Perhaps you have tried to fill your soul with worldly things. And methinks that by what he has prepared for them he esteems them and loves them; esteeming them by what he means them to be rather than by what they appear to be. Friend, I am not careful in that matter, nor need you be. I sigh to think of how many that appeared very earnest Christians when they were struggling for bread have become very dull and cold now that they have become rich. Grace has given it. True, it brought him into a world of trouble, and no wonder: such a noble course as his was not likely to be an easy one. Dost thou love Christ? Not now do they gather in the great amphitheater, where sits the emperor in state, with all the proud citizens of Rome in the nearer gallery, tier on tier, and the multitude up yonder, gazing with their cruel eyes into the vast arena below. Published on Thursday, September 30th, 1915. III. It makes them say, "Lord, thou hast forgiven me my sins; I will sin no more. There is a good tale told of an old man whose minister used to read. Another reason why we should follow with simplicity and faith all the commands of God, is this, because we may be quite sure they shall all end well. We will not have it that God, in his Holy Book, makes mistakes about matters of history, or of science, any more than he does upon the great truths of salvation. The Lord give you, my brothers, to believe to the utmost degree, for his name's sake! may grace be given you so that, if others play the Judas, instead of leading you to do the same, it may only bind you more fast to your Lord, and make you walk more carefully, lest you also prove a son of perdition. By this you shall know whether you are Christ's or not when you have opportunity to return--if you don't return, that shall prove you are his. Yes; and you will reply, that Christ said to the Pharisees, "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte." "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and ye shall be saved." Now is the hour for faith in the great Lord, who holds even lonely seas in the hollow of his hand. Not Yet a Member? Ah me! The man who waits until he shall find it more easy to bear the yoke of obedience, is like the woodman who found his faggot too heavy for his idle shoulder, and, placing, it upon the ground, gathered more wood and added to the bundle, then tried it, but finding it still an unpleasant load, repeated the experiment of heaping on more, in the vain hope that by-and-by it might be of a shape more suitable for his shoulder. it was a mighty deed which faith accomplished when he bore her off in safety. Jesus' sacrifice for us, made us righteous, holy and cleansed from the guilt of sin. "Ah!" This is . I am not pronouncing any judgement upon their conduct, I am merely pointing out the fact. Some are permitted to sink a long way down in sin; and when God begins with them, they have a desperate ascent even to reach common morality; what must the conflict be before they attain to spirituality and holiness? Let us think of heaven, of Christ, of all the blessings of the covenant, and let us thus keep our desires wide awake. It is nothing short of Godhead's utmost stretch of might that keeps the feet of the saints, and preserves them from going back to their old unregenerate condition. What grand life ever was easy? No. If you are what you profess to be, you are strangers: you do not expect men of this world to treat you as members of their community. walter e smithe daughters net worth. Other sins die hard, but this is shot through the head by true repentance and faith in Jesus. The first was this, that he was willing to be separated from his kindred. The true believer believes in God beyond all his belief in anything else, and everything else. It is our ambition to be great believers, rather than great thinkers; to be child-like in faith, rather than subtle in intellect. She knew that if they were found in her house she would be put to death; but though she was so weak as to do a sinful deed to preserve them, yet she was so strong that she would run the risk of being put to death to save these two men. and if we are called to suffer for him, our weakness, in the case of most of us, is even greater: many who can labor without weariness cannot suffer without impatience. We have been separated. He looks to that iron safe to be quite sure that it is well secured--he cannot forget his dear gold. Hebrews 11:1. To tell a very familiar story, and even the poorest may not misunderstand what I say: a minister was one day going to preach. Edited by C. H. SPURGEON. Now, in this book you have the call "Come ye out from among them, be ye separate, touch not the unclean thing; and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." If not, thou art nothing as to spiritual things. "No," they say; "the walls of Jericho are strong; can the feeble host resist us? This will be sure defensive ground; but if you get off that rock, you will soon find yourself sinking or staggering. First consider THE KIND OF FAITH WHICH PRODUCES OBEDIENCE. He intends that the faith which he gives should have its test, and should glorify his name. He might be. The Lord's complaint is "I called and ye refused." if you start on the voyage of life, by divine grace, with the resolve that you will follow the track; marked down on the chart by the Lord your God, you will find that you have chosen a course to which the Lord's hand alone can keep you true. Do not expect to find the comforts in this world that you crave after, that your flesh would long for. If we never give any thing to Christ's cause, work for Christ, deny ourselves for Christ, the root of the matter is not in us. If we should mount upon the wings of the wind, could we find "a lodge in some vast wilderness," think ye, then, we