INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 41
"We have scarcely such an instance of perfidious cruelty in all the Scripture" "...God permitted it for the completing of the ruin of an unhumbled people, & the filling up of the measure of their judgments, who had filled up the measure of their iniquities. Let it inspire us with an indignation at the wickedness of men & an awe of God's righteousness." "The people of God used to go rejoicing to the house of the Lord, but these went in the habit of mourners, with their clothes rent & their heads shaven" "When we think ourselves safe, & begin to be easy, destruction may come that way that we little expected it. There is many a ship wrecked in the harbour. We can never be sure of peace on this side heaven." "The most cruel are often the most cowardly." "Those will justly lose their comfort in real fears that excuse themselves in sin with pretended fears." CHAPTER 42 "In every difficult doubtful case our eye must be up to God for direction." "...we may still in faith pray to be guided by a spirit of wisdom in our hearts & the hints of Providence." "Ministers may hence learn, 1. Conscientiously to pray for those who desire their prayers... 2. Conscientiously to advise those who desire their advice as near as they can to the mind of God, not keeping back any thing that is profitable for them, whether it be pleasing or no, but to declare to them the whole counsel of God, that they may approve themselves true to their trust." "Those that expect to have the benefit of good ministers' prayers must conscientiously hearken to their preaching & be governed by it, as far as it agrees with the mind of God." "We do not truly desire to know the mind of God if we do not fully resolve to comply with it when we do know it." "...if God be for you to save you, who can be against you to hurt you?" "Whatever kindness men do us we must attribute it to God's kindness." "The evils we think to escape by sin we certainly & inevitably run ourselves upon. The men that go to escape the sword & famine, shall die in Egypt by sword & famine." "Those that have by sin made God their enemy will find him a consuming fire wherever they go." "When God's professing people mingle with infidels, & make their court to them, they lose their dignity & make themselves a reproach." "Admire the patience of God, that he is pleased to speak to those who, he knows, will not regard him, & deal with those who, he knows, will deal very treacherously." "God's threatenings may be vilified, but cannot be nullified, by the unbelief of man." "We know not what is good for ourselves; & that often proves afflictive, & sometimes fatal, which we are most fond of & have our hearts most set upon." CHAPTER 43 "They resolve not to dwell in the land of Judah, as God had ordered them." "It is the folly of men that they know not when they are well off, & often ruin themselves by endeavouring to better themselves, & it is the pride of great men to force those they have under their power to follow them, though ever so much against their duty & interest." "The world's princes are God's servants & he makes what use he pleases of them, & even those that know him not, nor aim at his honour, are the tools which his providence makes use of." "God sometimes makes one wicked man, or wicked nation, a scourge & plague to another." CHAPTER 44 "It becomes us to speak of sin with the utmost dread & detestation as an abominable thing; it is certainly so, for it is that which God hates, & we are sure that his judgment is according to truth. Call it grievous, call it odious, that we may be all means possible put ourselves & others out of love with it. It becomes us to give warning of the danger of sin, & the fatal consequences of it, with all seriousness & earnestness; 'Oh! do not do it. If you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls do not, for it is destructive to them." "In sinning against God we sin against our own souls." "Those that walk not in the law of God do thereby show that they are destitute of the fear of God." "If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us." "They declare their resolution not to do as God commanded them, but what they themselves had a mind to do; that is, they would go on to worship the moon, here called the queen of heaven" "Those that live in disobedience to God commonly grow worse & worse, & the heart is more & more hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." "Those who know God, & put their trust in him, will serve him, though he starve them, though he slay them, though they never see a good day with him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by him in the end." "It is sad when those who are in the nearest relation to each other, who should quicken each other to that which is good & so help one another to heaven, harden each other in sin & so ripen one another for hell." "Daring sinners may speak many a bold word & many a big word, but, after all, God will have the last word; for he will be justified when he speaks, & all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent before him." "The right understanding of the cause of our troubles, one would think, should go far towards the cure of our sins." "With the froward he will show himself froward. Psalms 18:26." "To those whom God finds impenitent sinners he will be found an implacable Judge." "The contest between God & sinners is whose word shall stand, whose will shall be done, who shall get the better. Sinners say that they shall have peace though they go on; God says they shall have no peace. But when God judges he will overcome; God's word shall stand, & not the sinner's." "...no word of God shall fall to the ground." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 652 - 668.
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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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