INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 20
"A hypocritical attendance on God & his ordinances is so far from being pleasing to him that it is provoking." "As the foundation of our blessedness is laid in God's choosing us, so the first step towards it is God's making himself known to us." "They rebelled against God, not only refused to comply with his particular precepts, but shook off their allegiance, & in effect told him that they would be at liberty to worship what God they pleased." "It is better to be at liberty in a wilderness than bond-slaves in a land of plenty, to enjoy God & ourselves in solitude than to lose both in a crowd" "...it is the Lord that sanctifies us, makes us holy (that is, truly happy) here, & prepares us to be happy (that is, perfectly holy) hereafter." "The bias of the mind towards the world & the flesh, the money & the belly (those 2 great objects of spiritual idolatry), is the root of bitterness from which springs all disobedience to the divine law. The heart that goes after those idols despises God's judgments." "It is owing purely to the mercy of God that he has not long ago made an end of us." "...the bad examples of parents must be made use of by their children for admonition, & not for imitation." "...those who will not live & flourish as they might in their obedience should die & perish in their disobedience." "Those that will not be bound by the precepts of the law shall be bound by the sentence of it" "God sometimes makes sin to be its own punishment, & yet is not the author of sin; & there needs no more to make men miserable than to give them up to their own vile appetites & passions." "Those who will not acknowledge God as the Lord their ruler shall be made to acknowledge him as the Lord their judge when it is too late." "It is a great aggravation of sin when men will not take warning by the mischievous consequences of sin in those that have gone before them; this is blaspheming God." "It is only integrity & uprightness that will preserve men, & recommend them to God & man." "There is no shaking off God's dominion; rule he will, either with the golden sceptre or with the iron rod; & those that will not yield to the power of his grace shall be made to sink under the power of his wrath." "...there will come a distinguishing day, when God will separate between the precious & the vile" "Those who think to serve themselves by sin will find in the end that they have but enslaved themselves to sin." "All the favours we receive from God should lead us into a more intimate acquaintance with him." "Those that should have been as the garden of the Lord, & his vineyard, had become like a forest, all overgrown with briers & thorns; & those that are so, that bring not forth the fruits of righteousness, God's word prophesies against." "When God will ruin a nation, who or what can save it?" "It is a comfort to us, when people speak ill of us unjustly, that we have a God to complain to." CHAPTER 21 "When we speak to people about their souls we should study plainness, & express ourselves as we may be the best understood." "Ministers, if they would affect others with the things they speak of, must show that they are themselves in the greatest sincerity affected with them, & must submit to that which may create uneasiness to themselves, so that it will promote the ends of their ministry." "Those who have God for them when flesh & heart fail have him to be the strength of their heart" "While good men are quiet, not only from evil, but from the fear of it, wicked men are disturbed not only with the sword, but with the terrors of it, arising from a consciousness of their own guilt." "Ruin comes gradually, but at last comes effectually, upon a provoking people." "Should we now make mirth, when the hand of God has gone out against us, when God's judgments are abroad in the land & be by them calls to weeping & mourning? Isaiah 22:11, 13 "God remembers former iniquities against those only who by the present discoveries of their wickedness show that they do not repent of them." "Those who will not be taken with the word of God's grace shall at last be taken by the hand of his wrath." "Though those who are wicked & profane may flourish awhile, yet their day will come to fall." "Men lose their dignity by their iniquity." "Those that feed themselves with a self-conceit in the day of their prosperity prepare matter for a self-reproach in the day of their calamity." "Wicked men make themselves fuel to the fire of God's wrath; they are consumed by it, & it is inflamed by them." CHAPTER 22 "Sinners do that which provokes God because they forget him; they forget their descent from him, dependence on him, & obligations to him; they forget how valuable his favour is, which they make themselves unfit for, & how formidable his wrath, which they make themselves obnoxious to." "There is a day coming when God will deal with sinners, a day of visitation." "Those that resolve to be their own masters, let them expect no other comfort & happiness than what their own hands can furnish them with, & a miserable portion it will prove." "Sinners, & especially degenerate professors, are in God's account as dross, vile, & contemptible, & of no account, as the evil figs which could not be eaten, they were so evil. They are useless & fit for nothing; of no consistency with themselves & no service to man." "Those who draw men to wickedness, & encourage them in it, are the devourers & murderers of their souls." "The profanation of the honour of the scriptures... is a profanation of the honour of God himself, who is interested in them." "There is a way of standing in the gap, & making up the breach against the judgments of God, by repentance, & prayer, & reformation." "When God is coming forth against a sinful people to destroy them he expects some to intercede for them, & enquires if there be but one that does; so much is it his desire & delight to show mercy." CHAPTER 23 "To convince sinners of the evil of sin, & of their misery & danger by reason of it, there is need of line upon line" "Those who have been in profession the people of God, but have revolted from him, have a great deal to answer for more than those who never made any such profession." "The devil will for ever be a tormentor of those impenitent sinners who now hearken to him & comply with him as a tempter." "Those may justly expect God's judgments upon themselves who do not take warning by his judgments upon others, who see in others what is the end of sin & yet continue to make a light matter of it." "Those who, instead of reflecting upon their former sins with sorrow & shame, reflect upon them with pleasure & pride... in effect bid defiance to repentance." "Sin alienates God's mind from the sinner, & justly, for it is the alienation of the sinner's mind from God; but woe, & a thousand woes, to those from whom God's mind is alienated; for whom he turns from he will turn against." "If men deal ever so hatefully, ever so furiously, with us, yet, if we have God on our side, we need not fear them; they can do us no real hurt." "When God is about to ruin a people he makes their judges fools & pours contempt on their princes" "Forgetfulness of God, & a contempt of him, of his eye upon us & authority over us, are at the bottom of all our treacherous adulterous departures from him." "Those hearts go a whoring from God that take a complacency in the pomp of the world & put a confidence in its wealth, & in an arm of flesh. Jeremiah 17:5." "Smite the scorner & the simple will beware." "...God is the Lord a God that judges in the earth, & with whom there is no respect of persons." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 862 - 895.
