Studies in The Scriptures.33-01.

Vol. XII January, 1933 No.
STUDIES
IN THE
SCRIPTURES
“Search the Scriptures” John 5:39
________________
EDITOR: Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)

CONTENTS
The Holy Spirit ................................................................................................................ 1

1. Introduction
The Epistle to the Hebrews ............................................................................................. 4

61. The Life of Abraham (11:9-10)
The Life of David .......................................................................................................... 10

13. His Sojourn at Ziph
Coming to Christ ........................................................................................................... 15

Part 1
Dispensationalism ......................................................................................................... 20
1. The Promises of God
Letter to a Deeply Exercised Soul................................................................................. 24
Assurance ...................................................................................................................... 27
Dialogue 1
Arthur W. Pink was born in Nottingham, England, in 1886, and born again by God’s Spirit in 1908. He
studied briefly at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago before his pastoral work in Colorado, California,
Kentucky, and South Carolina, USA, and in Sydney, Australia. In 1934, he returned to his native England,
taking his final residence on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in 1940, where he remained until his death in 1952.
Studies in the Scriptures appeared without interruption from 1922 to 1953, each issue including six to eight
articles addressing a different topic in a series. While virtually unknown to the Christian world when he died,
his writings continue to grow in their influence upon God’s people around the world, through their clarity,
careful exposition, and Christ-centeredness.
Chapel Library makes issues from years 1932 through 1953 available at our website for free download
worldwide, and by request in print.
Vol. XII January, 1933 No. 1
STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES

“Search the Scriptures” John 5:39
___________________
EDITOR: Arthur W. Pink
THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. Introduction
During the last three years, these cover-page articles have been devoted to a
consideration of the attributes of God our Father, and then to a contemplation of some of
the glories of God our Redeemer. It seems fitting then that these should now be followed
by a series upon God the Holy Spirit. The need for this is real and pressing, for ignorance
concerning the third Person of the Godhead is most dishonoring to Him and highly
injurious to ourselves. The late George Smeaton (1814-1889) of Scotland began his
excellent work upon the Holy Spirit by saying, “Wherever Christianity has been a living
power, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has uniformly been regarded equally with the
atonement and justification by faith as the article of a standing or falling church. The
distinctive feature of Christianity, as it addresses itself to man’s experience, is the work of
the Spirit, which not only elevates it far above all philosophical speculation, but also above
every other form of religion.”
Not at all too strong was the language of Samuel Chadwick when he said, “The gift of
the Spirit is the crowning mercy of God in Christ Jesus. It was for this all the rest was. The
incarnation and crucifixion, the resurrection and ascension were all preparatory to
Pentecost. Without the gift of the Holy Spirit, all the rest would be useless. The great thing
in Christianity is the gift of the Spirit. The essential, vital, central element in the life of the
soul and the work of the church is the Person of the Spirit” (Joyful News, 1911).
The great importance of a reverent and prayerful study of this subject should be
apparent to every real child of God. The repeated references made to the Spirit by Christ in
His final discourse (John 14 to 16) at once intimates this. The particular work which has
been committed to Him furnishes clear proof of it. There is no spiritual good
communicated to anyone but by the Spirit. Whatever God in His grace works in us, it is by
2 STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES January, 1933
the Spirit. The only sin for which there is no forgiveness is one committed against the
Spirit—how necessary is it then that we should be well-instructed in the Scripture doctrine
concerning Him! The great abuse there has been in all ages under the pretense of His holy
name should prompt unto diligent study. Finally, the awful ignorance which now so widely
prevails upon the Spirit’s office and operations urges us to put forth our best efforts.
Yet important as is our subject and prominent as is the place given to it in Holy Writ, it
seems that it has always met with a considerable amount of neglect and pervasion. Thomas
Goodwin commenced his massive work on “The Work of the Holy Spirit in our Salvation”
(1660) by affirming, “There is a general omission in the saints of God, in their not giving
the Holy Spirit that glory that is due to His person and for His great work of salvation in
us, insomuch that we have in our hearts almost forgotten this Third Person.” If that could
be said in the midst of the palmy days of the Puritans, what language would be required to
set forth the awful spiritual ignorance and impotency of this benighted twentieth century!
