Bible Verses: Revelation 3:20
Read MoreFor Reading and Meditation: Matthew 1:1-17
Our theme now centers on the only two books in the Bible which are named after women - Esther and Ruth. Although the two books are quite different in style and scope, there are several intriguing similarities. First, both books depict a woman who was brought by God into an unusual marriage. Second, both books are set...
Bible Verses: Matthew 1:1-17
Read MoreSince he was cursed who rebuilt Jericho, much more the man who labours to restore Popery among us. In our fathers' days the gigantic walls of Popery fell by the power of their faith, the perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel trumpets; and now there are some who would rebuild that accursed system upon its old foundation. O Lord, be pleased to thwart their unrighteous endeavours, and pull down every stone which they build. It should be a serious business with us to be...
Bible Verses: Joshua 6:26
Read MoreOh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24).
As sinners, the law revealed our need of deliverance from the penalty of sin; as believers, the law reveals our need of deliverance from the power of sin.
"Our Father knows that we are weakness incarnate; that we can do...
Bible Verses: Romans 7:24Philippians 2:13Romans 8:4Romans 7:25
Read More"The LORD bless thee, and keep thee." Numbers 6:24
This first clause of the high priest's benediction is substantially a promise. That blessing which our great High Priest pronounces upon us is sure to come, for He speaks the mind of God.
What a joy to abide under the divine blessing! This puts a gracious flavor into all things. If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and...
Bible Verses: Numbers 6:24
Read MoreHe also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. § You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world … we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh.Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed. § Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. For You...
Bible Verses: Psalms 18:16Psalms 40:2Ephesians 2:1Ephesians 2:2Ephesians 2:3Psalms 61:1Psalms 61:2Jonah 2:2Jonah 2:3Psalms 66:12Isaiah 43:2
Read MoreJesus, the author and finisher of our faith. § I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. § We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made...
Bible Verses: John 19:30Hebrews 12:2John 17:4Hebrews 10:10Hebrews 10:11Hebrews 10:12Colossians 2:14John 10:17John 10:18John 15:13
Read MoreIt was John Milton who said that hope springs eternal in the human breast. Indeed hope is such a vital thing that were it to die out of the heart of mankind, the burden of life could not long be sustained.
But precious as this hope may be, it is yet, when it is ill-founded,a dangerous thing. The hope, for instance, which almost all people feel, of long life here on earth, can be for many a deadly snare, a fatal delusion. The average man, when he thinks of his future, suspends reason,...
ONCE MARY AND JOSEPH, with a number of friends and relatives, were traveling back home from Jerusalem and, supposing the young Jesus to be in the company, went a whole day's journey before discovering that He had been left behind.
Their fault was that they assumed that what they wanted to believe was so in fact. They took too much for granted. A simple check at the start of the journey would have saved them a harrowing experience of fear and uncertainty and two days'...
Bible Verses: James 4:41 John 2:15Romans 8:5-8
Read More"Be ye angry, and sin not." There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when the temptation came! Thrice it assailed him in different forms, but ever he met it with, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He hated it in others; none the less fervently because he showed his hate oftener in tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could be more stern, more Elijah-like, than the words, "Woe...
Bible Verses: Psalms 45:7
Read MoreBe on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of people who have no principles. Then you won't fall from your firm position. (2 Peter 3:17 GW)
From the high altitude of the first years as set before us in the book of the Acts, the church began to decline. When we get out of the apostolic age we find that decline steadily going on, until the church publicly, generally, becomes a thing of this world, even...
Bible Verses: 2 Peter 3:17
Read MoreThe Lord Himself is righteous and loves to see His people acting in a righteous manner. He is pleased when believers instinctively make choices that are consistent with divine or moral law.
But it is not always easy in a world such as ours. We are constantly tempted to compromise in the areas of morals and ethics. Some or the temptations are blatant; others are insidious. It takes both discernment and backbone to walk a straight line.
It would not be possible to catalog all the...
Bible Verses: Psalms 11:7
Read MoreWE are often at a loss to account for many things in our feelings, in our circumstances, and in the Lord's dealings with us; but what we know not now, we shall know hereafter. This is our Saviour's promise; let us take the comfort of it, and expect its fulfilment to our perfect satisfaction by-and-bye. We shall know some things before the coming of our Lord, and we shall know all things after. Every difficulty will then be cleared up, and all the trying dispensations of divine providences...
Bible Verses: John 13:7
Read More"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey."
Bible Verses: Matthew 21:33-461 Corinthians 6:19Mark 12:6Romans 8:17
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In manifold ways, Christ reveals unto men that he is willing and ready to enter into relations with them; and to those who have already some knowledge of him, he gives many a token that he is ready to enter into more intimate and hallowed relations with them. He does not wait, that men should seek him; he does not send word that he is waiting for them; he comes to them. He does not merely come: he stands and knocks.
The door is for the purpose of excluding enemies, and those whose...