Gold Nugget 204 - The Nature of Earnestness

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      Let us not mistake the nature of earnestness.  It is not noise.  Ignorant people imagine that the minister who makes the greatest noise, roars and raves the most in the pulpit, or parades his doings most in journals and reports, is the earnest man.  “A celebrated preacher, distinguished for the eloquence of his pulpit preparations, exclaimed on his death-bed, ‘Speak not to me of my sermons.  Alas! I was fiddling whilst Rome was burning.’”

      It is not frightening people.  Often he who is the most successful by graphic and impassioned descriptions of the judgment day and hell fires, in terrifying men, is considered the most earnest.  This is a mistake – a popular and fatal mistake.

      It is not bustle.  He who is always on the “go,” whose limbs are always on the stretch, into this house and that house, into this meeting and that, who is never at rest, men are always disposed to regard as an earnest man.  Genuine earnestness is foreign to all these things.  It has nothing in it of the noise and rattle of the fussy brook; it is like the deep stream rolling its current silently, resistlessly, and without pause.

      An earnest ministry is living.  It is not mere preaching or service, occasional or even systematic; it is the influence of the whole man. … It is not a professional service; it is as regular as the functions of life; it is a thing that is “in season and out of season” – in shops and in sanctuaries, or hearths as well as in pulpits.  Such a ministry is mighty.  Men can stand before the most thunderous words and violent attitudinazations, but they cannot stand before such a ministry as this; they are before it as snow before the sun.

The Pulpit Commentary, Hosea p.160, Hosea 5:8, (D. Thomas)

Gold Nugget 204

The Nature of Earnestness

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Gold Nugget 203 - The Essence of Redemption

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      The essence of redemption is not deliverance from misery, but restoration to righteousness.  The first and chief aim of the work of Christ is not to secure peace in this life and happiness in the life to come, but to make us righteousness. 

      The new righteousness is different from primitive innocence, which rested on the unstable basis of ignorance.  This rest on the broad and solid foundation of the intelligent principles accepted with love and confirmed by the indwelling Spirit of God.  Therefore it is everlasting.  The sources of confidence are no longer vague hopes of a future redemption, but the clear knowledge of the accomplished fact. 

      Judaism lived upon prophecy, Christianity lives upon history.  The shame and humiliation of sin is abolished; the desolation which it produced is done away with; the world is again joyous in the love of God; worship is glad and deep and real, and all life made sacred by its influence; the “most holy place is anointed” and resconsecrated.

The Pulpit Commentary, Daniel p. 279, Daniel 9:24, (W. F. Adeney)

Gold Nugget 203

The Essence of Redemption

Gold Nugget 202 - A Good Man

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      A good man feels that he is accountable to God; not impelled by forces over which he has no control, nor liberated from moral law; but, whilst free to act, bound by the highest motives to obey.  His faith in the living God quickens his conscience, and shows him plainly the way of duty; his gratitude for past deliverance incites him to walk therein.

      By abhorring that which is evil, and avoiding it.

      By sincerity of heart, speaking the truth, and doing what is just and right.

      By using the authority and power entrusted to him, not according to his own will and for selfish ends, but according to the will of God, and for his honour and the welfare of men.  His motto is Ich dien (“I serve”).  He ever lives under a sense of obligation, and finds in faithful service his strength and joy.  “I must work”.

      “Remember now and always that life is no idle dream, but a solemn reality; based upon eternity, and encompassed by eternity.  Find out your task:  stand to it:  the night cometh when no man can work” (Carlyle).

The Pulpit Commentary, II Samuel p. 109, II Samuel 4:9-11, (B. Dale)

See also:  John 9:34, John 9:4,

Gold Nugget 202

A Good Man

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Gold Nugget 201 - Child of Contentment

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      No other creature on earth is weaker, more helpless or dependent at the commencement of life, that a child.  He is peculiarly liable to accident and susceptible to disease; incapable of defending himself from harm or preserving his own life; and is cast entirely upon the care of others.  A little neglect on their part may prove fatal.  More than a fourth of all the children that are born die before they are five years old.

