We forget that all is not good that appears good, even as all is not gold that glitters, and that daily practice, choice, tastes, habits, conduct, private character, are the true evidence of what a man is.—In a word, we forget our Lord’s saying,—”Judge not according to the appearance.”
   We are too ready, on the other hand, to be deceived by the appearance of evil. We are in danger of setting down some men as not true Christians, because of a few faults or inconsistencies, and “making them offenders because of a word.” (Isa. xxix. 21.) We must remember that the best of men are but men at their very best, and that the most eminent saints may be overtaken by temptation, and yet be saints at heart after all. We must not hastily suppose that all is evil, where there is an occasional appearance of evil. The holiest man may fall sadly for a time, and yet the grace within him may finally get a victory. Is a man’s general character godly?—Then let us suspend our judgment when he falls, and hope on. Let us “judge righteous judgment.”
   In any case let us take care that we pass fair judgment on ourselves. Whatever we think of others, let us beware of making mistakes about our own character. There, at any rate, let us be just, honest, and fair. Let us not flatter ourselves that all is right, because all is apparently right before men. “The Lord,” we must remember, “looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. xvi. 7.) Then let us judge ourselves with righteous judgment, and condemn ourselves while we live, lest we be judged of the Lord and condemned forever at the last day. (1 Cor. xi. 31.)

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

True Religion

Lord God Almighty,

I ask not to be enrolled amongst the earthly
great and rich,
   but to be numbered with the spiritually blessed.
Make it my present, supreme, persevering concern
   to obtain those blessings which are
      spiritual in their nature,
      eternal in their continuance,
      satisfying in their possession.
Preserve me from a false estimate of the whole
   or a part of my character;
May I pay regard to
   my principles as well as my conduct,
   my motives as well as my actions.
Help me
   never to mistake the excitement of my passions
      for the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
   never to judge my religion by occasional
      impressions and impulses, but by my
         constant and prevailing disposition.
May my heart be right with thee,
   and my life as becometh the gospel.
May I maintain a supreme regard to another
      and better world,
   and feel and confess myself a stranger
      and a pilgrim here.
Afford me all the direction, defense, support,
   and consolation my journey hence requires,
   and grant me a mind stayed upon thee.
Give me a large abundance of the supply of
      the Spirit of Jesus,
   that I may be prepared for every duty,
   love thee in all my mercies,
   submit to thee in every trial,
   trust thee when walking in darkness,
   have peace in thee amidst life’s changes.
Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief
   and uncertainties.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 8:31–36

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
   34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

These verses show us, for one thing, the importance of steady perseverance in Christ’s service. There were many, it seems, at this particular period, who professed to believe on our Lord, and expressed a desire to become His disciples. There is nothing to show that they had true faith. They appear to have acted under the influence of temporary excitement, without considering what they were doing. And to them our Lord addresses this instructive warning,—“If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed.”
   This sentence contains a mine of wisdom. To make a beginning in religious life is comparatively easy. Not a few mixed motives assist us. The love of novelty, the praise of well-meaning but imprudent professors, the secret self-satisfaction of feeling “how good I am,” the universal excitement attending a new position,—all these things combine to aid the young beginner. Aided by them he begins to run the race that leads to heaven, lays aside many bad habits, takes up many good ones, has many comfortable frames and feelings, and gets on swimmingly for a time. But when the newness of his position is past and gone, when the freshness of his feelings is rubbed off and lost, when the world and the devil begin to pull hard at him, when the weakness of his own heart begins to appear,—then it is that he finds out the real difficulties of vital Christianity. Then it is that he discovers the deep wisdom of our Lord’s saying now before us. It is not beginning, but “continuing” a religious profession, that is the test of true grace.
   We should remember these things in forming our estimate of other people’s religion. No doubt we ought to be thankful when we see any one ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. We must not “despise the day of small things.” (Zech. iv. 10.) But we must not forget that to begin is one thing, and to go on is quite another. Patient continuance in well-doing is the only sure evidence of grace. Not he that runs fast and furiously at first, but he that keeps up his speed, is he that “runs so as to obtain.” By all means let us be hopeful when we see anything like conversion. But let us not make too sure that it is real conversion, until time has set its seal upon it. Time and wear test metals, and prove whether they are solid or plated. Time and wear, in like manner, are the surest tests of a man’s religion. Where there is spiritual life there will be continuance and steady perseverance. It is the man who goes on as well as begins, that is “the disciple indeed.”
   These verses show us, for another thing, the nature of true slavery. The Jews were fond of boasting, though without any just cause, that they were politically free, and were not in bondage to any foreign power. Our Lord reminds those who there was another bondage to which they were giving no heed, although enslaved by it.—“He that committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
   How true that is! How many on every side are total slaves, although they do not acknowledge it! They are led captive by their besetting corruptions and infirmities, and seem to have no power to get free. Ambition, the love of money, the passion for drink, the craving for pleasure and excitement, gambling, gluttony, illicit connections,—all these are so many tyrants among men. Each and all have crowds of unhappy prisoners bound hand and foot in their chains. The wretched prisoners will not admit their bondage. They will even boast sometimes that they are eminently free. But many of them know better. There are times when the iron enters into their souls, and they feel bitterly that they are slaves.
   There is no slavery like this. Sin is indeed the hardest of all taskmasters. Misery and disappointment in the way, despair and hell in the end,—these are the only wages that sin pays to its servants. To deliver men from this bondage, is the grand object of the Gospel. To awaken people to a sense of their degradation, to show them their chains, to make them arise and struggle to be free,—this is the great end for which Christ sent forth His ministers. Happy is he who has opened his eyes and found out his danger. To know that we are being led captive, is the very first step toward deliverance.
   These verses, show us, lastly, the nature of true liberty. Our Lord declares this to the Jews in one comprehensive sentence. He says, “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
   Liberty, most Englishmen know, is rightly esteemed one of the highest temporal blessings. Freedom from foreign dominion, a free constitution, free trade, a free press, civil and religious liberty,—what a world of meaning lies beneath these phrases! How many would sacrifice life and fortune to maintain the things which they represent! Yet, after all our boasting, there are many so-called freemen who are nothing better than slaves. There are many who are totally ignorant of the highest, purest form of liberty. The noblest liberty is that which is the property of the true Christian. Those only are perfectly free people whom the Son of God “makes free.” All else will sooner or later be found slaves.
   Wherein does the liberty of true Christians consist? Of what is their freedom made up?—They are freed from the guilt and consequences of sin by the blood of Christ. Justified, pardoned, forgiven, they can look forward boldly to the day of judgment, and cry “Who shall lay anything to our charge? Who is he that condemneth?”—They are freed from the power of sin by the grace of Christ’s Spirit. Sin has no longer dominion over them. Renewed, converted, sanctified, they mortify and tread down sin, and are no longer led captive by it.—Liberty, like this, is the portion of all true Christians in the day that they flee to Christ by faith, and commit their souls to Him. That day they become free men. Liberty, like this, is their portion forevermore. Death cannot stop it. The grave cannot even hold their bodies for more than a little season. Those whom Christ makes free are free to all eternity.
   Let us never rest until we have some personal experience of this freedom ourselves. Without it all other freedom is a worthless privilege. Free speech, free laws, political freedom, commercial freedom, national freedom,—all these cannot smooth down a dying pillow, or disarm death of his sting, or fill our consciences with peace. Nothing can do that but the freedom which Christ alone bestows. He gives it freely to all who seek it humbly. Then let us never rest until it is our own.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Self-Knowledge

Searcher of hearts,

It is a good day to me when thou givest me
a glimpse of myself;
Sin is my greatest evil,
   but thou art my greatest good;
I have cause to loathe myself,
   and not to seek self-honour,
   for no one desires to commend his own dung-hill.
My country, family, church
   fare worse because of my sins,
   for sinners bring judgment in thinking
      sins are small,
   or that God is not angry with them.
Let me not take other good man as my example,
   and think I am good because I am like them,
For all good men are not so good as thou desirest,
   and not always consistent,
   do not always follow holiness,
   do not feel eternal good in sore affliction.
Show me how to know when a thing is evil
   which I think is right and good,
   how to know when what is lawful
   comes from an evil principle,
   such as desire for reputation or wealth by usury.
Give me grace to recall my needs,
   my lack of knowing thy will in scripture,
      of wisdom to guide others,
      of daily repentance, want of which keeps thee
         at bay,
      of the spirit of prayer, having words
         without love,
      of zeal for thy glory, seeking my own ends,
      of joy of thee and thy will,
      of love to others.
And let me not lay my pipe
   too short of the fountain,
   never touching the eternal spring,
   never drawing down water from above.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

The Gospel According to John

“I Am the Good Shepherd”

10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
   7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

