The Christian's comfort increaseth or wanes, as 2- the aspect of his faith is to the power of God. Let the soul question that, or his interest in it, and his joy gusheth out, even as blood out of a broken vein. It is true, a soul may scramble to heaven with much ado, by a faith of recumbency, relying on God as able to save, without this persuasion of its interest in God; but such a soul goes with a scant side-wind, or like a ship whose masts are laid by the board, exposed to wind and weather, if others better appointed did not tow it along with them. Many fears like waves ever and anon [so] cover such a soul, that it is more under water than above; whereas one that sees itself folded in the arms of almighty power, O how such a soul goes mounting afore the wind, with her sails filled with joy and peace! Let affliction come, storms arise, this blessed soul knows where it shall land and be welcome. The name of God is his harbor, where he puts in as boldly, as a man steps into his own house, when taken in a shower. He hears God calling him into this, and other his attributes, as chambers taken up for him. ‘Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,’ Isa. 26:20. God calls them his, and it were foolish modesty not to own what God gives. ‘Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength,’ Isa. 45:24; that is, I have righteousness in God’s righteousness, strength in his strength, so that in this respect Christ can no more say that his strength is his own, and not the believer's, than the husband can say, My body is my own and not my wife's. A soul persuaded of this may sing merrily with the sharpest thorn at his breast; so David, ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise,’ Ps. 57:7. What makes him so merry in so sad a place as the cave where now he was? he will tell you ver. 1, where you have him nestling himself under the shadow of God's wings, and now well may he sing care and fear away. A soul thus provided may lie at ease on a hard bed. Do you not think they sleep as soundly who dwell on London-bridge, as they who live at Whitehall or Cheapside, knowing that the waves that roar under them cannot hurt them? even so may the saints rest quietly over the floods of death itself, and fear no ill.
This is a Blog for those interested in following hard after His heart. Those willing to strive to live a moment-by-moment life as we go through the transformation process with Him. It is not an easy life, but the Father expects each of us to become an offering for His pleasure. So, if this is you, then let’s journey together hand in hand. I am humbled that you have chosen to walk with me. Thanks!
11 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Faith and Obedience Continued...
10 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Faith and Obedience
First. As it is the end of all promises to be security to our faith, so [it is] of those in particular where his almighty power is expressly engaged, that we may count this attribute our portion, and reap the comfort it yields as freely as one may the crop of his own field. ‘Walk before me,’ saith God to Abraham, ‘I am God Almighty;’ set on this as thy portion, and live upon it. The apostle teacheth us what use to make of promises, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,’ Heb. 13:5; there is the promise, and the inference which he teacheth us from this, follows, ‘So we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper,’ ver. 6. We, that is, every believer, may boldly say, that is, we may conclude, God will help, not sneakingly, timorously, perhaps he will; but we may boldly assert it in the face of men and devils, because He that is almighty hath said it. Now for a Christian not to strengthen his faith on this incomparably sweet attribute, but to sit down with a few weak unsettled hopes, when he may, yea, ought to be strong in the faith of such promises, what is it but to undervalue the blessing of such promises? As if one should promise another house and land, and bid him make them as sure to himself as the law can bind, and he should take no care to effect this: would it not be interpreted as a slighting of his friend's kindness? Is it a small matter that God passeth over his almighty power by promise to us, and bids us make it as sure to ourselves as we can by faith, and we neglect this, leaving the writings of the promises unsealed on our hearts?
Second. Our obedience and comfort are strong or weak, as our faith is on this principle.