      There is still greater danger to your souls of being allowed to grow up in ignorance and led into “the way of transgressors,” stumbling and perishing therein.  Be thankful to your parents, nurses, and teachers for their care over you; still more to your heavenly Father who has taught them such care, appointed his holy angels to be your guardians, sent his Son to bless you, and himself loves, preserves, watches over you, and seeks your salvation. …

      You may sometimes wish that you belonged to a royal or wealthy family, lived in a palace, and had numerous servants to wait upon you; supposing that you would be happier than you are.  Well, here is a prince; yet motherless, fatherless, homeless, helpless, and hopeless.  How much better is your condition that that of this poor little orphan cripple!  No condition of life is above the reach of trouble; none beneath the possession of enjoyment.  Envy not the lot of others, nor fret and be dissatisfied with your own.

      Hear a fable of three little fishes that dwelt in a beautiful stream.  On being asked what they wished for, one said, “Wings,” and when these grew he flew away so high and so far that he could not get back, sank exhausted, and breathed his last; another said “Knowledge,” and when he obtained it, became anxious and fearful, and durst not touch a fly or a worm or eat any food, lest it should contain a fatal bait, pined away and dies; the third said, “I wish for nothing, but am contented with my lot,” and this little fish had a long and happy life

      Have you not heard of the apostle who was a prisoner for Jesus’ sake, and said, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content”?

The Pulpit Commentary, II Samuel p.106, II Samuel 4:4, (B. Dale)

Gold Nugget 201

Child of Contentment

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Gold Nugget 200 - A Mere Boy

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      Mephibosheth … A mere boy, lamed by a careless nurse, a son of one who had renounced all claim to the throne!  His name and misfortune are mentioned, and the tide of events moves on.

      Now and then we meet with such incidental references in the Bible history.  They are but specimens of multitudes equally insignificant who played a small part in the affairs of the world, and are unknown for ever.  Their selection for brief allusion is doubtless part of a vast providential method by which the historians were unconsciously guided to refer to whatever might illustrate the process of elimination by which God at last accomplished his purpose in first raising up David to supreme dominion of his people, and afterwards the true David of the present dispensation.  The poor lad little knew that he was an element in the working out of a great purpose, and that, small as was his figure in life, it served as a foil to God’s greater characters.

      Modern science teaches us that nothing is really lost, that all small items are used up in the great development of things towards a future higher condition.  So the humbler forms of human life are not all lost.  They play their part, and to some extent modify all that comes after them.

      In the Church of Christ, the little ones, feeble and uninfluential in a worldly sense, have some part to perform in the great spiritual development which God is working out.  Our Mephibosheths are not lost to mankind.  The smaller figures of life render the totality of live more varied, and develop qualities which uniform greatness could never originate.

The Pulpit Commentary, II Samuel p. 103, II Samuel 4:1-12 (C. Chapman)

See also:  Matthew 18:6, 18:10-14, Philippians 4:11

Gold Nugget 200

A Mere Boy

     

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Gold Nugget 199 - The Enduring Bond

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      Companionships based on community of sensual enjoyments are held by bonds which perish in adversity.  Friendships are perishable in so far as they are pervaded by a worldly element.  Whatever ties are formed on any feelings, interests, or considerations than those which make us all one in Christ, cannot but vanish as we pass from the earthly scene into the world where alone the spiritual bond endures.

The Pulpit Commentary, II Samuel p. 102, II Samuel 4:1-12, (C. Chapman)

Gold Nugget 199

The Enduring Bond

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Gold Nugget 198 - Parental Obedience

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      Gratitude should lead the child to obey the parent, to whom he owes so very much.  The constraint should be the sweet constraint of love.  Reason should lead to the reflection – The parent has experience of human life, in which I am necessarily lacking; is not a parent’s judgment far more likely to be sound than is a child’s, or even a youth’s? …

      Usually, obvious temporal advantages ensure upon such a course.  This is proverbial and unquestionable.  The satisfaction of a good conscience is a compensation not to be despised for any sacrifice of personal feeling in this matter.  The approval of God is most emphatically pronounced upon those who honour and obey their parents.  And this is usually followed by the confidence and admiration of fellow-men.

