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| 1. | 1 Peter 4:7 |
| "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." Pray always, and faint not because of the difficulties by the way; for it has been said, "that all in the way is a mere circumstance; but God is above it all, |
| 2. | Address |
| The first requisition in connection with the Christian's call to "put on the whole armor of God," is to stand, having his loins girt about with truth; and few Christians, who think at all, will deny that in the character of the present times there is a special reason to |
| 3. | As the Truth Is in Jesus |
| The truth in Jesus is not a mere theory before our mind, but that we put off the old man, and put on the new. I cannot, however, do this in detail, except as I reckon that in Him I have put of the old man, and put on |
| 4. | Believer's Resource, The: When I Am Weak Then Am I Strong |
| It is not what Paul's " thorn in the flesh" might be, nor the nature of the revelations he received in " the third heaven," nor whether he subsequently wrote what he tells us it was " not possible for a man to utter," that I would now consider; |
| 5. | Believers the Epistle of Christ |
| It is good for our souls to dwell on what it is to be an epistle of Christ, though I am sure none of us can express the greatness of the calling. Any gathering of the saints is the epistle of Christ, "to be read of men." They are |
| 6. | Chastening |
| If I am proud in my spirit, and lose the place of humility before God, and some lust breaks out; God may use this particular failure, and even continuance in it, to get at and chasten me for this root of pride, or of self-will, which seemed to have no |
| 7. | Christian Mariner, The |
| "And so he bringeth them to the haven where they would be." |
| 8. | Comparison of Psalms 63 and 84 |
| The difference between delighting in God “when the rain fills the pools," and delighting in Him where “there is no water." |
| 9. | Conflict With Sin |
| " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."—1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). |
| 10. | Divine Calmness of Christ, Even on the Cross, The |
| It is lovely to see how the Lord does not merely show a resignation under trial, produced by an effort which makes Him bow,—and yet be absorbed by it, as we often are,—but a perfect obedience and acceptance of His Father's will, such that He rises altogether above it, so |
| 11. | Effect of Paul's Life, The |
| I do not know anything that humbles one more than Paul's life. You get judged by Christ's life, but Paul's was that of a man of like passions with ourselves. Such thorough abnegation of self! Such death as to everything in himself. |
| 12. | Faith and Works |
| It is a simple and general, but safe, answer, to any question arising on this chapter, i.e., as to that part of it relating to this subject, that God could not accept hypocritical faith. We are told by the truth that God cannot be mocked, and the conscience receives a |
| 13. | Fellowship With the Father and the Son |
| The great purpose of God, in all His dealings in grace is to bring us—and to bring us individually too—into fellowship with Himself. "Truly our fellowship is with the Father."—Thus we have the full knowledge of God, as far as it can be known out of Him, and that in |
| 14. | Gentile Mercy, Not Jewish Promises |
| There is a practical lesson in Christ's way of mercy toward this woman, as well as a secret in her lowly, uncomplaining, assumption of the place that belonged to her, that many a heart, that is seeking for help in. Jesus, needs to know. |
| 15. | Grace and Truth in Jesus Christ |
| It is a different thing to have a rule of what is right, and to have the heart searched out. God can give a rule, and yet dwell in the thick darkness. But this is a different thing from having the soul unveiled in His presence. Now, it is not |
| 16. | Grace for the Wilderness |
| There are two things needed to make good our journey through the wilderness; first an object, a divine object; and second, the assurance of the love of God as the foundation of all our hopes. |
| 17. | Growth Through the Truth |
| A person may be honestly delighting in what he hears, and yet not connecting it with Christ, so he does not grow a bit: he knows nothing; for then what he hears is as an object before his mind; whereas, when mixed with faith, it connects his soul with Christ, |
| 18. | How a Believer Is Dead Unto Sin, but Alive Unto God |
| Grace always sets us in liberty. Even in holiness, liberty is the character of its separation. It is liberty from the bondage of sin. It is willing, joyous, consecration to God. |
| 19. | How a Believer Is Delivered From the Law by Union With Christ |
| From the 4th chapter of this epistle the apostle develops the great doctrine of the power of the resurrection in deliverance and righteousness: not only God's taking the blood of Jesus for our sins, but God acting in power on man even when dead; first, in raising Christ, and then |
| 20. | How Christ Is Graven on the Heart by the Holy Ghost |
| The apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, tells us what a true Christian is. He calls him an epistle of Christ. He is a person upon whose heart God has written Christ, as Moses wrote the law on tables of stone. This the apostle opens out; but first he |
| 21. | How the Lord Accepted Job |
| We see in Job's history the workings of God in the soul in bringing it to Himself, and the exercises the heart passes through when learning itself in the presence of Satan and in the presence of God Himself. |
| 22. | How to Be Simple |
| If a person does not say more than he has to say he can be simple. But when we want to please people, a quantity of things come up in order to do so. |
| 23. | Humility |
| 1. There is a difference between being humble before God, and being humbled before God. I am humbled before God, because I have not been humble. I am humbled, because of my sin. If I had been humble, I should have had grace given me to prevent it. For " |
| 24. | Life in the Spirit, the Holy Ghost in Us, and God for Us |
| There are three parts in this well known and remarkable chapter: first, Deliverance in the power of life from God.,-the power of God in resurrection giving life in the spirit as our portion through the work of Christ; secondly, The presence of the Holy Ghost Himself,-not merely the fruit of |