The chapter we have now begun is closely connected with the preceding one. The parable before us was spoken with direct reference to the blind teachers of the Jewish Church. The Scribes and Pharisees were the people our Lord had in view, when He described the false shepherd. The very men who had just said “We see,” were denounced with holy boldness, as “thieves and robbers.”
   We have, for one thing, in these verses, a vivid picture of a false teacher of religion. Our Lord says that he is one who “enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way.”
   The “door,” in this sentence, must evidently mean something far more than outward calling and commission. The Jewish teachers, at any rate, were not deficient in this point: they could probably trace up their orders in direct succession to Aaron himself. Ordination is no proof whatever that a man is fit to show others the way to heaven. He may have been regularly set apart by those who have authority to call ministers, and yet all his life may never come near the door, and at last may die nothing better than “a thief and a robber.”
   The true sense of the “door” must be sought in our Lord’s own interpretation. It is Christ Himself who is “the door.” The true shepherd of souls is he who enters the ministry with a single eye to Christ, desiring to glorify Christ, doing all in the strength of Christ, preaching Christ’s doctrine, walking in Christ’s steps, and labouring to bring men and women to Christ. The false shepherd of souls is he who enters the ministerial office with little or no thought about Christ, from worldly and self-exalting motives, but from no desire to exalt Jesus, and the great salvation that is in Him. Christ, in one word, is the grand touchstone of the minister of religion. The man who makes much of Christ is a pastor after God’s own heart, whom God delights to honour. The minister who makes little of Christ is one whom God regards as an impostor,—as one who has climbed up to his holy office not by the door, but by “some other way.”
   The sentence before us is a sorrowful and humbling one. That it condemns the Jewish teachers of our Lord’s time all men can see. There was no “door” in their ministry. They taught nothing rightly about Messiah. They rejected Christ Himself when He appeared,—but all men do not see that the sentence condemns thousands of so-called Christian teachers, quite as much as the leaders and teachers of the Jews. Thousands of ordained men in the present day know nothing whatever about Christ, except His name. They have not entered “the door” themselves, and they are unable to show it to others. Well would it be for Christendom if this were more widely known, and more seriously considered! Unconverted ministers are the dry-rot of the Church. “When the blind lead the blind” both must fall into the ditch. If we would know the value of a man’s ministry, we must never fail to ask, Where is the Lamb? Where is the Door? Does he bring forward Christ, and give Him his rightful place?
   We have, for another thing, in these verses, a peculiar picture of true Christians. Our Lord describes them as sheep who “hear the voice of a true Shepherd, and know His voice;” and as “sheep who will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.”
   The thing taught in these words is a very curious one, and may seem “foolishness” to the world. There is a spiritual instinct in most true believers, which generally enables them to distinguish between true and false teaching. When they hear unsound religious instruction, there is something within them that says, “This is wrong.” When they hear the real truth as it is in Jesus, there is something in their hearts which responds, “This is right.” The careless man of the world may see no difference whatever between minister and minister, sermon and sermon. The poorest sheep of Christ, as a general rule, will “distinguish things that differ,” though he may sometimes be unable to explain why.
   Let us beware of despising this spiritual instinct. Whatever a sneering world may please to say, it is one of the peculiar marks of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. As such, it is specially mentioned by St. John, when he says, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” (1 John ii. 20.) Let us rather pray for it daily, in order that we may be kept from the influence of false shepherds. To lose all power of distinguishing between bitter and sweet is one of the worst symptoms of bodily disease. To be unable to see any difference between law and gospel, truth and error, Protestantism and Popery, the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of man, is a sure proof that we are yet dead in heart, and need conversion.
   We have, lastly, in these verses, a most instructive picture of Christ Himself. He utters one of those golden sayings which ought to be dear to all true Christians. They apply to people as well as to ministers. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
   We are all by nature separate and far off from God. Sin, like a great barrier-wall, rises between us and our Maker. The sense of guilt makes us afraid of Him. The sense of His holiness keeps us at a distance from Him. Born with a heart at enmity with God, we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice, the longer we live. The very first questions in religion that must be answered, are these: “How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker?”
   The Lord Jesus Christ has provided an answer to these mighty questions. By His sacrifice for us on the cross, He has opened a way through the great barrier, and provided pardon and peace for sinners. He has “suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” He has opened a way into the holiest, through His blood, by which we may draw near to God with boldness, and approach God without fear. And now He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. In the highest sense He is “the door.” No one “can come to the Father” but by Him.
   Let us take heed that we use this door, and do not merely stand outside looking at it. It is a door free and open to the chief of sinners: “If any man enter in by it, he shall be saved.” It is a door within which we shall find a full and constant supply for every need of our souls. We shall find that we can “go in and out,” and enjoy liberty and peace. The day comes when this door will be shut forever, and men shall strive to enter in, but not be able. Then let us make sure work of our own salvation. Let us not stand tarrying outside, and halting between two opinions. Let us enter in and be saved.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Yet I Sin

Eternal Father,

Thou art good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess,
   but my heart is slow to feel
   and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to thee;
   break it, wound it, bend it, mould it.
Unmask to me sin’s deformity,
   that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
My faculties have been a weapon of revolt
      against thee;
   as a rebel I have misused my strength,
   and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly,
Grant me to know that the way of transgressors
      is hard
   that evil paths are wretched paths,
   that to depart from thee is to lose all good.

I have seen the purity and beauty of thy perfect law,
   the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
   the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
      yet I daily violate and contemn its precepts.
Thy loving Spirit strives within me,
   brings me Scripture warnings,
   speaks in startling providences,
   allures by secret whispers,
      yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,
   impiously resent, grieve,
   and provoke him to abandon me.

All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them
   cry pardon.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief
   that trembles and fears,
   yet ever trusts and loves,
   which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance
   I may see more clearly the brightness
   and glories of the saving cross.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 12:27–33

Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

   These verses show us what St. Peter meant, when he said, “There are some things hard to be understood” in Scripture. (2 Pet. iii. 16.) There are depths here which we have no line to fathom thoroughly. This need not surprise us, or shake our faith. The Bible would not be a book “given by inspiration of God,” if it did not contain many things which pass man’s finite understanding. With all its difficulties, it contains thousands of passages which the most unlearned may easily comprehend. Even here, if we look steadily at these verses, we may gather from them lessons of considerable importance.
   We have, first, in these verses, a great doctrine indirectly proved. That doctrine is the imputation of man’s sin to Christ.
   We see the Saviour of the world, the eternal Son of God troubled and disturbed in mind: “Now is my soul troubled.” We see Him who could heal diseases with a touch, cast out devils with a word, and command the waves and winds to obey Him, in great agony and conflict of spirit. Now how can this be explained?
   To say, as some do, that the only cause of our Lord’s trouble was the prospect of His own painful death on the cross, is a very unsatisfactory explanation. At this rate it might justly be said that many a martyr has shown more calmness and courage than the Son of God. Such a conclusion is, to say the least, most revolting. Yet this is the conclusion to which men are driven if they adopt the modern notion, that Christ’s death was only a great example of self-sacrifice.
   Nothing can ever explain our Lord’s trouble of soul, both here and in Gethsemane, except the old doctrine, that He felt the burden of man’s sin pressing Him down. It was the mighty weight of a world’s guilt imputed to Him and meeting on his head, which made Him groan and agonize, and cry, “Now is my soul troubled.” Forever let us cling to that doctrine, not only as untying the knot of the passage before us, but as the only ground of solid comfort for the heart of a Christian. That our sins have been really laid on our Divine Substitute, and borne by Him, and that His righteousness is really imputed to us and accounted ours,—this is the real warrant for Christian peace. And if any man asks how we know that our sins were laid on Christ, we bid him read such passages as that which is before us, and explain them on any other principle if he can. Christ has borne our sins, carried our sins, groaned under the burden of our sins, been “troubled” in soul by the weight of our sins, and really taken away our sins. This, we may rest assured, is sound doctrine this is Scriptural theology.
   We have, secondly, in these verses, a great mystery unfolded. That mystery is the possibility of much inward conflict of soul without sin.
   We cannot fail to see in the passage before us a mighty mental struggle in our blessed Saviour. Of its depth and intensity we can probably form very little conception. But the agonizing cry, “My soul is troubled,”—the solemn question, “What shall I say?”—the prayer of suffering flesh and blood, “Father, save Me from this hour,”—the meek confession, “For this cause came I unto this hour,”—the petition of a perfectly submissive will, “Father, glorify Your name,”—what does all this mean? Surely there can be only one answer. These sentences tell of a struggle within our Saviour’s breast, a struggle arising from the natural feelings of one who was perfect man, and as man could suffer all that man is capable of suffering. Yet He in whom this struggle took place was the Holy Son of God. “In Him is no sin.” (1 St. John 3:5.) There is a fountain of comfort here for all true servants of Christ, which ought never to be overlooked. Let them learn from their Lord’s example that inward conflict of soul is not necessarily in itself a sinful thing. Too many, we believe, from not understanding this point, go heavily all their days on their way to heaven. They fancy they have no grace, because they find a fight in their own hearts. They refuse to take comfort in the Gospel, because they feel a battle between the flesh and the Spirit. Let them mark the experience of their Lord and Master, and lay aside their desponding fears. Let them study the experience of His saints in every age, from Paul downwards, and understand that as Christ had inward conflicts, so must Christians expect to have them also. To give way to doubts and unbelief, no doubt is wrong, and robs us of our peace. There is a faithless despondency, unquestionably, which is blameworthy, and must be resisted, repented of, and brought to the fountain for all sin, that it may be pardoned. But the mere presence of fight and strife and conflict in our hearts is in itself no sin. The believer may be known by his inward warfare as well as by his inward peace.
   We have, thirdly, in these verses, a great miracle exhibited. That miracle is the heavenly Voice described in this passage,—a voice which was heard so plainly that people said it thundered,—proclaiming, “I have glorified my name, and will glorify it again.”
   This wondrous Voice was heard three times during our Lord’s earthly ministry. Once it was heard at His baptism, when the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended on Him. Once it was heard at His transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah appeared for a season with Him, before Peter, James, and St. John. Once it was heard here at Jerusalem, in the midst of a mixed crowd of disciples and unbelieving Jews. On each occasion we know that it was the Voice of God the Father. But why this Voice was only heard on these occasions we are left to conjecture. The thing was a deep mystery, and we cannot now speak particularly of it.
   Let it suffice us to believe that this miracle was meant to show the intimate relations and unbroken union of God the Father and God the Son, throughout the period of the Son’s earthly ministry. At no period during His incarnation was there a time when the eternal Father was not close to Him, though unseen by man.—Let us also believe that this miracle was meant to signify to bystanders the entire approval of the Son by the Father, as the Messiah, the Redeemer, and the Saviour of man. That approval the Father was pleased to signify by voice three times, as well as to declare by signs and mighty deeds, performed by the Son in His name. These things we may well believe. But when we have said all, we must confess that the Voice was a mystery. We may read of it with wonder and awe, but we cannot explain it.
   We have, lastly, in these verses, a great prophesy delivered. The Lord Jesus declared, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
   Concerning the true meaning of these words, there can be but one opinion in any honest mind. They do not mean, as is often supposed, that if the doctrine of Christ crucified is lifted up and exalted by ministers and teachers, it will have a drawing effect on hearers. This is undeniably a truth, but it is not the truth of the text. They simply mean that the death of Christ on the cross would have a drawing effect on all mankind. His death as our Substitute, and the Sacrifice for our sins, would draw multitudes out of every nation to believe on Him and receive Him as their Saviour. By being crucified for us, and not by ascending a temporal throne, He would set up a kingdom in the world, and gather subjects to Himself.
   How thoroughly this prophecy has been fulfilled for eighteen centuries, the history of the Church is an abundant proof. Whenever Christ crucified has been preached, and the story of the cross fully told, souls have been converted and drawn to Christ, in every part of the world, just as iron-filings are drawn to a magnet. No truth so exactly suits the needs of all children of Adam, of every color, climate, and language, as the truth about Christ crucified.
   And the prophecy is not yet exhausted. It shall yet receive a more complete accomplishment. A day shall come when every knee shall bow before the Lamb that was slain, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He who was “lifted up” on the cross shall yet sit on the throne of glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations. Friends and foes, each in their own order, shall be “drawn” from their graves, and appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. Let us take heed in that day that we are found on His right hand!

