2 Samuel 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither does God respect any person… I. THE UNIVERSALITY OF DEATH. 1. "We must needs die." Well, why must we needs die? not only because the sentence has been denounced, but because without this charge we could not enter on the future state, when the trumpet shall sound and the dead be raised. 2. We must "needs die" also that we may attain a more perfect resemblance to Jesus than is attainable upon earth. Hence the apostle says, "We are buried with him by baptism unto death, &c." 3. There is yet another reason Why we must "needs die," that we may enjoy the glorious recompense prepared for those who believe in Christ. "This is not our rest, for it is polluted." Here we are "strangers and pilgrims." II. THE CONDITION TO WHICH SIN HAS REDUCED US. 1. Banished. And how affecting is the account recorded in Genesis 3. respecting the banishment of our primogenitors from the beautiful paradise where they were placed. 2. Though they are "banished," they are "God's banished ones." O it is this that gives us courage, that emboldens us; that animates with hope the soul condemned in the court of conscience. But how are they His? "We are bought with a price," redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious, atoning, cleansing, "blood of Christ." III. THE DIVINE PROCEDURE FOR MAN'S RECOVERY. Here we learn: 1. That though salvation is all of grace, yet are sinners saved by the intervention of means. 2. That the success of these means originates, not in the cunning of man, but in the power, wisdom, and goodness of God. (J. Wilcox, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. |
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