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CHAPTER 16
"Sins are not only provocations which God is angry at, but abominations which he hates, as contrary to his nature, & which we ought to hate." "God took them to be his people, not because he saw any thing in them inviting or promising, but so it seemed good in his sight." "Those shall live to whom God commands life." "By converting grace, he says to the soul, Live." "Those to whom God gives spiritual life he takes into covenant with himself" "Those whom God takes into covenant with himself are fed with the bread of life, clothed with the robe of righteousness, adorned with the graces & comforts of the spirit." "Sanctified souls are truly beautiful; they are so in God's sight, & they themselves may take the comfort of it. But God must have all the glory, for they were by nature deformed & polluted, &, whatever comeliness they have, it is that which God has put upon them & beautified them with, & he will be well pleased with the work of his own hands." "Their idolatry was the great provoking sin that they were guilty of" "Abundance of young people are ruined by pride & particularly pride in their beauty" "...is whoredom, is spiritual whoredom, a small matter?" "It will be a great matter." "Those that in sincerity join themselves to the true God find enough in him for their satisfaction; &, though they will desire more of God, yet they never desire more than God. But those that forsake this living fountain for broken cisterns will find themselves soon surfeited, but never satisfied." "Those who will not hear the commanding word of the Lord & obey it shall be made to hear the condemning word of the Lord & shall tremble at it." "When we begin to be at war with sin God will be at peace with us" "When sin departs God's jealousy will soon depart" "Pride was the first sin that turned angels into devils, & the garden of the Lord into a hell upon earth." "Idleness is an inlet to much sin." "There is nothing in sin which we have more reason to be ashamed of than this, that by our sin we have encouraged others in sin, & comforted them in that for which they must be grieved or they are undone." "Those are but preparing judgments for themselves that will not take notice of God's judgments upon others." "Those that disgrace themselves by yielding to their lusts will justly be brought into disgrace by being made to yield to their enemies" "Those that will not cast off their sins by repentance & reformation shall be made to bear their sins to their confusion." "Those that will not adhere to God as their God have no reason to expect that he should continue to own them as his people." "Those who do as the worst of sinners do must expect to fare as they fear." "He that bids us to be ever mindful of the covenant no doubt will himself be ever mindful of it" "God's good-work in us commences & keeps pace with his good-will towards us." "Those that rightly remember their sins will be truly ashamed of them" "God is in Jesus Christ pacified towards us; he is our peace, & it is by his cross that we are reconciled, & in his gospel that God is reconciling the world to himself." "...the more our shame for sin is increased by the sense of pardoning mercy the more will our comfort in God be increased." CHAPTER 17 "Ministers should study to find out acceptable words & try various methods to do good" "Nations by sin sell their liberty, & princes their dignity, & profane their crowns by casting them to the ground." "See how gradually the judgments of god came upon this provoking people, how God gave them respite & so gave them space to repent." "God can bring great things to pass without much ado. He needs not great power & many people to effect his purposes; a handful will serve if he pleases." "Perjury is a heinous sin & highly provoking to the God of heaven." "Men will justly be forced upon that calamity which they endeavour by sin to flee from." "Sooner or later God's word will prove itself; & those who will not believe shall find by experiences the reality & weight of it." "...the unbelief of man shall not invalidate the promise of God." "...who can pluck up what God will plant?" "All the enemies of Christ shall be abased & made his footstool, & his interests shall be confirmed & advanced: I The Lord have spoken it... & I have done it, that is, I will do it in due time, but it is as sure to be done as if it were done already." "What he has spoken, we may be sure that he will do, nor shall one iota or tittle of his word fall to the ground, for he is not a man, that he should lie, or the son of man, that he should repent either of his threatenings or of his promises." CHAPTER 18 "God does not punish the children for the fathers' sins unless they tread in their fathers' steps & fill up the measure of their iniquity" "Let us subscribe to his interest in us & dominion over us." "He that makes conscience of conforming in every thing to the will of God, that makes it his business to serve God & his aim to glorify God, shall without fail be happy here & for ever in the love & favour of God" "He is careful to keep himself clean from the pollutions of sin, & at a distance from all the appearances of evil." "It is an essential branch of wisdom & justice to keep the appetites of the body always in subjection to reason & virtue." "Keep the commandments, & thou shalt enter into life. Matthew 19:27." "While we are in this world we are in a state of probation; the time of trial lasts as long as the time of life, & according as we are found at last it will be with us to eternity." "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? No doubt he shall; he cannot do otherwise." "In all our disputes with God, & in all his controversies with us, it will be found that his ways are equal, but ours are unequal, that he is in the right & we are in the wrong." "We must repent; we must change our mind & change our ways; we must be sorry for what we have done amiss & ashamed of it, & go as far as we can towards the undoing of it again." "What an absurd thing it is for you to choose death & damnation rather than life & salvation." "The God of heaven has no delight in our ruin, but desires our welfare." "Turn yourselves, & live." CHAPTER 19 CHAPTER 12