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The Dark Guest

O Lord,

Bend my hands and cut them off,
for I have often struck thee with
   a wayward will.
   when these fingers should embrace thee by faith.
I am not yet weaned from all created glory,
   honour, wisdom, and esteem of others,
   for I have a secret motive to eye my name
      in all I do.
Let me not only speak the word sin, but see
   the thing itself.
Give me to view discovered sinfulness,
   to know that though my sins are crucified
      they are never wholly mortified.
Hatred, malice, ill-will,
   vain-glory that hunts for and hungers after,
   man’s approval and applause,
   all are crucified, forgiven,
   but they rise again in my sinful heart.

O my crucified but never wholly mortified
   sinfulness!
O my life-long damage and daily shame!
O my indwelling and besetting sins!
O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart!
Destroy, O God, the dark guest within
   whose hidden presence makes my life a hell.
Yet thou hast not left me here without grace;
The cross still stands and meets my needs
   in the deepest straits of the soul.
I thank thee that my remembrance of it
   is like David’s sight of Goliath’s sword
      which preached forth thy deliverance.
The memory of my great sins, my many
   temptations, my falls,
   bring afresh into my mind the remembrance,
      of thy great help, of thy support from heaven,
      of the great grace that saved such a wretch
         as I am.
There is no treasure so wonderful
   as that continuous experience of thy grace
      toward me which alone can subdue
         the risings of sin within:
Give me more of it.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

The Gospel According to John

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

   The three verses we have now read are rich in precious truth. For eighteen centuries they have been peculiarly dear to Christ’s believing servants in every part of the world. Many are the sick rooms which they have lightened! Many are the dying hearts which they have cheered! Let us see what they contain.
   We have, first, in this passage a precious remedy against an old disease. That disease is trouble of heart. That remedy is faith.
   Heart-trouble is the commonest thing in the world. No rank, or class, or condition is exempt from it. No bars, or bolts, or locks can keep it out. Partly from inward causes and partly from outward,—partly from the body and partly from the mind,—partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble. Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory. Even the holiest saints find the world a valley of tears.
   Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled hearts. To believe more thoroughly, trust more entirely, rest more unreservedly, lay hold more firmly, lean back more completely,—this is the prescription which our Master urges on the attention of all His disciples. No doubt the members of that little band which sat round the table at the last supper, had believed already. They had proved the reality of their faith by giving up everything for Christ’s sake. Yet what does their Lord say to them here? Once more He presses on them the old lesson, the lesson with which they first began: “Believe! Believe more! Believe on Me!” (Isai. xxvi. 3.)
   Never let us forget that there are degrees in faith, and that there is a wide difference between weak and strong believers. The weakest faith is enough to give a man a saving interest in Christ, and ought not to be despised, but it will not give a man such inward comfort as a strong faith. Vagueness and dimness of perception are the defect of weak believers. They do not see clearly what they believe and why they believe. In such cases more faith is the one thing needed. Like Peter on the water, they need to look more steadily at Jesus, and less at the waves and wind. Is it not written, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee”? (Isai. xxvi. 3.)
   We have, secondly, in this passage a very comfortable account of heaven, or the future abode of saints. It is but little that we understand about heaven while we are here in the body, and that little is generally taught us in the Bible by negatives much more than positives. But here, at any rate, there are some plain things.
   Heaven is “a Father’s house,”—the house of that God of whom Jesus says, “I go to my Father, and your Father.” It is, in a word, home: the home of Christ and Christians. This is a sweet and touching expression. Home, as we all know, is the place where we are generally loved for our own sakes, and not for our gifts or possessions; the place where we are loved to the end, never forgotten, and always welcome. This is one idea of heaven. Believers are in a strange land, and at school, in this life. In the life to come they will be at home.
   Heaven is a place of “mansions,”—of lasting, permanent, and eternal dwellings. Here in the body we are in temporary lodgings, tents, and tabernacles, and must submit to many changes. In heaven we shall be settled at last, and go out no more. “Here we have no continuing city.” (Heb. xiii. 14.) Our house not made with hands shall never be taken down.
   Heaven is a place of “many mansions.” There will be room for all believers and room for all sorts, for little saints as well as great ones, for the weakest believer as well as for the strongest. The feeblest child of God need not fear there will be no place for him. None will be shut out but impenitent sinners and obstinate unbelievers.
   Heaven is a place where Christ himself shall be present. He will not be content to dwell without His people:—“Where I am, there ye shall be also.” We need not think that we shall be alone and neglected. Our Saviour,—our elder Brother,—our Redeemer, who loved us and gave Himself for us, shall be in the midst of us forever. What we shall see, and whom we shall see in heaven, we cannot fully conceive yet, while we are in the body. But one thing is certain: we shall see Christ.
   Let these things sink down into our minds. To the worldly and careless they may seem nothing at all. To all who feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of God they are full of unspeakable comfort. If we hope to be in heaven it is pleasant to know what heaven is like.
   We have, lastly, in this passage a solid ground for expecting good things to come. The evil heart of unbelief within us is apt to rob us of our comfort about heaven. “We wish we could think it was all true.”—“We fear we shall never be admitted into heaven.”—Let us hear what Jesus says to encourage us.
   One cheering word is this,—“I go to prepare a place for you.” Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people: a place which we shall find Christ Himself has made ready for true Christians. He has prepared it by procuring a right for every sinner who believes to enter in. None can stop us, and say we have no business there.—He has prepared it by going before us as our Head and Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of His mystical body. As our Forerunner He has marched in, leading captivity captive, and has planted His banner in the land of glory.—He has prepared it by carrying our names with Him as our High Priest into the holy of holies, and making angels ready to receive us. Those who enter heaven will find they are neither unknown nor unexpected.
   Another cheering word is this,—“I will come again and receive you unto myself.” Christ will not wait for believers to come up to Him, but will come down to them, to raise them from their graves and escort them to their heavenly home. As Joseph came to meet Jacob, so will Jesus come to call His people together and guide them to their inheritance. The second advent ought never to be forgotten. Great is the blessedness of looking back to Christ coming the first time to suffer for us, but no less great is the comfort of looking forward to Christ coming the second time, to raise and reward His saints.
   Let us leave the whole passage with solemnized feelings and serious self-examination. How much they miss who live in a dying world and yet know nothing of God as their Father and Christ as their Saviour! How much they possess who live the life of faith in the Son of God, and believe in Jesus! With all their weaknesses and crosses they have that which the world can neither give nor take away. They have a true Friend while they live, and a true home when they die.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Heart Corruptions

