‘And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.’ Jeremiah 24:7 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 3:12–4:1
His service, and the views under which his people engage in it, enables them. They no longer grovel. They are heavenly minded. Like the angels they behold his face and do his will. A dignity and grandeur is impressed upon the actions of common life—because done for him. They are faithful, diligent in all their callings. Devotedness to God inspires them with benevolence to man for his sake. Hence they are delivered from guilt, fear, anxiety, the dominion and hurtful tormenting passions. They live with honour, they die with comfort, and then they ascend to dwell with him whom here they loved, trusted and served. May I not hope you are touched with the high ambition of being the Lord’s? Some young people, I trust, have already chosen this good part; yea, I will hope others see it desirable. To both, permit me to offer a word of advice: (i) prize and study the Scripture and ordinances (ii) draw nigh to him by prayer (iii) be careful of your company (iv) beware of resisting conscience. Tremble at the thoughts of rejecting this call. Life is uncertain. If you are not his people here, you will sink at death into the outward darkness, prepared for the devil. Your ruin will be aggravated. [Newton made himself a note here to ‘add a word to the aged’ also.]
FOR MEDITATION: They shall be my people, and I will be their God. Now can the world promise anything like this? Will it give you comfort? Will it comfort you in trouble? Will it cheer your dying hours? Will its pleasures attend you into an eternal state?
SERMON: JEREMIAH 24:7 [4/4] [FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE]
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible God is A spirit – This is the second reason why men should worship him in spirit and in truth. By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This is one of the first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that he is a pure spirit. As he is such a spirit, he dwells not in temples made with hands Acts 7:48, neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Acts 17:25. A pure, a holy, a spiritual worship, therefore, is such as he seeks – the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body – the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Context Our Eternal Dwelling So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.…
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible For we must – (δεῖ dei). It is proper, fit, necessary that we should all appear there. This fact, to which Paul now refers, is another reason why it was necessary to lead a holy life, and why Paul gave himself with so much diligence and self-denial to the arduous duties of his office. There is a necessity, or a fitness that we should appear there to give up our account, for we are here on trial: we are responsible moral agents; we are placed here to form characters for eternity. Before we receive our eternal allotment it is proper that we should render our account of the manner in which we have lived, and of the manner in which we have improved our talents and privileges. In the nature of things, it is proper that we should undergo a trial before we receive our reward, or before we are punished; and God has made it necessary and certain, by his direct and positive appointment, that we should stand at the bar of the final judge; see Romans 14:10. All – Both Jews and Gentiles; old and young; bond and free; rich and poor; all of every class, and every age, and every nation. None shall escape by being unknown; none by virtue of their rank, or wealth; none because they have a character too pure to be judged. All shall be arranged in one vast assemblage, and with reference to their eternal doom; see Revelation 20:12. Rosenmuller supposes that the apostle here alludes to an opinion that was common among the Jews that the Gentiles only would be exposed to severe judgments in the future world, and that the Jews would be saved as a matter of course. But the idea seems rather to be, that as the trial of the great day was the most important that man could undergo, and as all must give account there, Paul and his fellow-laborers devoted themselves to untiring diligence and fidelity that they might be accepted in that great day.
Appear – (φανερωθῆναι phanerōthēnai). This word properly means, to make apparent, manifest, known; to show openly, etc. Here it means that we must be manifest, or openly shown; that is, we must be seen there, and be publicly tried. We must not only stand there, but our character will be seen, our desert will be known, our trial will be public. All will be brought, from their graves, and from their places of concealment, and will be seen at the judgment-seat. The secret things of the heart and the life will all be made manifest and known.
The judgment-seat of Christ – The tribunal of Christ, who is appointed to be the judge of quick and dead; see the John 5:25 note; Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31 notes. Christ is appointed to judge the world; and for this purpose he will assemble it before him, and assign to all their eternal allotments; see Matthew 25.
That every one may receive – The word rendered “may receive” κομίσηται komisētai means properly to take care of, to provide for; and in the New Testament, to bear, to bring Luke 7:37; to acquire, to obtain, to receive. This is the sense here. Every individual shall take, receive, or bear away the appropriate reward for the transactions of this life of probation; see Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25.
The things – The appropriate reward of the actions of this life. “done in his body.” Literally, “the things by or through (διὰ dia) the body.” Tyndale renders it: “the works of his body.” The idea is, that every man shall receive an appropriate reward for the actions of this life. Observe here:
(1) That it is the works done in or through the body; not which the body itself has done. It is the mind, the man that has lived in the body, and acted by it, that is to be judged.
(2) it is to be for the deeds of this life; not for what is done after death. People are not to be brought into judgment for what they do after they die. All beyond the grave is either reward or punishment; it is not probation. The destiny is to be settled forever by what is done in this world of probation.
(3) it is to be for all the deeds done in the body; for all the thoughts, plans, purposes, words, as well as for all the outward actions of the man. All that has been thought or done must come into review, and man must give an account for all.
According to that he hath done – As an exact retribution for all that has been done. It is to be a suitable and proper recompence. The retribution is to be measured by what has been done in this life. Rewards shall be granted to the friends, and punishments to the foes of God, just in proportion to, or suitably to their deeds in this life. Every man shall receive just what, under all the circumstances, he ought to receive, and what will be impartial justice in the case. The judgment will be such that it will be capable of being seen to be right; and such as the universe at large, and as the individuals themselves will see ought to be rendered.
Whether it be good or bad – Whether the life has been good or evil. The good will have no wish to escape the trial; the evil will not be able. No power of wickedness, however great, will be able to escape from the trial of that day; no crime that has been concealed in this life will be concealed there; no transgressor of law who may have long escaped the punishment due to his sins, and who may have evaded all human tribunals, will be able to escape there.
Go ye therefore and teach (disciple) all nations. Matthew 28:19.
Jesus Christ did not say—‘Go and save souls’ (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but—“Go and teach,” i.e., disciple, “all nations,” and you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples came back from their first mission, they were filled with joy because the devils were subject to them, and Jesus said—‘Don’t rejoice in successful service; the great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to Me.’ The great essential of the missionary is that he remains true to the call of God, and realizes that his one purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. There is a passion for souls that does not spring from God, but from the desire to make converts to our point of view. The challenge to the missionary does not come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, that there is a ‘wadge’ of callous indifference; but along the line of his own personal relationship to Jesus Christ. “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” Our Lord puts that question steadily, it faces us in every individual case we meet. The one great challenge is—Do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, and foolish enough according to the world, to bank on what Jesus Christ has said; or am I abandoning the great supernatural position, which is the only call for a missionary, viz., boundless confidence in Christ Jesus? If I take up any other method, I depart altogether from the method laid down by Our Lord—“All power is given unto Me …, therefore go ye.”
“All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” (Psalm 42:7.)
They are HIS billows, whether they go o’er us, Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam; Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us, And to our haven bear us safely home.
They are HIS billows, whether for our succor He walks across them, stilling all our fear; Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer, And in the lonely silence none is near.
They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling Through tempest-driven waves that never cease, While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling; Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.
They are HIS billows, whether He divides them, Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed; Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us, Rushing unchecked across our only road.
They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them; So He has promised, so His love will do. Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding, To His sure harbor, He will bring us through. —Annie Johnson Flint. Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain. The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship.—Selected.
This is my personal collection of thoughts and writings, mainly from much smarter people than I, which challenge me in my discipleship walk. Don't rush by these thoughts, but ponder them.
Milo 