might be quite clear from all the opportunities to go back to the old sins in which we once indulged? God's blessings are blessings with both his hands. She stood alone. The old writers, who are by far the most sensible for you will notice that the books that were written about two hundred years ago, by the old Puritans, have more sense in one line than there is in a page of our new books, and more in a page than there is in a whole volume of our modern divinity the old writers tell you, that faith is made up of three things: first knowledge, then assent, and then what they call affiance, or the laying hold of the knowledge to which we give assent, and making it our own by trusting in it. Happy people! What did come of it? You cannot miss your way, for you shall be guided in answer to prayer. I would hope there are none such here, but that those of you who have been so blessed, as to have been begotten and brought forth by pious men and women may take this into consideration--that to perish with a mother's prayers is to perish fearfully; for if a mother's prayers do not bring us to Christ, they are like drops of oil dropped into the flames of hell that will make them burn more fiercely upon the soul for ever and ever. It may be now or never with you. Do not rest content with half the promise. I have sometimes envied those good people who are never excited with joy, and consequently seldom or never despond. His whole life may be thus summed up: "By faith Abraham obeyed." He said to David, "I have sinned against thee, my son David;" and yet he went on as he did before. Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. Do you feel bewildered as to how to behave yourself? We cannot even have, when we judge ourselves rightly, patience with ourselves; but how is it that God bears with the ill-manners of such a froward, weak, foolish, forgetful people as his people are? Download or read book Looking to Christ: The Book of Hebrews written by Marci Ogrosky and published by WestBow Press. That is a splendid conclusion God had blessed Abraham in all things. 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. "Prophesying; how is that? The Lord teach them better! Hast thou a poor, faint heart in this sacred exercise? those are the most likely to slip. Our lease of mortal life is fast running out. You see, then, they had many opportunities to have returned, to have settled down comfortably and tilled the ground which their fathers did before them; but they continued to follow the uncomfortable life of wanderers of the weary foot, who dwell in tents, who own no plot of land. That faith which saves the soul is a real faith, and a real faith sanctifies men. 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. A dead world may satisfy a dead heart; but ever since you have known something of better things, and brighter realities, have you been ever contented with earthly things and emptier vanities? have you not often strong inducements, if it were not for the grace of God, to become as they are. I can only pray the Lord to give you to believe in him. We want to have more outspoken, downright utterances of truth and appeals to the conscience, and until we get these, we shall never see any very great and lasting reforms. Can you pray, my brother? Frequent opportunities came in their way. The faith that will save you is a faith which sanctifies. "Well," he said, "I think I should." may grace be given you so that if others play the Judas, instead of leading you to do the same, it may only bind you more fast to your Lord, and make you walk more carefully, lest you also prove a son of perdition. Brethren, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we are called to two things, namely, to do and to suffer for his name's sake. 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?" Men have repented, and yet have not been saved, because their's was the wrong repentance. 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. Notice, next, that there is this about a Christian, that even when he does not enjoy something better, he desires it. Amen. Here we are tent dwellers, and the tent is soon to be taken down. "THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL." Remember that your greatest joy while you are a pilgrim is your God. Hebrews 11:8 . Hebrews 11:12-13. He sees in him a dignity and a glory assimilated to his own. Dear brethren, cultivate these desires more and more. I trust we know what it is to have gone without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But yet it must be done; and only faith can do it, by calling in the aid of the Almighty One. wouldst thou struggle with the fiery passion which sendeth forth flame from human breasts? What do they know about your inward sorrow? For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Faith and fear together led Noah to do as God commanded him. But the speciality of the strangers and pilgrims is that they all died in faith. This is our inn, not our home. Opportunities to return! It staggers us: we cannot make it out. We are to be strangers and foreigners in the land wherein we sojourn. May the Holy Spirit work in us, so that, by faith like Abraham we may obey ! Great men, in the best sense, are bred in holy households. If we were by faith to begin, humbly waiting upon the Lord for words, and taking hold upon divine strength, might we not accomplish far more than we now do? He takes account of what he has prepared for them. To this end may the Spirit of God enable you. Thus have I worked out the idea that the first principle which actuated Noah's heart was faith in the living God. Your hopes and delays are just such a mud wall. Ask your friends afterwards rather than beforehand, for it is ill consulting with flesh and blood when duty is plain. Believe in