It is forgiven thee. You are not much like Noah. 3. God bade Abraham journey, and he moved his camp at once. Yet in order to salvation, brethren, we must be separated from this untoward generation. You can hardly believe for one hundred and twenty days. Many would make a similar confession if they made a clean breast of it. "Weakness" is all we possess. The fact soon comes home to us that we are weak where we most of all desire to be strong. It is a very perilous spot, that beginning of life, when the youth first leaves the home of piety, and finds himself where the fear of God is not in the place. He looks to that iron safe to be quite sure that it is well secured--he cannot forget his dear gold. Do I address a wife who has a godless husband? wouldst thou struggle with the fiery passion which sendeth forth flame from human breasts? That is nothing. says one, "I have prayed for my husband these twenty years!" Five or six families, attending that despised ministry, learned to believe what they did believe, and to live upon it. "But," said the other, "it is my own business. Yet, we repeat it again, the chief of sinners are as welcome to Christ as the best of saints. I have sometimes envied those good people who are never excited with joy, and consequently seldom or never despond. "By faith Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." The hour is coming when you and I shall lie low upon our silent beds of languishing, and the message will come "Arise and go forth from the house in which thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou halt done business, from thy wife, from thy children, from thy bed, and from thy table. Commentary on Hebrews 11:1-3. saith one. Give thyself up to him, and thou shalt yet sing of his lovingkindness and tender mercies. but here it is that God exercises his great husbandry. Ah! Did you never note that those who seem least likely to fall into a sin are the very people who commit it? It is our ambition to be great believers, rather than great thinkers; to be child-like in faith, rather than subtle in intellect. He can say, "Let God be true, but every man a liar." Shall I only bear testimony to points on which I may agree with other people, and hold my tongue about the rest. If the man obeys because he has no opportunity of doing otherwise, and if, were he free, he would at once become a rebel there is nothing in his obedience. I will withdraw the question as directed to you, and I will ask it of myself: Have I that faith which leads me to obey my God? When Napoleon was attacking the Egyptians he had powerful artillery, but he could not reach the enemy, for they were ensconced in a mud fort, and it made Napoleon very angry, because, if they had been behind granite walls, he could hate battered them down, but their earthworks could not be blown to pieces, every ball stuck in the mud, and made the wall stronger. Believe in him, though you see no flashes of delight nor sparkles of joy. Amen. Let no one run away, when I shall have expounded the first point, and miss the rest, for you can not apprehend the whole power of her faith unless you remember each of those particulars I am about to mention. "They desire a better country." I think my heart will break unless I see you saved." it had to be left beneath; we were called to rise out of it. Possibly he found us plunged in the great deeps of an evil habit. "O sir," you say, "I cannot pray prevailingly." As to the scope and design of this epistle, it is very evident that it was clearly to inform the minds, and strongly to confirm the judgment, of the Hebrews in the transcendent excellency of the gospel above the law, and so to take them off from the ceremonies of the law, to which they were so wedded, of which they were so fond, that they even Let us fear God because of his greatness; let us fear ourselves because of our sinfulness. Noah had not a careless fear, as some here have. They may not be well apparently while they are going on, but they will end well at last. There are many who have that kind of faith: they believe just so far as probabilities go with them, but when the promise and the probability part, then they follow the probability and part with the promise. II. Be assured, beyond all questioning, that he that believeth in the Lord Jesus is not condemned. He that knows the care of a household knows how easily a parent can do serious mischief with his children by his very efforts to do them good. Look at the miser. What! Thou art welcome! Does he not himself sometimes say of them, "How can I put them among the children?" Alas! Howbeit, repent of them never, or woe betide you. But you must take distinct note that at the back of everything was his faith in God. Yet faith is the instrument of accomplishing the whole work. Well, then, you have your wish, here is the call in black and white; and I do but speak according to common sense when I say that if the Lord's call to you be written in the Bible, and it certainly is, you do not speak truth when you say, "I would listen to it if it were spoken, but I cannot listen to it because it is written." The timid Israelites would always have been afraid that Pharaoh would follow them and capture them; but when the forces of Egypt and all her chosen captains were drowned beneath the waves, all fear of them was gone for ever. If, as a decided believer, he takes his stand, and if he is firm and steadfast for his God, he will make a man, and his after years will be bright and useful; but if he begins to give way a little, and if he tries to trim his sail to the wind, he will never attain to a holy character. VI. "Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose true, Dare to make it known. This is all over. Noah went on obeying under daily scorn. She rims in the way of obedience, or rather she mounts on the wings of eagles, and so speeds on her way. Whosoever would be saved must know the Scriptures, and must give full assent unto them. you have a father, and he hates the Saviour. The brother went home weeping; but he was not the only one who felt his heart breaking. God strengthening you, you shall out of weakness be made strong to overcome sin, though it be backed by the world, the flesh, and the devil. It may be that certain of you are called to suffer in your minds, not because of any wrong thing in yourselves, but for the sake of others. God grant it may be now! On a sudden their minds are enlightened with regard to the pure simplicity of the gospel; their family is professedly religious and they have been in the habit of attending a certain place of worship with their kindred and friends, till at length a change passes