- Our obedience, that being a child of faith, partakes of its parent's strength or weakness. Abraham being strong on faith, what an heroic act of obedience did he perform in offering up his son! His faith being well set on the power of God, he carries that without staggering which would have laid a weak faith on the ground. No act of faith more strengthens for duty, than that which eyes God’s almighty power engaged for its assistance. ‘Go in this thy might,’ said God to Gideon, ‘have not I called thee?’ As if he had said, Can I not, will I not carry thee through thy work? Away goes Gideon in the faith of this, and doth wonders. This brought the righteous man from the East to God's foot, though he knew not whither he went, yet he knew with whom he went, God Almighty. But take a soul not persuaded of this, how uneven and unstable is he in his obediential course! Every threat from man, if mighty, dismays him, because his faith [is] not fixed on the Almighty, and therefore sometimes he will shift off a duty to comply with man, and betray his trust into the hands of a sorry creature, because he hath fleshly eyes to behold the power of a man, but wants a spiritual eye to see God at his back, to protect him with his almighty power; which, were his eyes open to see, he would not be so routed in his thoughts at the approach of a weak creature. ‘Should such a man as I flee?’ said good Nehemiah, Neh. 6:11. He was newly come from the throne of grace, where he had called in the help of the Almighty, ‘O God, strengthen my hands,’ ver. 9. And truly, now, he will rather die upon the place, than disparage his God with a dishonorable retreat.
09 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God...continued
Fifth Tie. Christ's presence and employment in heaven lays a strong engagement on God to bring his whole force and power into the field upon all occasions for his saints' defence. One special end of his journey to heaven, and abode there, is that he might, as the saints' solicitor, be ever interceding for such supplies and succours of his Father as their exigencies call for; and the more to assure us of the same before he went, he did, as it were, tell us what heads he meant to go upon his intercession when he should come there; one of which was this, that his Father should keep his children while they were to stay in the world from the evil thereof, John 17:15. Neither doth Christ take upon him this work of his own head, but hath the same appointment of his Father for what he now prays in heaven, as he did for what he suffered on earth.
He that ordained him a Priest to die for sinners, did not then strip him of his priestly garments, as Aaron, but appoints him to ascend in them to heaven, where he sits a Priest forever by God's oath. And this office of intercession was erected purely in mercy to believers, that they might have full content given them for the performance of all that God had promised; so that Jesus Christ lies lieger at court as our ambassador, to see all carried fairly between God and us according to agreement; and if Christ follows his business close, and be faithful in his place to believers, all is well. And doth it not behove him to be so, who intercedes for such dear relations? Suppose a king's son should get out of a besieged city, where he hath left his wife and children, whom he loves as his own soul, and these all ready to die by sword or famine; if supply come not sooner, could this prince, when arrived at his father's house, please himself with the delights of the court, and forget the distress of his family?
Or rather would he not come post to his father, having their cries and groans always in his ears, and before he eat or drink, do his errand to his father, and entreat him if ever he loved him, that he would send all the force of his kingdom to raise the siege, rather than any of his dear relations should perish? Surely, sirs, though Christ be in the top of his preferment, and out of the storm in regard of his own person, yet his children left behind in the midst of sins, Satan, and the world's batteries, are in his heart, and shall not be forgotten a moment by him. The care he takes in our business appeared in the speedy despatch he made of his Spirit to his apostles' supply, when he ascended, which as soon almost as he was warm in his seat, at his Father's right hand, he sent, to the incomparable comfort of his apostles and us, that to this day, yea, to the end of the world, do or shall believe on him.
Second. [I shall prove why the Christian should strongly act his faith on this almighty power as engaged for his help.] —The second branch of the point follows [namely], that saints should eye this power of God as engaged for them, and press it home upon their souls till they silence all doubts and fears about the matter; which is the importance of this exhortation, ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ Fortify and entrench your souls within the breastwork of this attribute of God's mighty power made over to you by God himself.
Second. [I shall prove why the Christian should strongly act his faith on this almighty power as engaged for his help.] —The second branch of the point follows [namely], that saints should eye this power of God as engaged for them, and press it home upon their souls till they silence all doubts and fears about the matter; which is the importance of this exhortation, ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ Fortify and entrench your souls within the breastwork of this attribute of God's mighty power made over to you by God himself.
