Test All Things
Earnestly Contending For The Faith Which Was Once Delivered Unto The Saints
Deep distress of conscience, agonising fears of the wrath to come, powerful convictions of sin, putting away of all hope or comfort which does not come direct from the LORD, doubts,...
Without truth there is no regeneration; for it is by “the word of truth” that we are begotten and born again. (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) Without truth there is no justification; for we...
“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their...
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”...
“To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:1) What a mercy it is for God’s people that before they have a ‘vital union’...
We want grace, free grace; grace today, grace tomorrow, grace this moment, grace the next, grace all the day long; healing, reviving, restoring, saving, sanctifying; and all this multiplied by all...
“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their...
“For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” (1st Chronicles 29:15) If you possess the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and, Jacob—you,...
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2nd Timothy 3:5) There is nothing so deceitful as having “a form of godliness,” while the “power” of...
“Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” (Hebrews 10:22) Christ dwells in the Christian’s conscience. He makes the conscience tender in His fear. He, when He has convinced it of the evil...
The Scriptures faithfully record the falls of believers—the drunkenness of Noah, the incest of Lot, the unbelief of Abraham, the peevishness of Moses, the adultery of David, the idolatry of Solomon, the...
“They shall come with weeping.” (Jeremiah 31:9) Wherever God begins a gracious work in the soul, He takes away the heart of stone and gives the heart of flesh. Repentance, true repentance,...
“…Ye are not your own.” (1st Corinthians 6:19) Your money is not your own. You may not spend it just as you please—without check of conscience—without restraint of godly fear—without putting to yourself...
“That in Me ye might have peace.” (John 16:33) Peace in self! That never can be found. Peace in the world! That never can be had. Peace in sin! God forbid any of His children should dream of...
“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” (Hosea 14:4) Have you never backslidden from God? The LORD in mercy may have...
How many poor souls are struggling against the power of sin—and yet never get any victory over it! How many are daily led captive by the lusts of the flesh, the...
“…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) Many profess that they are “strangers and pilgrims” here below. But they take care to have as much of this...
We live in a lying world! The reason for this is not far to seek. Satan is its god and prince—and he is a liar, and the father of lies! The present world, being...
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature...
“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20) Sin has abounded—fearfully abounded in thought, word, and deed—but grace does much more abound! Take your sins, then, with all their...
“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2) Learn to be patient, meekly bearing with the infirmities of Christian brethren. There is a time in our Christian...
“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5) He is one made alive unto God by regenerating grace—one who knows something of the entrance of...
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2nd Timothy 1:7) What a mercy it is naturally to have a...
“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law.” (Psalm 94:12) Nothing comes to a child of God as a matter of accident or chance. It all...
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) The believer is heavily burdened with a daily conflict. This conflict between a body of...
Shall we quarrel with—these doubts and fears—these temptations and trials—these assaults from Satan—these workings-up of inward corruption—when they are, in God’s mercy and in God’s providence, such blessed helpers? If they...
“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.” (Psalm 107:6) “Then they cried”—Not before, not after, but in it. When they were in the midst of it—when trouble was wrapped...
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2) Naturally we have no affection for anything else. There is no such thing as a spiritual desire...
“To the strangers scattered.” (1st Peter 1:1) Strangers! What makes the children of God so strange? The grace of God which calls them out of this wretched world. Every man who...
Grace in the heart of one child of God will ever unite with grace in the heart of another. If there be jars and divisions, if there be dispute and contention...
I shall never forget one memorable season of trouble that I was in many years ago. I cannot tell the depths of distress I was plunged into. I wished to have...
“And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night:...
However low Jonah sank in trouble, he lost not his acquaintance with divine teachings. Did he go to Joppa? He did not lose them there. Did he fall asleep in the...
Separation from the world, and everything worldly, and that not in a monkish, austere, pharisaic spirit, but from the constraining influence of that love to the LORD which draws up the...
“And patience of hope.” (1st Thessalonians 1:3) —————————— The grace of hope is that third grace in living union with faith and love in the heart of God’s people, as “an...
There is more true religion, more vital godliness in a sigh, cry and groan, in a simple petition put up out of a labouring bosom at the footstool of mercy, than...
