INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 3
"Christ the bread of life & the water of life; if he be our stay, we shall find that this is a good part not to be taken away. John 4:14; 6:27." "When young people are conceited & pert, & behave scornfully towards their superiors, their conduct is not only a reproach to themselves, but of ill consequence to the public" "Rulers must be healers, & good rulers will be so; they must study to unite their subjects, & not widen the differences that are among them. Those only that are fit for government that are of a meek, quiet, healing, spirit." "The ruin both of persons & people is owing to their sins. If they did not provoke God, he would do them no hurt. Jeremiah 25:6." "Whatever evil befalls sinners it is of their own procuring. Jeremiah 2:19." "Those that are past shame (we say) are past grace, & then past hope." "The greatest of men cannot exempt or secure themselves from the scrutiny & sentence of God's judgment." "The prophet's business was to show all sorts of people what they had contributed to the national guilt & what share they must expect in the national judgments that were coming." "If sin be harboured within the walls, lamentation & mourning are near the gates." CHAPTER 4 "He that was a reproach of men, & whose visage was marred more than any man's, is now, in the upper world, beautiful & glorious, as the sun in his strength, admired & adored by angels." "If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so & all its truths & promises - his church will be so, & all that belong to it." "...God will reserve to himself a holy seed" "...God will reform his church & will rectify & amend whatever is amiss in it." "Reformation-work is God's work" "The Spirit works as fire. Matthew 3:11." "Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide & a guard." "Gospel truths & ordinances, the scriptures & the ministry, are the church's glory; & upon all this glory there is a defence, & ever shall be, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church." "In this world we must expect change of weather & all the inconveniences that attend it; we shall meet with storm & rain in this lower region, & at other times the heat of the day no less burdensome; but God is a refuge to his people in all weathers." CHAPTER 5 "See what variety of methods the great God takes to awaken sinners to repentance by convincing them of sin, & showing them their misery & danger by reason of it." "...the Jewish church & nation ...He (God) acknowledged them as his own, set them apart for himself." "God expects vineyard fruit from those that enjoy vineyard-privileges, not leaves only, as Mark 11:13. A bare profession, though ever so green, will not serve: there must be more than buds & blossoms. Good purposes & good beginnings are good things but not enough; there must be fruit, a good heart & a good life, vineyard fruit, thoughts & affections, words & actions, agreeable to the Spirit, which is the fatness of the vineyard (Gal. 5:22, 23)." "Wild grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature." "Where grace does not work corruption will. Wild grapes are hypocritical performances in religion, that look like grapes, but are sour or bitter, & are so far from being pleasing to God that they are provoking." "Counterfeit graces are wild grapes." "When errors & corruptions, vice & immorality, go without check or control, no testimony borne against them, no rebuke given them or restraint put upon them, the vineyard is unpruned, is not dressed, or ridded; & then it will soon be like the vineyard of the man void of understanding, all grown over with thorns." "The curse of barrenness is the punishment of the sin of barrenness, as Mark 11:14." "It is sad with a people when wickedness has usurped the place of judgment, Ecclesiastes 3:16. It is very sad with a soul when instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, patience, love & contempt of the world, which God looks for, there are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, malice & contempt of God - instead of the grapes of praying & praising, the wild grapes of cursing & swearing, which are a great offence to God." "Those that set their hearts upon the world will justly be disappointed in their expectations from it." "Sensuality ruins men as certainly as worldliness & oppression." "It is just with God to make men want that for necessity which they have abused to excess." "He will herein be exalted as the Lord of hosts, that is able to break the strongest, humble the proudest, & tame the most unruly." "When proud men are humbled the great God is honoured, & ought to be honoured by us." "Those that willfully persist in sin consider not the power of God's anger." "...sin & wickedness are evil; they are darkness, all the fruit of ignorance & mistake, & will be bitterness in the latter end." "God resists the proud, those particularly who are conceited of their own wisdom & lean to their own understanding" "Let not those expect to live easily who live thus wickedly; for the righteous God will take vengeance" "Sin weakens the strength, the root, of a people, so that they are easily rooted up; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms, of a people, & takes away the hopes of fruit." "Those who defy God's judgments will be ashamed of their insolence when it is too late" "Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking to them by his prophets, but stopped their ears against their charms, shall be made to hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them & shall not be able to turn a deaf ear to it." "It is our wisdom, by keeping a good conscience, to keep all clear between us & heaven, that we may have light from above even when clouds & darkness are round about us." CHAPTER 6 "Those who are to teach others the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with him themselves." "If angels be thus reverent in their attendance on God, with what godly fear should we approach his throne!" "Praising God always was, & will be to eternity, the work of heaven, & the constant employment of blessed spirits above. Psalms 84:4." "The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or condemned." "He saw God's sovereignty to be incontestable - he is the King; & his power irresistible - he is the Lord of hosts." "Those are fittest to be employed for God who are low in their own eyes & are made deeply sensible of their own weakness & unworthiness." "...those that are struck down with the visions of God's glory shall soon be raised up again with the visits of his grace" "Those only who are thus purged from an evil conscience are prepared to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:14. The taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence & comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching" "It is a rare thing to find one who is fit to go for God, & to carry his messages to the children of men: Whom shall I send? Who is sufficient?" "It is Christ's work to put men into the ministry. I Timothy 1:12." "Though far the greater part should perish in their unbelief, yet to some his word should be a savour of life unto life. Ministers do not wholly lose their labour if they be but instrumental to save one poor soul." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 19 - 44.
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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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