08 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - The Saint's Dependence on God
Fourth Tie. The saints' dependence on God, and expectation from God in all their straits, oblige his power for their succour. Whither doth a gracious soul fly in any want or danger from sin, Satan, or his instruments, but to his God? As naturally as the cony to her burrow. ‘What time I am afraid,’ saith David, ‘I will trust in thee,’ Ps. 56:3. He tells God he will make bold of his house to step into when taken in any storm, and doth not question his welcome. Thus when Saul hunted him, he left a city of gates and bars to trust God in open field. Indeed all the saints are taught the same lesson, to renounce their own strength, and rely on the power of God; their own policy, and cast themselves on the wisdom of God; their own righteousness, and expect all from the pure mercy of God in Christ, which act of faith is so pleasing to God, that such a soul shall never be ashamed, ‘The expectation of the poor shall not perish,’ Ps. 9:18.
A heathen could say, when a bird scared by a hawk flew into his bosom, I will not betray thee unto thy enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me. How much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy when it takes sanctuary in his name, saying, ‘Lord, I am hunted with such a temptation, dogged with such a lust, either thou must pardon it, or I am damned; mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; take me into the bosom of thy love, for Christ's sake; castle me in the arms of thy everlasting strength, it is in thy power to save me from, or give me up into, the hands of my enemy.
I have no confidence in myself or any other: into thy hands I commit my cause, my life, and rely on thee.’ This dependence of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of God for such an one's defence. He hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his blessed lips, even by himself, that such as thus fly for refuge to hope in him, shall have strong consolation, Heb. 6:17. This indeed may give the saints the greater boldness of faith to expect kindly entertainment when he repair to God for refuge, because he cannot come before he is looked for. God having set up his name and promises as a strong tower, both calls his people into these chambers, and expects they should betake themselves thither.
07 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God...Continued
Second Tie. The dear love he beareth to his saints engageth his power. He that hath God's heart cannot want his arm. Love in the creature commands all the other affections, sets all the powers of the whole man on work; thus in God, love sets all his other attributes on work. When once God pitched his thoughts of doing good to lost man, then wisdom fell on projecting the way, almighty power that undertook to raise the fabric according to wisdom's model. All are ready to effect what God saith he likes. Now the believing soul is an object of God's choicest love, even the same with which he loves his Son, John 17:26.
- God loves the believer as the birth of his everlasting counsel. When a soul believes, then God's eternal purpose and counsel concerning him, whom he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world, and with whom his thoughts went so long big, brings forth. And how must God needs love that creature whom he carried so long in the womb of his eternal purpose? This goodly fabric of heaven and earth had not been built, but as a stage whereon he would in time act what he decreed in heaven of old, concerning the saving of thee, and a few more his elect. And therefore according to the same rate of delight, with which God pleased and entertained himself in the thoughts of this before the world was, must he needs rejoice over the soul now believing, with love and complacency inconceivable; and God having brought his counsel thus far towards its issue, surely will raise all the power he hath, rather than be disappointed of his glory within a few steps of home; I mean, his whole design in the believer's salvation. The Lord who hath chosen his saints Zech. 3, as Christ prays for Joshua their representative, will rebuke Satan and all their enemies.
- God loves the saints as the purchase of his Son's blood. They cost him dear, and that which is so hardly got shall not be easily lost. He that was willing to expend his Son's blood to gain them, will not deny his power to keep them.
- God loves the saints for their likeness to himself, so that if he loves himself, he cannot but love himself appearing in them; and as he loves himself in them, so he defends himself in defending them. What is it in a saint that enrageth hell but the image of God, without which the war would soon be at an end? It is the hatred that the panther hath to man that makes him fly at his picture. ‘For thy sake we are slain all the day long:’ and if the quarrel be God's, surely the saint will not go forth to war at his own cost.
Third Tie. The covenant engageth God's almighty power, ‘I am the Almighty God; walk before me,’ Gen.17:1. There is a league offensive and defensive between God and his saints; he gives it under his hand that he will put forth the whole power of his godhead for them, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel,’ I Chron. 17:24. God doth not parcel himself out by retail, but gives his saints leave to challenge whatever a God hath, as theirs; and let him, whoever he is, sit in God's throne and take away his crown, that can fasten any untruth on the Holy One; as his name is, so is his nature, a God keeping covenant for ever. The promises stand as the mountains about Jerusalem, never to be removed; the weak as well as the strong Christian is within this line of communication. Were saints to fight it out in open field by the strength of their own grace, then the strong were more likely to stand, and the weak to fall in battle; but both castled in the covenant, are alike safe.
