REFLECTIONS

Brotherly Love

“How rare and uncommon is true brotherly love! This is a lesson which stands out prominently on the face of the narrative before our eyes. Our Lord tells us of a traveler who fell among thieves and was left naked, wounded and half dead on the road. He then tells us of a priest and a Levite who, one after the other, came travelling that way, saw the poor wounded man, but gave him no help. Both were men who from their office and profession ought to have been ready and willing to do good to one in distress. But both in succession were too unselfish or unfeeling to offer the slightest assistance. They doubtless reasoned with themselves that they knew nothing of the wounded traveler, that he had perhaps got into trouble by his own misconduct, that they had not  time to stop to help him and that they had enough to do to mind their own business without troubling themselves with strangers. And the result was that, one after another, they both passed by the other side.

We have in this striking description an exact picture of what is continually happening in the world. Selfishness is the leading characteristic of the great majority of mankind. That cheap charity that costs no more than a trifling subscription or contribution is common enough. But that self-sacrificing kindness of heart which cares not what trouble is entailed, so long a s good can be done, is a grace which is rarely met with. There are still thousands in trouble who find no friend or helper. And there are still hundreds of ‘priests and Levites’ who see them, but pass by on the other side.

Let us beware of expecting too much from the kindness of man. If we do, we shall certainly be disappointed. The longer we live, the more clearly we see that few people care for others except from interested motives, and that unselfish, disinterested, pure brotherly love is as scarce as diamonds and rubies. How thankful we ought to be that the Lord Jesus Christ is not like man! His kindness and love are unfailing. He never disappoints any of His friends.”

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“The only person who helped the wounded traveler of whom we are reading was a certain Samaritan. This man was one of a nation who had ‘no dealings’ with the Jews  (John 4:9). He might gave excused himself by saying that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was through Jewish territory and that cases of distress ought to be dealt with by the Jews. But he does nothing of the sort. He sees a man stripped of his clothes and lying half dead. He asks no questions but at once gives aid. Our Lord requires his example to be followed (v. 37).

Now if these words mean anything, a Christian ought to be ready to show kindness and brotherly love to everyone that is in need. Our kindness must not merely extend to our families, friends, and relations. We must love all men and be kind to all, whenever occasion requires. We must beware of excessive strictness in scrutinizing the past lives of those who need our aid. Are they in real trouble? Are they in real distress? Do they really want help? Then according to the teaching of this parable we ought to be ready to assist them. We should regard the whole world as our parish and then the whole race of mankind as our neighbors. We should seek to be the friend of everyone who is oppressed, or neglected, or afflicted, or sick, or in prison, or poor, or an orphan, or a heathen, or starving, or dying. We should exhibit such worldwide friendship, no doubt, wisely, discreetly and with good sense, but of such friendship we need never be ashamed. The ungodly may sneer at it as extravagance and fanaticism. But we need not mind that. To be friendly to all men in this way is to show something of the mind that was in Christ.

How few Christians seem to remember that such a parable was ever written! What an enormous amount of stinginess, meanness, ill-nature and suspicion there is to be seen in the church! How seldom we see a man who is really kind, feeling, generous, liberal and good-natured except to himself and his children!”

-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  Auburn, MA  2001  August 2 and 3 Devotions

REFLECTIONS

“THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT AS TO THE MATTER OF PRAYER

“The first thing we ascribe to the Spirit herein is, that He supplies the mind with a due comprehension of the matter of prayer, or what ought to be prayed for; without which no man can pray as he ought. The testimony of the apostle is express to this purpose, Rom. 8.26, “Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.”

It is true that whatever we ought to pray for, is declared in Scripture, and summarily comprised in the Lord’s prayer: but it is one thing to have this in the book, another to have it in our heart; without which it cannot be to us the due matter of prayer. Without the assistance of the Spirit we neither know our own wants (needs)-nor the supplies of them that are expressed in the promises of God-nor the proper end for which we should seek those supplies.

  

1. The Spirit of God alone is able to give us an understanding of our wants (needs).

  (1.) The principal matter of our prayer has respect to faith and unbelief; the apostles prayed, “Lord, increase our faith;” and the poor man in his distress, “Lord, help my unbelief.” To this end we must be convinced by the Spirit, of the nature and guilt of unbelief, and of the nature and use of faith; for neither conscience nor the law will convince us of the evil of the one, nor instruct us in the nature of the other; and without both, we know not our greatest wants (needs), or “what to pray for as we ought.”