over their religious views. There is a sort of faith which doth run well for a while, but it is soon ended, and it doth not obey the truth. IN ALMOST every capital of Europe there are varieties of triumphal arches or columns, upon which are recorded the valiant deeds of the country's generals, its emperors, or its monarchs. Faith and fear together led Noah to do as God commanded him. And oh! Not now do they gather in the great amphitheater, where sits the emperor in state, with all the proud citizens of Rome in the nearer gallery, tier on tier, and the multitude up yonder, gazing with their cruel eyes into the vast arena below. To go back can hardly cross your thoughts, when to look back seems to you charged with peril. We are not alone by ourselves, and we can neither live nor die apart, for God has linked us with others. I have spoken to you of what Abraham left, and whither he went; now I would have you observe for a moment how it was that Abraham went. It must be sooner or later exercised. There was a little boy at the corner of the table, and his father asked him, "Why does your father love you, John?" That was the first day; probably the next day Rahab thought they would come with scaling-ladders and mount the walls; but no, rams' horns again, up to the seventh day; and this woman kept the scarlet thread in the window all the time, kept her father and mother, and brothers and sisters in the house, and would not let them go out; and on the seventh day, when the people made a great shout, the wall of the city fell flat to the ground; but her faith overcame her womanly timidity, and she remained within, although the wall was tumbling to the ground. An insatiable desire has been implanted in us by divine grace, which urges us to:--. a. who that knows himself does not find strong incentives to return? If you will stand firm in Christ Jesus, even in your weakness you will be made strong. How long a wolf-beloved habit lingers at the door after the heart has given it a bill of divorce! if you start on the voyage of life, by divine grace, with the resolve that you will follow the track; marked down on the chart by the Lord your God, you will find that you have chosen a course to which the Lord's hand alone can keep you true. How strong is the evil in the most upright man! For all the scorning of many he went on obeying his God: he stuck to the lines on which God had placed him, and he could not be turned to the right hand or to the left, because he had a real faith in God. The text begins, "By faith Noah." 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." saith one--"Where can I find comfort then and security?" Our expectations are our largest possessions. He answered, "What were you thinking about me for? That faith is a dead faith, a corrupt faith, which lives in sin that grace may abound. walter e smithe daughters net worth. Do not try to answer cavillers; but if you do, mind that faith is your weapon. God does not create useless things. We must keep back none, but follow the Lord wholly; let this be your song, "Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, I'll follow where he goes, 'Hinder me not,' shall be my cry, Though earth and hell oppose.". We must be separate in character from those with whom we may be called to grind at the same mill, or sleep in the same bed; and this I warrant you is by no means an easier task than that which fell to the patriarch's lot. Ay, my friends--young people like myself--we little know what we owe to the prayers of our parents. I shall first have an exposition of what is faith; secondly, I shall have an argument , that without faith it is impossible to be saved; and thirdly, I shall ask a question Have you that faith which pleases God? It is not ours to judge the Lord's command, but to follow it. Dark is my path; I cannot see my Lord; I cannot enjoy his presence; sometimes I am like one that is banished from him; but I desire his blessing, I desire his presence; and, though to desire may be but a little thing, let me say a good desire is more than nature ever grew: grace has given it. Believe for yourself, because God has said it; and speak as the Lord guides you. They have stronger, sharper, and more vehement desires, for they have a nobler life within them, and they desire a better country, and even if they get entangled for awhile in this country, and in a certain measure identified with citizens of it, they are ill at ease--their citizenship is in heaven, and they cannot rest anywhere but there. By C. H. Spurgeon. III. "Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of Israel?" The Best of All Sights "But we see Jesus.". Towards God a blind obedience is the truest wisdom, and Abraham felt so, and therefore followed the path that God marked out for him from day to day, feeling that sufficient for the day would be the guidance thereof. The obedience of faith springs from a principle within, and not from compulsion without. They learned to fear God, and to trust in him, and to rest in the old faith, and even in worldly things they prospered. Do not rest content with half the promise. I believe that since it is all the Word of God it is all most assuredly true." And Jacob, one of the patriarchs, was driven to go down into the land; but he could not stay there; he was always unrestful, until at last he stole a march upon Laban and came back to the proper life, the life that he had chosen--the life that God had commanded him to live--of a pilgrim and stranger in the land of promise. The two things must go together. It is a city too possessing immunities, and conferring dignity upon its residents. If they do go out, they must know where they are going, and how much is to be picked up in the new country. The Christian's Condition In This World Hebrews 11:13, 14 W. Jones These all died in faith, not having received the promises, etc. Failure itself would be success as long as we did not fail to obey. Suppose the right course should expose you to ridicule, cause you to be spoken of as a fanatic, or mocked at as a hypocrite, or despised as a fool, what can you do without faith? Divine grace, which lives in sin that grace may abound not alone By ourselves, and conferring dignity its. The very people who are never excited with joy, and to live upon.! That God exercises his great husbandry that he that believeth in the deeps! Repeat it again, the chief of sinners are as welcome to Christ as the best of Sights. Where can I put them among the children? most assuredly true. says one ``. Or rather she mounts on the wings of eagles, and so speeds on her way a father and... 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