O God,

May thy Spirit speak in me that I may
speak to thee.
I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me.
I am undeserving, but I look to thy tender mercy.
I am full of infirmities, wants, sin;
   thou art full of grace.
I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my wilful sin;
All my powers of body and soul are defiled;
A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature.
There are chambers of foul images within my being;
I have gone from one odious room to another,
   walked in a no-man’s-land of dangerous
      imaginations,
   pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.
I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself;
I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns
   and thistles;
I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away;
I live bare and barren as a winter tree,
   unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt.
Lord, dost thou have mercy on me?
Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride,
   at the false god of self,
   and I lie in pieces before thee.
But thou hast given me another Master and Lord,
      thy Son, Jesus,
   and now my heart is turned towards holiness,
   my life speeds as an arrow from a bow
   towards complete obedience to thee.
Help me in all my doings to put down sin
   and to humble pride.
Save me from the love of the world and the pride
   of life,
   from everything that is natural to fallen man,
   and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day.
Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining,
      and delight to be
   not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned,
   but separated from the old rock where I have
      been embedded so long,
   and lifted from the quarry to the upper air,
      where I may be built in Christ for ever.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

The Gospel According to John

17 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
   6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

   These verses begin one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible. It is a chapter in which we see our Lord Jesus Christ addressing a long prayer to God the Father. It is wonderful as a specimen of the communion that was ever kept up between the Father and the Son, during the period of the Son’s ministry on earth.—It is wonderful as a pattern of the intercession which the Son, as an High Priest, is ever carrying on for us in heaven.–Not least it is wonderful as an example of the sort of things that believers should mention in prayer. What Christ asks for His people, His people should ask for themselves. It has been well and truly said by an old divine, that “the best and fullest sermon ever preached was followed by the best of prayers.”
   It is needless to say that the chapter before us contains many deep things. It could hardly be otherwise. He that reads the words spoken by one Person of the blessed Trinity to another Person, by the Son to the Father, must surely be prepared to find much that he cannot fully understand, much that he has no line to fathom. There are sentences, words, and expressions, in the twenty-six verses of this chapter, which no one probably has ever unfolded completely. We have not minds to do it, or to understand the matters it contains, if we could. But there are great truths in the chapter which stand out clearly and plainly on its face, and to these truths we shall do well to direct our best attention.
   We should notice, firstly, in these verses, what a glorious account they contain of our Lord Jesus Christ’s office and dignity. We read that the Father has “given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life.” The keys of heaven are in Christ’s hands. The salvation of every soul of mankind is at His disposal.—We read, furthermore, that “it is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” The mere knowledge of God is not sufficient, and saves none. We must know the Son as well as the Father. God known without Christ, is a Being whom we can only fear, and dare not approach. It is “God in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,” who alone can give to the soul life and peace.—We read, furthermore, that Christ “has finished the work which the Father gave Him to do.” He has finished the work of redemption, and wrought out a perfect righteousness for His people. Unlike the first Adam, who failed to do God’s will and brought sin into the world, the second Adam has done all, and left nothing undone that He came to do.—Finally, we read that Christ “had glory with the Father before the world was.” Unlike Moses and David, He existed from all eternity, long before He came into the world; and He shared glory with the Father, before He was made flesh and born of the Virgin Mary.
   Each of these marvelous sayings contains matter which our weak minds have not power fully to comprehend. We must be content to admire and reverence what we cannot thoroughly grasp and explain. But one thing is abundantly clear: sayings like these can only be used of one who is very God. To no patriarch, or prophet, or king, or apostle, is any such language ever applied in the Bible. It belongs to none but God.
   Forever let us thank God that the hope of a Christian rests on such a solid foundation as a Divine Saviour. He to whom we are commanded to flee for pardon, and in whom we are bid to rest for peace, is God as well as man. To all who really think about their souls, and are not careless and worldly, the thought is full of comfort. Such people know and feel that great sinners need a great Saviour, and that no mere human redeemer would meet their needs. Then let them rejoice in Christ, and lean back confidently on Him. Christ has all power, and is able to save to the uttermost, because Christ is divine. Office, power, and pre-existence, all combine to prove that He is God.
   We should notice, secondly, in these verses, what a gracious account they contain of our Lord Jesus Christ’s disciples. We find our Lord Himself saying of them, “They have kept Thy Word,—they have known that all things Thou hast given Me are of Thee,—they have received Thy words,—they have known surely that I came out from Thee,—they have believed that Thou didst send Me.”
   These are wonderful words when we consider the character of the eleven men to whom they were applied. How weak was their faith! How slender their knowledge! How shallow their spiritual attainments! How faint their hearts in the hour of danger! Yet a very little time after Jesus spoke these words they all forsook Him and fled, and one of them denied Him three times with an oath. No one, in short, can read the four Gospels with attention, and fail to see that never had a great master such weak servants as Jesus had in the eleven apostles. Yet these very weak servants were the men of whom the gracious Head of the Church speaks here in high and honorable terms.
   The lesson before us is full of comfort and instruction. It is evident that Jesus sees far more in His believing people than they see in themselves, or than others see in them. The least degree of faith is very precious in His sight. Though it be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, it is a plant of heavenly growth, and makes a boundless difference between the possessor of it and the man of the world. Wherever the gracious Saviour of sinners sees true faith in Himself, however feeble, He looks with compassion on many infirmities, and passes by many defects. It was even so with the eleven apostles. They were weak and unstable as water; but they believed and loved their Master when millions refused to own Him. And the language of Him who declared that a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple should not lose its reward, shows clearly that their loyalty was not forgotten.
   The true servant of God should mark well the feature in Christ’s character which is here brought out, and rest his soul upon it. The best among us must often see in himself a vast amount of defects and infirmities, and must feel ashamed of his poor attainments in religion. But do we simply believe in Jesus? Do we cling to Him, and roll all our burdens on Him? Can we say with sincerity and truth, as Peter said afterwards, “Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee”? Then let us take comfort in the words of Christ before us, and not give way to despondency. The Lord Jesus did not despise the eleven because of their feebleness, but bore with them and saved them to the end, because they believed. And He never changes. What He did for them, He will do for us.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Self-Deprecation

O Lord,

My every sense, member, faculty, affection,
is a snare to me,
I can scarce open my eyes but I envy those
      above me,
   or despise those below.
I covet honour and riches of the mighty,
   and am proud and unmerciful to the rags
      of others;
If I behold beauty it is a bait to lust,
   or see deformity, it stirs up loathing and disdain;
How soon do slanders, vain jests, and wanton
   speeches creep into my heart!
Am I comely? what fuel for pride!
Am I deformed? what an occasion for repining!
Am I gifted? I lust after applause!
Am I unlearned? how I despise what I have not!
Am in authority? how prone to abuse my trust,
   make will my law, exclude others’ enjyments,
   serve my own interests and policy!
Am I inferior? how much I grudge others’
   pre-eminence!
Am I rich? how exalted I become!
Thou knowest that all these are snares
   by my corruptions,
   and that my greatest snare is myself.
I bewail that my apprehensions are dull,
   my thoughts mean,
   my affections stupid,
   my expressions low,
   my life unbeseeming;
Yet what canst thou expect of dust but levity,
   of corruption but defilement?
Keep me ever mindful of my natural state,
   but let me not forget my heavenly title,
   or the grace that can deal with every sin.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

John 19:17–27

They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
   23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” 25 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