In the Preface to his lectures on “The Person, Godhead, and Ministry of the Holy
Spirit” (1817), Robert Hawker wrote, “I am the more prompted to this service from
contemplating the present awful day of the world. Surely the ‘last days’ and the ‘perilous
times,’ so expressly spoken of by the Spirit, are come (1Ti 4:1). The flood gates of heresy
are broken up and are pouring forth their deadly poison in various streams through the
land. In a more daring and open manner, the denial of the Person, Godhead, and ministry
of the Holy Spirit is come forward and indicates the tempest to follow. In such a season it
is needful to contend, and that earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Now in
a more awakened manner ought the people of God to remember the words of Jesus, and ‘to
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.’”
So again, in 1880, George Smeaton wrote, “We may safely affirm that the doctrine of
the Spirit is almost entirely ignored.” And let us add, wherever little honor is done to the
Spirit, there is grave cause to suspect the genuineness of any profession of Christianity.
Against this it may be replied, such charges as the above no longer hold good. Would to
God they did not, but they do. While it be true that during the past two generations much
has been written and spoken on the person of the Spirit, yet, for the most part, it has been
of a sadly inadequate and erroneous character. Much dross has been mingled with the gold.
A fearful amount of unscriptural nonsense and fanaticism has marred the testimony.
Furthermore, it cannot be gainsaid that it is no longer generally recognized that
supernatural agency is imperatively required in order for the redemptive work of Christ to
be applied to sinners. Rather do actions show it is now widely held that if unregenerate
souls are instructed in the letter of Scripture their own will-power is sufficient to enable
them to “decide for Christ.”
In the great majority of cases, professing Christians are too puffed up by a sense of
what they suppose they are doing for God, to earnestly study what God has promised to do
for and in His people. They are so occupied with their fleshly efforts to “win souls for
Christ” that they feel not their own deep need of the Spirit’s anointing. The leaders of
“Christian” (?) enterprise are so concerned in multiplying “Christian workers” that quantity
and not quality is the main consideration. How few today recognize that if the number of
“missionaries” on the foreign field were increased twenty fold the next year, that that, of
itself, would not ensure the genuine salvation of one additional heathen? Even though
January, 1933 STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES 3
every new missionary were “sound in the faith” and preached only “the truth,” that would
not add one iota of spiritual power to the missionary forces, without the Holy Spirit’s
unction and blessing! The same principle holds good everywhere. If the orthodox
seminaries and the much advertised Bible institutes turned out one hundred times more
men than they are now doing, the churches would not be one whit better off than they are,
unless God vouchsafed a fresh outpouring of His Spirit. In like manner, no Sunday school
is strengthened by the mere multiplication of its teachers.
O my readers, face the solemn fact that the greatest lack of all in Christendom today is
the absence of the Holy Spirit’s power and blessing. Review the activities of the past thirty
years. Millions of dollars have been freely devoted to the support of professed Christian
enterprises. Bible institutes and schools have turned out “trained workers” by the
thousands. Bible conferences have sprung up on every side like mushrooms. Countless
booklets and tracts have been printed and circulated. Time and labor have been given by an
almost incalculable number of “personal workers.” And with what results? Has the
standard of personal piety advanced? Are the churches less worldly? Are their members
more Christ-like in their daily walk? Is there more godliness in the home? Are the children
more obedient and respectful? Is the Sabbath-day being increasingly sanctified and kept
holy? Has the standard of honesty in business been raised?
Those blest with any spiritual discernment can return but one answer to the above
questions. In spite of all the huge sums of money that have been spent, in spite of all the
labor which has been put forth, in spite of all the new workers that have been added to the
old ones, the spirituality of Christendom is at a far lower ebb today than it was thirty years
ago. Numbers of professing Christians have increased, fleshly activities have multiplied,
but spiritual power has waned. Why? Because there is a grieved and quenched Spirit in
our midst. While HIS blessing is withheld, there can be no improvement. What is needed
today is for the saints to get down on their faces before God, cry unto Him in the name of
Christ to so work again, that what has grieved His Spirit may be put away and the channel
of blessing once more be opened.
