Comfort of the Scriptures

What a dark picture precedes the above words. We “were dead in trespasses and sins,” and we “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” How benighted and benumbed and depraved we all were, “but God!” But for His intervention there was no hope for any. “But God … rich in mercy,” and because of “His great love,” has “quickened us together with Christ,” “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,” so that now “by grace ye are saved.” “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And not only so, “but God” still intervenes for us. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Lost, blinded, condemned and undone, No hope nor help could be found, “But God … rich in mercy” and grace, With love unbounded came down.

Ephesians 2:4‑5 ~ Ephesians 2:1‑3 ~ 1 Peter 2:24 ~ Romans 5:8 ~ 1 Corinthians 10:13

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

We are not always able to see how God works in the lives of His children. We know not His design nor can we trace His movements, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” And the Lord says to us, as He did to Peter, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” But amid all the testings and pressures of life we do know, by faith, that “as for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those who trust in Him. … It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.” If, like Asaph, we must say that “all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning,” yet His word to us is that “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” Now “we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us … after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” So though “we are troubled on every side, yet [we are] not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair,” for we “have not seen, and yet have believed.”

We may not trace the ways of God, As He works in us each hour To bring His image in our lives, And to fill us with His power.

John 20:29 ~ 2 Corinthians 5:7 ~ John 13:7 ~ Psalm 18:30 ~ Psalm 18:32 ~ Psalm 73:14 ~ Isaiah 41:13 ~ Hebrews 12:9‑11 ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

The long-anticipated Messiah and King had come to Israel, “He that is born King of the Jews.” After His baptism by John, when God had spoken from heaven, declaring that “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” and after He was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,” over whom He was completely victorious, “Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The King was at hand, ready to set up His kingdom. Sad to say, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Not until He comes again “shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” But when He announced that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He also announced, in the Sermon on the Mount, the constitution and principles of the kingdom. One of these principles is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This is always true, in any age, and it is true for us today. “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Always, “the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Humble and contrite before Him Brings blessing to us always; He delights when we but trust Him And rest in Him as He says.

Matthew 5:3 ~ Matthew 2:2 ~ Matthew 3:17 ~ Matthew 4:1 ~ Matthew 4:17 ~ John 1:11 ~ Matthew 25:31 ~ Isaiah 57:15 ~ Psalm 34:18

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Jesus” is our Lord’s name as a man, the name He took in incarnation. And having laid down His life for us, that He might take it again, and having ascended back to the Father, He now bears that name in glory, as the glorified man. “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” He is there in glory as the glorified man, and we are told to be “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Because He, “being found in fashion as a man … humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross … God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” “We wait for His Son from heaven … even Jesus.”

We humbly bow before Him, Jesus, the Son of God, Who bore our sins on Calvary, Bearing for us God’s rod.

Matthew 1:21 ~ Hebrews 2:9 ~ Hebrews 12:2 ~ Philippians 2:8‑11 ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:10

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

Without the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross and the resultant gospel message “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,” there would be no answer to Job’s question in our text verse, “for there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,” and man cannot justify himself by his works or by his religion, for “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” So “how should man be just with God?” God’s Word answers this question. “The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood … that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” “How should man be just with God?” “By Him all that believe are justified from all things.”

Justified by the Saviour’s blood, No charge against me shall stand; He’ll take me safely through this life, And home to Immanuel’s land.

Job 9:2 ~ 1 Corinthians 15:3‑4 ~ Ecclesiastes 7:20 ~ Romans 3:20‑26 ~ Acts 13:39

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

We who are saved by God’s grace “are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God desires “that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men,” for only by our changed lives, manifested by “showing thyself a pattern of good works,” can men see the evidence of our faith in Christ. So the daily life of the believer, whether in the home, in society, in business, or in ministry, is of the utmost importance before God and before men and is to be characterized by “sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.” Thus we obey the words of our Lord to “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.”