   He that can read a passage like this without a deep sense of man’s debt to Christ, must have a very cold, or a very thoughtless heart. Great must be the love of the Lord Jesus to sinners, when He could voluntarily endure such sufferings for their salvation. Great must be the sinfulness of sin, when such an amount of vicarious suffering was needed in order to provide redemption.
   We should observe, first, in this passage, how our Lord had to bear His cross when He went forth from the city to Golgotha.
   We need not doubt that there was a deep meaning in all this circumstance. For one thing, it was part of that depth of humiliation to which our Lord submitted as our substitute. One portion of the punishment imposed on the vilest criminals, was that they should carry their own cross when they went to execution; and this portion was laid upon our Lord. In the fullest sense He was reckoned a sinner, and counted a curse for our sakes.—For another thing, it was a fulfillment of the great type of the sin-offering of the Mosaic law. It is written, that “The bullock for the sin-offering, and the goat for the sin-offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp.” (Lev. xvii. 27.) Little did the blinded Jews imagine, when they madly hounded on the Romans to crucify Jesus outside the gates, that they were unconsciously perfecting the mightiest sin-offering that was ever seen. It is written, “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” (Heb. xiii. 12.)
   The practical lesson which all true Christians should gather from the fact before us, is one that should be kept in continual remembrance. Like our Master, we must be content to go forth “outside the camp,” bearing His reproach. We must come out from the world and be separate, and be willing, if need be, to stand alone. Like our Master, we must be willing to take up our cross daily, and to be persecuted both for our doctrine and our practice. Well would it be for the Church if there was more of the true cross to be seen among Christians! To wear material crosses as an ornament, to place material crosses on churches and tombs, all this is cheap and easy work, and entails no trouble. But to have Christ’s cross in our hearts, to carry Christ’s cross in our daily walk, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, to be made conformable to His death, to have crucified affections, and live crucified lives,—all this needs self-denial; and Christians of this stamp are few and far between. Yet, this, we may be sure, is the only cross-bearing and cross-carrying that does good in the world. The times require less of the cross outwardly and more of the cross within.
   We should observe, secondly, in this passage, how our Lord was crucified as a King.
   The title placed over our Lord’s head made this plain and unmistakable. The reader of Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, could not fail to see that He who hung on the central cross of the three on Golgotha, had a royal title over His head. The overruling hand of God so ordered matters, that the strong will of Pilate overrode for once the wishes of the malicious Jews. In spite of the chief priests, our Lord was crucified as “the King of the Jews.”
   It was meet and right that so it should be. Even before our Lord was born, the angel Gabriel declared to the Virgin Mary, “The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke i. 32, 33.) Almost as soon as He was born, there came wise men from the East, saying, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” (Matt. ii. 2.) The very week before the crucifixion, the multitude who accompanied our Lord at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, had cried, “Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (John xii. 13.) The current belief of all godly Jews was, that when Messiah, the Son of David came, He would come as a King. A kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of God was continually proclaimed by our Lord throughout His ministry. A King indeed He was, as He told Pilate, of a kingdom utterly unlike the kingdoms of this world, but for all that a true King of a true kingdom, and a Ruler of true subjects. As such He was born. As such He lived. As such He was crucified. And as such He will come again, and reign over the whole earth, King of kings and Lord of lords.
   Let us take care that we ourselves know Christ as our King, and that His kingdom is set up within our hearts. They only will find Him their Saviour at the last day, who have obeyed Him as King in this world. Let us cheerfully pay Him that tribute of faith, and love, and obedience, which He prizes far above gold. Above all, let us never be afraid to own ourselves His faithful subjects, soldiers, servants and followers, however much He may be despised by the world. A day will soon come when the despised Nazarene who hung on the cross, shall take to Himself His great power and reign, and put down every enemy under His feet. The kingdoms of this world, as Daniel foretold, shall be swept aside, and become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. And at last every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
   We should observe, lastly, in these verses, how tenderly our Lord took thought for Mary, His mother.
   We are told that even in the awful agonies of body and mind which our Lord endured, He did not forget her of whom He was born. He mercifully remembered her desolate condition, and the crushing effect of the sorrowful sight before her. He knew that, holy as she was, she was only a woman, and that, as a woman, she must deeply feel the death of such a Son. He therefore commended her to the protection of His best-loved and best-loving disciple, in brief and touching words: “Woman,” He said, “behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
   We surely need no stronger proof than we have here, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was never meant to be honored as divine, or to be prayed to, worshiped, and trusted in, as the friend and patroness of sinners. Common sense points out that she who needed the care and protection of another, was never likely to help men and women to heaven, or to be in any sense a mediator between God and man! It is not too much to say, however painful the assertion, that of all the inventions of the Church of Rome, there never was one more utterly devoid of foundation, both in Scripture and reason, than the doctrine of Mary-worship.
   Let us turn from points of controversy to a subject of far more practical importance. Let us take comfort in the thought that we have in Jesus a Saviour of matchless tenderness, matchless sympathy, matchless concern for the condition of His believing people. Let us never forget His words, “Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” (Mark iii. 35.) The heart that even on the cross felt for Mary, is a heart that never changes. Jesus never forgets any who love Him, and even in their worst estate remembers their need. No wonder that Peter says, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” (1 Pet. v. 7.)

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The Deeps

Lord Jesus,

Help me chastely to flee it
   and jealously to resolve that my heart
      shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust,
   that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee,
      the ground of my rest,
      the spring of my being.
Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself
   as saviour, master, lord, and king.
Give me deeper power in private prayer,
   more sweetness in Thy Word,
   more steadfast grip on its truth.
Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
   and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord,
      heavenly husbandman,
   that my being may be a tilled field,
   the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
   until Thou alone art seen in me,
   Thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
   Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but Thee,
   no law but Thy will,
   no delight but Thyself,
   no wealth but that Thou givest,
   no good but that Thou blessest,
   no peace but that Thou bestowest.
I am nothing but that Thou makest me.
I have nothing but that I receive from Thee.
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.
Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
   and then fill me to overflowing
      with living water.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

The Gospel According to John

21 After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.
   4 But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” 6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.
   9 So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” 11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. 14 This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

   The appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection, described in these verses, is a deeply interesting portion of the Gospel history. The circumstances attending it have always been regarded as highly allegorical and figurative, in every age of the Church. It may, however, be justly doubted whether commentators and interpreters have not gone too far in this direction. It is quite possible to spiritualize and filter away the narratives of the Gospels, until we completely lose sight of the plain meaning of words. In the present case we shall find it wise to confine ourselves to the great, simple lessons, which the passage undoubtedly contains.
   We should observe, for one thing, in these verses, the poverty of the first disciples of Christ. We find them working with their own hands, in order to supply their temporal needs, and working at one of the humblest of callings,—the calling of a fisherman. Silver and gold they had none, lands and revenues they had none, and therefore they were not ashamed to return to the business to which they had, most of them, been trained. Striking is the fact, that some of the seven here named were fishing, when our Lord first called them to be Apostles, and again fishing, when He appeared to them almost the last time. We need not doubt that to the minds of Peter, James, and John, the coincidence would come home with peculiar power.
   The poverty of the Apostles goes far to prove the divine origin of Christianity. These very men who toiled all night in a boat, dragging about a cold wet net, and taking nothing,—these very men who found it necessary to work hard in order that they might eat,—these very men were some of the first founders of the mighty Church of Christ, which has now overspread one-third of the globe. These were they who went forth from an obscure corner of the earth, and turned the world upside down. These were the unlearned and ignorant men, who boldly confronted the subtle systems of ancient philosophy, and silenced its advocates by the preaching of the cross. These were the men who at Ephesus, and Athens, and Rome, emptied the heathen temples of their worshipers, and turned away multitudes to a new and better faith. He that can explain these facts, except by admitting that Christianity came down from God, must be a strangely incredulous man. Reason and common sense lead us to only one conclusion in the matter. Nothing can account for the rise and progress of Christianity but the direct interposition of God.
   We should observe, for another thing, in these verses, the different characters of different disciples of Christ. Once more, on this deeply interesting occasion, we see Peter and John side by side in the same boat, and once more, as at the sepulcher, we see these two good men behaving in different ways. When Jesus stood on the shore, in the dim twilight of the morning, John was the first to perceive who it was, and to say, “It is the Lord;” but Peter was the first to spring into the water, and to struggle to get close to his Master. In a word, John was the first to see; but Peter was the first to act. John’s gentle loving spirit was quickest to discern; but Peter’s fiery, impulsive nature was quickest to stir and move. And yet both were believers, both were true-hearted disciples, both loved the Lord in life, and were faithful to Him unto death. But their natural temperaments were not the same.
   Let us never forget the practical lesson before us. As long as we live, let us diligently use it in forming our estimate of believers. Let us not condemn others as graceless and unconverted, because they do not see the path of duty from our stand-point, or feel things exactly as we feel them. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” (1 Cor. xii. 4.) The gifts of God’s children are not bestowed precisely in the same measure and degree. Some have more of one gift, and some have more of another. Some have gifts which shine more in public, and some which shine more in private. Some are more bright in a passive life, and some are more bright in an active one. Yet each and all the members of God’s family, in their own way and in their own season, bring glory to God. Martha was “careful and troubled about much serving,” when Mary “sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word.” Yet there came a day at Bethany, when Mary was crushed and prostrated by overmuch sorrow, and Martha’s faith shone more brightly than her sister’s. (Luke x. 39, 40; John xi. 20—28.) Nevertheless both were loved by our Lord. The one thing needful is to have the grace of the Spirit, and to love Christ. Let us love all of whom this can be said, though they may not see with our eyes in everything. The Church of Christ needs servants of all kinds, and instruments of every sort; pen-knives as well as swords, axes as well as hammers, chisels as well as saws, Marthas as well as Marys, Peters as well as Johns. Let our ruling maxim be this, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” (Ephes. vi. 24.)
   We should observe, lastly, in these verses, the abundant evidence which Scripture supplies of our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection . Here, as in other places, we find an unanswerable proof that our Lord rose again with a real material body, and a proof seen by seven grown-up men with their own eyes, at one and the same time. We see Him sitting, talking, eating, drinking, on the shore of the lake of Galilee, and to all appearance for a considerable time. The morning sun of spring shines down on the little party. They are alone by the well-known Galilean lake, far away from the crowd and noise of Jerusalem. In the midst sits the Master, with the nail-prints in His hands,—the very Master whom they had all followed for three years, and one of them, at least, had seen hanging on the cross. They could not be deceived. Will anyone pretend to say that stronger proof could be given that Jesus rose from the dead? Can any one imagine better evidence of a fact? That Peter was convinced and satisfied we know. He says himself to Cornelius, We “did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead.” (Acts x. 41.) Those who in modern times say they are not convinced, may as well say that they are determined not to believe any evidence at all.
   Let us all thank God that we have such a cloud of witnesses to prove that our Lord rose again. The resurrection of Christ is the grand proof of Christ’s divine mission. He told the Jews they need not believe He was the Messiah, if He did not rise again the third day.—The resurrection of Christ is the top-stone of the work of redemption. It proved that He finished the work He came to do, and, as our Substitute, had overcome the grave.—The resurrection of Christ is a miracle that no infidel can explain away. Men may carp and cavil at Balaam’s ass, and Jonah in the whale’s belly, if they please, but until they can prove that Christ did not rise again we need not be moved.—Above all, the resurrection of Christ is the pledge of our own. As the grave could not detain the Head, so it shall not detain the members. Well may we say with Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter i. 3.)