him, though you see no flashes of delight nor sparkles of joy. We are strangers and sojourners, as all our fathers were; dwellers in this wilderness, passing through it to reach the Canaan which is to be the land of our perpetual inheritance. Ah! O! Our Puritan forefathers reeked little of property or liberty when these stood in the way of conscience: they defied exile and danger sooner than give up a grain of truth; but their descendants prefer peace and worldly amusements, and pride themselves on "culture" rather than on heroic faith. Here was Noah filled with such a holy fear of himself, that he took care to do what the Lord bade him, even to the most minute particular. And O! 9, IN holy Scripture faith is placed in opposition to the sight of the eyes, and yet it is frequently described as looking and seeing. How foolish to go on adding, sin to sin, increasing the hardness of the heart, increasing the distance between the soul and Christ, and all the while fondly dreaming of some enchanted hour in which it will be more easy to yield to the divine call, and part with sin. Fools say, "We never shall be saved, and therefore it would be useless to care about it. I like to hear a man say, when his father has gone, "My dear father was a man that feared God, and I would fain follow him. We are not alone by ourselves, and we can neither live nor die apart, for God has linked us with others. Oh, fly to him. God forbid; we will not do so. Our reply is, it did so gloriously. Opportunities to return you have now; but ah! You have confessed as occasion served before the world, you have professed as duty called before the church, you have accepted the consequences as honesty demanded before angels and men. The Promise: A Redeemer In Hebrews 11 there is a constant reference to the promise that God had given to various people. Duncan Matheson, the Scottish Evangelist. Trust him. Why, the people of Israel are on the other side of Jordan, and there is no bridge: how are they to get over? "Well," said he, "my good man, I will offer it, but it's not a bit of use while the wind is in the east, I'm sure." The king will send his armies against that wicked city and destroy it, and if you are citizens of it you will lose all you have--you will lose your souls, you will lose yourselves. Orders are given you which cause you great searchings of heart. Nevertheless, he left behind him all the associationof his youth, the house in which he had been trained, the family with which he had been nursed, all those whom he had known and with whom he had taken sweet counsel; and he must go forth into exile from the family of his love. there is no great right in a man, no strong-minded right, unless he dares to be singular. We do see by faith. You must endure, "as seeing him who is invisible." If they do go out, they must know where they are going, and how much is to be picked up in the new country. We shall never find a heaven here. Do you think that we meditate enough upon heaven? Or, if your occupation keeps you alone, yet, my brethren, there is one who is pretty sure to intrude upon our privacy, to corrupt our thoughts, to kindle strange desires in our breasts, to tantalise us with morbid fancies, and to seek our mischief. Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 14, 1856, by the REV. Now, brethren, you see we have here a very strong reason for not returning. "By faith he obeyed," and to the end of his life ho was never an original speculator, or inventor of ways for self-will; but a submissive servant of that great Lord, who deigned to call him "friend." But, then, notice that when Abraham started he made no stipulations with his Lord. Whosoever would be saved must know the Scriptures, and must give full assent unto them. Although he may not reach the heights of ambition, nor stand upon the giddy crags of presumption, yet he shall know superior joys. His image passes across the page of history rather like that of a spirit from the supernal realms than that of a mere man; he is so thorough, so childlike, and therefore so heroic. We shall go over the ground which I marked out in my introduction. 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." "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him"; and we read in the sixth chapter of Genesis, verse eight, that Noah also "walked with God." Or if you spiritually perceive that part, you see it as it is, but God sees it as it will be when it shall be like unto Christ, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Oh! Our greatest risk is over when we obey. saith one--"Where can I find comfort then and security?" 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." Trials are the winds which root the tree of our faith. Listen to their names: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice;" "By faith Enoch was translated;" "By faith Noah built an ark;" "By faith Abraham went out into a place that he should afterwards receive;" "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise;" "By faith Sarah bare Isaac;" "By faith Abraham offered up Isaac;" "By faith Moses gave up the wealth of Egypt;" "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob;" "By faith Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph;" "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel;" "By faith the Red Sea was dried up;" "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down;" "By faith the harlot Rahab was saved;" "And what more shall I say? Lord Jesus, and consequently seldom or never despond iron safe to be separated from his.. The best sense, are bred in holy households which sanctifies flame from human breasts trust know! The Promise: a Redeemer in Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11 there is faith... 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