Until the Holy Spirit is again given His rightful place in our hearts, thoughts, and
activities, there can be no improvement. Until it be recognized that we are entirely
dependent upon His operations for all spiritual blessing, the root of the trouble cannot be
reached. Until it be recognized that it is, “Not by might, [of trained workers] nor by power
[of intellectual argument or persuasive appeal], but by MY SPIRIT, saith the LORD of
hosts.” (Zec 4:6), there will be no deliverance from that fleshly zeal which is not according
to knowledge and which is now paralyzing Christendom. Until the Holy Spirit is honored,
sought unto, and counted upon, the present spiritual drought must continue. May it please
our gracious God to give the writer those messages and prepare the hearts of our readers to
receive that which will be unto His glory, the furtherance of His cause upon earth, and the
good of His dear people. Brethren, pray for us.
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

61. The Life of Abraham (11:9-10)
In the preceding article, we considered the appearing of the Lord unto idolatrous
Abraham in Chaldea, the call which he then received to make a complete break from his
old life, and to go forward in faith in complete subjection to the revealed will of God. This
we contemplated as a figure and type, an illustration and example of one essential feature
of regeneration, namely, God’s effectually calling His elect from death unto life, out of
darkness into his marvelous light, with the blessed fruits this produces. As we saw on the
last occasion, a mighty change was wrought in Abraham, so that his manner of life was
completely altered, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he
went.”
Ere turning unto the verses which are to form our present portion, let us first ask and
seek to answer the following question, Was Abraham’s response to God’s call a perfect
one? Was his obedience flawless? Ah, dear reader, is it difficult to anticipate the answer?
There has been only one perfect life lived on this earth. Moreover, had there been no
failure in Abraham’s walk, would not the type have been faulty? But God’s types are
accurate at every point and in His Word the Spirit has portrayed the characters of His
people in the colours of truth and reality. He has faithfully described them as they actually
were. True, a supernatural work of grace had been wrought in Abraham, but the “flesh”
had not been removed from him. True, a supernatural faith had been communicated to him,
but the root of unbelief had not been taken out of him. Two contrary principles were at
work within Abraham (as they are in us) and both of these were evidenced.
God’s requirements from Abraham were clearly made known, “Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show
thee” (Gen 12:1). The first response which he made to this is recorded in Genesis 11:31,
“And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his
daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the
Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.” He
left Chaldea, but instead of separating from his “kindred,” he suffered his nephew Lot to
accompany him, instead of forsaking his father’s house, Terah was permitted to take the
lead, and instead of entering Canaan, Abraham stopped short and settled in Haran.
Abraham temporized—his obedience was partial, faltering, tardy. He yielded to the
affections of the flesh. Alas, cannot both writer and reader see here a plain reflection of
himself, a portrayal of his own sad failures! Yes, “As in water face answereth to face, so
the heart of man to man” (Pro 27:19).
But let us earnestly seek grace at this point to be much upon our guard lest we “wrest”
(2Pe 3:16) to our own hurt what has just been before us. If the thought arises, “O well,
Abraham was not perfect, he did not always do as God commanded him, so it cannot be
expected that I should do any better than he did,” then recognize that this is a temptation
from the devil. Abraham’s failures are not recorded for us to shelter behind, for us to make
them so many palliations for our own sinful falls. No, rather are they to be regarded as so
many warnings for us to take to heart and prayerfully heed. Such warnings only leave us
the more without excuse. And when we discover that we have sadly repeated the
backslidings of the Old Testament saints, that very discovery would but humble us the
more before God, move to a deeper repentance, lead to increasing self-distrust, and issue in
a more earnest and constant seeking of divine grace to uphold and maintain us in the paths
of righteousness.
