I. THE EXHORTATION. "Fear not." A great honour comes to anyone who is thus addressed by God. It shows that God cares for that person, and desires to live on terms of intimacy with him; for God binds His friends to Him by ties of love as well as reverence. True religion differs from false in this respect. How wonderful to hear God say to any man, "Fear not"; because all have reason to fear Him. Ever since Adam hid himself in the garden, fear has been characteristic of our attitude towards God. We sin against Him. He hates and punishes sin. Does it not look like mockery for us sinners to be told, "Fear not"? Terror often disappears as a fuller knowledge is gained of the object which caused it. Friday trembled all over on first meeting Robinson Crusoe; but soon his terror vanished. Much of our fear of God arises from ignorance; and will vanish when the light of the knowledge of God in Christ dawns on our souls.

II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS INJUNCTION IS BASED. Remember that God never gives His children a stone when they ask Him for bread. If He says, "Fear not," He means it. Why "Fear not"? "I am with thee," He assures Israel How tenderly God speaks to Israel in vers. 8, 9. His voice is like that of a mother crooning to her child — Israel, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend, I have taken thee, and called thee, and chosen thee, and not cast thee away. God is nearer to us than He was to even the Old Testament saints. Immanuel means "God with us."

III. THIS TEACHES US TO CLING TO CHRIST ALL THROUGH LIFE. Lord Chamberlain Leslie was once riding through a dangerous ford with the Queen of Scotland sitting behind, in the old fashion, and fastened to him by a belt. As she slipped backwards during the steep ascent, out of the river, the Lord Chamberlain shouted encouragingly, "Grip fast." "Ay," said Her Majesty, "gin the buckle baud" They landed safely, and to make security double sure in the future, two additional buckles were sewed on to the belt. God's command to us regarding Christ is, "Grip fast." The bond that binds a believing sinner to Him will never break. Why, then, should we fear?

(D. A. Mackinnon, M. A.)

II. THE COURSE HE TAKES to reduce them to it. A proposal of motives and arguments of sufficient effect and prevalency to pull down vain fear out of the heart.

(T. Crisp, D. D.)

II. WHAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD SHOULD NOT FEAR. There is a threefold fear; a natural, a religious, and a turbulent fear. A natural fear is nothing else but such an affection as is in men by nature, that they cannot be freed from; such a fear was in Christ Himself, without sin. A religious fear is nothing but an awful reverence, whereby people keep a fit distance between the glorious majesty of God and the meanness of a creature. A turbulent fear is a fear of disquietness. Now all disquieting fear is that which the Lord endeavours to take off from His people.

1. The people of God need not be afraid of their sins. I do not say they must not be afraid to sin (Romans 8:1).

2. Neither ought we to fear the sins of others. They cannot do God's people any hurt.

3. They that have God for their God must not be afraid of men.

III. WHAT THE FRUIT OF FEAR IS; or what prejudice or disadvantage fear and dismayedness bring along with them.

1. Fearfulness of spirit casts many slanders upon God. Upon His power, His faithfulness, His care and providence, the freeness of His grace, the efficacy of the sufferings of Christ.

2. As it respects God's service.

(1)It is the cut-throat of believing.

(2)It is prejudicial to all religious duties: it is a damper to prayer.It makes all duties merely selfish. Fear puts a man beside his wits, that while he is in such a .passion, he is to seek for common ways of safety; so that, whereas men think that fear will help them to avoid danger, commonly, in amazement, you shall have people stand still, not able to stir to save themselves. Besides, this fear is such a torment, that commonly those evils so much feared, prove not so hurtful nor evil to a person as the present fears; and, besides this, it many times doth not only daunt the spirit of a man in himself, but proves very dangerous to others.

IV. GOD'S MOTIVES, by which He attempts to prevail over the spirits of His people, not to be afraid or dismayed, come what can or may. God is our God.

1. What is it for God to be our God? While you have all things else but this, you have the rays of the sun; while you have this, you have the sun itself in its brightness and lustre. "I am thy God," is as much as to say, Thou hast a propriety in Me. God's all-sufficiency reaches beyond all wants.

2. What a person hath in this. There are three particulars whereby specially you may observe what great treasure people have in having God.

(1)In regard of the quality of the treasure.

(2)In regard of the virtue of it. The quintessence of all virtues is in Him.

