Question: Please tell me how I can have peace.
Answer: What you want, dear friend, is to look off, entirely from yourself your feelings, your exercises, your repentance, yea, and your faith in a word, from all that has to do with yourself, and rest in a divine work a work finished on the cross and accepted on the throne. God is satisfied with Christ. Are you? Do you want something more than Christ? Do you want to throw into the scale something of your own to make Christ of full weight? This is the question. The true secret of rest and peace is to be satisfied with Christ. As long as you are occupied with yourself, you will be unhappy.
“And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:20).
Question: Should Christian parents cut their girls’ hair? Answer “Yes” or “No”, and give Scripture.
Answer: Your question cannot be answered by “Yes” or “No,” as there are qualifying circumstances. You no doubt have in mind the verses in 1 Corinthians 11:6-15, For a woman subject to the Word, these verses ought to be sufficient to deter her from cutting her hair. But as to children, the parent would be in individual exercise before the Lord as to how far the principal in the above Scriptures would apply. Some might feel clear before the Lord to keep their girls’ hair cut shorter until such time as they approach young womanhood. Others with like exercise might not feel clear to do so.
“Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” (Rom. 14:5-19).
Question: How may I know whether I am following the leading of the Holy Spirit, or simply following my own inclinations?
Answer: It is greatly to be feared that very many mistake their own inclinations for the moving of the Spirit of God a terrible mistake! It needs much brokenness, self-emptiness, and singleness of eye to discern and follow the precious leadings of the Holy Spirit. As a general rule, we should say that where the glory of Christ is the exclusive object of any act to which we feel led, we may conclude that it is the Spirit that moves us. The Lord is so gracious that we can fully count upon Him to guide, and keep, and use us, where the heart is simple.
Question: Does “to bear the sin of many” in Hebrews 9:28 refer to the world, or to believers only?
Answer: The expression in Hebrews 9:28 does not at all apply to the world; but only to believers. It is never said in Scripture that Christ bore the sins of the world “He put away sin.” “The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). “He is the propitiation for the whole world.” (1 John 2:2). But the moment you speak of sins, it becomes a question of persons, and then we have to do with the counsels of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul, producing repentance and faith. If Christ bore the sins of the whole world, then the whole world must be saved apart from all question of repentance and faith. In a word, this would involve the heresy of universal redemption.
We must carefully distinguish between universal purchase and universal redemption. The former is a most weighty truth; the latter is a fatal heresy. Christ has bought the whole world, and every man, woman, and child therein. Hence the Apostle Peter speaks of false teachers, “bringing damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” He does not say, “that redeemed them.” But this is a wide and a weighty subject, and cannot be gone into here. Chapter 16 of “Notes on Leviticus” by C. H. M. may help you.