The Pulpit Commentary, Ruth p.56, Ruth 3:5-6, (James Morrison)

Gold Nugget 198

Parental Obedience

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Gold Nugget 197 - Indulgently Cruel Indeed

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      If some children are “discouraged” by too much strictness, far more are spoiled by too much indulgence.  “Indulgence never produces gratitude or love in the heart of a child.” … Cruel indeed are the tenderest mercies of parental weakness and indulgence. …

      “Indulgent parents are cruel to themselves and their posterity” (Hall).  How numerous are the facts which justify these statements!  “As in individuals, so in nations, unbridled indulgence of the passions must produce, and does produce, frivolity, effeminacy, slavery to the appetite of the moment; a brutalized and reckless temper, before which prudence, energy, national feeling, any and every feeling which is not centered in self, perishes utterly.

      The old French noblesse gave proof of this law which will last as a warning beacon to the end of time. … Has not Italy proved it likewise for centuries past?  It must be so.  For national life is grounded on … the life of the family. 

The Pulpit Commentary, I Samuel p. 54, I Samuel 2:12-17, (B. Dale) / I Samuel p. 82, I Samuel 3:13, (B. Dale)

Gold Nugget 197

Indulgently Cruel Indeed

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Gold Nugget 196 - Cruel Indeed

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      If some children are “discouraged” by too much strictness, far more are spoiled by too much indulgence.  “Indulgence never produces gratitude or love in the heart of a child.” … Cruel indeed are the tenderest mercies of parental weakness and indulgence. 

The Pulpit Commentary, I Samuel p. 54, I Samuel 2:12-17, (B. Dale)

Gold Nugget 196

Cruel Indeed

Gold Nugget 195 - Marriage - Thus We Learn

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      Of the services which our Lord Christ has rendered to human society, none is more conspicuous and undeniable than the honour which he has put upon marriage.  Of all institutions and relations existing among men, there is none which has met with so much slander, hate, and scorn, as matrimony.  The sinful and the selfish, not content with avoiding marriage themselves, overwhelm those who honour and enter upon wedded life with ridicule and contempt.  This is not to be wondered at, inasmuch as true and honourable marriage involves abstinence from unlawful pleasures, and also a fidelity and constancy of affection amidst the changes, responsibilities, and troubles incident to this estate. …

      Those who disparage wedded life are usually found to take a base view of the feminine sex, to regard women rather as instruments of sensual pleasure than as the houourable companions of men.  The true wife takes a position which not only ennobles herself, but raises her sex.  In this respect marriage is in complete opposition to concubinage and polygamy and those temporary alliances which there seems a disposition, even in some civilized communities, to look upon with favour.

      Many a naturally self-indulgent and self-seeking man has experienced the benefit of a relationship which as drawn his thoughts away from self, and has led him to interest himself in his wife and children, and for their sake to labour with strenuous diligence, and to submit patiently to inconveniences and privations.  Instead of living to gratify himself, and regarding the other sex as offering opportunities for such gratification, such a man has learned to look upon human life as an opportunity for bearing the burdens and cheering the lot of others.  And virtuous fidelity becomes a silent but effectual witness against the prevalent and seductive vices of mankind.

      The family is the divinely ordered unit of human society.  This has been recognized even in pagan nations.  But Christianity, in giving to the world a higher ideal of marriage, has rendered a vast service to every Christian state. …

      Christ himself implanted the germ of that idea of the spiritual and Divine marriage which so developed under the Apostle Paul.  He is the true Bridegroom, and his Church is the true bride.  But for our appreciation of what is involved in this mystic and hallowed relationship we are dependent upon our acquaintance and experience of matrimony as existing in human society.  Thus we learn what depth of meaning lies in the statement, “Christ loved his spouse the Church, and gave himself for it!”

The Pulpit Commentary, John p. 98-99, John 2:1-11, (B. Thomas)

Gold Nugget 195

Marriage – Thus We Learn

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