(3)In regard of the sovereignty, universality, and variety of help in it.

3. How it is so well with those that are the Lord's. God, in giving Himself unto persons, gives Himself to be communicated unto them at sundry seasons, and in divers kinds and measures, and yet so that He will be the judge of the fitness of the time.

4. How He becomes their God, and upon what terms. The gift of Him is as cheap as it is rich. He never looks the creature should bring anything that he might procure it.

5. How He will be found of them. The way of finding out God efficiently to be our God, is the Spirit of the Lord. God makes Himself known passively to be the God of His people, by the word of His grace, and faith laying hold upon it revealed, and more subordinately in prayer, fasting, receiving of the Lord's supper, and such ordinances, so far as they are mixed with faith.

(T. Crisp, D. D.)

I. IT IS WRONG TO FEAR. We are quite safe in God's hands, and fear is really unbelief. It dishonours God.

II. IT PREVENTS US FROM DOING OUR DUTY. If a gardener is afraid to sow his seed he will have no flowers, or if the farmer is afraid to plough he will have no crop. If a boy is afraid it is of no use to try for the prize, he will not get it. Fear is ruinous to our work.

III. IT DISCOURAGES OTHERS (Numbers 13:31-33; Numbers 14:1). Fear kept the Israelites out of the promised land.

IV. IT IS UNNECESSARY. We are afraid because the dangers seem so great, or the work so hard, and ourselves so weal But we forget who is for us — more than all that can be against us.

1. God is with us.

2. God is our God. What a possession God is!

(1)Vast.

(2)Rich.

(3)Secure.

(4)Everlasting.

3. God will strengthen us as He did David and Samson.

4. He will hold us up by His right hand. Who then can lay us low? Away then with fear for ever.

(R. Brewin.)

II. TRIBULATION STRENGTHENS GOD'S PEOPLE.

III. GOD IS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE DAY OF THEIR TROUBLE.

IV. A PERSONAL ENCOURAGEMENT. "I am with thee."

1. Your fellow-men may ridicule you because you have become religious.

2. In your trade you may have to pass through much tribulation.

3. You may have felt much fear about making a profession of your faith.

4. Temporal calamity often visits the people of God.

5. There may be affliction and pain coming to you.

V. AN INVITATION TO SINNERS. You say this invitation is not in the text. Never mind, I must go over hedge and ditch to call the sinner to Jesus.

(W. Birch.)

I. THE COMMAND.

1. "Fear not, thou." Fear throws a paralysis over the senses and faculties of man, so that flight and safety are more thought of than holding one's ground, or making headway against the enemy.

2. "Be not dismayed." If one have fear, he loses both courage and hope; and in this state no valuable work can be done. The soldiers of the first French Revolution Were destitute of fear, and by nothing dismayed; hence, all the armies of Europe prevailed not against them, until, in the terms of Carlyle, they had provoked all men, and the Gaelic fire had kindled another kind of fire — the Teutonic kind.

II. ITS GROUND.

1. "I am with thee." God promised Moses that His presence should go with him; and without that, said Moses, send me not up.

2. "For I am thy God." It is Jehovah that speaks, who created the universe and governs it still.

3. "I will strengthen thee." God will renew not merely such strength as is natural to us, but a surplusage of strength for special service. In the strength of heavenly food and drink" Elijah "went forty days and forty nights."

4. "Yea, I will help thee." Joseph in Egypt, or Daniel in Babylon, would have been destroyed by their enemies, and would never have become prime ministers but for the Divine interposition.

5. "Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." The right hand is an emblem of power — here, of omnipotent power — so that the work of righteousness which you do shall never cease. Truth is omnipotent, and shall rule the eternal years.

III. ITS ENCOURAGEMENT.

1. If God be for us in mission work, who can be against us?

2. If He favour and command it, how can it ever cease? Deus vult, said Peter the Hermit, and for two centuries the Crusades flamed on high.

3. If truth and righteousness he eternal, how bold and hopeful ought the missionary to be! The Gospel is stronger than the strongest battalions.

(Homiletic Review.)

1. He knows that he is on trial for eternity.

2. That he is surrounded by enemies.

3. He knows himself: every day he lives he makes discoveries of his character that fill him with shame and sorrow. His constant acknowledgment is, "By the grace of God I am what I am."