06 May, 2018
The Christian Strength in The Armour of God -- Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God
The application of this point will fall in under the next, which is
[Of acting our faith on the almighty power of God, as engaged for our help.]
Doctrine Second. That it is the saint's duty, and should be their care, not only to believe God Almighty, but also strongly to believe that this almighty power of God is theirs, that is, [is] engaged for their defence and help, so as to make use of it in all straits and temptations. First,I shall prove that the almighty power of God is engaged for the Christian's defence, with the grounds of it. Second, [I shall prove] why the Christian should strongly act his faith on this.
First. I shall prove that the almighty power of God is engaged for the Christian's defence, with the grounds of it. God brought Israel out of Egypt with an high hand, but did he set them down on the other side of the Red Sea, to find and force their way to Canaan, by their own policy or power? When he had opened the gate of their iron house of bondage, and brought them into the open fields, did he vanish as the angel from Peter, when out of prison? No, ‘The Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went,’ Deut. 1:31. This doth lively set forth the saint's march to heaven; God brings a soul out of spiritual Egypt by his converting grace, that is, the ‘day of his power,’ wherein he makes the soul willing to come out of Satan's clutches. Now when the saint is upon his march, all the country riseth upon him. How shall this creature pass the pikes, and get safely by all his enemies' borders? God himself enfolds him in the arm of his everlasting strength. ‘We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ I Peter 1:5. The power of God is that shoulder on which Christ carries his sheep home, rejoicing all the way he goes, Luke 15:5. These everlasting arms of his strength are those eagles' wings, upon which the saints are both tenderly and securely conveyed to glory, Ex. 19:4. There is a five-fold tie or engagement that lies upon God's power to be the saints' life-guard.
First Tie. The near relation he hath to his saints. They are his own dear children; every one takes care of his own—the silly hen, how doth she bustle and bestir herself to gather her brood under her wing when the kite appears? no care like that which nature teacheth. How much more will God, who is the Father of such dispositions in his creature, stir up his whole strength to defend his children? ‘He said, They are my people, so he became their Saviour,’ Isa. 63:8. As if God had said, Shall I sit still with my hand in my bosom, while my own people are thus misused before my face? I cannot bear it. The mother as she sits in her house hears one shriek, and knowing the voice, cries out, ‘O it is my child.’ Away she throws all, and runs to him. Thus God takes the alarm of his children's cry: ‘I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, saith the Lord;’ his cry pierced his ear, and his ear affected his bowels, and his bowels called up his power to the rescue of him.
05 May, 2018
The Christian Strength in The Armour of God...Continued
A Sweet and Powerful Encouragement to the War
"Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and
in the power of his might.’ — Eph. 6:10
[Of acting our faith on the almighty power of God.]
Reason Second. The second reason may be taken from the absolute necessity of this act of faith above others, to support the Christian in the hour of temptation. All the Christian's strength and comfort is fetched without doors, and he hath none to send of his errand but faith; this goes to heaven and knocks God up, as he in the parable his neighbour at midnight for bread: therefore, when faith fails, and the soul hath none to go to market for supplies, there must needs be a poor house kept in the meantime. Now faith is never quite laid up till the soul denies, or at least questions, the power of God. Indeed, when the Christian disputes the will of God, whispering within its own bosom, will he pardon? will he save? this may make faith go haltingly to the throne of grace, but not knock the soul off from seeking the face of God. Even then faith on the power of God will bear it company thither: 'If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean;’ if thou wilt, thou canst pardon, thou canst purge. But when the soul concludes he cannot pardon, cannot save, this shoots faith to the heart, so that the soul falls at the foot of Satan, not able more to resist; now it grows more listless to duty, indifferent whether it pray or not, as one that sees the well dry breaks or throws away his pitcher.