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Continual Repentance

O God of grace,

Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness
to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many
aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with
selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;

I need my tears to be washed;

I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;

I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of
raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;

I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth
the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

It is of great moment to know the proper value of a thing before we either praise or dispraise it. Let us beware of either overrating or underrating anything of which we are called to speak. Of the gospel the apostle speaks as one who knew its value. Do we so know its value as to say, What shall it profit me to gain the world and lose the gospel?

The apostle so knew it as to be able to say, I am not ashamed of it; just as elsewhere speaking of the cross he says, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He was not ashamed of it at Jerusalem, or Athens, or Rome. Many things were there to make him ashamed of it; Jewish prejudice and Gentile pride. But these prevailed not. In spite of contempt and hatred he held it fast.

We are apt to be ashamed of it. It looks weak, foolish, unintellectual, unphilosophical. It lags behind the age. It has become obsolete! It is beginning to be supplanted by learning and eloquence! Men are apt to shun the gospel as a feeble, childish thing, that has done its work in time past, but is giving place to something higher and more in accordance with the “deep instincts of humanity.”

There were some places in which the apostle might have been specially tempted to be ashamed of the gospel, or afraid of preaching it. At Jerusalem, for there the whole strength of Jewish ritualism rose against it; at Athens, for there it was confronted by the power of Grecian wisdom; at Ephesus, for there the dazzling subtleties of heathen magic rose against it; at Corinth, for there the torrent of human lust and pleasure rushed against it; at Rome, for there was time concentrated energy of earthly idolatry. Yet none of these things moved him. He was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, though all that was intellectual, and eloquent, and sensual, and refined, and powerful in humanity protested against it, or mocked it as folly.

We are tempted in our day to be ashamed of the gospel. It is thought to be bare, unintellectual, almost childish by many. Hence they would overlay it with argument and eloquence, to make it more respectable and more attractive. Every such attempt to add to it is being ashamed of it. The old apostolic gospel seems so bald that before we can avow connection with it, we must introduce something like philosophy into it! This is not treating it as Paul did. Some mistake it, others reject it, others are indifferent to it. But there are others who are ashamed of it.

If any might have been ashamed of it, Paul much more. His education, his life, his teachers, his companions were all such as to make him turn aside from a thing so plain. But, rising above all, he protests that he is not ashamed of that which so many of his former friends and teachers scorn.

But why was the apostle not ashamed of it? Had it been the feeble, childish thing which men said it was, he would have been ashamed of it. But it was not so. It was mighty; mightier than philosophy, or argument, or eloquence. It was “power.”

Many “apologists” for the gospel have, in their defense of it, assumed somewhat different ground from that of the apostle here. They defend it because it is noble, philosophical, reasonable, benevolent. It is all this, and more. Yet such are not Paul’s reasons for glorifying in it. He has fathomed man’s infinite need and misery; he has, with divinely opened eyes, looked into man’s present condition and his prospects. He sees in that gospel that which meets man’s great necessity as a lost being; and it is this glorious suitableness that makes him prize it so much. He is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation. Had it been less than this, however intellectual and philosophical, he would have been ashamed of it. No other excellence, however great, however appreciated by the human intellect, could compensate for the want of this. To be the wisdom of man, the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of words, was nothing to him. In thus listening to Paul’s reasons for not being ashamed of the gospel, let us learn what he thinks of that gospel, and what he understands it to be. (1.) It is the embodiment of God’s power for the salvation of the sinner; (2.) it is the revelation of God’s righteousness to the sinner. This is the sum of his reasons for glorying in the gospel of Christ.

I. It is God’s power unto salvation. Men were lost. Nothing but a great salvation could deliver; a salvation which embodied omnipotence. We may say it is a gospel preceded by omnipotence, succeeded by omnipotence, accompanied by omnipotence, containing omnipotence. God’s power was needed. Where has God placed it? In the gospel! Out of that gospel it goes forth to save the sinner. In that gospel omnipotence is wrapped up. Out of that gospel omnipotence goes forth to save. The power that is needed for the salvation of a sinner is that which is contained in the gospel. The gospel alone contains this saving power, and as such the apostle is not ashamed of it. But every one is not saved, even by this mighty gospel. Who, then, are saved by it? Only they who believe. Into all who believe, this mighty gospel comes with saving power, working in them and for them the reversal of all that made them lost; the whole of that which God calls salvation. It is in believing this gospel that we are saved; saved at once, freely, completely, forever. This gospel is wide as the world. It embraces all kindreds, and nations, and tongues. It goes first to the Jew; it begins at Jerusalem; but it does not end there. It goes round the earth; it takes in all men, the Greek as well as the Jew,—barbarian, Scythian, bond and free. To every man this mighty gospel comes and says, “Believe and be saved.” There is salvation for thee; not by working, or waiting, or praying, or reforming, but simply not by believing. He who believes is saved, whoever or whatever he may be.

II. It is the revelation of God’s righteousness. This mighty gospel saves in a righteous way. Its power unto salvation consists in its being a revelation of the righteousness of God. This righteousness is not that which we call the attribute of God. Nor does it merely mean “God’s method of justification”; though it is indeed such. It is that righteousness which was displayed in Him who is the righteous One, whose name is “Jehovah our righteousness.” It is a righteousness planned by God, provided and prepared by God, exhibited and unfolded by God to the sinner.

(1.) It is a righteousness revealed. No longer concealed, or but darkly unfolded; but fully and brightly displayed by God in Christ.

(2.) It is a divine righteousness. Not merely human, yet still human; human, yet divine; the righteousness of Him who was both God and man.

(3.) It is a righteousness by faith. This is the meaning of the words. “Therein is that righteousness of God, which comes to us by believing, revealed to be believed.” We get the whole of this glorious righteousness in accepting God’s testimony to it and to Him who wrought it out.

(4.) It is righteousness presented to us to be believed. God holds it out to us. He says, Take this from my hand; and if you ask, How am I to take it? the answer is, Believe what God says to you concerning it, and straightway it is yours.

(5.) It is the same righteousness which was possessed by the Old Testament saints. “The just shall hive by faith,” or “the just by faith shall live,” are the words of the ancient prophet, not merely predicting what shall be, but what has been and what is. It was Paul’s favorite text. It was also Luther’s. We become, or are constituted just, by or in believing; and we live by and in believing; for both these propositions are contained in the passage. One justification from the beginning, one faith, one life! The patriarchs “lived” by believing in Him who was to come; we “live” by believing in Him who has come. But it is one Saviour, one salvation, one cross.

God’s testimony to this righteousness is very full and explicit. He tells us what kind of righteousness it is, whose it is, and how we get it. It is divine, perfect, glorious, suitable; begun, carried out, completed by Christ during His life and death below: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” He who believes the divine testimony gets the righteousness. It becomes at once the property of him that believeth,—not of him that worketh. “He that believeth is justified from all things.” All the evil that is in us passes over to Christ, our surety; all the excellence that is in Him passes over to us as soon as we accept time testimony. “He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

The power of the gospel is wholly saving; it is armed with power,—just in order to save. There is nothing else in our world that can save but this. This gospel contains in it all that is needful to save. It reaches and reverses the condition of the lost. Nothing else does this. It saves, heals, comforts, gladdens, brings out of darkness into light. Salvation! This is its object. Nothing less than this. Not merely to reform, or elevate, or refine; but to save. Whatever it does less than this is in vain. It is salvation that we preach in preaching the gospel,—present, immediate, sure, eternal salvation! What then has the gospel done for you? Has it saved you? If not, it has come to you in vain. If it has only made you moral, or kept you moral, it has fallen short of its end.

It is through believing that this salvation is realized. We are saved when we believe the gospel. A gospel not believed will do nothing for us, but condemn. A believed gospel saves; and saves as soon as believed.

That gospel is the Holy Spirit’s testimony to God’s free love, and to the finished propitiation of the cross. The reception of that divine testimony is salvation. Has this salvation, O man, found its way into you? Or is it still resisted? Is the evil heart of unbelief still shutting it out? Is it still appealing to you in vain? Is it still telling to you the old story of the love of God, the love of Christ, but telling it in vain? Have you not yet discovered the good news which it brings to you! Are you still unsaved? Unsaved, because rejecting this gospel, and refusing the free gift it brings.