4. He knows that many a fellow-soldier has fallen.

II. THE CHRISTIAN'S ENCOURAGEMENT.

1. There is the assurance of God's presence.

2. There are several exceeding great and precious promises. Conclusion — "To whom wilt thou flee for help? and where wilt thou leave thy glory?" Talk about destitution, there are none so destitute as those who have no God.

(C. Garrett.)

I. THE NEED FOR COURAGE. Courage is the quality which enables one to resist. It is the power to say "No."

II. THE NATURE OF COURAGE. Courage displays itself in many ways. It may be seen on the battlefield, and in the quiet endurance of difficulties in the home. It may be seen in maintaining unpopular opinions amid difficult or dangerous circumstances, or in meeting death with unblanched cheek. What is courage?

1. Courage is not blindness to danger. It is no virtue to be unconcerned in the presence of dangers, about which one is totally ignorant. The greatest courage often goes along with the keenest sense of danger. The young officer who was fighting by the side of an old veteran was surprised to find his face blanched with fear. The young man being reckless of danger himself, asked with considerable surprise, "You are not afraid, are you?" "I am afraid," was the reply; "and if you were half as afraid as I am you would run." Two of our Lord's disciples once displayed the courage of ignorance. When Christ asked them if they were able to drink of the cup which He should drink, and be baptized with His baptism, they readily replied that they were able. They -were unconscious of the greatness of the task to which they were willing to pledge themselves.

2. Courage is a true estimate of dangers. "Knowledge is the antidote to fear." "Courage is equality to the problem before us." Socrates was condemned to drink the hemlock cup because he taught the youth of Athens noble truths about God, which were esteemed by the authorities as heresy. He might have won his life by a recantation, or an apology to his judges. He preferred death, when the executioner brought in the poison cup, the friends who were gathered round him wept, and Socrates alone was calm. He explained to them that he knew it was a dangerous thing to tell a lie; but that it might even be a blessing to die. At least he would not do what he knew to be evil, in preference to suffering what might possibly be evil, or what might even prove a blessing. The lie was the greater danger.

III. MOTIVES FOR COURAGE. The possession of such courage is to be coveted. How is it to be gained? what motive can be found sufficient to inspire one to such acts of bravery?

1. Pity for the oppressed.

2. Consciousness of companionship.

3. Knowledge that the cause is God's.

(R. C. Ford, M. A.)

I. THE REASONS WHY SOME OF GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE OCCASION AT TIMES TO FEAR AND EVEN TO BE DISMAYED.

1. Our own nature is our enemy. In its depravity, in its ungodliness, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other.

2. Then there are these things that surround us, and those people who constitute the world around.

3. Then there is the great enemy. God often teaches us our inability. Is it not a solemn thing to stand in the midst of these enemies with that other world coming., and Christ to be the Judge? Is it not a solemn life when we think of all its responsibilities, if we are not found looking to the true source and finding the true power?

II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE TEXT.

1. "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Do not imagine for a moment that it is your wants that bring to you this succour. The tendency with us all is always to make it our doing. Let us lay aside the thought that we have any power, and remember that from first to last it is all of grace. The first encouragement, then, is found in the Divine presence: "I am with thee."

2. But there is yet a deeper depth. Sometimes the spirit of dismay comes over us. What will be the end? Cast away? What does the prophet tell us in regard to our covenant-keeping God? "Be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Here is the most endearing relationship in the universe! There is not an angel in heaven but feels as he thinks of God that he is all safe. Now it is the same relationship between us and God; nay, it is a more sanctified one, for it is a relationship which exhibits the infinitude of His love, the unspeakableness of His mercy.

3. "I am thy God, I will strengthen thee." One of the finest things that one finds after affliction is when the strength is returning and weakness is departing. There is a gladness and a gratitude in connection with such an experience as this which only those who have been afflicted can know. The downcast ones who are in the depths and ready to perish, ready to faint by the way, in that condition hear a voice; and what does it say to them? "I will strengthen thee."

4. That is not all. "I will help thee." Now this implies one step further. It implies that you and I have a burden, and as we are going through the world we are carrying it; but the burden is too heavy for us. We are tired; we are overloaded, and there is one Traveller by our side who can help us.

5. Then His support is effectual. "Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." There is no left-hand work with God; no sinister work; it is all right-hand work with Him. And then all that is with it and all that it introduces is righteousness. I know of no encouragement like this text if we properly appreciate it.