Though Abraham failed, there was no failure in God. Blessed indeed is it to behold His
long-suffering, His super-abounding grace, His unchanging faithfulness, and the eventual
fulfilling of His own purpose. This reveals to us, for the joy of our hearts and the
worshipping praise of our souls, another reason why the Holy Spirit has so faithfully
placed on record the shadows as well as the lights in the lives of the OLD TESTAMENT
saints—they are to serve not only as solemn warnings for us to heed, but also as so many
examples of that marvelous patience of God that bears so long and so tenderly with the
dullness and waywardness of His children, examples too of that infinite mercy which deals
with His people not after their sins, nor rewards them according to their iniquities. O how
the realization of this should melt our hearts and evoke true worship and thanksgiving unto
“the God of all grace” (1Pe 5:10). It will be so, it must be so, in every truly regenerate
soul. Though the unregenerate will only turn the very grace of God “into lasciviousness”
(Jude 1:4) unto their eternal undoing.
The sequel to Genesis 11:31 is found in 12:5, “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot
his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had
gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of
Canaan they came.” Though Abraham had settled down in Haran, God would not allow
him to continue there indefinitely. The Lord had purposed that he should enter Canaan and
no purpose of His can fail. God therefore tumbled him out of the nest which he had made
for himself (Deu 32:11-12) and very solemn is it to observe the means which he used,
“And Terah died in Haran” (Gen 11:32 and cf. Act 7:4)—death had to come in before
Abraham left Halfway House! He never started across the wilderness until death severed
that tie of the flesh which had held him back. But that with which we desire to be specially
occupied at this point is the wondrous love of God toward His erring child.
“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal 3:6).
Blessed, thrice blessed, is this. Though the dogs are likely to consume it unto their own
ruin, yet that must not make us withhold this sweet portion of “the children’s bread.” The
immutability of the divine nature is the saints’ indemnity. God’s unchangeableness affords
the fullest assurance of His faithfulness in the promises. No change in us can alter His
mind, no unfaithfulness on our part will cause Him to revoke His word. Unstable though
we be, sorely tempted as we often are, tripped up as may frequently be our case, yet God
“shall also confirm you unto the end...God is faithful” (1Co 1:8-9). The powers of Satan
and the world are against us, suffering and death before us, a treacherous and fearful heart
within us, yet God will “confirm us to the end.” He did Abraham. He will us. Hallelujah!
“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise” (Heb 11:9). This
verse brings before us the second effect or proof of Abraham’s faith. In the previous verse,
the apostle had spoken of the place from whence Abraham was called, here of the place to
which he was called. There he had shown the power of faith in self-denial in obedience to
God’s command, here we behold the patience and constancy of faith in waiting for the
fulfillment of the promise. But the mere reading of this verse by itself is not likely to make
much impression upon us. We need to diligently consult and carefully ponder other
passages in order to be in a position to appreciate its real force.
First of all we are told, “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem,
unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land” (Gen 12:6). Unless a
supernatural work of grace had been wrought in Abraham’s heart, subduing (though not
eradicating) his natural desires and reasonings, he certainly would not have remained in
Canaan. An idolatrous people were already occupying the land. Again, we are told that
“He [God] gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much to set his foot on” (Act 7:5).
Only the unclaimed tracts, which were commonly utilized by those having flocks and
herds, were available for his use. Not an acre did he own, for he had to “purchase” a plot of
ground as a burying place for his dead (Gen 23). What a trial of faith was this, for Hebrews
11:8 expressly declares that he was afterward to “receive” that land “for an inheritance.”
Yet instead of this presenting a difficulty, it only enhances the beauty and accuracy of the
type.
The Christian has also been begotten “to an inheritance” (1Pe 1:4), but he does not
fully enter into it the moment he is called from death unto life. No, instead, he is left here
(very often) for many years to fight his way through an hostile world and against an
opposing devil. During that fight he meets with many discouragements and receives
numerous wounds. Hard duties have to be performed, difficulties overcome, and trials
endured, before the Christian enters fully into that inheritance unto which divine grace has
appointed him. And naught but a divinely bestowed and divinely maintained faith is
sufficient for these things—that alone will sustain the heart in the face of losses,
reproaches, painful delays. It was thus with Abraham. It was by faith he left the land of his
birth, started out on a journey he knew not whither, crossed a dreary wilderness, and then
sojourned in tents for more than half a century in a strange land.