Our works of life tell out our hearts, And what really dwells therein, Whether we live our lives unto Him, Or unto self and to sin.

Titus 2:7 ~ Ephesians 2:10 ~ Titus 3:8 ~ Titus 2:8 ~ Matthew 5:16 ~ 2 Corinthians 5:14‑15 ~ Psalm 90:17

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

The Word hidden in the heart, hoarded up and reserved there, to be brought forth and used as “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” not only works in us that we “might not sin against” God, it also makes us thankful to the Lord, as the context of our text verse shows. “Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy statutes.” And with our praise and thanksgiving unto Him comes the desire to know more about His Word, and thus more about Him, for our Lord said “the Scriptures … are they which testify of Me.” The Word “hid in mine heart” emboldens us to speak of it and of Him to others, for the psalmist continues and says that “with my lips have I declared all the judgments of Thy mouth,” and thus am “not … ashamed of the testimony of our Lord … but … partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” Moreover, the Word stored up in the heart brings joy, for “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.” And with this joy and delight comes renewed desire and determination to have more of “Thy word … hid in mine heart,” seen in the psalmist’s declaration that “I will delight myself in Thy statutes: I will not forget Thy word.”

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart,” That my life might show Thy praise, That Christ might be honored and seen Through all my earthly days.

Psalm 119:11 ~ Ephesians 6:17 ~ Psalm 119:12 ~ John 5:39 ~ Psalm 119:13 ~ 2 Timothy 1:8 ~ Psalm 119:14 ~ Psalm 119:16

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“The fig tree … the vines … the olive … the fields … the flock … herd” represent all the natural assets of an agricultural people, among whom Habakkuk prophesied. If everything on which we depend should fail, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Whatever may come, He is “the God of my salvation,” and “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” We can confidently ask Him, in times of distress and need, to “lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.” “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name.” “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our help and our shield.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Though every earthly source should fail, And there be none to give aid, Yet the Lord will care for His own, For whom the price has been paid.

Habakkuk 3:17‑18 ~ Romans 8:32 ~ Psalm 25:5 ~ Psalm 79:9 ~ Psalm 33:18‑20 ~ Romans 8:31

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

We are not told to rejoice in our circumstances or in our prospects. These things vary; sometimes they are favorable, and sometimes they are not. Rather, we are told to “rejoice in the Lord always.” We are calmly to delight ourselves in Him, irrespective of our circumstances. We are to cheer our hearts by our contemplation of the Lord and His grace, to “worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Many are the blessings that are ours because we know Him as Saviour, “but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” As our Lord prayed for His own on the night before the cross, so now He prays for us in heaven, “that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” That joy must be nurtured and maintained by feeding on His Word, for He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” “Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” Thus “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Never forget, dear Christian, that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

He fills the trusting heart with joy, Though gloomy may be our days; The soul that leans upon His grace Will find calm in all his ways.

Philippians 4:4 ~ Philippians 3:3 ~ Romans 5:11 ~ John 17:13 ~ John 15:11 ~ Jeremiah 15:16 ~ Isaiah 12:3 ~ Nehemiah 8:10

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

How often it has been among God’s redeemed people that we allow ourselves to be “choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life,” forgetting that “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word.” So, when God permits earthly prosperity to come to His children, often it has to be said that “they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me.” And this is in spite of our Lord’s words that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Earthly possessions in themselves do not give joy, but fellowship with the Lord does. Therefore, we have the admonition to “charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” Nothing on earth can bring joy and pleasure comparable to the joy and pleasure of obedience to and communion with our Lord. “How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied … and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.”

Filled with the trinkets of this life? Or filled with His joys supreme? Living now for eternity? Or for this life’s transient dream?

Hosea 13:6 ~ Luke 8:14 ~ Mark 4:19 ~ Luke 12:15 ~ 1 Timothy 6:17 ~ Psalm 36:7‑8

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Comfort of Scriptures Blog by Bible Truth Publishers