(A. M. Brown, LL. D.)

I. The meaning of the word is that GOD IS OUR ALL-SUFFICIENCY, and not dis-related, but related to us.

II. CONSIDER THE USE THE CHILDREN SHOULD MAKE OF THIS SUFFICIENCY OF THEIR FATHER. See what liberties we take with God's earth — We get stones wherever we like. They are not our stones. And we get gold wherever we like, and we get iron wherever we like, and we get coal wherever we can. I hope the day will come when, even without thought or intention, we shall, from the new nature of our being, take up God as easily as the blade of grass takes up atmosphere and light. Let us enter our home — enter and be comforted, as all helpless things are, to find their source of supply so near. And let us not leave our nest and then fret that our rest is gone, but abide encircled by the everlasting strength.

(J. Pulsford.)

I. WE SHALL NOTE THE TIMES WHEN ITS SWEET STRAINS ARE MOST NEEDED. Occasions when comfort is needed are many; for some there be, who, like the willow, will only flourish in a soil which is always wet with consolation. If their mothers did not bear them with sorrow, like Jabez, they commenced very early on their own account to accumulate a heritage of woe. As John Bunyan would say, they need not be afraid of the Slough of Despond, for they carry a slough within their own hearts, and are never out of it, or it is never out of them. They are plants which flourish best in shady places, among the damps of sorrow. They delight most to dwell in the Valley of Humiliation; and when they are journeying through that peaceful vale, like Mr. Fearing, they could lie down and kiss the flowers, because the place is so suitable to their meek and lowly spirit. There is something sadly weak about this state of experience, though there is also much to admire: these are they whom the Master carries in His bosom, and doth gently lead. More or less, believers need consolation at all times, because their life is a very peculiar one.

1. Yet are there special occasions when the Comforter's work is needed, and one of these certainly is when we are racked with much physical pain. Many bodily pains can be borne without affecting the mind, but there are others whose sharp fangs insinuate themselves into the marrow of our nature, boring their way most horribly through the brain and the spirit: for these much grace is wanted

2. When the trouble comes in another shape, namely, in our relative sorrows, borne personally by those dear to us.

3. When all the currents of providence run counter to us.

4. Some of us know what it is to hear this voice of God in the midst of unusual responsibilities, heavy labours, and great enterprises.

5. Did you ever stand, as a servant of God, alone in the midst of opposition? Have you heard the clamour of many, some saying this thing, and some the other — some saying, "He is a good man," but others saying, "Nay, but he decieveth the people"? Did you never feel the delight of saying, "The best of all is, God is with us; and, in the name of God, instead of folding up the standard, we will set up our banners." If you have ever passed through that ordeal, then have you needed the words, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God." "Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?"

6. We shall want this word of comfort most of all when we go down the shelving banks of the black river.

7. After death, we read in this Word of great events, what shall happen to us; but we feebly comprehend the revelation. Solemnities shall follow which may well strike a man with awe as he thinks upon them. What about that future? Why, faith can look forward to it without a single tremor; she fears not, for she hears the voice of the everlasting God saying to her, "I am with thee." Thus have I mentioned a few of the occasions in which this harp sounds most sweetly. All through life I may picture the saints as marching to its music, even as the children of Israel set forward to the notes of the silver trumpets.

II. We come to you, harp in hand, and pray you DISTINCTLY TO HEAR ITS NOTES. The sweetness of all the notes melt into each other, but now we shall touch each string severally and by itself, and if you have an educated ear you will hear that which will solace your souls. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee." What does it mean?

1. "I am with thee in deepest sympathy." When you suffer, you suffer not a new pang; Christ knew that pain long ago.

2. The Lord is with us in community of interests. That is to say, if the believer should fail, God himself would be dishonoured. Luther rejoiced greatly whenever he felt that he had brought God into his quarrel. "Well," said he, "if it were I, Martin Luther, and the Pope of Rome who had to fight it out, I might well despair; but if it be the Pope against Martin Luther and Martin Luther's God, then woe be unto Antichrist." God is in the quarrel of the man who attacks error; God is in the quarrel of the man who is trying to do good, to reclaim his fellow-creatures from sin, and to establish the kingdom of Christ. Ay, and when you can quote a Divine promise, God is engaged in your affairs, because if He do not keep that promise, He is not true. It is with us as it is with the timid traveller in the Alps, who is attended by a faithful guide. He shivers as he passes under overhanging cliffs, or glides down shelving precipices, or climbs the slippery steeps of glaciers, but if his guide has linked himself with him he is reassured. The guide has said, "You are trembling, sir, but the way is safe; I have passed it many a time with many a traveller as weak as you are. But to reassure you and make you feel how safe you are, see here!" and he straps a rope round the traveller and round himself. "Now," says he, "both of us or neither. We shall both get safely home or neither."