  (2). The matter of our prayer respects the depravity of our nature; the darkness of our understandings; the perverseness of our wills; their reluctance to spiritual things: and the secret workings of our lusts, which keep the soul from a due conformity to the holiness of God. Believers have a special regard to these things in their confessions and supplications; and their great concerns with God in prayer are for mercy in their pardon, for grace in their removal, and the daily renovation of His image in their souls. Without a sense of these matters, I must profess I know not how any man can pray; and this knowledge we have not of ourselves. Nature is blind, and cannot see them; it is proud, and will not own them; stupid, and is insensible of them.

  (3.) As it is with respect to sin, so it is with respect to God and Christ, grace, holiness, and spiritual privileges. The inward sanctification of all our faculties, with supplies of grace for this purpose, is what we want (need) and pray for. But we have no spiritual conceptions of these things, but what are given us by the Spirit of God; and without these, what are our prayers, or what do they signify? Without these men mays say on the world’s end, without giving any glory to God, or gaining any advantage to their own souls.

  (4). With respect to temporal concerns, we know not of ourselves what to pray for. Whatever our sense may be of them, and our natural desires about them, yet how and when, under what conditions and limitations, with what frame of spirit, what submission to the will of God, they are to be made the matter of our prayers, we know not: “For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow?” Eccles. 6.12. In these also we need to be “taught of God”

  

2. The Spirit of God alone acquaints us with the grace and mercy prepared for our relief in the promises of God. What God has promised we are to pray for, and nothing else. There is nothing that we can want (need), but God has promised it: and there is nothing that He has promised, which we do not want (need) It is therefore indispensably necessary that we should know what God has promised. He knows our wants (needs) infinitely better than we do ourselves; yea, we know nothing of them but what He is pleased to teach us; and from the promises we may learn them more certainly than by any other means. And this we affirm is by the Spirit of God, for the “things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;” by Him alone we “know the things that are freely given unto us of God,” 1 Cor. 2.11., namely, the grace, mercy, love and kindness of the promises.

  

3. The Spirit of God alone directs believers to pray, or ask for anything to right or proper ends. Men may lose all benefit of their prayers by proposing to themselves improper ends, as the apostle James affirms of some, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it on your own lusts.”  There is nothing so excellent it itself, so useful to us, so acceptable to God in the matter of prayer, but it may be vitiated, corrupted, and rendered vain, by an application of it to false or mistaken ends. And that in this case we are relieved by the Holy Ghost is plain from the text under consideration; for “helping our infirmities,” and teaching us “what to pray for as we ought,” He makes intercession for us “according to the will of God,” verse 27. He does it in us, and by us, or enables us so to do. He directs and enables us to make supplications “according to the mind of God”: and herein God is said to “know the mind of the Spirit;” that is, His end and design in the matter of His requests. This God knows, that is, approves and accepts.

The Spirit of God directs believers not only as to the matter, but as to the end of all their requests. He guides them therefore to design, (1) That all the success of their petitions may have an immediate tendency to the glory of God. Without His special aid we should aim only at self; our own profit, ease and satisfaction. (2) He keeps them to this also, that the issue of all their supplications may be the improvement of holiness in them, their conformity to God, and nearer access to Him. When these ends are not aimed at, the matter of prayer may be good, but our prayers themselves may be an abomination.”

-From The Holy Spirit  His Gifts and Power by John Owen (1616-1683)  Published by Kregel Publications  Grand Rapids, MI  1954  Pages  327-330.

REFLECTIONS

Grieve Not The Holy Spirit

“Grieve not the Holy Spirit,” Eph. 4:30. Consider who He is, what He has done for you, how much you are concerned in His continuance with you: and remember, that He is a free, infinitely wise and holy agent in all that He does: who came freely unto you, and can withdraw from you; therefore grieve Him not.

Grief is here ascribed to the Holy Spirit, not properly but metaphorically, in order to give us such an apprehension of things as we are able to receive. What may justly grieve a good man, and what he will do when undeservedly grieved, represent to us what we are to understand of our own condition with respect to the Holy Ghost, when He is said to be grieved by us. And grief in the sense here intended, is a trouble of mind arising from an apprehension of unkindness not deserved, of disappointments not expected, on account of a near concern in those by whom we are grieved. Hence we may see, what it is we are warned of, when we are cautioned not to grieve the Holy Spirit. As,

1. There must be unkindness in what we do. Sin has various respects towards God, of guilt, filth, and the like. But grieving Him denotes unkindness, or a defect of love, answerable to the testimonies we have received of His love to us. He is the Spirit of love, He is love. All His actings towards us and in us, are fruits of His love; and all our joys and consolations arise from a sense of the love of God, communicated in an endearing way of love unto our souls. This requires a return of love and delight in all duties of obedience on our part. When instead hereof, by our negligence and carelessness, or otherwise, we fall into those things which He abhors, He observes the unkindness and ingratitude which is therein, and is therefore said to be grieved by us.

