....Good afternoon Chris.....
You are sorry for me because I put my entire trust in the inerrant and Holy word of God?
You are sorry for me that I need not look to men to give me insight to God's Holy word?
You are sorry for me because God has given me the ability the intellect,and the time and will to understand His most Holy word?
Please Chris, be sorry for me in nothing...for the LORD is my shepherd I shall not want.....He is a light on my path! His word is life to my flesh.
Now to Mr. Spurgeon
Mr. Spurgeon was a great modern day preacher. He was not known for his commentaries, he was respected and admired by people all over the world for his sermons....Inspired in total by God's word, and which penetreated the hearts of countless millions!!!!! Ordinary Sunday, and Thursday...... from the pulpit sermons... to his parishioners.
He was a humble servant of God who knew his limits.
The following is an excert of one of his ...ordinary Sunday sermons..titled, "The Bible"! It is fairly long so if you do not care to read it ...so be it.
Have a good day
Shalom...><>
____________
____________
God has written to you the great things of his law, but they have been unto you as a strange
thing. It is concerning this blessed book, the Bible, that I mean to speak tonight.
Here lies my text—this Word of God. Here is the theme of my discourse, a theme
which demands more eloquence than I possess; a subject upon which a thousand
orators might speak at once; a mighty, vast, and comprehensive theme, which
might engross all eloquence throughout eternity, and still it would remain
unexhausted.
Concerning the Bible, I have three things to say to-night, and they are all in
my text. First, its author, "I have written;" secondly, its subjects—the great things
of God's law; and thirdly, its common treatment—it has been accounted by most
men a strange thing.
I. First, then, concerning this book: Who is the author? The text says that it is
God. "I have written to him the great things of my law." Here lies my Bible—who
wrote it? I open it, and find it consists of a series of tracts. The first five tracts
were written by a man called Moses; I turn on, and I find others. Sometimes I see
David is the penman, at other times Solomon. Here I read Micah, then Amos,
then Hosea. As I turn further on, to the more luminous pages of the New
Testament, I see Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Paul, Peter, James, and others;
but when I shut up the book; I ask myself, who is the author of it? Do these men
jointly claim the authorship? Are they the compositors of this massive volume? Do
they between themselves divide the honor? Our holy religion answers, No!
This
volume is the writing of the living God; each letter was penned with an Almighty
finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips; each sentence was
dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit, that Moses was employed to write his histories
with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp,
and let sweet Psalms of melody drop from his fingers; but God moved his hands
over the living strings of his golden harp. It may be that Solomon sang canticles of
love, or gave forth words of consummate wisdom, but God directed his lips, and
made the preacher eloquent.
If I follow the thundering Nahum, when his horses
plough the waters, or Habakkuk, when he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction; if
I read Malachi, when the earth is burning like an oven; if I turn to the smooth page
of John, who tells of love, or the rugged, fiery chapters of Peter, who speaks of
fire devouring God's enemies; if I turn to Jude, who launches forth anathemas
upon the foes of God, everywhere I find God speaking; it is God's voice, not
man's; the words are God's words, the words of the Eternal, the Invisible, the
Almighty, the Jehovah of this earth.
This Bible is God's Bible, and when I see it, I
seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, "I am the book of God; man,
read me. I am God's writing; open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for
he is my author, and you will see him visible and manifest everywhere." "I have
written to him the great things of my law."
How do you know that God wrote the book? That is just what I shall not try
to prove to you. I could if I pleased, demonstrate it, for there are arguments
enough, there are reasons enough, did I care to occupy your time to-night in
bringing them before you; but I shall do no such thing. I might tell you, if I
pleased, that the grandeur of the style is above that of an mortal writing, and that
all the poets who have ever existed could not, with all their works united, give us
such sublime poetry and such mighty language as is to be found in the Scriptures.
I might insist upon it, that the subjects of which it treats are beyond the human
intellect; that man could never have invented the grand doctrines of a Trinity in
the Godhead; man could not have told us anything of the creation of the universe;
he could never have been the author of the majestic idea of Providence—that all
things are ordered according to the will of one great Supreme Being, and work
together for good. I might enlarge upon its honesty, since it tells the faults of its
writers; its unity, since it never belies itself; its master simplicity, that he who runs
may read it; and I might mention a hundred more things, which would all prove, to
a demonstration, that the book is of God. But I come not here to prove it.
First, my friends, stand over this volume, and admire its authority. This is no
common book. It is not the sayings of the sages of Greece; here are not the
utterances of philosophers of past ages. If these words were written by a man, we
might reject them; but O let me think the solemn thought, that this book is God's
handwriting—that these words are God's! Let me look at its date; it is dated from
the hills of heaven. Let me look at its letters; they flash glory on my eye. Let me
read the chapters; they are big with meaning and mysteries unknown. Let me turn
over the prophecies; they are pregnant with unthought-of wonders. Oh, book of
books! And wast thou written by my God? Then will I bow before thee. Thou
book of vast authority! thou art a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far
be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting thee. Reason, thy place is to
stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell what this book ought to
say.