“The gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) —————————— What does the word “gospel” signify? Gospel is a good old Anglo-Saxon word, sprung from that pure Anglo-Saxon stock which forms...
“He hath known My name” (Psalm 91:14). —————————— This leads the child of God to love – to love God – to set a love upon Him. And we see the...
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us” (Luke 1:78). —————————— What is meant by the expression “dayspring”? By “dayspring” is meant the...
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). —————————— To glorify God is the highest...
When the LORD says, “Drop down, ye heavens, from above” (Isaiah 45:8), and calls upon them to let dew fall, it is as though He spake thus: “Out of Jesus’ fulness,...
“But thou, O man of God … follow after … meekness” (1st Timothy 6:11). —————————— The last grace the apostle desires this “man of God” to follow after is “meekness.” And...
The prophet Amos, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and thus speaking for God, puts a very pointed and pregnant question, where he asks, “Can two walk together except...
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck,...
“A time to weep.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4) —————————— Does a man only WEEP once in his life? Does not the time of weeping run, more or less, through a Christian’s whole life?...
Every regenerated soul is a miracle of grace. To quicken, to convince of sin, to bring to the bar of judgment, and thence, by pouring out a Spirit of grace and...
Dear Sir, – Since the new translation of the Bible has been talked of, there has been much written on the subject. It has been taken up in almost every newspaper;...
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.” (Ephesians 1:22) —————————— In putting all things under Christ’s feet, God...
A letter by Joseph Charles Philpot addressed to his friend James Fowler regarding experimental preaching – Stanford, April, 1840 —————————— My Dear Friend, I consider it the part of a friend...
What is the exact meaning of the word disciple? It means properly a learner, one who is under a teacher, whose submissive and devoted pupil he has become, and from whom...
“Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him.” (Psalm 62:8) ———— Have we not sometimes been enabled to pour out our hearts at the throne...
In the New Testament Scriptures, we find mention made in several places of “the house of the God.” The New Testament never, in any one instance, means, by “the house of God,” any material building....
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my...
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.” (Jeremiah 17:14) Here is this sin! Save me from it! Here is this snare! Break...
“I will feed my flock.” (Ezekiel 34:15) The only real food of the soul must be of God’s own appointing, preparing, and communicating. You can never deceive a hungry child. You...
“But speaking the truth (being sincere) in love” (Ephesians 4:15) Sincerity lies at the root of all gracious profession. If a man cannot be sincere he is nothing. God makes a...
The religious professor receives doctrines because he sees them in the Bible. The believer not only sees them in the Book, but he feels them in his heart, put there by...
“But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” (1 Corinthians 7:15) that...
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) ——————– There was a time, child of God, when the world held in your heart the chief place. It was not...
“Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” (Matthew 11:6) ——————– What is the feeling of your heart toward Jesus? What is the solemn desire of your soul? That...
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31) ——————– How different the religion of a living soul is from the religion of a dead professor! The...
“I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” (Romans 7:9) ——————– The Apostle describes in his own case how men are affected...
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (I John 3:14) ——————– The Lord’s people in their early days have a measure of heavenly...
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my...
If salvation implies a previous state from which it is a deliverance, then I say that it is childish folly to talk of being saved if we know nothing experimentally of...
I admire and love the grace of God; and the longer I live, the more do I love and admire it. My sins, my corruptions, my infirmities make me feel my...
“Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation.” (Psalm 106:4) ——————– How is a man brought and taught to want...
The religious professor receives doctrines because he sees them in the Bible. The believer not only sees them in the Book, but he feels them in his heart, put there by...
“The desire of our soul is to thy Name, and to the remembrance of thee.” (Isaiah 26:8) ——————– How sweet and expressive is the phrase, “The desire of our soul”! How...
There is sometimes in men’s minds a kind of confusion in this matter. They are in a certain path, from which they want to be extricated; they are under a trial,...
Who has not found, in the first approaches of God to his soul, in the first dealings of the blessed Spirit with his conscience, great mountains and hills in the way?...
In the beginning of my experience in the things of God, which is now more than twenty-nine years ago, I had this truth impressed upon my conscience, as I have reason...
“I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.” (Psalm 119:31) ——————– I know by soul experience that sticking to God’s testimonies has kept me from many...