Reason Third. Because God is very tender of this flower of his crown, this part of his name: indeed we cannot spell it right and leave out this letter, for that is God's name, whereby he is known by all his creatures. Now man may be called wise, merciful, mighty: God only, all-wise, all-merciful, almighty; so that when we leave out this syllable all, we nickname God, and call him by his creature's name, which he will not answer to. Now the tenderness that God shows to this prerogative of his appears in three particulars.
- In the strict command he lays on his people to give him the glory of his power. ‘Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid,’ but ‘sanctify the Lord of hosts himself,’ Isa. 8:12, 13; that is, in this sad posture of your affairs, when your enemies associate, and you seem a lost people to the eye of reason, not able to contest with [those] united powers which beset you on every side, I charge you, sanctify me in giving me the glory of my almighty power. Believe that your God is able of himself, without any other, to defend you, and destroy them.
- In his severity to his dearest children, when they stagger in their faith, and come not off roundly, without reasoning and disputing the case, to rely on his almighty power. Zacharias did but ask the angel, ‘whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years?’ yet for bewraying therein his unbelief, had a sign indeed given him, but such a one as did not only strengthen his faith, but severely punish his unbelief, for he was struck dumb upon the place. God loves his children should believe his word, not dispute his power; so true is that of Luther: 'God loves the obedient, not the cavilling. That which gave accent to Abraham's faith was that he was 'fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform,’ Rom. 4:21.
- In the way God takes of giving his choicest mercies and greatest salvations to his people, wherein he lays the scene of his providence, so that when he hath done it may be said, Almighty power was here. And therefore, God commonly puts down those means and second causes, which if they stood about his work would blind and hinder the full prospect thereof in effecting the same. ‘We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead,’ II Cor. 1:9. Christ stayed while [until] Lazarus was dead, that he might draw the eyes of their faith more singly to look on his power, by raising his dead friend, rather than curing him being sick, which would not have carried so full a conviction of almightiness with it. Yea, he suffers a contrary power many times to arise, in that very juncture of time, when he intends the mercy to his people, that he may rear up more magnificent pillar of remembrance to his own power, in the ruin of that which contests with him. Had God brought Israel out of the Egypt in the time of those kings which knew Joseph, most likely they might have had a friendly departure and an easy deliverance, but God reserves this for the reign of that proud Pharaoh, who shall cruelly oppress them, and venture his kingdom, but will satisfy his lust upon them. And why must this be the time, but that God would bring them forth with a stretched-out arm? The magnifying of his power was God's great design. 'In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth,’ Ex. 9:16.
- In the prevalency which an argument that is pressed from his almighty power hath with God. It was the last string Moses had to his bow, when he begged the life of Israel: ‘The nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able,’ &c., Num. 14:15, 16. And ‘Let the power of my Lord be great,’ ver. 17; and with this he hath their pardon thrown him.
04 May, 2018
Acting Our Faith on The Almighty power of God
[Of acting
our faith on the almighty power of God.]
Doctrine First. It should be
the Christian's great care in all temptations and trials to strengthen
his faith on the almighty power of God. When God holds forth
himself as an object of the soul's trust and confidence in any great strait or
undertaking, commonly this attribute of his almighty power is presented in the
promise, as the surest holdfast for faith to lay hold on. As a
father in rugged way gives his child his arm to lay hold by, so doth God
usually reach forth his almighty power for his saints to exercise their faith
on, [as He did for] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose faith God tried above most
of his saints before or since, for not one of those great things which were
promised to them did they live to see performed in their days. And
how doth God make known himself to them for their support, but by displaying
this attribute? 'I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto
Jacob, by the name of God Almighty,’ Ex. 6:3. This was all they had to keep house with all their days:
with which they lived comfortably, and died triumphantly, bequeathing the
promise to their children, not doubting, because God Almighty had promised, of
the performance.
