Judges 13:1-25 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD… It is a safe method for us to follow — to plead God's past mercies as a ground of hope for the future. His rule is grace upon grace, he that has receives more. It is not irreverent to say that He who gave His Son for us, will with Him give us all things. Is it, then, reasonable to fear that He who has preserved us for forty years will fail us for the next twenty, if our pilgrimage should continue so long? He who made you, aged friend, and gave His Son to redeem you, will not suffer you to perish for the want of meaner things. And the feeling of your need of His grace is a proof that He is waiting to be gracious. Even the anxious inquiry after salvation proves that the work is already begun. Penitential pangs are not natural but gracious, and argue that God has laid His hand upon us. All His works are perfect. He will not leave His work of grace half finished. Nor would He have told us such things of His love and grace if He did not offer pardon and eternal life to us in perfect good faith on the terms propounded in the gospel. And surely the argument from past experience should be a satisfactory one. Experience worketh hope, and hope maketh not ashamed (Romans 5:4, 5). Is it not an impeachment of the Divine sincerity to fear that if God begins a good work, He will not complete it? It cannot be that supreme benevolence tantalises us. If so, why has He ever opened our hearts to our need of salvation? Why do we feel our guilt, and desire to escape from the wrath to come? Surely He would not have announced to us the glad tidings of the gospel — would not have made to us such full and free offers of mercy, if He were not pleased to accept us. Surely there is honesty in the declaration: "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners" — even the chief of sinners. God's acceptance of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, is a positive proof that His merits and mediation are available for us. (W. A. Scott, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. |
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