Matthew 12:6 Christ Greater than the Church. I. Looking first at the things essential in the _structure_of the Church, I shall show what Christ is in relation to these. The essential things in the structure of the Church are: (1) The plan. The plan of the Christian Church is that of a temple. Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:8 I. Note the title Jesus gives Himself: "the Son of man." He applied this phrase to Himself in all the different aspects of His great life. While He deemed His equality with God not a thing to be clutched at, He claimed, in humanity's name, more than an equality with men. In Him, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:12 There are few things in our Lord's teaching more interesting to notice than the enormous value which He puts upon man. Again and again He reminds us, as though we were ready to forget it, of the glory and dignity of our being. Notice a series of points in respect of which a man is bet... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:21 Observe: I. What is involved in the significant phrase, "His name." There may be very much or very little in a name taken merely as a sign for personal identification. But if any more than this be attempted, and if it be given as descriptive of certain predispositions to nature, and o... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:31 I. First, it may be said what the unpardonable sin is not. It cannot be any sin from which men ever have repented; for wherever God has given repentance He has given pardon; no sin, therefore, which has ever been repented of is the unpardonable sin. And yet what very awful and exceedi... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:31 The "speaking" or blaspheming against the Holy Ghost is the sign of a very rancorous and very violent dislike in the heart against Him; and it is not the word taken abstractedly, but that evil and determinate state of heart which that word proves which constitutes the "sin against the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:33 I. It is possible to ascertain our true state and character. What plainer evidence of this could be desired than these words, "The tree is known by his fruit"? As certainly as the tree is known by his fruit may we know our spiritual state and character if we will only be honest, nor a... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:36 Idle words may, in a very general way, be defined as words that issue out of a condition of idleness fruitless, useless hours. The care of speech is eminently a fit training which the Gospel ordains. I. There are a great many words that are like dust-cloths. They remove grime; they d... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:37 Consider some of the ways by which words are used that minister to our condemnation. I. At the head of this list we must put profane swearing. II. Another way in which we expose ourselves to God's displeasure is by what St. Paul calls "foolish talking." III. Another example of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:38 In every age, and perhaps more as the world grows older, men's hearts are apt to utter the same wish. The mind, afloat, as it were, on a vast sea, needs, and with reason, a sure anchor. Man cannot tell us of what man has never seen. We crave for the very heaven itself to be opened; we... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:38 Truth through and by life. Consider in what respects Christ was greater than Solomon. I. The Proverbs could not well be spared from the Bible nor dropped out of the life of the world. They are of highest use, and ought to be read and re-read, for their wisdom, their broad interpretat... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:39 Jonah being spoken of in the text as a type of Christ, let us consider that part of his history which is typical. It is contained in the first and second Chapter s, and presents us with the following pictures: I. Man shunning God's presence. Like those mariners who, leaving the sacre... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:45 Growing Worse. I. It must be remembered that we all begin with certain faults different persons with different faults. What we mean by a man's character getting worse is that these faults in us strengthen and increase. But is it an unaccountable and strange process, that by which fau... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:46 Jesus and His Brethren. Consider: I. the brethren of the boyhood of Jesus. Christ was born into the home and was to live in a brotherhood, with no opportunity for exclusiveness permitted Him. He acted and was acted upon by the brotherhood of the home and the neighbourhood. That He p... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:50 We have here two things a character and a blessing. I. "Whosoever shall do the will of God." So, then, God has a will. This thought, familiar as it is to us, was a thought to which man by searching could not attain. God is no mere personification or idealization of accident or destiny... [ Continue Reading ]