The chief burden of the Lord’s living family is sin. This is the main cause of all their sighs and groans, from the first quickening breath of the Spirit of God...
The sinlessness of Christ’s human nature — the imputation of sin to Him — and the righteousness that He wrought out, are all beautifully brought together in one verse: “For he...
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:20) How deep, how dreadful, of what awful magnitude,...
“I will feed my flock.” (Ezekiel 34:15) The only real food of the soul must be of God’s own appointing, preparing, and communicating. You can never deceive a hungry child. You...
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” (John 3:6) There is no promise made that in this life, we shall be set free from the indwelling and the in-working...
“For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews...
“The LORD will give grace and glory.” (Psalm 84:11) Wherever the Lord gives grace, He in and with that grace gives glory. We,therefore, read, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he...
Take the doctrines of grace isolated from the Person of Christ; they are scattered limbs. There is no beauty in them alone. But view the truth of the Gospel in connection...
I found upon the vestry table this morning a letter requesting me to preach from a certain text, “Jesus wept.” The writer of that letter must know very little of the...
“But speaking the truth (being sincere) in love” (Ephesians 4:15) Sincerity lies at the root of all gracious profession. If a man cannot be sincere he is nothing. God makes a...
It is a very significant circumstance, and no less sad than significant, that the very words “holy” and “holiness” seem almost lost out of the churches of truth. If the correctness...
1 Corinthians 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 1 Corinthians 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,...
“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant...
As it is eminently desirable to have clear views upon every subject which we attempt to consider in the momentous things of God, and this from the very outset, that we...
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3) “The unity of the Spirit” signifies that secret bond of divine union which knits together all...
There was a time, child of God, when the world held in your heart the chief place. It was not so in God’s heart. You and he were therefore at variance....
QUESTION Being a constant reader of the Standard, and I hope not without spiritual instruction, consolation and edification, I take the liberty of calling your attention to 1 John 5:6 (“This...
“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19) The right hand of God means...
QUESTION Being a constant reader of the Standard, and I hope not without spiritual instruction, consolation and edification, I take the liberty of calling your attention to 1 John 5:6 (“This...
There are three books which, if a man will read and study, he can dispense with most others. 1. The book of Providence – and this he reads to good purpose,...
All that Jesus is and has, all that He says and does is precious and glorious. His miracles of mercy, while here below; His words so full of grace, wisdom, and...
My path has been, and is, one mainly of trial and temptation, a tempter so subtle, and so many crosses and snares in which my feet are continually caught and entangled....
What a world it is of sin and sorrow! How everything serves to remind us that we are all passing away! I feel for you in your trials and afflictions, so...
All God’s people, sooner or later, are brought to this point – to see that God has a ‘people,’ a ‘peculiar people,’ a people separate from the world, a people whom...
“I see that you are very religious in every way.” (Acts 17:22) True religion is what the world does not want–nor does true religion want the world. The two are as...
I am quite sick of modern religion–it is such a mixture, such a medley, such a compromise. I find much, indeed, of this religion in my own heart, for it suits...
Standing at the cross of our adorable Lord, we see the law thoroughly fulfilled, its curse fully endured, its penalties wholly removed, sin eternally put away, the justice of God amply...
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) These two kinds of repentance are to be carefully distinguished from...
“Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious, for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it —...
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. (Hebrews...
All Christians, even the most eminent servants of God, have their bad and dark seasons – when the life of God seems sunk to so low an ebb as to be...
“Look upon me, and be merciful unto me.” (Psalm 119:132) When shall we ever get beyond the need of God’s mercy? We feel our need of continual mercy as our sins...
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34) —————————— It was not the nails driven through His hands and feet—it was not the crown of thorns placed upon...
Dear Sir, I have often wondered how a gracious person can live in the army, and, along with wicked soldiers, enter into severe engagements with the enemy. Is he not a...
“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.” (Jeremiah 17:14) Here is this sin! Save me from it!...
Judas was most certainly “a disciple” of the Lord Jesus, if by that term be meant, as is usually understood, the twelve whom he chose to be constantly with him. This...
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers…” (1 Peter 1:1) Strangers! What makes the children of God so strange? The grace of God which calls them out of this...
Test All Things 