hebrews 11 commentary spurgeon
"Now, by faith, the harlot Rahab was delivered." Not Yet a Member? Ahab did, and yet his sins were never forgiven. Whenever you feel a prompting to do a good thing do not ask anybody whether you should do it or not; no one ever repents of doing good. Some of us are by constitution inclined to that condition. You see, then, they had many opportunities to have returned, to have settled down comfortably and tilled the ground which their fathers did before them; but they continued to follow the uncomfortable life of wanderers of the weary foot, who dwell in tents, who own no plot of land. See, then, dear friends, what we must have if we are to be numbered with the seed of Abraham, we must have faith in God and a consequent obedience to his commands. And now may we all be led to imitate his example. People do not go to heaven in the fashion of "hop, skip, and jump." it may even happen that she that lieth in your bosom does not yet know the Lord. The city of which you, who have never been converted to Christ, are citizens, is a City of Destruction, and, as is its name, such will be its end. I hope so long as I live there will always be a straight road from my heart to my mouth, and that I shall be able to preach whatever I believe in my soul, and to keep nothing reserved. The first result was, He was saved and his house. Commentary on Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Bryan J. Whitfield "People get ready, There's a train a comin'. But is it so with all of you? An insatiable desire has been implanted in us by divine grace which urges us to--. Do you feel bewildered as to how to behave yourself? The gospel has about it a divine authority, and is not to be trilled with. Your aim is to make a noble exit. Or if your occupation keeps you alone, yet, my brethren, there is one who is pretty sure to keep us company and to seek our mischief--the destroyer, the tempter. Let me say just one thing more about them. Father, mother, husband, wife, sister, brother, servant, master--whatever your relation, I beseech you, if you feel weak in the discharge of your duty, exercise faith in God about it, and out of weakness you shall be made strong. If you are a stranger, they naturally bark at you. Some allow a presuming fear: "If I am to be saved," say they, "I shall be saved; and if I am to be lost, I shall be lost. He went out and preached to them; but many would not hear him, for they thought him mad. The call as given by the book of inspiration ought to have over your minds a masterly power, and if your hearts were right before God the word spoken in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost would be at once obeyed. How much of character is revealed in our desires. I saw him afterwards, and I hope I conducted him from the verge of insanity into the open, healthy place of peace through believing. said he to him. 1. God sees the poorest, the least proficient disciple as a man in Christ; a perfect man come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; such indeed as he will be in that day when he shall see Christ, for then he shall be like him as he is. There is a good tale told of an old man whose minister used to read. It is very interesting to read about their faithfulness, and the faith that they had. Let your reply be We no longer live in the region of argument as to the Word of the Lord; but we dwell in the realm of faith. I do not think if any of us had such a family as God has we should ever have patience with them. Noah had a very humble distrust of himself. But I must not dwell on this, delightful theme as it is, for I must close by noticing you, who are the children of God. For by it the elder obtained a good report._ So it was written, in the olden time, that believers obtained a good report; and this second verse shows that they obtained it by their faith. God be praised for our psalms and spiritual songs. Have you not been obliged to say, after you have had all that the world could give you, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity"? Believe in God, and you will prevail with God. It is well they are. How weak we are in this matter! And what know I of the journey? You have a sort of hereditary religion in the same way as you have a display of family plate; pretty battered it is, no doubt, and rather light in weight by this time, but still you cling to it. Woman! Though now residing in the midst of all nations, it is still true "the people shall dwell alone, they shall not be reckoned among the nations." God gave his Son, equal with himself, to bear the burden of human sin; and he died, a substitute for sinners,--a real substitute, an efficient substitute, for all who trust in him. We can see that the procrastinator halts, but it were hard to guess how long he will do so. How splendidly he bore himself; no king ever behaved more royally. No, Noah was a witness against such sensual carelessness. With solemn awe believe the bitter word of judgment, that the word of mercy may be sweet to you. I. That is a splendid conclusion God had blessed Abraham in all things. We have to close with two or three words about what was THE RESULT OF ABRAHAM'S ACTION. Some of you are engaged in the midst of ungodly men. This land in which you dwell, and all the works thereof, must be burned up. The Apostle tells us, however, that the people of God were not forced to continue, because they could not return. Perhaps they were living at home before, but now they have to take a room where they can have no quiet, but where sounds of blasphemy greet them, or, in some cases, where they have to go to the workhouse, and be far away from all Christian intercourse or anything that could comfort them. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. My brethren, Jehovah never errs in deed, or in word; and when you find his law written either in the ten commandments, or anywhere else, you believe that there is not a precept too many, or too few. The writer to the Hebrews began this chapter speaking of faith in the present tense: Now faith is. He has locked it up tonight and he goes to bed, but he is afraid he heard a footstep down the stairs, and he goes to see. The bearish one went away from his forge, and said to his wife, "I can always answer these religious fellows. this flesh, this body of this death--wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from it? But you must take distinct note that at the back of everything was his faith in God. Nothing in Noah is held up before us as an example, but that which grew out of his faith. A strange mystery is the simple act of faith. Then would she have the beginning of life over again in her last days, which will be made her best days. He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Most probably he heard a voice from heaven speaking audibly to him and saying, "Get thee out from thy kindred and from thy father's house." Oh, for such a faith as this! Christ Superior To Angels Moses And Aaron A Comment On The Epistle To The Hebrews. To pray without faith is formality; nay, it is vanity. Perhaps they lived in a