Notwithstanding that grace is its main characteristic it has all the authority of a command. It is only God's grace that can keep your graces alive under such circumstances. It is well they are. None of our old friends would refuse to receive us. Own them! We either curse or bless those around us. Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. He can say, "Let God be true, but every man a liar." III. There is a good tale told of an old man whose minister used to read. Jun 23, 1996. Now, worldly religious men will go just as every body else goes. O my brothers, believe up to the hilt in prayer, and you will find it to be the most remunerative work on earth! There may be truths non-essential to our salvation; but there are no non-essential truths with regard to our comfort. I would sooner have the faith which obeys than the faith which heaps the altar of God with sacrifices, and perfumes his courts with incense. We hear people talk about "minor points," and so on; but we must not consider any word of our God as a minor thing, if by that expression is implied that it is of small importance. Perhaps you will say, "Why does the Lord make them so plentiful? Your God is your true joy: make your joy to be in your God. And the man was not far from right. Methinks, that by what he has prepared for them, we may judge how he esteems and loves them--estimating them by what he means them to be, rather than by what they appear to be at present. Hebrews 11:15-16 ABRAHAM left his country at God's command, and he never went back again. Notice the text, "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them--he hath prepared for them a city." Possibly I speak to some who are suffering the evils of persecution No cruel tyrant can burn believers now, nor even cast them into prison for Christ's sake; but there are ways enough for the seed of the serpent to show its enmity to the seed of the woman. Father, mother, husband, wife, sister, brother, servant, master--whatever your relation, I beseech you, if you feel weak in the discharge of your duty, exercise faith in God about it, and out of weakness you shall be made strong. Perfect obedience to God would mean love among men, justice to all classes, and peace in every land. I do not care for your parsons a bit; but that neighbor of ours has been in here, and he says he shall break his heart unless I am converted; and that beats me." Yet he devises means, and brings about the purposes of his grace. And remember, you can only know how great a thing faith is by knowing the infinite value of the salvation of a soul. Why put your life in jeapordy for such an improbability? The will of the Lord is to be done by his servants, whether on earth or in heaven. At once, I say, he went. More than that, there were messages exchanged, servants were sometimes sent, and you know there was a new relation entered into--did not Rebekah come from thence? If the father of the faithful had to do it, why should the sons murmur? Let us not forget those members of Christ's mystical body that are in the fire: "his feet are like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." "He hath prepared for them"--not "for all of you"--only for such of you as answer the description on which we have been meditating has he prepared "a city.". Alas! Hare you not been obliged to say, after you have had all that the world could give you, "Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity?" Yes; and you will reply, that Christ said to the Pharisees, "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte." I fear I should never have touched his case if I had not been in the miry clay myself. I hope that many of us have the living faith which Folks by love, and if so we shall rejoice in the will of the Lord, let it be what it may; if we know anything to be right we shall delight to do it but as for doubtful or sinful deeds we renounce them. The answer is exceedingly correct; but it might have been equally truthful if it had been shorter. And because we desire this better thing, we cannot go back and be content with things which gratified us once. He had no Pentateuch, no Psalms, no Gospels, no Epistles; but he so believed that little Bible of his, that he expected that Christ in him would bruise the serpent in the world. "Whither away?" But all these were men of faith. Do not give a penny for that man's piety which will not spread itself. May the Lord convince you, yea, at this moment, may be lead you to decision, and enable you henceforth to live by faith. We Christians are to be equally distinct, not in meats, and drinks, and garments, and holy days, but as to spirituality of mind and holiness of life. This is real faith. I have broken the key of my drawers, and there are some things I must get directly." Depend upon it, faith that is never tried is not faith. They were not naturally strong either to do or to suffer. The victory was complete. It was blotted out when he nailed the handwriting of ordinances that were against thee to his cross. Alas! The end of the chapter reminds us that faith is and it is for we who follow in the footsteps of the faithful men and women of previous ages. We shall never find a heaven here. Oh, my dear friends, such carnal policy, if you practice it, will do you serious injury. What a great thing it is to save a soul! Perhaps it did when you were dead in sin. Let us rest assured that nothing but repeated and fiery trials could have trained his faith to so great a strength as that which it exhibited in his preparation to slay his son at the command of God. Duncan Matheson, the Scottish Evangelist. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. I need not repeat the accusations; they have been so often hurled at myself that I know them by heart. God will vindicate his own cause; but it may be his way to let error prevail for a while. Is not this enough to cheer the rank and file of the church, IV. I. What poor people God's people are--poor many of them in circumstances, but how many of them I might very well call poor as to spiritual things! There was careful preparation, and not hurried, thoughtless activity. Let us fear lest we should fall into sin, and perish with the rest of the sinners. If God be God to-morrow he is God to-day; if Christ be worth having next week he is worth having to-day. Then, and not before, he overthrew them, so that Israel sang, "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." It is better to have the faith that obeys than the faith which moves mountains. Descend, O sovereign love, descend, And melt that stubborn soul! You will never be able to cut down this huge upas tree except with the axe of Christ's atoning sacrifice. Let me ask you to note, first, faith makes men strong for holy doing; and, secondly, faith makes men strong for patient suffering. I hope so long as I live there will always be a straight road from my heart to my mouth, and that I shall be able to preach whatever I believe in my soul, and to keep nothing reserved. He looks to that iron safe to be quite sure that it is well secured--he cannot forget his dear gold. it is a noble thing to be the lonely follower of despised truth. Dost thou love his people? God sees the poorest, the least proficient disciple as a man in Christ; a perfect man come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; such indeed as he will be in that day when he shall see Christ, for then he shall be like him as he is. God does. Or, if you have spiritual discernment to perceive the spiritual creature, you only see it as it is veiled by reason of the flesh, and beclouded by the atmosphere of this world; but he sees it as it will appear, when it shall be radiant like unto Christ, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. The Tempter he is, the Destroyer he would be, if we were not delivered from his snares. I do not think if any of us had such a family as God has, we should ever have patience with them. If, then, you have faith, you can say, "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to the cross I cling.". Art thou resting in the promise of a faithful God?" What do they know about your inward sorrow? Stay lo of his infinite mercy give us the willing and the obedient mind that we may not pervert the gospel to our own destruction. Noah had not a careless fear, as some here have. You, dear hearers, are not good hearers so long as you are only hearers; but when the heart is affected by the ear, and the hand follows the heart, then your faith is proved. There was also a natural relationship kept up. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens. this is well!" Those productions of genius are all forgotten now; but Noah is remembered still. Let us away from it. He said to David, "I have sinned against thee, my son David;" and yet he went on as he did before. THOSE WHO OUT OF WEAKNESS were made strong are written among the heroes of faith, and are by no means the least of them. Edited by C. H. SPURGEON. We can see that the procrastinator halts, but it were hard to guess how long he will do so. If you are what you profess to be, you are strangers. if thou dost not love Christ thou dost not believe in him; for to believe in Christ begets love. Christ will have all or nothing; he must be a whole Saviour, or none at all. Moses chose to suffer the pain of alienation and misunderstanding from his adoptive family. Out of a sort of kindly pity for his neighbour's weak-mindedness, with a mixture of an unacknowledged feeling on his own account, he went to hear the preaching of the Word, and was brought to Jesus. "My Father is the husbandman," said Christ. For ever and for ever shall the tenderness and mercy of God be thus despised? In the one hand he gives pardon; but in the other hand he always gives holiness; and no man can have the one unless he has the other. His choice is neither wealth, nor ease, nor honour; but that ho may glorify God in his body, and his spirit, which are the Lord's. There shall be delightful intercourse. That which begins with shamefacedness, equivocation, hesitation, and compromise will ripen into apostasy. The minister called to see him, and said, "What are you doing John?" Here we are tent-dwellers, but the tent is soon to be taken down. I. said the father, "he would not love you if you were not a good boy." He left that all in the hands of God. Let no one run away, when I shall have expounded the first point, and miss the rest, for you can not apprehend the whole power of her faith unless you remember each of those particulars I am about to mention. You have a sort of hereditary religion in the same way as you have a display of family plate; pretty battered it is, no doubt, and rather light in weight by this time, but still you cling to it. Preaching is not taking out a manuscript sermon, asking God to direct your heart, and then reading pages prepared beforehand. The Lord was leading me where I should be taught to know my man, and should be made willing to sit side by side with him in the dark prison-house, and lend him a hand to escape. If so, thou mayest hope to be saved. Believe in his promise, and