"Faith comes by hearing that word of prophecy which is more sure than vision." "Those are to be reckoned rebellious that shut their eyes against the divine light & stop their ears to the divine law. The ignorance of those that are willingly ignorant, that have faculties & means & will not use them, is as far from being their excuse that it adds rebellion to their sin. None so blind, so deaf, as those that will not see, that will not hear." "...ministers must be willing to go through the most difficult & inconvenient offices... If but one soul be awakened to consider, our care & pains will be well bestowed." "We do all things (that is, we are willing to do any thing), dearly beloved, for your edifying." "When God has remarkably delivered us from the deaths wherewith we were surrounded we must look upon it that for this, and among others, we were spared, that we might glorify God & edify others by making a penitent acknowledgment of our sins." "The decay of virtue in a nation brings on a decay of every thing else" "Those are happy afflictions, how grievous soever to flesh & blood, that help to introduce us into & improve us in an acquaintance with God." "...God will certainly silence the lying proverbs, & the lying prophecies, with which they buoyed up their vain hopes, & will make them ashamed of both." "As truth was older than error, so it will survive it; it got the start, & it will get the race." "...God will certainly, & very shortly, accomplish every word that he has spoken." "With men saying & doing are 2 things, but they are not so with God" CHAPTER 13 "These false prophets... 1. They pretend to have a commission from God, whereas he never sent them." "They are prophets out of their own hearts" "They say, The Lord saith; they pretend to be his messengers, but the Lord has not sent them, has not given them any orders." "Foolish prophets are not of God's sending, for whom he sends he either finds fit or makes fit. Where he gives warrant he gives wisdom. 2. They pretend to have instructions from God, whereas he never made himself & his mind known to them: They followed their own spirit" "3. They took no care to prevent the judgments of God that were breaking in upon the kingdom." "They should have made it their business by preaching & advice to bring people to repentance & reformation, & so have made up the hedge, & put a stop to the judgments of God; but this was none of their care; they contrived how to please people, not how to profit them." "Those are in a woeful condition that have God against them. Woe, & a thousand woes, to those that have made him their enemy." "Doctrines that are groundless, though ever so grateful, that are not built upon a scripture foundation nor fastened with a scripture cement, though ever so plausible, will stand men in any stead; & those hopes of peace & happiness which are not warranted by the word of God will but cheat men, like a wall that is well daubed indeed, but ill built." "An angry God has winds & storms at command wherewith to alarm secure sinners" "Whatever men think to shelter themselves with against the judgments of God, while they continue unreformed, will prove but a refuge of lies & will not profit them in the day of wrath." "...no doom will be more fearful than that of unfaithful ministers, that flattered sinners in their sins." "Those greatly pollute God's holy name that make use of it to give countenance to falsehood & wickedness." "Those have a great deal to answer for who grieve the spirits, & weaken the hands, of good people, & who gratify the lusts of sinners, & animate them in their opposition of God" CHAPTER 14 "Many who have no idols to their sanctuary have idols in their hearts, which is no less a usurpation of God's throne & a profanation of his name." "Humble worshippers God answers according to the multitude of his mercies, but bold intruders he answers according to the multitude of their idols" "The judgment of God will dwell with men according to what they are really (that is, according to what their hearts are), not according to what they are in show & profession." "Those that join themselves to idols separate themselves from God" "The punishments of some are designed for the prevention of sin, that others may hear, & fear, & take warning. When we see what becomes of those that go astray from God we should thereby be engaged to keep close to him." "Those whom God takes into covenant with himself must first be cleansed from the pollutions of sin; & those who are cleansed shall not only be saved from ruin, but be entitled to all the privileges of God's people." "Grievous sins bring grievous plagues." "...God often spares very wicked places for the sake of a few godly people in them." "Abused patience will turn at last into inexorable wrath" "It is a very comfortable sight to see people, when they are under the rod, repenting & humbling themselves, justifying God & accepting the punishment of their iniquity." "When afflictions have done their work, & have accomplished that for which they were sent, then will appear the wisdom & goodness of God in sending them, & God will be not only justified, but glorified in them." CHAPTER 15 CHAPTER 8