2. Disappointment in expectation. Properly speaking, disappointment is utterly inconsistent with the prescience and omniscience of the Spirit of God. But we are disappointed, when things fall out contrary to our expectations, and to the means employed for their accomplishment. And when the means that God uses towards us, do not by reason of our sins, produce the effect they are suited unto, God speaks of Himself as disappointed, Isa. 5:2. Now disappointment causes grief. As when a father has used all means for the education of a child, and expended much of his estate therein, if he through dissoluteness or idleness deceive his expectation, it fills him with grief. The Spirit of God has done great things for us; and they all have a tendency to an increase in holiness, light, and love. Where they have not a suitable effect, there is that disappointment which causes grief.

3. The concern of the Holy Spirit in us, concurs to His being grieved. For we are grieved by those in whom we are particularly concerned, those whom we love, or to whom we are related. The miscarriages of others are passed over without any such trouble. Now the Holy Spirit has undertaken the office of a Comforter, and stands in that relation to us; and His love towards us has already been declared. Hence He is so concerned in us, that He is said to be grieved with our sins, when He is not so at the sins of others, to whom He stands in no special relation.

Now we may be said to grieve the Spirit, (1) When we are not influenced by His love and kindness, to answer His mind and will in all holy obedience, accompanied with joy, love and delight. This He deserves at our hands, this He expects from us; but where He is neglected, when we attend to duties with an unwilling mind, or servile frame, we are said to grieve Him.

(2) When we lose the sense and impression of signal mercies received by Him; when we forget the grace, kindness and condescension of the Holy Spirit in His dwelling in us, and communicating the love and grace of God unto us, we may well be said to grieve Him.

3)Some sins there are, which in a special manner, above others, do grieve the Holy Spirit. These our apostle discourses of, 1 Cor. 3:15-20, and by the connection of the words, he seems to make corrupt communication, which always has a tendency to corruption of conversation (conduct), to be a sin of this nature verses 29,30.”

-From  The Holy Spirit  His Gifts  and Power by John Owen (1616-1683)  Published by Kregel Publications  Grand Rapids, MI  1954  Pages  352-354.

REFLECTIONS

MERCY RECEIVED AND GIVEN

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40 KJV.

“Christ has just told us that our senses do not yet comprehend how highly He values deeds of charity. Now He openly declares that He will reckon as done to Himself whatever we have bestowed on His people. We must be extremely sluggish if our compassion is not aroused by this statement that Christ is either neglected or honored in the persons of those who need our assistance. So whenever we are reluctant to assist the poor, let us place before our eyes the Son of God, to whom it would be base sacrilege to refuse anything.

By these words Christ likewise shows that He acknowledges those acts of kindness that have been performed gratuitously and without any expectation of reward. Certainly, when He enjoins us to do good to the hungry and naked, to strangers and prisoners, from whom nothing can be expected in return, we must look to Him who freely lays Himself under obligation to us and allows us to place to His account what might otherwise appear to be lost.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren expressly recommends believers to our notice. In this Christ does not bid us to altogether despise unbelievers. Though a common tie binds together all  the children of Adam, a still more sacred union exists among the children of God. So because those who belong to the household of faith ought to be preferred to strangers, Christ makes special mention of them.

Though Christ’s design was to encourage those whose wealth and resources were abundant to relieve the poverty of brethren, yet it affords no ordinary consolation to the poor and distressed that, though shame and contempt follow them in the eyes of the world, yet the Son of God holds them as dear as His own members. Certainly, by calling them brethren, He confers on them inestimable honor.”

-From the Writings of John Calvin (1509-1564)

“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds

which we have done in righteousness,

but according to His mercy…”

Titus 3:5 NASB.

REFLECTIONS

“OF THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT

Believers are said to be anointed, 2 Cor. i. 21; or to have an unction from the Holy One, 1 John ii. 20, and it is added, ver. 27, “The anointing which ye have received, abidith in you. And the same anointing teaches you all things.”

To understand this we may observe, that all persons and things which were dedicated to God under the Old Testament, were anointed with material oil. Kings, priests, and prophets; the sanctuary, the altar, and all the utensils of divine worship were anointed. And all these were typical of what was to come; and had their first, proper, and full accomplishment in the person of Jesus Christ. And because He was to be Most Holy, the spring and cause of all holiness in others, He had His name from hence: for Messiah in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New, are as much as the anointed One. The unction of Christ consisted principally in the full communication of the Spirit unto Him, not by measure, in all His graces and gifts.