Rightly did the Puritan Thomas Manton (1620-1677) say, “From God’s training up
Abraham in a course of difficulties, we see it is no easy matter to go to heaven. There is a
great deal of ado to unsettle a believer from the world and there is a great deal of ado to fix
the heart in the expectation of heaven. First there must be self-denial in coming out of the
world and divorcing ourselves from our bosom sins and dearest interests, and then there
must be patience shown in waiting for God’s mercy to eternal life, waiting His leisure as
well as performing His will. Here is the time of our exercise, and we must expect it, since
the father of the faithful was thus trained up ere he could inherit the promises.”
“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country” (Heb 11:9). The
force of this will be more apparent if we link together two statements in Genesis, “And the
Canaanite was then in the land” (Gen 12:6), “And the LORD said unto Abram…all the
land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” (Gen 13:14-15). Here
was the ground which Abraham’s faith rested upon, the plain word of Him that cannot lie.
Upon that promise his heart reposed and therefore he was occupied not with the
Canaanites, who were then in the land, but with the invisible Jehovah who had pledged it
unto him. How different was the case of the spies, who, in a later day, went up into this
very land, with the assurance of the Lord that it was a “good land.” Their report was “the
land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw
the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as
grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num 13:32-33).
“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country” (Heb 11:9). As it
was by faith that Abraham went out of Chaldea, so it was by faith he remained, out of the
country of which he was originally a native. This illustrates the fact that not only do we
become Christians by an act of faith (the yielding up of the whole man unto God), but that
as Christians we are called upon to live by faith (Gal 2:20), to walk by faith and not by
sight (2Co 5:7). The place where Abraham now abode is here styled “the land of promise,”
rather than Canaan, to teach us that it is God’s promise which puts vigour into faith. Note
how both Moses and Joshua, at a later day, sought to quicken the faith of the Israelites by
this means, “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee,
and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee”
(Deu 6:3). “And the LORD your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive
them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath
promised unto you” (Jos 23:5).
“As in a strange country” (Heb 11:9). This tells us how Abraham regarded that land
which was then occupied by the Canaanites and how he conducted himself in it. He
purchased no farm, built no house, and entered into no alliance with its people. True, he
entered into a league of peace and amity with Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre (Gen 14:13), but it
was as a stranger and not as one who had any thing of his own in the land. He reckoned
that country no more his own than any other land in the world. He took no part in its
politics, had nothing to do with its religion, had very little social intercourse with its
people, but lived by faith and found his joy and satisfaction in communion with the Lord.
This teaches us that though the Christian is still in the world, he is not of it, nor must he
cultivate its friendship (Jam 4:4). He may use it as necessity requires, but he must ever be
on his prayerful guard against abusing it (1Co 7:31).
“Dwelling in tabernacles.” These words inform us both of Abraham’s manner of life
and disposition of heart during his sojourning in Canaan. Let us consider them from this
twofold viewpoint. Abraham did not conduct himself as the possessor of Canaan, but as a
foreigner and pilgrim in it. To Heth he confessed, “I am a stranger and sojourner with you”
(Gen 23:4). As the father of the faithful, he set an example of self-denial and patience. It
was not that he was unable to purchase an estate, build an elaborate mansion, and settle
down in some attractive spot, for Genesis 13:2 tells us that “Abram was very rich in cattle,
in silver, and in gold,” but God had not called him unto this. Ah, my reader, a palace
without the enjoyed presence of the Lord, is but an empty bauble, whereas a prison-
dungeon occupied by one in real communion with Him, may be the very vestibule of
heaven.
