_And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter._ MAN’S TRANSFORMATION The transfiguration of our Lord admonishes us of a change which we are to undergo in this life. We must be conformed in our souls and spirits, and the use of our bodies, to the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29), while we are... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is My Beloved Son: hear Him._ HEARING CHRIST I. We should hear the Lord Jesus with resolution. “I will go.” Nothing shall prevent me; no employments, no pleasures; no solicitations, no difficulties. The Son of God calls me, and I must go. Thus we ought all to feel. II. We must hear Him with... [ Continue Reading ]
_Save Jesus only._ JESUS ONLY I. When the workman is tempted to waste his employer’s substance, or the time which is his property, and says to himself, “There is nobody to see; nobody will know,” he would be checked if he remembered and realized that in absolute fact he owes his duty to no man, sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_What the rising from the dead should mean._ THE RESURRECTION: ITS MORAL MEANINGS Men heard them gladly, because they preached the resurrection; and because the truth was so purely human as well as purely Divine, it overran and mastered the world. I. It seems to explain man’s place is the creation... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when He came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them._ THE EVIL SPIRIT CAST OUT Learn from this narrative- I. The omnipotence of true faith in God. It is not so much the amount of one’s faith as the kind, and the fact that one really has it (Matthew 17:20). II. The powerlessne... [ Continue Reading ]
_O faithless generation._ CHRIST’S LAMENT OVER FAITHLESSNESS I. The first thing that seems to be in these words is not anger, indeed, but a very distinct and very pathetic expression of Christ’s infinite pain, because of man’s faithlessness. The element of personal sorrow is most obvious here. It i... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth._ OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH I. The nature of faith. “Taking God at His Word,” is perhaps one of the best definitions ever given. The truths connected with salvation, which require to be cordially believed, may be stated in the follow... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief._ FAITH UNTO SALVATION This incident will show us what believing presupposes and consists in. I. The text shows a man that is in earnest. He cried out with tears. They were tears that told how his heart was moved. II. We look at this man, and we find that... [ Continue Reading ]
_But by prayer and fasting._ FASTING “Why could not we cast him out?”-“because of your unbelief.” “All things are possible to him that believeth.” But how is such faith to be attained? It is God’s gift. God gives by means-by means of prayer. Whatever tends to increase the fervour of prayer tends to... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee._ CHRIST TEACHING HIS DISCIPLES I. He explained to them His present state. He was about to be delivered by a traitorous disciple, etc. II. He told them the parties into whose power He had been given. 1. To be delivered into the hands of men,... [ Continue Reading ]
_What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?_ THE TRUE CHILD OUR PATTERN What is the true child like? I. He is unconscious of himself; self-dissection or analysis is unknown to him. II. He lives in the present. 1. He never worries or is anxious about the future; sufficient to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we forbade him _ CHRISTIAN TOLERATION I. That power to do good is not monopolized by one class of believers in Christ. We can only conjecture, but there is strong reason for supposing, as many have done, that this man who was encountered in his work by our Lord’s disciples, was a disciple of J... [ Continue Reading ]
_A cup of water to drink in My name._ THE SMALLEST GIFT AND THE LARGEST REWARD I. The description which is here given of the disciples of Christ, is exceedingly interesting and instructive. They “belong” to Christ; they are peculiarly and emphatically His; speaking of them, he calls them “My sheep,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off._ STUMBLING BLOCKS After stating the fearful punishment in store for those who impede the spiritual progress of others, our Lord proceeds to warn men not to place stumbling blocks in their own way. He selects the chief instruments of sin-the hand, the foot,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where their worm dieth not._ THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED, DREADFUL AND INTERMINABLE Some will say that this doctrine has no tendency to do good; it is idle to think of frightening men into religion. It is my duty not to decide what doctrines are likely to do good, but to preach such as I find in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where their worm dieth not._ THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED, DREADFUL AND INTERMINABLE Some will say that this doctrine has no tendency to do good; it is idle to think of frightening men into religion. It is my duty not to decide what doctrines are likely to do good, but to preach such as I find in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where their worm dieth not._ THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED, DREADFUL AND INTERMINABLE Some will say that this doctrine has no tendency to do good; it is idle to think of frightening men into religion. It is my duty not to decide what doctrines are likely to do good, but to preach such as I find in... [ Continue Reading ]
_For everyone shall he salted with fire._ THE SALT AND THE FIRE The Lord’s people are represented as being themselves offered up to Him, as His spiritual sacrifices, both by Isaiah and St. Paul. It was a custom ordained of God in the Levitical code (Leviticus 2:13) that “Every oblation of thy meat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Salt is good._ HAVE SALT IN YOURSELVES This is only another form of exhorting Christians to have strength of character as Christians. But since a strong character, in the spiritual as in the natural man, is apt to come into collision with others equally strong, our Lord cautions His disciples aga... [ Continue Reading ]