INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 29
"The word of God written is as truly given by inspiration of God as his word spoken was" "If God caused them to be carried captives, they might be sure that he neither did them any wrong nor meant them any hurt." "It will help very much to reconcile us to our troubles, & to make us patient under them, to consider that they are what God has appointed us to." "In all conditions of life it is our wisdom & duty to make the best of that which is, & not to throw away the comfort of what we may have because we have not all we would have." "If the earth be the Lord's, then, wherever a child of God goes, he does not go off his Father's ground." "Meek & quiet people, that work & mind their own business, have often found much better treatment, even with strangers & enemies, than they expected" "As long as we have the word of truth to try the spirits by it is our own fault if we be deceived; for by it we may be undeceived." "Though the deliverance of the church do not come in our time, it is sufficient that it will come in God's time." "That which is indeed God's word is a good word, & therefore it will be made good, & not one jot or tittle of it shall fall to the ground. Hath he said, & shall he not do it?" "...as for God, his work is perfect. He that in the beginning finished the heavens & the earth, & all the hosts of both, will finish all the blessings of both to his people. When he begins in ways of mercy, he will make an end. God does no thing by halves." "When God is about to give his people the expected good he pours out a spirit of prayer, & it is a good sign that he is coming towards them in mercy." "Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken & encourage prayer; & when deliverance is coming we must by prayer go forth to meet it." "...those who thus seek God shall find him, & shall find him their bountiful rewarder. Hebrews 11:6." "The most secret sins are known to God; he can see the villany that is covered with the thickest cloak of hypocrisy, & there is a day coming when he will bring to lightall these hidden works of darkness & every man will appear in his own colours." "God had confirmed his word in the mouth of Jeremiah; it had taken hold of them (Zech. 1:6); & yet, because he does not prophesy to them the smooth things they desired, they are resolved to look upon him as not duly called to the office of a prophet." "It is kindness to our friends to let them know their foes." "Those are unworthy to share in God's favours to his church that are not willing to stay his time for them." "Those that slight the blessings of God's word deserve to lose the benefit of them." CHAPTER 30 "These are the words which God ordered to be written; & those promises which are written by his order are as truly his word as the ten commandments which were written with his finger." "Though the afflictions of the church may last long, they shall not last always. Salvation belongs to the Lord, & shall be wrought for his church." "...deliverance out of temporal calamities are mercies indeed to us when by them we find ourselves engaged to & enlarged in the service of God." "...Christ ...Those to whom he gives rest must take his yoke upon them." "God is no respecter of persons, but will show his hatred of sin whenever he finds it, & that he hates it most in those that are nearest to him." "When God is against a people who will be for them?" "Though God correct them, & justly, for their sins, their manifold transgressions & mighty sins, yet he will return in mercy to them, & even their sin shall not prevent their deliverance when God's time shall come." "Be the disease ever so dangerous, the patient is safe if God undertakes the cure." "Those that are God's servants must not give way to disquieting fears, whatever difficulties & dangers may be before them. They must not sorrow as those that have no hope for the troubles which at present they lie under." "The purposes of his wrath, as well as the purposes of his love, will all be fulfilled; he will perform the intents of his heart." CHAPTER 31 "If we & our houses serve the Lord, we & our houses shall be protected & blessed by him. Proverbs 3:33." "God can make those who have been enemies to... the true worship of God to become encouragers of them & leaders in them." "What we either bring to others or take to ourselves the comfort of we must be sure to give God the praise of." "When we are praising God for what he has done we must call upon him for the future favours which the church is in need & expectation of; & in praying to him we really praise him & give him glory; he takes it so." "...let none plead that he is blind who has God for his guide, or lame who has God for his strength." "If we take God for our Father, & join ourselves to the church of the first-born, we may be assured that we shall want nothing that is good for us." "It is comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of common providence, & even in them to taste covenant-love." "Our souls are never valuable as gardens but when they are watered with the dews of God's Spirit & grace." "God will turn their mourning into joy, their fasts into solemn feasts. Zechariah 8:19." "The comforts of the deliverance shall be sufficient to balance all the grievances of thy captivity." "The sin of our youth was the reproach of our youth, & we ought often to remember it against ourselves & to bear it in a penitential sorrow & shame." "Those that have been undutiful backsliding children, if they sincerely return & repent, however they have been under the chastisement of the rod, shall be accepted of God as dear & pleasant children." "When God afflicts his people, yet he does not forget them; when he casts them out of their land, yet he does not cast them out of sight, nor out of mind." "The way from Babylon to Zion, from the bondage of sin to the glorious liberty of God's children, is a highway; it is right, it is plain, it is safe, it is well-tracked" "Justice towards men & holiness towards God, must go together." "...we may with great comfort pray for the blessing of God upon those houses that are habitations of justice, those cities & countries that are mountains of holiness. There the Lord will undoubtedly command the blessing. There shall be great plenty of all good things among them." "In the love & favour of God the weary soul shall find rest & the sorrowful soul joy." "God will be as ready to comfort those that repent of their sins, & are humbled for them, as he is to punish those that continue in love with their sins, & are hardened in them." "God writes his law in the hearts of all believers, makes it ready & familiar to them, at hand when they have occasion to use it, as that which is written in the heart. Proverbs 3:3." "...those that rightly know God's name will seek him, & serve him, & put their trust in him" "It is sin that keeps good things from us, that stops the current of God's favours; let sin be taken away by pardoning mercy, & the obstruction is removed, & divine grace runs down like a river, like a mighty stream." "Our help stands in his name who made heaven & earth, & therefore can do any thing." CHAPTER 32 "Silencing God's prophets, though it is not as bad as mocking & killing them, is yet a great affront to the God of heaven." "It concerns ministers to make it to appear in their whole conversation that they do themselves believe that which they preach to others; & that they may do so, & impress it the more deeply upon their hearers, they must many a time deny themselves, as Jeremiah did in both these instances." "Prayer is a salve for every sore. Whatever is a burden to us, we may by prayer cast it upon the Lord & then be easy." "When at any time we are perplexed about the particular methods & dispensations of Providence it is good for us to have recourse to our first principles & to satisfy ourselves with the general doctrines of God's wisdom, power, & goodness." "...God is the fountain of all being, power, life, motion, & perfection; He made the heaven & the earth with his outstretched arm; & therefore who can control him? Who dares contend with him? ...with him nothing is impossible." "...he is a God of boundless bottomless mercy" "...he is a God of impartial & inflexible justice." "...he is a God of universal dominion & command; He is the great God, for he is the mighty God." "...he contrives every thing for the best, & effects every thing as he conceived it; He is great in counsel, so vast are the reaches & so deep are the designs of his wisdom" "God had given them fair warning of it before; &, if they had regarded this, the ruin would have been prevented" "Whatever trouble we are in, upon a personal or public account, we may comfort ourselves with this, that God sees it & sees how to remedy it." "...his favour ...It is sin, that & nothing else, that ruins it." "They had been under God's anger, & fury, & great wrath; but now they shall partake of his grace, & love, & great favour." "Teachers may but put good things into our heads, but it is God only that can put them into our hearts, that can work in us both to will & to do." "We have no reason to distrust God's fidelity & constancy, but our own" "We cannot better consult the good of posterity than by setting up, & keeping up, the fear & worship of God in our families." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 585 - 617.
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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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