Living in a strange country, surrounded by wicked heathen, had it not been wiser for
Abraham to erect a strongly fortified castle? A “tent” offers little or no defense against
attack. Ah, but “the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and
delivereth them” (Psa 34:7).And Abraham both feared and trusted God. “Where faith
enables men to live unto God, as unto their eternal concerns, it will enable them to trust
unto Him in all the difficulties, dangers, and hazards of this life. To pretend a trust in God
as unto our souls and invisible things, and not resign our temporal concerns with patience
and quietness unto His disposal, is a vain pretense. And we may take hence an eminent
trial of our faith. Too many deceive themselves with a presumption of faith in the promises
of God, as unto things future and eternal. They suppose that they do so believe, as that they
shall be eternally saved, but if they are brought into any trial, as unto things temporal,
wherein they are concerned, they know not what belongs unto the life of faith, nor how to
trust God in a due manner. It was not so with Abraham. His faith acted itself uniformly
with respect to the providences, as well as the promises of God” (John Owen, 1616-1683).
Abram’s “dwelling in tents” also denoted the disposition of his heart. A life of faith is
one which has respect unto things spiritual and eternal and therefore one of its fruits is to
be contented with a very small portion of earthly things. Faith not only begets a confidence
and joy in the things promised, but it also works a composure of spirit and submission to
the Lord’s will. A little would serve Abraham on earth because he expected so much in
heaven. Nothing is more calculated to deliver the heart from covetousness, from lusting
after the perishing things of time and sense, from envying the poor rich, than to heed that
exhortation, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). But
it is one thing to quote that verse and another to put it into practice. If we are the children
of Abraham, we must emulate the example of Abraham. Are our carnal affections
mortified? Can we submit to a pilgrim’s fare without murmuring? Are we enduring
hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2Ti 2:3)?
The tent-life of the patriarchs demonstrated their pilgrim character. It made manifest
their contentment to live upon the surface of the earth, for a tent has no foundation, and
can be pitched or struck at short notice. They were sojourners here and just passing
through this wilderness scene without striking their roots into it. Their tent life spoke of
their separation from the world’s allurements, politics, friendships, religion. It is deeply
significant to note that when reference is made to Abraham’s “tent,” there is mention also
of his “altar”—“and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and
there he builded an altar unto the LORD” (Gen 12:8)—“and he went on his
journeys…unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning…unto the place of the
altar” (Gen 13:3-4)—“Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of
Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD” (Gen 13:18). Observe
carefully the order in each of these passages. There must be heart separation from the
world before a thrice holy God can be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
“Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise” (Heb
11:9). The Greek here is more expressive than our translation, “in tents dwelling.” The
Holy Spirit emphasized first not the act of dwelling, but the fact that this dwelling was in
tents. The mention of Isaac and Jacob in this verse is for the purpose of calling our
attention unto the further fact that Abraham continued thus for the space of almost a
century, Jacob not being born until he had sojourned in Canaan for eighty-five years!
Herein we are taught that “when we are once engaged and have given up ourselves to God
in a way of believing, there must be no choice, no dividing or halting, no halving, but we
must follow Him fully, wholly, living by faith in all things” (John Owen), and that unto the
very end of our earthly course.
There does not seem to be anything requiring us to believe that Isaac and Jacob shared
Abraham’s tent, rather is the thought that they also lived the same pilgrim’s life in Canaan.
As Abraham was a sojourner in that land, without any possession there, so were they. The
“with” may be extended to cover all that is said in the previous part of the verse, indicating
it was “by faith” that both Abraham’s son and grandson followed the example set them.
The words which follow confirm this—they were “the heirs with him of the same
promise.” That is indeed a striking expression, for ordinarily sons are merely “heirs” and
not joint-heirs with their parents. This is to show us that Isaac was not indebted to
Abraham for the promise, nor Jacob to Isaac, each receiving the same promise direct from
God. This is clear from a comparison of Genesis 13:15 and 17:8 with 26:3 and 28:13,
35:12. It also tells us that if we are to have an interest in the blessings of Abraham, we
must walk in the steps of his faith.
Very blessed and yet very searching is the principle exemplified in the last clause of
Hebrews 11:9. God’s saints are all of the same spiritual disposition. They are members of
the same family, united to the same Christ, indwelt by the same Spirit. “And the multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and one soul” (Act 4:32). They are governed by the
same laws, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts” (Heb 8:10).