3. The next string of the harp gives this sound, "I am with thee in providential aid." In the old days of the post horses, there were always relays of swift horses ready to carry onward the king's mails. It is wonderful how God has His relays of providential agents; how when He has done with one, there is always another just ready to take his place.

4. God is with us in secret sustaining power. He well knows how, if He do not interpose openly, to deliver us in trouble, to infuse strength into our sinking hearts. I have read of those who bathe in those baths of Germany which are much impregnated with iron, that they have felt after bathing as if they were made of iron, and were able in the heat of the sun to cast off the heat as though they were dressed in steel. Happy indeed are they who bathe in the bath of such a promise as this, "I am with thee!"

5. There is a way by which the Lord can be with His people, which is best of all, namely, by sensible manifestations of His presence, imparting joy and peace which surpass all understanding.

III. MEDITATE MUCH UPON THE SWEETNESS OF THOSE NOTES.

1. The comfort of my text excels all other comfort under heaven.

2. There is all the comfort here that heaven itself could afford. The Manx people have for their motto three legs, so that whichever way you throw them they are sure to stand; but as for the saints, it is impossible for them to be thrown down by misfortune, or even by the infernal powers. We shall stand, for God upholds us. Now divide the words, and view them separately. "I AM." Know you what this meaneth? God is selfexistent, eternal, independent, sitting on no precarious throne, nor borrowing leave to be. It is no other than "JEHOVAH," "JAH," "I AM." who has become the Friend of His people. Note the tense of it — not "I was," not "I shall be," but "I am." We have yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same great "I am." "I am" — what? "I am with thee," poor, feeble thing as thou art.

IV. Though I have spoken of my text as a harp yielding rarest music, yet IT NEEDS THAT THE EAR BE TUNED BEFORE ITS MUSIC CAN BE APPRECIATED. It is not every man that understands the delights of harmony, even in ordinary music. So there are tens of thousands of men who know nothing at all of what it is to have God with them. Yea, this would be their dread; they would be glad to escape from God if they could.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. To God's chosen ones (ver. 8).

2. To those whom God has called (ver. 9).

3. They are God's servants, doing His will (ver. 8).

4. They are those whom He has not rejected from His service, in spite of the imperfections of which they are penitently conscious (ver. 9). To these every honey-dropping word of this text belongs.

I. A VERY COMMON DISEASE OF GOOD MEN — FEAR.

1. This disease came into man's heart with sin (Genesis 3:8).

2. Fear continues in good men because sin continues in them.

3. Fear coming in by sin, and being sustained by sin, readily finds food upon which it may live.

4. If fear finds food within, it also readily finds food without. Poverty, sickness, etc.

5. In certain instances the habit of fearing has reached a monstrous growth.

6. Even the strongest of God's servants are sometimes the subjects of fear (1 Kings 19:4).

II. GOD'S COMMAND AGAINST FEAR. "Fear thou not; be not dismayed." That precept is absolute and unqualified; we are not to fear at all Why?

1. Because it is sinful. It almost always results from unbelief, the sin of sins.

2. It feeds sin.

3. It injures yourself.

4. It weakens the believer's influence and so causes mischief to others.

III. THE PROMISES WHICH GOD GIVES TO PREVENT PEAR AND DISMAY.

1. Many a man fears because he is afraid of loneliness. You are not alone, because God is with you.

2. Men fear they may lose all they have in the world, and they know very well that if they lose their property they usually lose their friends. Your goods may go, but your God will not.

3. Fear sometimes arises from a sense of personal weakness. "I will strengthen thee." God can, if He wills it, put Samson's strength into an infant's arm.

4. Some fear that friendly succour will fail. If the work on which we have set our hearts is God's work, He will send to our aid all the succour we need.

5. Many a child of God is afflicted with a fear that he shall one day, in some unguarded moment, bring dishonour upon the Cross of Christ. This is a very natural, and in some respects a very proper fear. "I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(J. A. Davies, B. D.)