Come thou, my reason, my intellect, sit thou down and listen, for these words
are the words of God. I do not know how to enlarge on this thought. Oh! if you
could ever remember that this Bible was actually and really written by God. Oh! if
ye had been let into the secret chambers of heaven, if ye had beheld God grasping
his pen and writing down these letters—then surely ye would respect them; but
they are just as much God's handwriting as if you had seen God write them.
This
Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorized book, for God has written it. Oh!
tremble, lest any of you despise it; mark its authority, for it is the Word of God.
Then, since God wrote it, mark its truthfulness. If I had written it, there
would be worms of critics who would at once swarm upon it, and would cover it
with their evil spawn;
Had I written it, there would be men who would pull it to
pieces at once, and perhaps quite right too. But this is the Word of God; come,
search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation,
and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthly
substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without
darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! it
cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can
declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly. This is the
judge that ends the strife, where wit and reason fail. This is the book untainted by
any error; but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah!
charge God with error if ye please; tell him that his book is not what it ought to be.
I have heard men, with prudish and mock-modesty, who would like to alter the
Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) I have heard ministers alter God's Bible,
because they were afraid of it. Have you never heard a man say, "He that
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not"—what does the
Bible say?—"Shall be damned." But that does not happen to be polite enough, so
they say, "Shall be condemned." Gentlemen, pull the velvet out of your mouths;
speak God's word; we want none of your alterations. I have heard men in prayer
instead of saying, "Make your calling and election sure," say "Make your calling
and salvation sure." Pity they were not born when God lived far—far back that
they might have taught God how to write. Oh, impudence beyond all bounds! Oh
full-blown self-conceit! To attempt to dictate to the All-wise—to teach the
Omniscient and instruct the Eternal. Strange that there should be men so vile as to
use the penknife of Jehoiakim to cut passages out of the word, because they are
unpalatable. O ye who dislike certain portions of Holy Writ, rest assured that your
taste is corrupt, and that God will not stay for you little opinion. Your dislike is the
very reason why God wrote it, because you out not to be suited; you have no right
to be pleased. God wrote what you do not like; he wrote the truth. Oh! let us bend
in reverence before it, for God inspired it. It is pure truth. Here from this fountain
gushes aqua vitae—the water of life—without a single particle of earth; here from
this sun cometh forth rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed
Bible! thou art all truth.
Yet once more, before we leave this point, let us stop and consider the
merciful nature of God, in having written us a Bible at all. Ah! he might have left
us without it, to grope our dark way, as blind men seek the wall; he might have
suffered us to wander on with the star of reason as our only guide. I recollect a
story of Mr. Hume, who so constantly affirmed that the light of reason is
abundantly sufficient. Being at a good minister's house one evening, he had been
discussing the question, and declaring his firm belief in the sufficiency of the light
of nature. On leaving, the minister offered to hold him a candle to light him down
the steps. He said "No; the light of nature would be enough; the moon would do."
It so happened that the moon was covered with a cloud, and he fell down the
steps. "Ah!" said the minister, "you had better have had a little light from above,
after all, Mr. Hume." So, supposing the light of nature to be sufficient, we had
better have a little light from above too, and then we shall be sure to be right.
Better have two lights than only one. The light of creation is a bright light. God
may be seen in the stars; his name is written in gilt letters on the brow of night;
you may discover his glory in the ocean waves, yea, in the trees of the field; but it
is better to read it in two books than in one. You will find it here more clearly
revealed; for he has written this book himself, and he has given you the key to
understand it,...... if..... you have the Holy Spirit. Ah, beloved, let us thank God for this
Bible; let us love it; let us count it more precious than much fine gold.
But let me say one thing, before I pass on to the second point. If this be the
Word of God, what will become of some of you who have not read it for the last
month? "Month, sir! I have not read it for this year." Ay, there are some of you
who have not read it at all. Most people treat the Bible very politely . They have a
small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief round it
and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a
drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat,
and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is
your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some
of your Bibles to write "damnation" with your fingers. There are some of you who
have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long while, and what think you? I tell
you blunt words, but true words. What will God say at last? When you shall come
before him, he shall say, "Did you read my Bible?" "No." "I wrote you a letter of
mercy; did you read it?" "No." "Rebel! I have sent thee a letter inviting thee to me;didst thou ever read it?" "Lord, I never broke the seal; I kept it shut up."
"Wretch!" says God, "then, thou deservest hell, if I sent thee a loving epistle, and
thou wouldst not even break the seal; what shall I do unto thee?" Oh, let it not be
so with you. Be Bible-readers; be Bible-readers
Charles Spurgeon |
