Gold Nugget 214 - True Sonship

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      God is the Father of all mankind, and all human creatures, even the most ignorant, the most degraded, and the most vicious are naturally God’s children.  The prodigal son is still a son and can think of “my father.”  Nevertheless, it is clear that St. Paul often speaks of a sonship that does not belong to all men – a sonship which is not enjoyed by natural birth, but must be received by adoption … by a special act of Divine grace. …

      The son is most closely related to his father.  But the disobedient child who forsakes his home is practically dead, for him practically the old relation is severed.  It needs to be restored if he is to enjoy it again.  The son, too … is not the young child in the nursery, but the older child admitted into the society of his father.  The Jew was kept in the nursery separated from God by a “mediator” … and a “tutor”. … The Christian is admitted into close fellowship with God. …

      The son is no longer the child “under guardians and stewards,” … He is a free man enjoying the confidence of his father.  Such are Christians; to them the mind and will of God are revealed; they are free from restraints of formal Law; they are put in positions of trust. …

      Here is the secret.  The fraternity that sprang from the mere enthusiasm of philosophic philanthropy led to the guillotine.  It is only union in Christ that secures true lasting union among men.  As all colours melt into one common brilliancy under the rays of a very strong light, all distinctions vanish when Christ’s presence is deeply felt.

      National distinctions vanish.  The old antagonism of Jew and Gentile disappears. … Social distinctions vanish. … Even distinctions of sex count for nothing.  This meant much in ancient times, when cruel injustice was done to women.  Women are under eternal obligations to the gospel, which has freed them from an unworthy bondage and given them their true place in the world. …

      The son of a king is an heir.  What shall be the inheritance of a Son of God?  To him it is said, “All things are yours.”  The Jew cherished the promises as a hope.  The Christian enjoys the fulfillment of the promises.  As yet the fulfillment is but partial, though enough to be an earnest of better things to come for those sons of God who are being made “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”

The Pulpit Commentary, Galatians 3:26-29, Galatians p.178-179, (W. F. Adeney)

Gold Nugget 214

True Sonship

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Gold Nugget 213 - Revelation - The Right Way?

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      It is not often said that God has made a mistake in constituting the moral and material universe in such a way that so much sin and suffering should be possible; but the feeling is often entertained that it would have been well if some other course had been instituted.  There is more of this feeling lurking in some hearts than is supposed. …

      Many attacks on the Bible proceed from a discontent with what is conceived to be inadequate to the wants of the world; and in some this feeling has generated the supposed discovery of reasons for discarding the book as a revelation from God at all.  The very primitive biographical notices; outlines of tribal history interblended with singular personal experiences; genealogies of uninteresting names; crude ideas and antique customs of strange people – all this in connection with a favoured people, and relieved by streaks of light suited to men of later times, does not seem to be a mode of revelation most likely to survive the advancing intelligence of the world.

      It is also not the most satisfactory thing for so precious a boon as a revelation to be given in detached portions, to be conveyed originally to men of one country, and to be characterized by a series of supernatural events.  Men feel that God has imposed a hard task on them to have to defend and justify what seems open to assault from so many sides.  They wish it had been his will to have given his light so unmixed with an ancient human history that the most keen antagonist would be compelled to recognize its presence.  To some it really seems as though the form and origin of the contents of the Bible were a misfortune.

      Of course this discontent, silent or expressed, springs from an imperfect consideration of the real nature and purport of the revelation given, as well as of the inevitable conditions of any revelation that has to be coextensive with the wants of both the first and last stages of the world; and that, moreover, has to be concentrated and verified in a Divine person duly attested by a contemporary evidence harmonious with a chain of antecedent proof.

      It would be useful to the Church, if some one, dissatisfied with the way in which God is affirmed to have made known his will to succeeding ages, would prescribe the right way.

The Pulpit Commentary, I Samuel p.146, I Samuel 8:1-9, (C. Chapman)

Gold Nugget 213 – Revelation – The Right Way?

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Gold Nugget 212 - Vain Confidence

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      Men are often tempted to rely on religious symbols and appointments, not so much to glorify God therewith as to protect themselves.  It is much easier to shout over these than to break off sins by righteousness.  So the cross has been worn in many an evil enterprise, and carried into many battles, to defend cruel and rapacious men.