Thus, Isa. 26, where great mercies are promised to Judah, and a song penned
beforehand to be sung on that gaudy day of their salvation; yet because there
was a sharp winter of captivity to come between the promise and the spring-time
of the promise, therefore, to keep their faith alive in this space, the prophet
calls them up to act their faith on God Almighty. ‘Trust ye in the
Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,’ ver. 4. So when his saints are going to the
furnace of persecution, what now doth he direct their faith to carry to prison,
to stake, with them but this almighty power? ‘Let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well
doing, as unto a faithful Creator,’ I Pet. 4:19. Creator is a name of almighty power; we shall now give some
reasons of the point.
Reason
First. Because it is no easy work to make use of this truth, how plain
and clear soever it now appears, in great plunges of temptation, that
God is almighty. To vindicate this name of God from those evil
reports which Satan and carnal reason raise against it, requires a strong faith
indeed. I confess this principle is a piece of natural
divinity. That light which finds out a Deity will evince, if
followed close, this God to be almighty; yet in a carnal heart, it is like a
rusty sword, hardly drawn out of the scabbard, and so of little or no
use. Such truths are so imprisoned in natural conscience, that they
seldom get a fair hearing in the sinner's bosom, till God gives them a
jail-delivery, and brings them out of their house of bondage, where they are
shut up in unrighteousness with a high hand of his convincing
Spirit. Then, and not till then, the soul will believe [that] God is
holy, merciful, almighty; nay, some of God's peculiar people, and not the
meanest for grace amongst them, have had their faith for a time set in this
slough, [and] much ado to get over these difficulties and improbabilities which
sense and reason have objected, so as to rely on the almighty power of God,
with a notwithstanding. Moses himself [was] a star of the first
magnitude for grace, yet see how his faith blinks and twinkles till he wades
out the temptation: ‘The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand
footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole
month.
Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice
them?’ Num. 11:21, 22. This
holy man had lost the sight for a time of the almighty power of God, and now he
projecting how this should be done; as if he had said in plain terms, How can
this be accomplished? For so God interprets his reasoning: ‘And
the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short?’ ver. 23. So Mary, 'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died,’ John 11:32. And her sister Martha, 'Lord, by this time he
stinketh,’ ver. 39. Both
[were] gracious women, yet both betrayed the weakness of their faith on the
almighty power of Christ; one limiting him to place—‘f thou hadst
been here,’ he had not died; as if Christ could not have saved his life absent
as well as present—sent his health to him as well as brought it with him;—the
other to time —‘now he stinketh;’ as if Christ had brought his
physic too late, and the grave would not deliver up its prisoner at Christ's
command. And thou hast such a high opinion of thyself, Christian,
that thy faith needs not thy utmost care and endeavour for further
establishment on the almighty power of God, when thou seest such as these dash
their foot against this kind of temptation?
03 May, 2018
The Christian's Strength-An Amplification Of The Direction, and In The Power of God's Might
The Christian's Strength-An Amplification Of The Direction, and In The Power of God's Might
In this branch we have an encouraging amplification annexed to the exhortation, in these words 'and in the power of his might,’ where a twofold inquiry is requisite for the explication of the phrase. First, What these words import, 'the power of his might.’ Second, What it is to 'be strong in the power of his might.’
First. What these words import, 'the power of his might.’ It is an Hebraism, and imports nothing but his mighty power, like that phrase, 'to the praise of the glory of his grace,’ Eph.1:6 that is, to the praise of his glorious grace. And his mighty power imports no less than his almighty power; sometimes the Lord is styled ‘strong and mighty,’ Ps. 24:8, sometimes 'most mighty,’ sometimes ‘almighty,’ no less is meant in all than God's infinite almighty power.
