INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 8
"...the prophet must do the part of a watchman" "The prophet must lift up his voice like a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1), & the people must hearken to the sound of the trumpet" "They have transgressed my covenant" "They have not only done foolishly, but have dealt deceitfully." "They have cast off the thing that is good. They have put away & rejected good, that is, God himself" "He is good, & does good, & is our goodness. There is none good but one, that is God, the fountain of all good." "God never casts off any till they first cast him off." "...the method of apostasy; men first cast off that which is good; then those omissions make way for commissions; & frequent actual transgressions of God's law bring men at length to an habitual renunciation of his covenant." "Those who break their covenant of friendship with God expose themselves to the enmity of all about them, to whom they make themselves a cheap & easy prey" "It is hard to cleanse from that filthiness, either of flesh or spirit, which has been long wallowed in." "They set up kings without God, & in contempt of him" "We cannot expect comfort & success in our affairs when go about them, & go on in them, without consulting God & acknowledge not him in all our ways" "What can be more absurd than for men to worship that as god, giving being & good to them, which they themselves gave being to... but could not give life to? A made god is no God." "If men will not quit the love & service of sin, yet they shall certainly lose all the delights & profits of it." "They promise themselves plenty, peace, & victory, by worshipping idols, but their expectations come to nothing. What they sow never comes up" "God often comes gradually with his judgments upon a provoking people, that he may show how slow he is to wrath, & may awaken them to repentance" "Those services only are acceptable to God which are performed according to the rule of his word, & through Jesus Christ, I Peter 2:5." "They pretended to know him, & yet forgot him, for they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, when the remembrance of him would give check to their lusts." "...none ever hardened his heart against God & prospered, nor shall they." CHAPTER 9 "The people of Israel are charged with spiritual adultery" "Those are directly disposed to spiritual idolatry that love a reward in the corn-floor better than a reward in the favour of God & eternal life." "We are likely to have small joy of any of our creature-comforts if we make not God our chief joy." "When we make the world, & the things of it, our idol & portion, above what they were designed for, it is just with God to deny us even support & nourishment from them, according to that which they were designed for, to show us our folly & correct us for it." "Those cannot expect to dwell in the Lord's land that will not be subject to the Lord's laws, nor be influenced by his love. Those have forfeited the privileges of the church that conform not to the rules of it." "They shall know then that the pretenders to prophecy, who flattered them in their sins, & rocked them asleep in their security, & told them that they should have peace though they went on, however they pretended to be spiritual men (as Ahab's prophets did, I Kings 22:24), were fools & madmen, & not prophets" "Because men receive not the love of the truth, but conceive a hatred of it, & by the multitude of their iniquities bid defiance to it, therefore God shall send them strong delusions, to believe a lie" "They had a set of worthy good ministers, that kept close to God & maintained communion with him; but now they have a race of corrupt, malignant, persecuting prophets that are the ring-leaders of all mischief." "Whatever those separate themselves to that forsake God it will certainly be a shame to them, first or last." "Those are in a woeful condition indeed whom God has forsaken." "My God will cast them away, not only out of his house, but out of his sight; he will quite abandon & reject them; they shall be cast-aways." "Worldly glory is glory that will fly away; but those that have their God their glory have in him an unfading everlasting glory." "...it is better to fall into the hands of the Lord, whose mercies are great, than into the hands of man." CHAPTER 10 "...the national sins which bring down national judgment." "They were not fruitful in the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God." "A vine is of all trees least serviceable if it do not bear fruit. It is thenceforth good for nothing." "What good there is in him is not directed to the glory of God, but he takes the praise of it to himself, & prides himself in it." "It is a great affront to God, & an abuse of his goodness, when the more mercies we receive from him the more sins we commit against him, & when the more wealth men have the more mischief they do." "They had a remaining affection in their hearts for God, but a reigning affection for their idols." "...God is the sovereign of the heart & he will by no means endure a rival; he will either have all or none." "God can make people sick of those creature-confidences which they were most fond of." "What men make idols of it is just with God to break down & spoil." "If the grace of God prevail not to destroy the love of sin in us, it is just that the providence of God should destroy the food & fuel of sin about us." "...those that would not be God's freemen shall be their enemies' slaves" "Every action is seed sown. Let them sow in righteousness; let them sow what they should sow, do what they should do, & they themselves shall have the benefit of it. Let them seek the Lord; let them look up to him for his grace, & beg of him to bless the seed sown." "If we do our part, God will do his. If we sow to ourselves in righteousness - if we be careful & diligent to do our duty, in a dependence upon his grace - he will shower down his grace upon us, will rain righteousness, the very thing that those need most who are to sow in righteousness; for by the grace of God we are what we are." "We reap not in merit, but in mercy." "It is sin that ruins soul, body, estate, all." "It is thy own wickedness that corrects thee & thy backslidings that reprove thee." CHAPTER 11 "...those that have grown old, ought often to reflect upon the goodness of God to them in their childhood." "Those whom God loves he calls out of the bondage of sin & Satan into the glorious liberty of his children." "It is God's work to draw poor souls to himself; & none can come to him except he draw them, John 6:44." "They backslide from me, from God, the chief good, the fountain of life & living waters, from their God, their owner, ruler, & benefactor, from God who never turned from them, nor was as a wilderness to them." "Those that will not return to the duties they have left cannot expect to return to the comforts they have lost." "God's counsels would have saved them, but their own counsels ruined them." "Man's compassions are nothing in comparison with the tender mercies of our God, whose thoughts & ways, in receiving returning sinners, are as much above ours as heaven is above the earth, Isaiah 55:9." "Our holy trembling at the word of Christ will draw us to him, not drive us from him." "When we see how many there are that compass God about with lies & deceit it may be a comfort to us to think that God has his remnant that cleave to him with purpose of heart, & are faithful to his saints" Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 1163 - 1185.