—Horatius Bonar, Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts & Themes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Confession and Petition

Holy Lord,

I have sinned times without number,
and been guilty of pride and unbelief,
of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,
of neglect to seek thee in my daily life.

My transgressions and short-comings
present me with a list of accusations,

But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,
for all have been laid on Christ.

Go on to subdue my corruptions,
and grant me grace to live above them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings
of the mind bring my spirit into subjection,
but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank thee that many of my prayers
have been refused —
I have asked amiss and do not have,
I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,
I have longed for Egypt and been given a
wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,
answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers,
and fitting me to accept it.

Purge me from every false desire,
every base aspiration,
everything contrary to thy rule.

I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,
for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
for sometimes putting me into the furnace
to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.

If thou shouldst give me choice to live
in pleasure and keep my sins,
or to have them burnt away with trial,
give me sanctified affliction.

Deliver me from every evil habit,
every accretion of former sins,
everything that dims the brightness
of thy grace in me,

Everything that prevents me taking delight
in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun,
for helping me to be upright.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

—Romans 5:2–4

How simply does the apostle put the “good news” in the conclusion of the previous chapter! “It was not written for his (Abraham’s) sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered because we had sinned, and was raised because we were justified.” Then in the fifth chapter he thus continues,—”Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have access (introduction) by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we even glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience (δοχιμή, approval after trial,—approval by God; perhaps here “a sense of approval”), and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed (will not disappoint), because the love of God is shed abroad (poured out of one vessel into another) in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.”

Thus, then, all true religion begins with our being justified; this justification is immediate,—by believing; then follows inseparably, peace with God; and this peace is through Jesus Christ, who is our peace, and who has made peace by the blood of His cross. This Jesus who has effected the peace has brought us at the same time into a state of favor, and placed us on a new footing, namely, of grace or free love, so that all our intercourse and transactions with God henceforth proceed on this new footing; God deals with us in free love, and we count on being dealt with at all times in free love; we expect nothing save from free love, and from it we expect everything. This fountain of God’s free love, thus opened for us, and to which, we are brought by Jesus Christ, is all we need for the fullest supply of our innumerable wants. Let us give all credit to the divine testimony concerning it; and act upon it continually; so shall we be kept in peace, and strength, and liberty.

But let us look at the second verse a little more closely.

The two things which the apostle brings before us in connection with our justified condition, are the grace and the glory. Let us take up these two subjects.

I. The grace. This means, of course, the state of favor with God; as when we read, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” It is that state in which we are dealt with by God in free love, and in free love alone; that state in which not law but free love regulates everything, gives everything; so that keeping this in mind, we may live, and act, and pray as those who are entitled to feel themselves absolutely sure of everything that free love can bestow. The apostle refers to two things in our connection with this state, our introduction or access into it, and our abiding in it.

(1.) Access or introduction. It is Christ that introduces us into it, places us in it,—Christ himself; for “through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Christ is the revealer of the Father, the embodiment of the Father’s free love. Christ takes us by the hand, and leads us in to the Father’s presence; and thus led in by Him, we find there nothing but grace, favor, love. There is no other Introducer but He; there is no other introduction or recommendation but His blood. He leads us in, saying, Father, here is one who is willing to be indebted to me for everything, to my blood for cleansing, to my righteousness for covering, to my merit for acceptance, receive him graciously, love him freely. Thus by Christ we are introduced into the favor of God.

(2.) Abiding in it. It is a state of permanence, unchanging permanence. It is not free love today and law tomorrow, but free love perpetually henceforth; we are not under the law but under grace; where sin abounded, grace has much more abounded. We are not in favor one hour, and out of favor the next, according to our frames; but always in favor, through Him who has introduced us into a state, out of which we can never be cast. There may be much inconsistency, much conscious evil, much that is in itself fitted to separate us from God, or draw His frown upon us; but we are now in a state of favor,—and God deals with us now only in free love. This free love faith realizes; keeping us ever under a sense of it, “rooted and grounded in love.” Out of the happy consciousness of this, nothing but unbelief can drive us or keep us. Let us, then, know our privilege as believing men, and stand in this free love; let “us be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” It is often hard so to abide; to realize God’s free love in the midst of much conscious evil; but that is the condition of every one who has believed in Jesus; and on this free love he ever falls back when Satan would prompt him to despond, or lead him to self-righteousness. The remembrance of this free love will alone keep him in perfect peace. Nothing else will avail.

II. The glory. It is “the glory of God”; not the essential glory of the divine character, but the glory conferred on us by God; the glory of His kingdom; the glory of His glorious heaven; the glory of resurrection, when that which is sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory; the glory of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Connected with this glory there is first joy, and then hope.

(1.) Joy. The word is more properly to triumph, or boast, or exult. It is the expression of the soul’s exuberant fullness at the tidings of such a glory. It is joy more than sufficient to counterbalance all earthly sorrows, as well as to eclipse all earthly joys. We glory in the glory. We triumph every time we think of what God has promised to us, and will ere long bring to pass.

(2.) Hope. This glory is expressly given us as a hope, as something for hope to feed upon; an object large enough and bright enough to gladden the hoping eye, and fill the hoping soul. It is preeminently the thing hoped for, the “blessed hope.” We are men of hope. We are saved by hope. We love by hope. We are comforted by hope. We are sustained and sanctified by hope. It is a hope that maketh not ashamed. It will not fail nor disappoint. It will, when realized, prove itself to be worthy of the joy which it gave us here; worthy of that God who prepared it for us, of that Christ who bought it for us.

The root of all this is faith,—faith beginning at the cross and stretching forward to the throne; faith which brings us into the possession of the divine favor, and keeps us in perfect peace, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.

Let us live the lives of believing men; at peace with God; rooted and grounded in love; free, happy, earnest, self-denied; never losing hold of the free love of God, and never losing sight of the glory to be revealed; walking not only in the love of God, but in the law of God, which is holy, and just, and good, keeping our eye continually on the “statutes,” and “judgments,” and “testimonies,” and “commandments” of the Lord our God, knowing that “great peace have they that love this law,” and that it is to this that we are called,—”that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”

—Horatius Bonar, Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts & Themes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Contrition

O thou Most High,

It becomes me to be low in thy presence.
I am nothing compared with thee;

I possess not the rank and power of angels,
but thou hast made me what I am,
and placed me where I am;
help me to acquiesce in thy sovereign pleasure.

I thank thee that in the embryo state
of my endless being

I am capable by grace of improvement;
that I can bear thy image,
not by submissiveness, but by design,
and can work with thee and advance thy cause
and glory.

But, alas, the crown has fallen from my head:
I have sinned;
I am alien to thee;
my head is deceitful and wicked,
my mind an enemy to thy law.

Yet, in my lostness thou hast laid help
on the Mighty One
and he comes between to put his hands
on us both,
my Umpire, Daysman, Mediator,
whose blood is my peace,
whose righteousness is my strength,
whose condemnation is my freedom,
whose Spirit is my power,
whose heaven is my heritage.

Grant that I may feel more the strength
of thy grace
in subduing the evil of my nature,
in loosing me from the present evil world,
in supporting me under the trials of life,
in enabling me to abide with thee in my valleys,
in exercising me to have a conscience void
of offence before thee and before men.

In all my affairs may I distinguish between
duty and anxiety,
and may my character and not my
circumstances chiefly engage me.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

21  But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

—Romans 10

Let us mark here, first, God’s treatment of man; secondly, man’s treatment of God.

I. God’s treatment of man. It is of Israel specially that the apostle is speaking; but what is true of them in this case, is true of all. God in His dealings with man shews us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. As the heavens are to a grain of sand, or as ‘the ocean to a drop, so are His thoughts to ours; wider, fuller, larger, higher, deeper; like Himself and He is love. In all God’s words to Israel in the Old Testament, the good news of His wide and free love come out very simply. The New Testament formula, “Believe and be saved,” is not there; but the gracious character of Jehovah is fully unfolded, and so presented to sinners, as if it had been said, “Whoever owns the true God is saved; whoever is willing to come to Him is welcome; and whoever calls on Him shall not be put to shame.” Herein is love.

(1.) Long suffering. He stretches out His hands; He does so all the day long. We may take this as simply meaning the whole of each natural day of our lives; or the whole of “the day of salvation.” In either case we see the same longsuffering; God not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Here we see Him waiting to be gracious; pitying the sinner; not cutting him off in his sins; not easily provoked; merciful and gracious; forbearing anger and judgment; not putting forth His power, but waiting long and patiently; not visiting transgression, nor dealing sharply with the transgressor.