"God keeps a particular account of the messages he sends to us, because he will shortly call us to account about them." "The more we retreat from the world, & retire into our own hearts, the better frame we are in for communion with God; those that sit down to consider what they have learned shall be taught more." "A minister's house should be a church for all his neighbours." "God's servants, wherever they are & whithersoever they go, ought to carry about with them a believing regard to the glory of God & to set that always before them; & those that have seen God's power & glory in the sanctuary should desire to see them again" "The more glorious we see God to be the more odious we shall see sin to be, especially idolatry, which turns his truth into a lie, his glory into shame" "God is jealous, & the Lord revenges, Nahum 1:2." "He that doeth evil hates the light." "The sins of leaders are leading sins." "If we have forgotten the name of our God, & stretched forth our hand to a strange god, will not God search this out?" "Those are ripe indeed for ruin who have arrived at such a pitch of impudence as to lay the blame of their sins upon God himself." "An abominable thing indeed, that any should choose rather to serve an idol in tears than to serve the true God with joyfulness & gladness of heart!" "When men turn their backs upon God's institutions, & despise them, it is no marvel if they wander endlessly after their own inventions." "God will now be as deaf to their prayers as their own idols were, on whom they cried aloud, but in vain." "It is not the loud voice, but the upright heart, that God will regard." CHAPTER 9 "Those that regard not the counsels God gives them in a still small voice shall be made to hear the threatenings, to hear & tremble." "It is a matter of great comfort to all good Christians that, in the midst of the destroyers & the destructions that are abroad, there is a Mediator, a great high priest, who has an interest in heaven, & whom saints on earth have an interest in." "A work of grace in the soul is to God a mark upon the forehead, which he will acknowledge as his mark, & by which he knows those that are his." "Those who keep themselves pure in times of common iniquity God will keep safe in times of common calamity." "When God has gathered his wheat into his garner nothing remains but to burn up the chaff, Matthew 3:12." "...the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, & hates sin most in those that are nearest to him." "Wherever sin has gone before judgment will follow after" "Sinners sink & perish under the weight of their own sins; it is their own way, which they deliberately chose rather than the way of God, & which they obstinately persisted in, in contempt of the word of God, that is recompensed on them." CHAPTER 10 "The people would not hear the oracles which God delivered to them from his holy temple, & therefore they shall thence be made to hear their doom." "Ezekiel sees the glory of God shining in the sanctuary" "The Spirit of God directs all the creatures, both upper & lower, so as to make them serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of Providence, which are full of eyes." "God removes by degrees from a provoking people; &, when he is ready to depart in displeasure, would return to them in mercy if they were but a repenting praying people." CHAPTER 11 "Where Satan cannot persuade men to look upon the judgment to come as a thing doubtful & uncertain, yet he gains his point by persuading them to look upon it as a thing at a distance, so that it loses its force" "The greatest kindness ministers can do to secure sinners is to preach against them, & to show them their misery & danger, though they are ever so unwilling to see them." "When sinners are flattering themselves into their own ruin, it is time to speak, & to tell them that they shall have no peace if they go on." "...there is no peace to those that have left their God. If they have by their sins driven God from his house, he will soon by his judgments drive them from theirs" "Those shall be made to know by the sword of the Lord who would not be taught by his word what a hatred he has to sin, & what a fearful thing it is for impenitent sinners to fall into his hands." "If we do not give honour to God by executing his judgments as he has commanded, he will get him honour upon us by executing his judgments as he has threatened; & thus we shall know that he is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, that will not be mocked." "God takes notice of, & is much displeased with, the contempt which those that are in prosperity put upon their brethren that are in affliction." "God prepares all for heaven whom he has prepared heaven for" "Their hearts shall no longer be, as they have been, dead & dry, & hard & heavy, as a stone, no longer incapable of bearing good fruit, so that the good seed is lost upon it as it was on the stony ground." "It is better to be in Babylon under the favour of God than in Jerusalem under his wrath & curse." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 791 - 812. |
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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