Second. What it is to ‘be strong in the power of his might.’ To be strong in the power of the Lord's might, implies two acts of faith. First, a settled firm persuasion that the Lord is almighty on power. ‘Be strong in the power of his might,’ that is, be strongly rooted in your faith, concerning this one foundation truth, that God is almighty. Second, It implies a further act of faith, not only to believe that God is almighty, but also that this almighty power of God is engaged for its defence; so as to bear up in the midst of all trials and temptations undauntedly, leaning on the arm of God Almighty, as it were his own strength. For that is the apostle's drift, as to beat us off from leaning on our own strength, so to encourage the Christian to make use of God's almighty power, as freely as if it were his own, whenever assaulted by Satan in any kind.
As a man set upon by a thief stirs up all the force and strength he hath in his whole body to defend himself and offend his adversary; so the apostle bids the Christian 'be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,’ that is, Soul, away to thy God, whose mighty power is all intended and devoted by God himself for thy succor and defence. Go strengthen and entrench thyself in it by a steadfast faith, as that which shall be laid out to the utmost for thy good. From whence these two notes [or doctrines], I conceive, will draw out the fatness of the words. Doctrine First, That it should be the Christian's great care and endeavour in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the almighty power of God. Doctrine Second, The Christian's duty and care is not only to believe that God is almighty, but strongly by faith to rest on this almighty power of God, as engaged for his help and succour in all his trials and temptations.
02 May, 2018
Use or Application - Making Use of, and Applying The Strength You Have In The Lord!
Use or Application
Use First. Is it the Christian's strength in the Lord, not in himself? Surely then the Christless person must needs be a poor impotent creature, void of all strength and ability of doing anything of itself towards its own salvation. If the ship launched, rigged, and with her sails spread cannot stir, till the wind come fair and fill them, much less the timber that lies in the carpenter's yard hew and frame itself into a ship. If the living tree cannot grow except the root communicate its sap, much less can a dead rotten stake in the hedge, which hath no root, live of its own accord. In a word, if a Christian, that hath his spiritual life of grace, cannot exercise this life without strength from above, then surely one void of this new life, dead in sins and trespasses, can never be able to beget this in himself, or concur to the production of it. The state of unregeneracy is a state of impotency. 'When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly,’ Rom. 5:6. And as Christ found the lump of mankind covered with the ruins of their lapsed estate (no more able to raise themselves from under the weight of God's wrath which lay upon them, than one buried under the rubbish of a fallen house is to free himself of that weight without help), so the Spirit finds sinners in as helpless a condition, as unable to repent, or believe on Christ for salvation, as they were of themselves to purchase it. Confounded therefore for ever be the language of those sons of pride, who cry up the power of nature, as if man with his own brick and slime of natural abilities were able to rear up such a building, whose top may reach heaven itself. 'It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that sheweth mercy,’ Rom. 9:16. God himself hath scattered such Babel-builders in the imagination of their hearts, who raiseth this spiritual temple in the souls of men, 'not by might, nor by a power,’ of their own, 'but by his Spirit,’ that so 'grace, grace,’ might be proclaimed before it forever. And therefore, if any yet in their natural estate would become wise to salvation, let them first become fools in their own eyes, and renounce their carnal wisdom, which perceives the things of God, and beg wisdom of God, who giveth and upbraideth not. If any man would have strength to believe, let them become weak, and die to their own, for, 'by strength shall no man prevail,’ I Sam. 2:9.
Use Second. Doth the Christian's strength lie in God, not in himself? This may forever keep the Christian humble, when most engaged in duty, most assisted in his Christian course. Remember, Christian, when thou hast thy best suit on, who made it, who paid for it. Thy grace, thy comfort is neither the work of thy own hands, nor the price of thy own desert; be not, for shame, proud of another's cost. That assistance will not long stay which becomes a nurse to thy pride; thou art not lord of that assistance thou hast. Thy Father is wise, who when he alloweth thee most for thy spiritual maintenance, even then keeps the law in his own hands, and can soon curb thee, if thou growest wanton with his grace. Walk humbly therefore before thy God, and husband well that strength thou hast, remembering that it is borrowed strength. Who will waste what he begs? or who will give that beggar that spends idly his alms? when thou hast most, thou canst not be long from thy God's door. And how canst thou look him on the face for more, who hast embezzled what thou hast received?
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