(2.) Earnest desire to bless. There is much more in the words than mere longsuffering or forbearance. There is the exhibition of the most intense yearning over the sons of men. There are no words spoken; it is the attitude that marks the earnestness and the longing. Jesus wept over Jerusalem; God stretches out His hands to sinners, like one pleading with them, like one trying to save them, like one beckoning to them, like one expressing by signs feelings too strong for utterance. How shall I give thee up! I have no pleasure in your death! Why will ye die! Come, now, and let us reason together! How often would I have gathered you! Ye will not come to me! O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Turn ye, turn ye! Come unto me! These are the feelings expressed by the posture in which God is here represented as standing,—looking down from heaven upon men, yearning over them, beseeching them to be reconciled. Earnest He is in this thing,—honestly, sincerely earnest, for He knows the worth of the soul which He has made, He knows the greatness of the joy or sorrow which must be its portion, He knows what the loss of heaven will be, and what the everlasting darkness will be,—and what the unchangeable eternity will be to which they are passing. Yes, God’s desire to bless the sons of men,—the chief of sinners amongst them,—is sincere and true, earnest and deep and warm; however difficult it may be to reconcile this with the fact of there being an endless hell; however impossible for us fully to answer the question so often put by unbelief within and without, Why then does He let any one perish since He has the power to save?

II. Man’s treatment of God. Man’s thoughts and ways toward God, are the reverse of God’s thoughts and ways toward man. He walks “after his own thoughts” is Isaiah’s expression (65:2). Man’s actings and thinkings and feelings toward God may be set out as follows:—

(1.) Indifference. Occupied with himself and his own world of pleasure and business, man treats God and His claims, whether of law or love, with disregard. God is not in all his thoughts. He tries not to think about God at all; to preoccupy his mind with other objects, so as to induce forgetfulness and indifference. The absence of God, and the want of His favor, are not things which concern him, or make him unhappy for a moment He can do without God!

(2.) Unbelief. Man in so far as his fellows are concerned is no unbeliever. He is quite ready to receive the testimony of men; nay, he is often credulous, and believes without evidence or against evidence. But in the things of God he is thoroughly an unbeliever; both as to God Himself, and as to the truth and testimony of God. He disbelieves and he distrusts. He has no confidence in God, or in His word. Faith in God is wholly alien to him.

(3.) Disobedience. In Isaiah (65:1) it is called “rebellion”; “walking in a way not good.” God’s will is a hateful thing to man; so is God’s law, which is the declaration of that will. To obey God save through terror is what he never thinks of; and even then it is mere outward compliance. Man’s heart never obeys God till renewed. His whole life is consistent and deliberate disobedience, sometimes more open and daring, and sometimes less.

(4.) Gainsaying. Man speaks against God; he acts against God. In both senses he is a gainsayer. He has no good word to say of God or of his Christ; he sets himself against both. Here we have such things as the following:

(a.) Captiousness. He is perpetually finding fault with God; with His word, and ways, and dispensations; with His actings toward individuals and the world at large. “Why doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted His will,” is one form of human fault finding with God. “If we pine away in our iniquities, how shall we then live?” (Ezekiel 33:10) is another form. There are many forms of captious gainsaying or murmuring; this discontent and repining, and charging God either with injustice or unkindness.

(b.) Obstinacy. Stout-heartedness and stiff-neckedness are God’s frequent charges against Israel; no less against us. We are stubborn and self-willed; preferring our own way and wisdom to His. We are like the horse or mule; like the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. We will neither be led nor driven. We resist; we kick against the pricks.

(c.) Refusal of blessing. Yes; man refuses to be blest. This is the most unaccountable part of man’s gainsaying. He thrusts away the love of God, and the blessing which that love holds out. He does not like (1) the blessing itself; (2) the terms on which it is given; (3) the giver; (4) the effects which would follow receiving it,—a holy life.

Thus man deals with God, setting himself against Him in all ways and things. Yet thus does God continue to deal with man in unwearied love and patience. He still bends over him to the last, as Jesus did over Jerusalem, yearning, pitying, longing to bless!

—Horatius Bonar, Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts & Themes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Humiliation

Sovereign Lord,

When clouds of darkness, atheism, and
unbelief come to me,

I see thy purpose of love
in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize
him more,
in chastening me for my confidence in
past successes, that my wound of secret
godlessness might be cured.

Help me to humble myself before thee
by seeing the vanity of honour
as a conceit of men’s minds,
as standing between me and thee;
by seeing that thy will must alone be done,
as much in denying as in giving
spiritual enjoyments;
by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil,
mind, mouth, life void of thee;
by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power
in me that I might know my sin, be humbled,
and gain strength thereby;
by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me,
so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy,
or love.

Then possess me, for thou only art good
and worthy.

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin,
Satan did not play in tempting me to it,
I do not play when I sink in deep mire,
for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble;

Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies
not so much in the nature of the sin committed,
as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me,
by showing me
that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive,
and satisfied;
that I am feeble and unable to do any good,
but that in him I can do all things;
that what I now have in Christ is mine in part,
but shortly I shall have it perfectly in heaven.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, 7so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

—1 Corinthians 1

The Saint’s True Posture.

At Corinth there was a large and noble church. It was not perfect; there were errors and divisions in it; there was gross sin in it. Yet it was not only a true church, but one of high attainment. The Corinthian saints were enriched in all utterance and all knowledge. They had gifts as well as graces; manifold gifts; all gifts; they came behind or were deficient in no gift; they abounded in them. They were an advancing church; a church of true “progress” in knowledge, gifts, and holiness.

Thus there may in a church be much evil in the midst of much good. Even when there are divisions and inconsistencies, there may be life and fruit.

It is progress at which we are to aim; each church, each Christian. We must first start,—start in the right direction,—for the walk or the race. We must begin with believing; we must be rooted and grounded in love. And then progress, true progress begins; not till then. Having begun, we go on unto perfection; we increase and abound in wisdom, truth, holiness, hatred of sin, love to the brethren, pity for the world. Onward, upward, is our motto.

But along with these gifts there was one thing specially noticeable in these Corinthians: they waited for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us mark here,—

I. The person. He is not here designated Son of man, or Son of God, King, or Master, or Bridegroom, but “Lord Jesus Christ”; His fullest, longest title, and one which the apostle delights to repeat at full length, as if never weary of it. He is (1.) Lord; nay, He is Lord of lords; He is Lord in the sense of God; He is Jehovah, for this is His Old Testament name. (2.) Jesus. Jah, the Saviour, He who saves us from our sins; a divine Saviour. (3.) Christ; Messiah, the anointed one; filled with the Spirit without measure; the vessel of infinite and divine fullness. These three names declare His glory, and also reveal His grace. In them we read, “God is love”; “God so loved the world”; “herein is love.”

II. The event. “The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word is properly “the apocalypse,” or “revelation,” or “manifestation.” He is now hidden; unseen; within the veil. But this concealment is not always to last. God bath appointed a day for “revelation.” Then He shall be visible; every eye shall see Him. His first coming is the greatest event in earth’s past history; His second coming is the greatest in its future. He shall come! Behold the Lord cometh. He comes in glory, in majesty, with clouds, with all his saints, to destroy Antichrist; to deliver creation; to bind Satan; to convert Israel and the Gentiles; to execute vengeance; to raise His, saints; to judge and to reign. For these things He comes. He is only waiting for the time appointed by the Father. Then He shall appear in His glory, no longer the man of sorrows, but the Conqueror, the Bridegroom, the crowned King.

III. The posture. “Waiting” (see Roman 8:19, 23), as the servant for the master; the traveler or mariner for the morning; the bride for the bridegroom. In all these there is eager and earnest expectation. The event is infinitely desirable; the person is the object of our love. We have heard of Him; we long to see Him and to hear His voice. His absence is sadness and gloom; as Rutherford says, “It is like a mountain of iron on our heavy hearts.” All seems to go wrong in that time of absence. In such a case, “waiting” is a necessity; we cannot but wait. (1) We wait in faith; (2) in hope; (3) in patience; (4) in desire; (5) in love; (6) in watchfulness. Such was the church’s posture before Messiah’s first coming; such is it before His second. It is the posture of the church and of each saint. They are waiters and watchers. There must be no forgetfulness, no indifference, no sloth, no sleep; all wakefulness, eagerness, and longing. Many things tend to hinder this, and to throw us off our guard. Let us beware, and hold fast. Let us not sleep as do others; but watch.

IV. The connection between this posture and the gift. It is close, vital, and mutual. The gifts cherish the waiting, and the waiting the gifts; the one helps the other. The more we wait, the more the gifts will grow; and the more they grow, the more will we wait. (1.) The gifts are all from Christ, out of His fullness; and the more we possess of the gifts, the more shall we desire to know the giver; the more copious and pleasant our draughts of the stream, the more shall we long for the fountainhead. (2.) The gifts are the gifts of the Spirit, and He is the witness of Christ; the more that we are filled with Him, the more shall we wait, and look, and long for Him to whom He testifies, and whom His office is to glorify. Thus they both are inseparably linked together. We cannot be growing Christians without waiting for Christ; and we cannot wait for Christ without growing.

(1.) Press on. Stationary saintship is as poor as it is perilous. Advance; advance! Make this your motto. Be progressive Christians; belong to the advanced school of theology and holiness in the true sense.

(2.) Beware of stumbling and backsliding. The tendencies both within and without are all against us. Snares and stumbling blocks are in our path. Be on your guard. Look to your feet. Dread one retrogressive step. Watch against coldness and formalism.

(3.) Wait for the revelation of Christ. Be this your posture constantly; not theoretical, but practical. Let nothing come between you and a crucified Christ; a risen Christ; a glorified Christ; a coming Christ.

—Horatius Bonar, Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts & Themes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.