INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 11
"The falls of the wise & good into sin, & the falls of the rich & great into trouble, are loud alarms to those that are every way their inferiors not to be secure." "It is sad with a people when those who should be as shepherds to them are as young lions to them." "When those who have power proudly abuse their power, &, instead of being shepherds, are as young lions, they may expect that the righteous God will humble their pride & break their power." "Those have their minds woefully blinded indeed who do ill & justify themselves in doing it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so." "What is got honestly we ought to give God thanks for, & to bless him whose blessing makes rich & adds no sorrow with it." "...Christ preached his gospel to the poor, Matthew 6:5." "Their provocations even wore out his patience, & he was weary of that faithless & perverse generation." "There is a mutual enmity between God & wicked people; they are hateful to God & haters of God." "Those that reject Christ will be certainly & justly rejected by him" "...those that wait upon Christ, that sit at his feet, to hear & receive his words, shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, John 7:17." "When iniquity abounds love waxes cold." "An unchurched people will soon be an undone people." "He leaves the flock when they most need his care, leaves them destitute & flees, because he is a hireling;" "Those that have gifts which qualify them to do good, if they do not do good with them, shall be deprived of them" "...those that should have been watchmen, but were sleepy & would never look about them, will justly have their eye blinded." CHAPTER 12 "God's church is a cup of consolation to all her friends (Isaiah 66:11), but a cup of trembling to all that would either debauch her by errors & corruptions or destroy her by wars & persecutions." "It is the glory of God to strengthen the weak, that most need his help, that see & own their need of it, & will be the most thankful for it." "In Christ's first coming, he sought to destroy him that had the power of death, & did destroy him, bruised the serpent's head, & broke all the powers of darkness that fought against God's kingdom among men & against the faithful friends & subjects of that kingdom; he spoiled them, & made a show of them openly. In his second coming, he will complete their destruction, when he shall put down all opposing rule, principality, & power, & death itself shall be swallowed up in that victory." "When God intends great mercy for his people the first thing he does is to set them a praying" "Ask, & it shall be given." "Wherever the Spirit is given as a Spirit of grace, he is given as a Spirit of sanctification. Wherever he is a Spirit of adoption, he teaches to cry, Abba, Father." "Those that truly repent of sin look upon Christ as one whom they have pierced, who was pierced for their sins & is pierced by them;" "The genuine sorrows of a penitent soul flow from the believing sight of a pierced Saviour. Looking by faith upon the cross of Christ will set us a mourning for sin after a godly sort." "Christ is our King; our sins were his death, &, for that reason, ought to be our grief." "In times of general tribulation & humiliation the Lord's ministers are concerned to weep between the porch & the altar (Joel 2:17), & not only there, but in their houses apart;" CHAPTER 13 "For Christ is exalted to give both repentance & remission of sins; & where he gives the one no doubt he gives the other." "And those who look upon Christ pierced, & mourn for their sins that pierced him, & are therefore in bitterness for him, may look again upon Christ pierced & rejoice in him, because it pleased the Lord thus to smite this rock, that it might be to us a fountain of living waters." "...sin is uncleanness; it defiles the mind & conscience, renders us odious to God & uneasy in ourselves, unfit to be employed in the service of God & admitted into communion with him, as those who were ceremonially unclean were shut out of the sanctuary." "Behold, there is a fountain opened for us to wash in, & there are streams flowing to us from that fountain, so that, if we be not made clean, it is our own fault. The blood of Christ, & God's pardoning mercy in that blood, revealed in the new covenant, are (1) A fountain... (2) A fountain opened; for, whoever will, may come & take the benefit of it" "Through Christ all that believe are justified, are washed from their sins in his blood, that they may be made to our God kings & priests, Revelation 1:5, 6." "He takes away teh dominion of sin by the power of his grace" "...as they are justified, so they are sanctified" "...holy zeal for God & godliness will make us hate sin, & dread temptation" "When we are convinced that we have gone out of the way of our duty we must evince the truth of our repentance by returning to it again, though it be the severest mortification to us." "He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the decree & counsel of God" "...God spared not his own Son." "Those whom God sets apart for himself must pass through a probation & purification in this world; they must be tried that their faith may be found to praise & honour (I Peter 1:6, 7)" "They must be tried, that both those that are perfect & those that are not may be made manifest. They must be refined from their dross; their corruption must be purged out; they must be brightened & bettered." "Their communion with God is their triumph; They shall call on my name, & I will hear them." "Their covenant with God is their triumph; 'I will say, It is my people, whom I have chosen & loved, & will own; & they shall say, The Lord is my God, & a God all-sufficient to me; & in me they shall boast every day & all the day long. This God is our God for ever & ever.'" CHAPTER 14 "When the refiner puts his gold into the furnace he stands by it, & has his eye upon it, to see that it receive no damage; so when Jerusalem, God's gold, is to be refined, he will have the oversight of it." "Jerusalem shall be a spring of living waters to the world" "Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem" "Where the gospel goes, & the graces of God's Spirit go along with it, there living waters go; those streams that make glad the city of our God make glad the country also, & make it like paradise, like the garden of the Lord, which was well watered." "The gospel shall spread into all parts of the world, into some that be remote from Jerusalem one way & others that lie as far off another way; for the dominion of the Redeemer, which was thereby to be set up, must be from sea to sea (Psalms 72:8), & the earth must be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, & as the waters that in various channels run to the sea." "Those who are employed in spreading the gospel may find themselves work both winter & summer, & are to serve the Lord therein at all seasons, Acts 20:18." "All false gods shall be abandoned, & all false ways of worship abolished" "The gospel of Christ, where it comes in its power, levels the ground; mountains & hills are brought low by it, that the Lord alone may be exalted." "Those that fight against the city of God, & his people, will be found fighting against God, against whom none ever hardened his heart & prospered" "Those that aim to destroy the church are often made to destroy one another" "The wealth of the sinner if often laid up for the just, & the Israel of God enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians." "They shall no longer worship the Molochs & Baals, the kings & lords, that the Gentiles worship, the creatures of their own imagination, but the King, the Lord of hosts, the everlasting King, the King of kings, the sovereign Lord of all." "...those who neglect the duties of gospel-worship shall be reckoned with for their neglect" "The gifts of common providence are justly denied to those that neglect & despise instituted ordinances." "If we omit or postpone the duties he expects from us, it is just with him to deny the favours we expect from him." "Those who think themselves least indebted to, & depending on, the mercy of heaven, cannot therefore think themselves guarded against the justice of Heaven." "All Christians shall be living temples, & spiritual priests, dedicated to the honour of God & employed in his service." "In gospel-times the true worshippers shall worship God in spirit & in truth, & neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, John 4:21. One place shall be as acceptable to God as another (I will that men pray every where); & one vessel shall be as acceptable as another." Matthew Henry's Commentary: Isaiah to Malachi, Mac Donald, pgs. 1452 - 1475.
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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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