Believers have their unction immediately from Christ: “Ye have an unction form the Holy One,” as He is called, Acts iii. 14; Rev, iii. 7; Dan. Ix. 24; and it consists in the communication of the Holy Spirit unto them. It is not the Spirit who anoints us; but He is the unction wherewith we are anointed by the Holy One. And there are two effects ascribed to it. The first is teaching, with a saving, permanent knowledge of the truth thereby produced in our minds.-“Ye have an unction-and ye know all things:”-all the fundamental, essential truths of the gospel; all you need to know, that you may obey God truly, and be saved infallibly. Hence it is called, “the anointing of our eyes with eye-salve that we may see,” Rev. iii. 18; and so it answers to that unction of Christ by the Spirit, which made Him “of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord,” Isa. Xi. 3.

To this also may be referred what is said of believers being made kings and priests, Rev. i. 5: for it is an allusion to anointing such persons of old. Whatever was typical therein, was fully accomplished in the unction of Christ to His office, as the sovereign King, Priest, and Prophet of the Church. Wherefore, by a participation in His unction, they are said to be made kings and priests, or a royal priesthood; for they partake of the same Spirit wherewith He was anointed. Whereas therefore these titles denote the dignity of believers in their special relation to God, by this unction they are particularly dedicated and consecrated to Him.

On this unction depends the stability of all believers. It is said to abide in them, which respects their permanency and establishment in truth against all seducers: nor will anything else be sufficient for this purpose. Temptations may come as a storm, which will quickly drive men from their greatest fleshly confidences. Hence oftentimes those who are forwardest to say, though all men should forsake the truth, yet will not they; are the forwardest upon trials to do so. Neither will men’s skill, or disputing abilities, secure them from being inveigled with fair pretences, or entangled with the cunning sleights of them who lie in wait to deceive. Nor will the best defences of flesh and blood, stand firmly unshaken against powerful allurements on the one hand, and fierce persecution on the other; but this unction the apostle assures believers will not fail, neither shall they fail because of it.”

-From  The Holy Spirit  His Gifts  and Power by John Owen (1616-1683)  Published by Kregel Publications  Grand Rapids, MI  1954  Pages  341-343.

REFLECTIONS

“The Faithful Minister Of The New Covenant”

  

“Of all men, the minister of Christ is especially called to walk with God. Everything depends on this—his own peace and joy; his own future reward at the coming of the Lord. But especially does our text point to this as the true and sure way of securing the blessing. This is the grand secret of ministerial success. One who walks with God reflects the light of His countenance upon a benighted world; and the closer he walks the more of this light does he reflect. One who walks with God carries in his very air and countenance a sweet serenity and holy joy that diffuses tranquility around. One who walks with God receives and imparts life whithersoever he goes; as it is written, ‘Out of him shall flow rivers of living water.’ He is not merely the world’s light but the world’s fountain—dispensing the water of life on every side, and making barren wastes to blossom as the rose. He waters the world’s wilderness as he moves along his peaceful course. His life is blest; his intercourse is blest; his words are blest; his ministry is blest! Souls are saved—sinners are converted, and many are turned from their iniquity!

“God has of late been teaching us this. He has of late been visiting many parishes of our land with showers of blessing, refreshing them with the outpouring of His Spirit. Our own eyes have seen, our own ears have heard that of which our fathers spake in other days. In this we are called upon greatly to rejoice, and for it to render praise to God. How often have we prayed that God would pour out His Spirit; yea, do we not make it matter of public prayer each Sabbath day that He would do so? And shall we be astonished when He answers us? Shall we be slow of heart to believe it? Shall we be reluctant to acknowledge the gift? When we see many turned from iniquity shall we presume to call that excitement or fanaticism, which, taking it even at the lowest count, bears at least the appearance of a Divine work, and may be hereafter displayed to the eye of the most incredulous, as in very deed a work of God?

“For the acknowledgment of what God has thus been doing in reviving His work, with reference to the difficulties in which we are at present involved; and with a desire to carry forward and extend the work of revival, the last General Assembly of our Church has sent forth an earnest recommendation to all her ministers to hold congregational prayer meetings, to implore the Divine blessing upon our church that her present difficulties may be removed, and ‘that by the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, the means of grace may still be more eminently blest than in the year that is past.’ Following out this recommendation, and stirring up ourselves and our people to fervent prayer and believing intercession, let us go forward to our ministerial and pastoral labors; not merely contented to discharge these with professional exactness, and to fulfill our round of necessary duty, but watching for souls as they must give an account—desiring success, laboring for success, expecting success. Let us give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word. Let us walk closely with God, maintaining peaceful and unbroken fellowship with Him as our own, our reconciled Father, and counting it our meat and drink to do His will, and to advance His glory! And as our success is sure, so is our eternal reward—the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give us at that day, and not to us only, but to all that love His appearing. He that winneth souls is wise—wiser and greater far than the learned and mighty of this world, and surer of what they are striving after—the riches of an incorruptible inheritance, the glory of an immortal name—for ‘they that be wise shall shine as the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.’”    