      So, also, men shout over their Church, their English Bible, their prayer-book, or their Sabbath, in a vain confidence that their relation to one of them, or to all of them, will secure the Divine favour, or, at all events, Divine defense, though in character and life they be no better than others who boast of none of these things.

      But is all a delusion, and they who go into some hard battle of life with no better security are destined to a thorough defeat. … What a selfish man wants in religion is to have God bound to take his part and fight on his side, instead of his studying to be on God’s side, which is the side of righteousness. …

      Have not many Chyristians similar thoughts of God?  Almost every great act of rapine has been perpetrated, and every war, however unjust, has been waged, with grave appeal to heaven, and gross usurpers and tyrants have had “Te Deum” sung for their infamous victories.  But in vain do unrighteous men claim religious sanctions.  God defends the right, and his face is against the wrong-doer.

The Pulpit Commentary, I Samuel p. 99, I Samuel 4:11, (D. Fraser)

Gold Nugget 212 – Vain Confidence

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Gold Nugget 211 - Impulses of Self Gratification

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      “By nature and practice” men seek their own interest.  But experience shows us that strong emotion increases the danger of our yielding to such impulses. … It is so easy to wrong others for the sake of our own gratification, that it is well to question the arguments and pleas by which our interests are commended. 

The Pulpit Commentary, Ruth p. 57, Ruth 3:12-13, (J. R. Thomson)

Gold Nugget 211 – Impulses of Self Gratification

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Gold Nugget 208 - Understanding the Transfiguration

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      It may be asked – Why was it appointed that the Transfiguration should be witnessed by so small and select a group, and in so secluded a spot?  Why were not multitudes permitted to behold a spectacle so amazing in itself, and so fitted to bring conviction to the minds of all beholders?  Surely, it might be urged, no unbeliever, no caviler, could have withstood the evidence of our Lord’s authority which such a scene afforded!

      It is recorded that the leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees, asked from Jesus a sign from heaven.  This he refused them.  But he allowed three favoured friends to behold his glory, when the customary veil was in some measure withdrawn.  What is the explanation of this?

      It may be replied that it was not in harmony with the plans of our Lord Jesus to overpower the senses of the people with some irresistible display of supernatural power and glory.  This would not have been to secure a moral result by moral means.  Jesus would not have valued the admiration which was withheld from his moral character and his benevolent life, but which was accorded to the effulgence of celestial glory, striking all eyes with amazement.  But there was another reason for the limitation of the witnesses of our Lord’s transfiguration.  The highest revelations of God’s wisdom and holiness and love are for those only who are prepared to receive them.

      You may walk round the outside of a vast domain, a splendid palace; you may make the circuit of the walls, you may see the tree-tops shaken by the wind, you may catch glimpses of the loft roofs and towers of the lordly edifice.  But how little do you know the imposing palace and its enchanting environments!  If, however, you are permitted to enter the gates, to tread the stately gardens, to explore the mansion, to look through the library, to admire the sculptures and paintings, and, above all, to spend hours and days in converse with the choice spirits who make the abode their home, - then you can form a judgment, and cherish an appreciation which, so long as you were on the outside, you would never have been able to do.

      So with the knowledge of every high and pure and noble soul.  Such a one is only to be known by those who have sympathy with him, and opportunities of fellowship with him.  It cannot be otherwise than that the ignorant, the vulgar, the selfish, should misunderstand him. …

      It seems likely that when Jesus took with him only his three most intimate and congenial friends to behold his glory upon the holy mount, he did so because none others were sufficiently advanced in spiritual knowledge and appreciation to be capable of partaking and profiting by the privilege.  Even the bulk of his own twelve disciples would have been, at that time, out of place upon the Mount of Transfiguration.

      As for the scribes and Pharisees, and all the vulgar formalist who desired a sign, they had no spiritual eyes with which to see the vision which was then and there vouchsafed to three lowly fishermen, whose hearts the Lord had touched, and whoes sight the Lord had cleansed and quickened.

