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God Is My Salvation
This small chapter opens with a wonderful gospel theme for a day of praise. ‘Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.’ The ‘day’ Isaiah is consistently speaking of is the day of grace and salvation by Christ. The church in past ages looked wholly and solely to the day of Christ’s victory for deliverance and comfort. A song to sing Isaiah speaks of our song and singing. Our song is the praise of our heart for God’s mercy and pardon by the death of Christ. This is our comfort. True comfort is that spiritual comfort that refreshes and sustains the soul of a sinner because of the blood of Jesus Christ. A man or a woman can…
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Nothing In My Hand I Bring
When I was young a common practice at children’s Bible services was to employ object lessons. We youngsters were invited to bring an object; a piece of bread, a ball of white wool, a nail. The objects had to be linked to a Bible verse such as John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: or Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, or John 20:25 Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my…
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Let Us Therefore Come Boldly
Some of the points covered in this sermon: • Identifying the main structure of Hebrews 4:14-16 • Examining Paul’s purpose for writing the Epistle to the Hebrews • Explaining how the gospel of grace in the New Testament is the same gospel of grace in the Old Testament • Highlighting the three offices ordained by God to meet the sinner’s need—(1) king, to rule the sinner; (2) prophet, to represent God to the sinner; (3) priest, to represent the sinner to God • Highlighting the three parts to the office of priest • Explaining how Jesus, the Son of God, perfectly fulfills the three parts as the sinner’s great high priest • Connecting the intercession of Christ with the petitions of His people • Explaining…
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Could The Creatures Help Or Ease Us
Some of the points covered in this sermon: • This hymn speaks about the indispensable duty and exceptional privilege of God’s people to petition the Lord in time of need • Explaining where the doctrine of petition fits within the framework of sovereign grace • The first stanza emphasizes the necessity of God’s people to petition the Lord—the believer is rebuked for self-sufficiency, designed to produce conviction (a wounding of the heart) • The first four lines of the first stanza speak about the inadequacy of helpers other than God; the last four lines speak about the folly of forgetting God • The second stanza is an encouragement for God’s people to petition the Lord—the believer is put in remembrance of God’s all-sufficiency, designed to…
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April 26—Morning Devotion
"Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them."—Song of Solomon 4:2 See, my soul, how Jesus sets off the beauties of his church, when made comely in his comeliness, which he hath put upon it. Jesus's whole church forms but one flock; for there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And though it is called a little flock, and a flock of slaughter, yet it is a beautiful flock in the Lord's hand. But wherefore are the teeth of the church said to be like a flock shorn? Probably, from their never being exercised but upon divine things: shorn to all desires in…
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April 25—Morning Devotion
"And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith."—Luke 18:5 Did the apostles need so to pray? Then well may I. Oh! thou great author and finisher of our faith! I would look up to thee, with thankfulness, that thou hast granted even the smallest portion of faith to so unworthy a creature as I am. Surely, my soul, it is as great a miracle of grace that my God and Saviour should have kindled belief in thy stony heart, amidst all the surrounding obstructions of sin and Satan which lay there, as when the miraculous fire from heaven, in answer to the prophet's prayer, came down and consumed the wetted sacrifice. I praise thee, my God and King, this day, in the recollection…