comfortable home before, and now they have to take a room where there is no comfort, and where sounds of blasphemy meet them. You don't need no baggage, you just get on board. The Tempter he is, the Destroyer he would be, if we were not delivered from his snares. He hated the very mention of religion. Go not to wine for comfort in the hour of depression. What do they know about your inward sorrow? you will care, one day, when the earth is reeling, and the world is tossing to and fro; ye will care when God shall summon you to judgment, and when he shall condemn the faithless and the unbelieving. With regard to the things of God our first thoughts are best: considerations of difficulty entangle us. Might it not, even if it were divine, be suggested to me for many reasons that I was mistaken, that it was most unlikely that God should speak to a man at all, and more unlikely still that he should speak to me? There is, in this chapter, a special commendation for faith in a pleasing variety of operations. Yet faith is the instrument of accomplishing the whole work. Scripture: Hebrews 2:14-18. But it is written that "all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise." Hebrews 11:39. After all, we confess to-night, and rejoice in the confession, that our best hopes are for things that are out of sight: our expectations are our largest possessions. In the one hand he gives pardon; but in the other hand he always gives holiness; and no man can have the one unless he has the other. "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Did not you find very soon that there was a thorn in the flesh? He believed, and, therefore, walked before the Lord in a perfect way. Notice the text, "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them--he hath prepared for them a city." If we have a faith which is greedy in hearing, severe in judging, and rapid in self-congratulation, but not inclined to obedience, we have the faith of hypocrites. wouldst thou struggle with the fiery passion which sendeth forth flame from human breasts? These opportunities to return are meant to try your faith, and they are sent to you to prove that you are a volunteer soldier. And then, as though the greatest victory should be recorded last, we have faith entering the lists with sin, holding a tournament with iniquity, and coming off more than a conqueror. Oh sinners, who know your sins! God add his blessing to this discourse, and give a blessing to your souls, for Jesus Christ' sake. Thou art no intruder! Yes, and Christ did not find fault with them for doing so; what he found fault with them for was this--"When ye have found him ye make him tenfold more the child of hell than yourselves.". God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him Learn more about Desiring God When you get nearer to God, Satan will sometimes seem to get nearer to you. By this you shall know whether you are Christ's or not when you have opportunity to return--if you don't return, that shall prove you are his. By faith we understand ( Hebrews 11:1 and 11:3 ). He prepared the right materials; he prepared the different parts so as to fit together: he prepared his mind, and then prepared his work. Notice the text, "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." By faith he was adopted and became a son, an heir. Dost thou believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all thy heart? If they had been, they would not have required faith in God; but being men of like passions with ourselves, they needed to trust in the Lord, and they did so. But one of his neighbors felt forced to go to him very early in the morning, and to say to him, "I beg your pardon for intruding so early, but I lay awake all last night thinking about you; and I cannot rest till I tell you something." But, believe me, you cannot have faith in the promise unless you are prepared to have faith in the threatening also. You sometimes see in a factory the wheels running some this way, and some the other, and some crossways, and they seem to be playing all sorts of anticks, but somehow or other the deviser brings them all to work for some settled object. Our journey is towards the celestial city, and when the sons of earth cry to us, "What do ye buy?" Now, our position is very similar to theirs. He that can fly, can faint. As the Lord said to the Jews, "With all your sacrifices you must offer salt;" so he says to us, "With all your doings you must bring faith, or else "without faith it is impossible to please God." There are many ways in which the devil's whip can reach the back of the child of God. Therefore assent must go with faith: that is to say, what we know we must also agree unto, as being most certainly the verity of God. And methinks that by what he has prepared for them he esteems them and loves them; esteeming them by what he means them to be rather than by what they appear to be. Edited by C. H. SPURGEON. He is in very fact a brother, born for their adversity, able and ready to redress their grievances, he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Be steadfast, unmovable. Arise and take thy last journey." When I was a boy, I thought him rather stiff and Puritanical; but now I see he had a good reason for it all. Few, if any, are without sorrow, and many saints have a double portion of grief in their pilgrimage. It is better to have the faith that obeys than the faith which moves mountains. We are sure that God is true! That is what we should have done; but Jehovah did something better. A little have l read of it, and somewhat has been revested by the Spirit to my soul; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! It sees the Trinity; it cannot understand the Trinity in Unity, but it believes it. Five or six families came out of that place, and became substantial in wealth, and generous in liberality. They are poor now, but God, to whom things to come are things present, sees them in their fair white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. In the better land you shall find the rest which you never can find here, and need not wish to find, for the land is polluted; let us away from it. You know that very particular, superfine sort--the gospel, a gospel, the spirit of which consists in bad temper, carnal security, arrogance, and a seared conscience. You may resolve to overcome a sin, and, perhaps, any one sin you may conquer for a time; but sin itself, as a force, in all its armies, is never to be overcome, save through the blood of the Lamb. Could not return ( Hebrews 11:1 and 11:3 ) him, for they thought him mad the. How to behave yourself to Angels Moses and Aaron a Comment on Epistle! God add his blessing to your souls, for Jesus Christ ' sake # x27 t. Guess how long he will do so of his faith ; it hebrews 11 commentary spurgeon not the... We all be led to imitate his example however, that the word of judgment that... Human breasts position is very similar to theirs has we should ever patience. It may even happen that she that lieth in your bosom does not yet know the Lord a! 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