 

The Pulpit Commentary, Mark II p. 11, Mark 9:2-13 (J. R. Thomson)

     

Gold Nugget 208

Understanding the Transfiguration

 

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Gold Nugget 210 - Heart to Die for Truth

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      It has been supposed that John accepted a crafty invitation from Herod Antipas to come to his court.  The last act in the tragedy of his life is when he appears before us as a courageous “court-preacher.”   Here the Baptist would not take things easily, as courtiers do, but denounced the infamy of the monarch.  His reward is a dungeon.  The finale is his murder.

      So has the world rewarded its spiritual heroes.  It has nothing better for the noblest than a castle-dungeon and a headman’s sword.  This shadow is inserted in Luke’s history by anticipation. 

      But there is artistic power in so inserting it.  It completes the picture of a great ministry.  The forerunner of Messiah has not a much better fate than Messiah himself.  The age of heroes is beginning in the person of John, the heroes who had heart to die for truth.  Their blood is truth’s most precious seed, and the gospel which can command “the noble army of martyrs” is destined to endure.

The Pulpit Commentary, Luke p. 82, Luke 3:1-20, (R. M. Edgar)

Gold Nugget 210

Heart to Die for Truth

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Gold Nugget 209 - Well Chosen Friends

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      It is often said that a man is known by this friends, and it is perhaps equally true that he is made by his friends, especially in the time of youth, when character is plastic and habits are readily formed.  Some communication with others is a necessity of school and business life; but friends may be chosen; and it is of the last importance that they be chosen well.

The Pulpit Commentary, Mark II p.30, Mark 9:43, 45, 47 (A. Rowland)

Gold Nugget 209

Well Chosen Friends

Gold Nugget 207 - Leprosy of the Soul

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      Leprosy commenced with a rising in the skin of the flesh, or a single bright spot.  It was so small at the beginning as to be barely perceptible.  A few specks of reddish spots on the skin were all that appeared at the outset.  These sports became more numerous; they grew larger, bleaching the hairs that came in their way; they overspread the body, crusting it with leprous scurf or shining scales; sores and swellings ensued.

      For a long time it seemed only cutaneous.  But it did not stop with the skin; it penetrated deep down.  It ate its way to the bones, it attacked the joints, it reached the marrow.  The blood is corrupt, portions of the extremities mortify and drop off, a wasting away supervenes, till the poor leper, mutilated and disfigured, presents a shocking sight – a hideous spectacle, when dissolution at last brings him to a welcome grave.  How dreadful was all this!  And yet how like the leprosy of Sin!

      It also is little in its beginnings, but it makes gradual, sometimes rapid, progress.  No one has become entirely vile all at once.  At the first appearance of the leprosy of sin in childhood, it is a mere spot – a small speck.  The beginning may be some slight evasion of parental authority, some trifling act of disobedience; or it may be some small departure from strict truth; or it may be, perhaps, a petty act of pilfering, an insignificant instance of dishonesty; or it may be a little outburst of childish passion.  It appears so small a matter that the indulgent parent or guardian overlooks it as unworthy of notice – at all events, undeserving of punishment; or the kind friend laughs at it as a mere childish trick.

      But oh! let it never be forgotten that that trifling disobedience, or small fib, or petty theft, or little ebullition of passions is the first breaking out of a spiritual leprosy – the first manifestation of the plague-spot of sin.  And who can set limits or bounds to a seemingly small transgression, once it has been repeated and repeated until it has grown into a habit?  … Who can check its onward progress?  What can resist its downward sweep when, like the rushing of the roaring torrent, or with more than the impetuosity of the mighty waterfall, it overbears and overcomes all resistance, hurrying its hapless victim downward to perdition? …

      Here, in all this, is a sad symbol of sin.  It separates between us and our God; it excludes us from his presence and privileges, from his friendship and family; it shuts us out from the society of his saints, from their benefits and blessedness, and, unless cleansed in God’s own way, it will shut us out at last finally and for ever from his heavenly temple …

      It never gets cured of itself; no mortal man can recover himself from it; no human being can restore the individual suffering from its pollution; no created power can heal this leprosy of the soul.  God alone can deliver from this spiritual disease; the blood of Christ alone can cleanse from its defilement. …

      No bodily disease is one-millionth part so terrible in its ravages as sin, of which leprosy is such a special and striking type; none so dreadful in its results, or so destructive in its consequences.  It darkens that spirit in man that once reflected so purely and perfectly the image of the Creator; it defiles the fountain-head of thought and feeling; it destroys the health and happiness of the soul. …

      He is not only willing, but waiting to bestow on us present and immediate blessings.  Present pardon and purity and peace, immediate grace and instant loving-kindness, instantaneous spiritual health, as well as future everlasting happiness, are among the boons which he stands waiting to confer. …

      The present is his accepted time; he is willing to receive us now, he is waiting to cleanse us now, he is ready to bless us now.  Present opportunities may not return, present impressions may be effaced and never renewed; his spirit will not always strive, his salvation will not be offered evermore.   