plead it. He sees in him a dignity and a glory second only to himself. Not that we have to take our journey into a far country, or to forsake our kindred perhaps it would be an easier task to walk with God if we could do so but our calling is to be separate from sinners, and yet to live among them: to be a stranger and a pilgrim in their cities and homes. Most probably he heard a voice from heaven speaking audibly to him and saying, "Get thee out from thy kindred and from thy father's house." Should we have any other ambition, within the walls of our Father's house, than to be perfectly obedient children before him, and implicitly trustful towards him? The 11th chapter of Hebrews is the chapter of the men who pleased God. Five or six families came out of that place, and became substantial in wealth, and generous in liberality. Cry out to God for him. I believe that since it is all the Word of God it is all most assuredly true." And explaining it more fully to her, he said, "It is Christ, and Christ alone, that can open heaven to you, and not your good works." III. It is a city, which indicates, first, an abiding happiness. The proof of faith lies in perseverance. Oh, what a privilege it will be if you yourself and all your house are saved! So sure as our faith is real, it will want to bring others in. The father of the family must not know whither he was going, and shall you, the sons and daughters, long to read the future with whistful curious eyes? "What, minister," said she, "are our good works useless then?" "O men and brethren, trust not your faith, unless it has self-denial with it. And why should not God vouchsafe the same faith to thee, my poor, sinning, but contrite hearer? Published on Thursday, September 30th, 1915. The text begins, "By faith Noah." There is no doubt he could, but it was never the Master's intention that we should all be hothouse plants. Beware of the high places: they are very slippery. the Spirit of God comes to many when they are in much the same condition; and what a work it is to bring up from the horrible midnight, and to give strength to rise out of the inky waters! It is a good key, but you have broken it." Though you should forsake all, and should be by all forsaken, for the truth's sake, with Abraham's trial and Abraham's faith, you shall have Abraham's honor and Abraham's reward. You have opportunities to sin as they do, to fall into their excess, into their forgetfulness of God, or even into their blasphemies. As the Lord said to the Jews, "With all your sacrifices you must offer salt;" so he says to us, "With all your doings you must bring faith, or else "without faith it is impossible to please God." We must be separate in character from those with whom we may be called to grind at the same mill, or sleep in the same bed; and this I warrant you is by no means an easier task than that which fell to the patriarch's lot. I do not bargain for comfort, and peace, and joy, if I can be more helpful to thy poor, weary children without them. If you will stand firm in Christ Jesus, even in your weakness you will be made strong. He that does not run away because his legs are too weak, does not prove himself a hero; but he that could run, but will not run; he that could desert his Lord, but will not desert him, has within him a principle of grace stronger than any fetter could be--the highest, firmest, noblest bond that unites a man to the Savior. If they have such a separating effect upon our character in keeping us from the world, let us cultivate them much. God declared him righteous; not righteous by his works, although his works, following upon his faith, proved him to be righteous; but righteous by his faith. John Piper Jun 2, 1996. He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," but, at the same time, he does lead us there, and intends to do it, and this for the proving of our faith, to see whether it be true faith or not. Book excerpt: Get ready to make the book of Hebrews your new favorite book of the Bible with the help of Looking to Christ, an . Amen. No, no, she did not. If you would know the way to hell, you may shut your eyes and find it: a little matter of neglect will surely ruin you "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (1-2) A summary of points previously made regarding Jesus as our High Priest. Shall I help you to answer that question? "Out of weakness were made strong": this will be experienced in bearing witness for the truth of God. Our greatest risk is over when we obey. You know that very particular, superfine sort--the gospel, a gospel, the spirit of which consists in bad temper, carnal security, arrogance, and a seared conscience. She was disappointed, expecting that everyone would have some keys. Perhaps you have tried to fill your soul with worldly things. Abraham "went out, not knowing whither he went," but the moderns must have every information with regard to the way, and then they will not go. Faith is weakness clinging to strength, and becoming strong through so doing. They say, "The man was born too late; he is behind the age; he fights for a worn-out creed; he is out of place in a world of progress," What then? But, dear brethren, it is not merely in our business and in our calling; the mischief lies in our bone and in our flesh. There is not much need to preach caution nowadays: those who would run any risk for the truth's sake are few enough. There is, in this chapter, a special commendation for faith in a pleasing variety of operations. 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