-From the Preaching of Horatius Bonar in 1840 in a sermon entitled “The Faithful Minister Of The New Covenant”.

REFLECTIONS

“The Faithful Minister Of The New Covenant”.

 

“My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many from iniquity-Malachi 2:5-6”

“We have the success of a faithful minister, “he did turn many from iniquity.” This is the great end (result) of our ministerial work-the conversion of souls, and it is this that makes it such a solemn, such a perilous undertaking, as one of the fathers describes it-“A burden which even angels’ shoulders might shrink from.” Nevertheless, having entered upon it, we are sacredly bound to give ourselves wholly to it, and to make full proof of our ministry.

Our errand is the same as our Master’s, to seek and save the lost. Our mind and feeling must be the same as His-compassion for souls. Our great desire and aim must be the conversion of sinners. Less than this we dare not seek. With less than this we cannot be content. To be admired, to be applauded, to be followed, is nothing, so long as our ministry is unfruitful and our labors unsuccessful. Such were the apostle’s feelings, when he went about warning and entreating sinners day and night “with tears”: and when he said, “My little children of whom I travail in birth again till Christ be formed in you.” These surely ought to be the feelings and desires of everyone who has given himself to the ministry of the gospel, and bound himself by solemn vows to watch for souls. If we are really earnest, nothing will satisfy us but success. If we have truly “the desire of saving souls,” which we solemnly vowed at ordination, we can never be at rest unless we see some fruit of our labor. How sad, how criminal must be our condition, if we can go in and out among our people, and yet feel no anxiety about their souls, no concern whether many or few, or none, are turned from their iniquity? If souls are committed to us, and if souls are to be required of us, how can we be indifferent about their state. To those who treat the doctrines of regeneration and conversion as the dreams of fanaticism, indifference may seem a virtue, but to those who believe them to be solemn realities, it might appear a crime of fearful magnitude. Remissness in duty may be lightly spoken of, and lightly thought of now; unfaithfulness in preaching, or negligence in visiting, may press lightly upon the conscience now; but, oh, how different in the day of recompense, when the blood of souls shall be required at the watchman’s hands! Then, how overwhelming the anguish of the hireling shepherd that fed himself and not the flock! How agonizing the remorse that shall seize upon is guilty conscience, and wring from him the cry of the traitor Judas, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood”? And how bitter the response from the companions of his despair-the spirits that kept not their first estate-his seducers upon earth-“What is that to us, see thou to that?” The sad state of unconverted men may not disturb the easy quiet of his life; but oh, how dismal shall be the cry of lost souls resounding throughout eternity in the ears of the unfaithful shepherd; the cry of souls that were lost through his neglect, that perished because he never watched for them, never warned them, never prayed for them, never sought their conversion and salvation!

But let us observe the connection here declared to subsist between faithfulness and success in the work of the ministry; between a godly life, and the “turning away of many from iniquity.” The end for which we first took office as we declared at ordination was the saving of souls; the end for which we still live and labor is the same; the means to this end are a holy life and a faithful fulfillment of our ministry. The connection between these two things is close and sure. We are entitled to calculate upon it. We are called upon to pray and labor with confident expectation of it being realized; and where it is not, to examine ourselves with all diligence lest the cause of failure be found in ourselves; in our want (lack) of faith-our want of love-our want of prayer-our want of zeal and warmth-our want of spirituality and holiness of life, for it is by these that the Holy Spirit is grieved away. Success is attainable; success is desirable; success is promised by God, and nothing on earth can be bitterer to the soul of a faithful minister than the want of it. To walk with God, and to be faithful to our trust is declared to be the certain way of attaining it. Oh, how much depends on the holiness of our life-the consistency of our character-the heavenliness of our walk and conversation. Our position is such that we cannot remain neutral. Our life cannot be one of harmless obscurity. We must either repel or attract-save or ruin souls! How loud then the call, how strong the motive, to spirituality of soul and circumspectness (carefulness) of life! How solemn the warning against worldly-mindedness and vanity, against levity and frivolity, against negligence and sloth, and cold formality!”

-From the Preaching of Horatius Bonar in 1840 in a sermon entitled “The Faithful Minister Of The New Covenant”.