| 25. | Looking Unto Jesus |
| There is one thing remarkable in this epistle, that whilst it is full of warnings, still in none is encouragement and full confidence in God so remarkably set forth. And nothing brings a soul into entire confidence in God but encouragement in grace. So here, the apostle says, You are |
| 26. | Man's Paradise and God's House |
| The 84th Psalm opens out a new and special source of delight, but one which unfolds itself in many other passages. When God put man in paradise it was not God's dwelling, but man's. God visited man there, though man was already unfit for His presence; but at least it |
| 27. | My Home Is Not Here |
| MY home 'tis not here, in a region of death, |
| 28. | Note |
| There are many unsuspected places of the New Testament that would receive a perfect elucidation from these things, which have vacillated between many interpretations, or been done wrong to, or passed as merely general when their application was most strict. We can justly understand the expression, "Your faith groweth exceedingly, |
| 29. | Passover Continued, The: Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed for Us |
| The general idea of the passover, as a type of redemption, has already been given; but the details of its institution are of the deepest interest, as bearing upon the application of the wondrous death of Christ, as the ground of a sinner's deliverance from sin, and the basis of |
| 30. | Passover, The: Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed for Us |
| Redemption, as presented in the type of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, has two aspects. The one is seen in the feast of the passover, the other in the passage of the Red Sea. |
| 31. | Peace of Conscience and Peace of Heart |
| Peace of conscience and peace of heart are two distinct things. A person may have peace of conscience, knowing that he is a forgiven sinner, and yet not have peace of heart. He may say to himself, I know that my sins are forgiven, but I am not happy. And |
| 32. | Power of Eternal Life, The |
| We have, first, the object fully revealed by the power of God shining in upon the soul, but giving it as an object in its own perfection-" The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [person] of Jesus Christ." Here was the divine object, |
| 33. | Rest for the Weary |
| Sin against God may be looked at in two points of view: 1st, as seen in Adam's transgression in the garden, when he broke the first commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;" 2nd, as filled up in Cain's slaying his brother, who |
| 34. | Romans 3:17; 4-5 |
| I have just taken the close of this chapter, as being the summing up and application of the apostle's argument, which he had drawn from the sin of Jew and Gentile. Then, in chapter 4, he passes on to another principle, as brought out in the testimony of Abraham and |
| 35. | Romans 5 |
| It is a wonderful mercy that the scripture is so plain as it is; for the mind of man reasons about truth, therefore the heart rejoices in the wonderful plainness of scripture. Its depths, it is true, are infinite and unfathomable; but all that the salvation of the soul rests |
| 36. | Simplicity of the Gospel of Christ |
| It is astonishing how hard it is to get the heart of man to believe in the efficacy of the work of Christ. Even in the case of those who have felt their need of it, the simplicity is unseizable; and, therefore, their power is lost. There is liberty before |
| 37. | Taking the Armor, On |
| If I do not know practically in my soul my acceptance, and my position as a member of Christ's body, I cannot take in the instruction of this portion of the word of God. It presents, in its connection, emphatically, the full result of Christ's work in relation to the |
| 38. | The Son Quickeneth Whom He Will |
| All through these chapters the Lord is bringing out the power that is in Him, in contrast with the means of Judaism. These means could not give life. The law could not give life. Regulations could not give life. And ordinances—helpful after there is life—nevertheless could not give life. |
| 39. | Two Requisites |
| There are two things we need in order to the understanding of our privileges. The first is to have a consciousness of the love of God. Even a gift from a father is a mere sign of approval otherwise. The second is to measure the outgoings of God's heart by |
| 40. | Union With Christ |
| People have a notion of a mystical union with Christ as an ideal thing. But the word is very explicit, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." I am more really united to Christ than my hand is to my body; for the life of the latter |
| 41. | What the Christian Is |
| "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." |
| 42. | Whole Armor of God, The |
| The Epistle to the Ephesians has a peculiar character. It considers man, not as having a life of sin, which he has to hold as dead in principle, and to resist in practice; but, in order to give God His own full part, and the blessing He gives its full |
| 43. | Whole Armor of God, The |
| Although the Christian who walks faithfully, clothed with the whole armor of God, enjoys the effect of its use, in the peaceful joy of communion, the difference must have, perhaps, been felt, between this state and the loss of communion, to know the immense importance of this armor, or rather |
| 44. | Will of God, the Work of Christ, and the Witness of the Holy Ghost, The |
| The basis of the argument of the apostle in this chapter lies more in the contrast, than in the comparison, between the law and the good things to come. The law, he says, had only a shadow, not the very image of the things. For example, under the law the |
| 45. | Word to the Reader, A |
| Dear reader, let me ask you to read the scriptures referred to in the various passages that come before you in this little publication, whether referred to in the way of illustration or of proof. With this, (and prayer for God's wisdom,) what you read will be plain; without it |
| 46. | Worship |
| Worship is the rising up to God again from the believer, or from the Church, of His own thoughts about His beloved Son, and about what He has done. |