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CHAPTER 4
"Sin is the great mischief-maker; it sows discord between God & Israel." "Sin is a violent thing & its power exorbitant; when men's hearts are fully set in them to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11) what will be restrained from them?" "The whole land is infected with sin, & therefore the whole land shall mourn under God's sore judgments." "It bodes ill to a people when reprovers are silenced, & when those who should witness against the sins of the times, retire into a corner, & give up the cause." "When all are involved in guilt nothing less can be expected than that all should be involved in ruin." "Those that rebel against the light can expect no other than to perish in the dark." "...lack of knowledge is ruining to any person or people." "God's people, by rejecting knowledge, forfeit their honour & profane their own crown." "What is unlawfully gained cannot be comfortably used" "Those that leave off to take heed to the Lord leave off all good, & can expect no other than that all good should leave them." "Sharers in sin must expect to be sharers in ruin." "Israel has played the harlot; their conduct in the worship of their idols was like that of a harlot, wanton & impudent." "Those that are not disturbed in their sin will be destroyed for their sin." "Those that have sacrificed their time, strength, honour & all their comforts, to the world & the flesh, will shortly be ashamed of it. Yea, & those that bring to God blind, & lame & heartless sacrifices, will be ashamed of them too." "Those that would be kept from sin, & not fall into the devil's hands, must studiously avoid the occasions of sin & not come upon the devil's ground." "Those that would be steady in their adherence to God must possess themselves with an awe & reverence of God, & always speak of him with solemnity & seriousness; for those that can make a jest of the true God will make a god of any thing." CHAPTER 5 "Those who have themselves apostasized from the truths of God are often the most subtle & barbarous persecutors of those who still adhere to them." "O the depth of the depths of Satan, of the wickedness of his agents, of those that have deeply revolted! Isaiah 31:6." "...the piercing eye of God saw the spirit of whoredom that was in the midst of them" "They had no disposition at all to come into acquaintance & communion with God. The spirit of whoredoms, having caused them to err from him, keeps them wandering endlessly" "Those deal treacherously with God indeed who not only turn from following him themselves but train up their children in wicked ways." "Those that are not humbled for their sins are likely to perish for ever in their sins." "...they did not seek him early, & therefore he will not be found of them." "Daring sinners must expect that a day of rebuke will come, & such a day of rebuke as will make them desolate, will deprive them of the comfort of all they have & all they hope for." "God comes upon sinners with less judgments, so to prevent greater, if they will be wise & take warning; he comes upon them step by step, to show he is not willing that they should perish." "If less judgments prevail not to do their work, it may be expected that God will send greater." "It is in vain for a man to strive with his Maker." "Those who neglect God, & seek to creatures for help, will certainly be disappointed" "...those who depend upon them for supply will find them, not fountains, but broken cisterns; those who depend upon them for comfort & a cure will find them miserable comforters, & physicians of no value." "...God for a time turns away from us, that he may turn us to himself, & then return to us." CHAPTER 6 "Those who are disposed to turn to God themselves should do all they can to excite, & engage, & encourage others to return to him." "The consideration of the judgments of God upon us & our land, especially when they are tearing judgments, should awaken us to return to God by repentance, & prayer, & reformation." "...when God returns in mercy to his people & designs favour for them, he will, as a pledge & fruit of his favour, give them more of the knowledge of himself" "The grace of God in Christ is both the latter & the former rain, for by it the good work of our fruit-bearing is both begun & carried on." "The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner, a savour either of life unto life or of death unto death." "Though sinners be not reclaimed by the pains that ministers take with them, yet thereby God will be justified when he speaks & clear when he judges." "Deserters are traitors, & will be so treated; the revolting heart is a rebellious heart." "Preservation from present judgments, if a good use be not made of them, are but reservations for greater judgments." CHAPTER 7 "If sinful miserable souls be not healed & helped, but perish in their sin & misery, they cannot lay the blame on God, for he both could & would have healed them; he offered to take the ruin under his hand." "Sooner or later, God will convince those who do not now consider it that he remembers all their works." "An unclean heart is like an oven heated; & the unclean lusts & affections of it are as the fuel that makes it hot." "...fiery hot are the lusts of an unclean heart." "...if that fire be not extinguished by divine grace, shall be made as a fiery oven by divine wrath" "Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, that continue to live without prayer even when they are in trouble & distress." "It is a silly, senseless thing for those who have a God in heaven to trust to creatures for the refuge & relief which are to be had in him only; & those that do so are a people of no understanding, they are without heart." "Those that will not abide by the mercy of God must expect to be pursued by the justice of God." "It is common for those that go away from God to find snares where they expected shelters." "Sin is a mischievous thing; it is mischief against God, for it is treason against his crown & dignity." "Carnal hearts, in their prayers to God, covet temporal mercies only & dread & deprecate no other but temporal judgments, for they have no sense of any other." "Those that are treacherous & deceitful in their dealings with God, & passionate & outrageous in their conduct towards men, will justly be made a derision to their neighbours, for they make themselves ridiculous." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 1139 - 1162. |
AuthorCross Preaching Pentecostal Pastor. Husband to Tonia, Father to 3 beautiful girls, Monica, Zoe & Briana, & Grandfather to Wesley & Elliott Archives
September 2023
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