(J. R. Macduff, D. D.)

(C. Garrett.)

(J. Trapp.)

(Sunday School Chronicle.)

(Life of R. W. Dale.)

(Sunday School Chronicle.)

(J. Trapp.)

I. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS NEAR TO HELP. God is always near when people are in trouble. He always could help them if He saw it best. But sometimes He sees good reasons for not helping those who are in need.

II. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS ABLE TO HELP.

III. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP. He may not always be willing to help us just at the time, or in the way we desire, — that may not be best; but in His own time and way He is always willing to help.

IV. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS KIND IN HELPING. There are some people who are willing and able to help others, and who do help them too, but it is done in a very rough manner.

(R. Newton, D. D.)

II. HOW MUCH WE ALL NEED HELP. We begin to need it in many ways as soon as we are born, and we never cease to need it as long as we live.

(J. W. Teal.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

     1125   God, righteousness
     1265   hand of God
     1270   right hand of God
     5566   suffering, encouragements in
     5766   attitudes, to life
     5805   comfort
     5844   emotions
     5876   helpfulness
     5901   loneliness
     5916   pessimism
     5957   strength, spiritual
     6703   peace, divine OT
     6738   rescue
     8106   assurance, nature of
     8331   reliability
     8413   edification
     8416   encouragement, promises
     8724   doubt, dealing with

Isaiah 41:8-10

     8215   confidence, results

Isaiah 41:9-10

     8214   confidence, basis of

Isaiah 41:10-12

     5292   defence, divine

February 21. "Be not Dismayed, for I am Thy God" (Isa. Xli. 10).
"Be not dismayed, for I am thy God" (Isa. xli. 10). How tenderly God is always comforting our fears! How sweetly He says in Isaiah xli. 10, "Fear not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." And yet again with still tenderer thoughtfulness, "I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." Not only does He say it once, but He keeps holding our right hand and repeating such promises. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 7. "I Will Strengthen Thee; Yea, I Will Help Thee; Yea, I Will Uphold Thee" (Isa. Xli. 10).
"I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee" (Isa. xli. 10). God has three ways of helping us: First, He says, "I will strengthen thee"; that is, I will make you a little stronger yourself. And secondly, "I will help thee"; that is, I will add My strength to your strength, but you shall lead and I will help you. But thirdly, when you are ready, "I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness"; that is, I will lift you up bodily and carry you altogether, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 22. "I the Lord, the First and with the Last" (Isa. Xli. 4).
"I the Lord, the first and with the last" (Isa. xli. 4). Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness, because they have depended upon the experience rather than on the Author of it. They had supposed that they were thoroughly and permanently delivered from all sin, and in the ecstacy of their first experience they imagine that they shall never again be tried and tempted as before, and when they step out into the actual facts of Christian life and find …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February the Seventh Leaving Its Mark
"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing instrument with teeth." --ISAIAH xli. 8-14. Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument with teeth? The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break and not be broken, it can grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one into the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence of the worm, and by the invigoration …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

November the Twentieth the Real Aristocracy
"Abraham, my friend." --ISAIAH xli. 8-16. I think that is the noblest title ever given to mortal man. It is the speech of the Lord God concerning one of His children. It is something to be coveted even to enjoy the friendship of a noble man; but to have the friendship of God, and to have the holy God name us as His friends, is surely the brightest jewel that can ever shine in a mortal's crown. And such recognition and such glory may be the wonderful lot of thee and me. "Abraham, my friend." The …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Fear Not
What a precious promise to the young Christian, or to the old Christian attacked by lowness of spirits and distress of mind! "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel. Christian brethren, there are some in this congregation, I hope many, who have solemnly devoted themselves to the cause and service of the Lord Jesus Christ: let them hear, then, the preparation which is necessary for this service set forth in the word …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Thy Redeemer
You will please to notice that it looks as if this were a repetition by three different persons. Israel was cast down, and Jehovah, for that is the first word--(you will notice that the word "Lord" is in capitals, and should be translated "Jehovah")--says to his poor, tried, desponding servant, "I will help thee." No sooner is that uttered than we think we shall not be straining the text if we surmise that God the Holy Spirit, the Holy One of Israel, adds his solemn affidavit also; and declares by …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The Chase
Heinrich Suso Is. xli. 17 O Lord, the most fair, the most tender, My heart is adrift and alone; My heart is aweary and thirsty-- Athirst for a joy unknown. From a child I have followed it--chased it, By wilderness, wold, and hill-- I never have reached it or seen it, yet must I follow it still. In those olden years did I seek it In the sweet fair things around, But the more I sought and I thirsted, The less, O my Lord, I found. When nearest it seemed to my grasping, It fled like a wandering thought; …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of Its Author
In Isaiah 41:21-23 we have what is probably the most remarkable challenge to be found in the Bible. "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." This Scripture has both a negative …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible

The Millennium in Relation to Creation.
The blessings which will be brought to the world upon the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom will not be confined to the human family but will be extended to all creation. As we have shown in earlier chapters, the Curse which was pronounced by God upon the ground in the day of Adam's fall, and which resulted in a creation that has groaned and travailed ever since, is yet to be revoked. Creation is not to remain in bondage for ever. God has set a hope before it, a hope, which like ours, centers …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

The Servant's Triumph
'He is near that justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? let us stand together: who is Mine adversary? let him come near to Me. 9. Behold, the Lord God will help Me; who is he that shall condemn Me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.'--ISAIAH l. 8, 9. We have reached the final words of this prophecy, and we hear in them a tone of lofty confidence and triumph. While the former ones sounded plaintive like soft flute music, this rings out clear like the note of a …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

How to Make Use of Christ for Steadfastness, in a Time when Truth is Oppressed and Borne Down.
When enemies are prevailing, and the way of truth is evil spoken of, many faint, and many turn aside, and do not plead for truth, nor stand up for the interest of Christ, in their hour and power of darkness: many are overcome with base fear, and either side with the workers of iniquity, or are not valiant for the truth, but being faint-hearted, turn back. Now the thoughts of this may put some who desire to stand fast, and to own him and his cause in a day of trial, to enquire how they shall make …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Church Before and after Christ.
"All these having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise."Heb. xi. 39. Clearness requires to distinguish two operations of the Holy Spirit in the work of re-creation before the Advent, viz., (1) preparing redemption for the whole Church, and (2) regenerating and sanctifying the saints then living. If there had been no elect before Christ, so that He had no church until Pentecost; and if, like Balaam and Saul, the bearers of the Old Testament revelation had been without personal …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Election Confirmed by the Calling of God. The Reprobate Bring Upon Themselves the Righteous Destruction to which they are Doomed.
1. The election of God is secret, but is manifested by effectual calling. The nature of this effectual calling. How election and effectual calling are founded on the free mercy of God. A cavil of certain expositors refuted by the words of Augustine. An exception disposed of. 2. Calling proved to be free, 1. By its nature and the mode in which it is dispensed. 2. By the word of God. 3. By the calling of Abraham, the father of the faithful. 4. By the testimony of John. 5. By the example of those who …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Apostles Chosen
As soon as he returned victorious from the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus entered on the work of his public ministry. We find him, at once, preaching to the people, healing the sick, and doing many wonderful works. The commencement of his ministry is thus described by St. Matt. iv: 23-25. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!
Hence, let us learn, my brethren, the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopia of Scripture, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How to Make Use of Christ as the Life when the Soul is Dead as to Duty.
Sometimes the believer will be under such a distemper, as that he will be as unfit and unable for discharging of any commanded duty, as dead men, or one in a swoon, is to work or go a journey. And it were good to know how Christ should be made use of as the Life, to the end the diseased soul may be delivered from this. For this cause we shall consider those four things: 1. See what are the several steps and degrees of this distemper. 2. Consider whence it cometh, or what are the causes or occasions …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Knowledge of God
'The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.' I Sam 2:2. Glorious things are spoken of God; he transcends our thoughts, and the praises of angels. God's glory lies chiefly in his attributes, which are the several beams by which the divine nature shines forth. Among other of his orient excellencies, this is not the least, The Lord is a God of knowledge; or as the Hebrew word is, A God of knowledges.' Through the bright mirror of his own essence, he has a full idea and cognisance …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Eternity and Unchangeableness of God.
Exod. iii. 14.--"I AM THAT I AM."--Psal. xc. 2.--"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God."--Job xi. 7-9.--"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." This is the chief point of saving knowledge, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Christ all and in All.
(Colossians iii. 11.) Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty. If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It