JACOB'S TROUBLE-J.C. PHILPOT (1802-1869)

(I find Philpot's view on Jacob's Trouble very interesting, don't you?)

"Alas!  for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7).

THIS "day of trouble" is when sin is laid as a heavy burden upon a man's conscience; when guilt presses him down into the dust of death, when his iniquities stare him in the face, and seem more in number than the hairs of his head; when he fears he shall be cast for ever into the bottomless pit of hell, and have his portion with the hypocrites.   This "day of trouble" is not literally a day, a portion of time meted out by the rising or setting sun, a space of twenty-four hours.  The hands of a clock, or the shadow of a dial, cannot regulate spiritual troubles.  A day here means a season, be it long or short; be it a day, week, month or year.  And as the season cannot be measured in length, so the trouble cannot be measured in depth.

The only wise God deals out various measures of affliction to his people.  All do not sink to the same depth, as all do not rise to the same height.  All do not drink equally deep of the cup; yet all, each in their measure, pass through this day of trouble, wherein their fleshly religion is pulled to pieces, their self-righteousness marred, their presumptuous hopes crushed, and they brought into the state of the leper, to cry, "Unclean, unclean."   Until a man has passed through this day of trouble, until he has experienced more or less of these exercises of soul, and known guilt and condemnation in his conscience; until he has struggled in this narrow pass, and had his rags of creature righteousness torn away from him, he can know nothing experimentally of the efficacy of Jesus' atoning blood, nor feel the power of Christ's resurrection.

AFFLICTIONS BEFALL US OUT OF LOVE

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677)

The afflictions he brings on his people come from love: “For whom the Lord love, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he recieiveth” (Hebrew 12:6) “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev 3:19). It is good to see whence our evil cometh. Afflictions upon God’s own children mostly come from God’s paternal love, out of mere love, for the increase and trial of grace. God may punish others, but he chasteneth none but sons. 

That is an affect of his fatherly love, or else from mere anger, “an evil, an only evil.” (Ezek 7:5) In a design of vengeance, God does not fan or purge but destroys. So, upon the reprobate, all their troubles are the beginning of sorrow, the suburbs of hell. Or else from anger mixed with love, or fatherly displeasure; as the corrections that follow sin. David’s child was taken away (2 Sam 12:10-12). Anger beginneth but love tempereth the dispensation. Or else from love mixed with anger: as Job out of love was put upon trial, that his patience and faith maybe manifested. But Job mingleth his own corruption, and his murmurings, and then God puts in a measure of anger, and speaketh to him out of the whirlwind.
 

The Life of Faith–Thomas Manton

TRUE USE OF TEN COMMANDMENTS-J.C. RYLE

Let us, for another thing, beware of despising the Law of the Ten Commandments. Let us not suppose for a moment that it is set aside by the Gospel, or that Christians have nothing to do with it. The coming of Christ did not alter the position of the Ten Commandments one hair's breadth. If anything, it exalted and raised their authority (Rom 3:31).

The Law of the Ten Commandments is God's eternal measure of right and wrong. By it is the knowledge of sin. By it, the Spirit shows men their need of Christ, and drives them to Him. To it, Christ refers His people as their rule and guide for holy living. In its right place it is just as important as the glorious Gospel. It cannot save us. We cannot be justified by it. But never, never let us despise it. It is a symptom of an ignorant and unhealthy state of religion, when the Law is lightly esteemed. The true Christian delights in the Law of God.

~ J. C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew)

SEEKING FOR JESUS--J.C. PHILPOT

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

     

      After the Lord has quickened our souls, for a time we often go, shall I say, blundering on, not knowing there is a Jesus. We think that the way of life is to keep God's commandments, obey the law, cleanse ourselves from sin, reform our lives, and cultivate universal holiness in thought, word, and action; and so we go, blundering and stumbling on in darkness; and all the while never get a single step forward. But when the Lord has suffered us to weary ourselves to find the door, and let us sink lower and lower into the pit of guilt and ruin, from feeling that all our attempts to extricate ourselves have only plunged us deeper and deeper, and the Spirit of God opens up to the understanding and brings into the soul some spiritual discovery of Jesus, and thus makes known that there is a Saviour, a Mediator, and a way of escape--this is the grand turning-point in our lives, the first opening in the valley of Achor of the door of hope.

And when the soul has once seen that there is a Jesus, and once felt a measure of the power of his resurrection, it never goes to any other quarter for pardon, justification, and salvation. When the Spirit of God begins to open up with power in his conscience that there is a Jesus, that he is the only Mediator, that the Son of God has come down and taken a holy human nature into union with himself, and is now at the right hand of the Father, it is the first break of day, the first dawn of hope; and upon that bright spot does the shipwrecked soul fix his longing eyes till the Sun of righteousness arises upon it with healing in his wings. It is a great step in a man's experience to turn wholly and solely to the Lord, and renounce all creature righteousness, all forms and ceremonies as a way of salvation. It is a great mercy to turn away from them, as the shipwrecked mariner turns away from his sinking ship, and looks to the rising sun to shew him some way of escape, and thus afford him some gleam of hope.

 JC PHILPOT - 1802-1869

A STRIKING EXAMPLE OF FAITH--J.C. RYLE

The conduct of the wise men is a striking example of faith. They believed in Christ when they had never seen Him – but that was not all. They believed in Him when the Scribes and Pharisees were unbelieving – but that again was not all. They believed in Him when they saw Him a little infant on Mary’s knee, and worshiped Him as a king. This was the crowning point of their faith. They saw no miracles to convince them. They heard no teaching to persuade them. They saw no signs of divinity and greatness to overawe them. They saw nothing but a new-born infant, helpless and weak, and needing a mother’s care like any one of ourselves. And yet when they saw that infant, they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world. ‘They fell down and worshiped Him.’

We read of no greater faith than this in the whole volume of the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the penitent thief. The thief saw one dying the death of a criminal, and yet prayed to Him and ‘called Him Lord.’ The wise men saw a new-born babe on the lap of a poor woman, and yet worshiped Him and confessed that He was Christ. Blessed indeed are those that can believe in this fashion!

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 10.