-
Christ’s Sheep, And Their Marks
Notes of a Sermon preached on 11 April 1843 “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.”—John 10:28 The Holy Ghost, in the canon of Scripture, has borrowed a variety of metaphors from natural things to show us what Christ is to his people, and what his people are to him. Here he calls them "sheep," and himself the "Shepherd." Jesus has received his sheep from his Father's hand as his portion, as the lot of his inheritance. He knows his sheep intimately and perfectly. When they are wandering on the mountains of the Adam fall, the shepherd has his eye upon them, and he seeks them out, and calls them to the rest of his flock, in his own time.…
-
2. Comfort For Spiritual Mourners
“Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.”—Matthew 5:4 Not all kinds of mourners are here intended; for there is the sorrow of the world, which worketh death and produces nothing but sin, misery, and rebellion against God. Some mourn because they cannot increase in riches, honours, and pleasures; but there is no Messing promised to them. The mourners which God has pronounced blessed are such as mourn over themselves and after God. 'The Lord's spiritual mourners mourn over their sinfulness and wretchedness, as sinners against a holy, righteous, good, and kind God. The filth and corruption of their fallen nature give them real grief and pain of heart. Its daily bubblings and risings up are a real plague to them. They are…
-
3. Hungering And Thirsting After Righteousness
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”—Matthew 5:6 The righteousness intended here is not creature-righteousness, worth, or worthiness; for that is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away; nay, at best it is only filthy, and its fountain unclean. Eternal truth declares that all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, which withereth and fadeth away when the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.! But the righteousness the dear Lord has in view in this text is that blessed righteousness which is unto all and upon all them that believe, even the glorious Person and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ; for “Christ…
-
4. The Pure In Heart
“Blessed are the pure in heart.”—Matthew 5:8 There may be some poor soul here to-night who is exclaiming, “Ah! That text cuts me up, root and branch; for, so far from my heart being pure, it seems to be the abode of every evil, rising up continually, causing me to groan and sigh, and cry to be delivered from it; but the more I groan and cry, the more those evils seem to rise up, until I am almost smothered.” Why, now, poor soul, you are just the character whose heart is pure. Every man's heart is vile by nature, and it is only when there is a pure heart that that vileness is really felt. Suppose I use a figure to illustrate my meaning'.…
-
5. The Nature And Design Of The Marriage Union
"But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery."—Matthew 5:32 Beloved,—The subject we are this evening about to enter upon is a subject of the greatest importance in human life, the eternal concerns of the soul, excepted. I am not aware of any thing that enters more into the very vitals of human happiness or misery. It is immediately connected with all our domestic and social concerns; in fact, it is designed, by the God of all comfort, as a kind of spring-head blessing to the human race, and if acted upon according to the revelation of God's will, it is sure to prove a source of real happiness to the…
-
8. The Fall Of Peter
“And Peter followed afar off.”—Luke 22:51-62 Preached in Manchester, 9 August 1842 1. Let us look at the weakness of man and the power of temptation. 2. The criminality of Peter. 3. The matchless display of God's grace. 4. The effect produced. 5. The lesson taught us. 1. The weakness of man and the power of temptation. The weakness of man is very great. Compared with the Almighty God, his Creator and Upholder, he is at his best estate altogether vanity; he is weakness itself. We are not sufficient of ourselves, go as to do anything of ourselves; we know not even what to pray to God for as we ought. May we in humility pray to him to direct us how to pray, and…