The Pulpit Commentary, Mark p.79-81, Mark 1:40-45, (J. J. Given)

Gold Nugget 207

Leprosy of the Soul

     

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Gold Nugget 206 - Corrupted Christianity

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      A corrupted Bible is the worst of all books.  It does more mischief than any infidel productions.  Political tyrannies, slaveries, wars, persecutions, have all been sanctioned and encouraged by a corrupted Bible.  Alas! the millions of Christendom hate the Bible – not the Bible that God gave, but man’s corrupted versions of that Bible.

      A corrupted pulpit is the worst of all ministries.  Popes, archbishops, bishops, and the clergy in every grade in all Churches, have been found amongst the most intolerant despots and the most bloody persecutors of all times.  They consecrate the banners of the warriors, they advocate the cause of slavery, they have ever been the prime obstructers to the promotion of liberty and the advancement of the universal rights of man.  An old expositor has said, “The clergy, when wicked, are the worst of men; none so cruel and bloody.”  It is time for the people to be taught that a pulpit is not necessarily a Christian or a useful thing.  It may be – alas! It sometimes is – the corruptest and the most pernicious thing in the neighbourhood in which it has a place.

      A man is not a saint because he calls himself a Christian; a building is not the “house of God” because it is called a church, a chapel, or a tabernacle; a forum is not sacred to the utterance of gospel truth because it is called a pulpit.  Things called “sermons” may sometimes have more wickedness in them than infidel tracts; places called “houses of God” may sometimes serve more effectually the cause of the devil than the theatres of pleasure-seekers or lecture-halls of skeptics.

      Mere names must not rule our judgment.  It is the policy of the devil in these days to baptize his instruments with Christian titles.  He is never more powerful than when he occupies the sacred desk, writes religious books, and quotes the World of God.  There are wolves in sheep’s clothing, and false prophets now as ever.

The Pulpit Commentary, Hosea p. 194-195, Hosea 6:8, (D. Thomas)

Gold Nugget 206

Corrupted Christianity

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Gold Nugget 205 - Wandering Estrangement

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      There is an estrangement from God that is easily recognized.  One wanders from holiness into corrupt imaginations, evil associations, gross habits, till all manly virtue or womanly grace is gone, and parents’ tears or kindly words avail nothing.        Another wanders from truth and righteousness, turning his back on these, because they seem opposed to present interest, and so he gets entangled in crooked policy and tortuous expedients.  Another wanders from love, till there is discord in the home, suspicion and enmity in the heart. …

      We are more concerned about some who are guilty of sin, but not of crime; who are irreligious, but not immoral.  Their condition is more perilous, because less likely to cause them alarm; yet what more lamentable in God’s sight than a prayerless, godless man? …

      Imagine your son being to you what the godless man is to God.  You watched over his infancy, sacrificed yourself for his comfort … You expect to reap the fruit of all this in his love, to be glad in his success, to live over again in him.  But he becomes a man, and has no thought or care for you.  Cheerful in the society of others, he never gives his father a look or a smile.

      Is there no wrong in that, even though he may fulfill his duties to his neighbours and his country?  But by-and-by he breaks down in his schemes; his brilliant course is run, his friends forsake him; then, poor and broken, he comes back to you, and in your pardon and kindness he feels and knows what you are, and how true all along your love has been.

      On his past negligence all the world would cry “Shame!”  Yet what has he done that the moral, respected, yet godless man is not doing every day of his life?  To such the message is sent, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord.”

The Pulpit Commentary, Hosea p. 181, Hosea 6:1, (A. Rowland)

Gold Nugget 205

Wandering Estrangement

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