They all have one aim, to please God and glorify Him on earth. They are called to the same
privileges, “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us,” etc. (2Pe 1:1).
“For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”
(Heb 11:10). Ah, here is the explanation of what has been before us in the previous verse,
as the opening “for” intimates. Abraham was walking by faith and not by sight and
therefore his heart was set upon things above and not upon things below. It is the exercise
of faith and hope unto heavenly objects which makes us carry ourselves with a loose heart
toward worldly comforts. Abraham realized that his portion and possession was not on
earth, but in heaven. It was this which made him content to dwell in tents. He did not build
a city, as Cain did (Gen 4:17), but “looked for” one of which God himself is the maker.
What an illustration and exemplification was this of the opening verse of our chapter,
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb
11:1).
That for which Abraham looked was heaven itself, here likened unto a city with
foundations, in manifest antithesis from the “tents” which have no foundations. Various
figures are used to express the saints’ everlasting portion. It is called an “inheritance” (1Pe
1:4), to signify the freeness of its tenure. It is denominated “many mansions” in the
Father’s house. It is styled an “heavenly country” (Heb 11:16) to signify its spaciousness.
There are various resemblances between heaven and a “city.” A city is a civil society that
is under government. So in heaven there is a society of angels and saints ruled by God
(Heb 12:22-24). In Bible days, a city was a place of safety, being surrounded by strong and
high walls. So in heaven we shall be eternally secure from sin and Satan, death and every
enemy. A city is well stocked with provisions. So in heaven nothing will be lacking which
is good and blessed. The “foundations” of the heavenly city are the eternal decree and love
of God, the unalterable covenant of grace, Christ Jesus the Rock of Ages, on which it
stands firm and immovable.
It is the power of a faith which is active and operative that will sustain the heart under
hardships and sufferings as nothing else will. “For which cause we faint not; but though
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal” (2Co 4:16-18). As John Owen well said, “This is a full description of Abraham’s
faith, in the operation and effect here ascribed to it by the apostle. And herein it is
exemplary and encouraging to all believers under their present trials and sufferings.”
Ah, my brethren and sisters, do we not see from that which has been before us why the
attractions of the world or the depressing effects of suffering have such a power upon us?
Is it not because we are negligent in the stirring up of our faith to “lay hold of the hope
which is set before us”? If we meditated more frequently upon the glory and bliss of
heaven, and were favored with foretastes of it in our souls, would we not sigh after it more
ardently and press forward unto it more earnestly? “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and
he saw it, and was glad” (Joh 8:56), and if we had more serious and spiritual thoughts of
the day to come, we would not be so sad as we often are. “And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1Jo 3:3), for it lifts the heart above this
scene and carries us in spirit within the veil. The more our hearts are attracted to heaven,
the less will the poor things of this world appeal to us.
THE LIFE OF DAVID

13. His Sojourn at Ziph
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Psa 34:19)—some internal, others external,
some from friends, others from foes, some more directly at the hand of God, others more
remotely by the instrumentality of the devil. Nor should this be thought strange. Such has
been the lot of all God’s children in greater or less degree. Nor ought we to expect much
comfort in a world which so basely crucified the Lord of Glory. The sooner the Christian
makes it his daily study to pass through this world as a stranger and pilgrim, anxious to
depart and be with Christ, the better for his peace of mind. But it is natural to cling
tenaciously to this life and to love the things of time and sense, and therefore most of the
Lord’s people have to encounter many buffetings and have many disappointments before
they are brought to hold temporal things with a light hand and before their silly hearts are
weaned from that which satisfies not.
There is scarcely any affliction which besets the suffering people of God that the
subject of these articles did not experience. David, in the different periods of his varied
life, was placed in almost every situation in which a believer, be he rich or poor in this
world’s goods, can be placed. This is one feature which makes the study of his life of such
practical interest unto us today. And this also it was which experimentally fitted him to
write so many psalms, which the saints of all ages have found so perfectly suited to express
unto God the varied feelings of their souls. No matter whether the heart be cast down by
the bitterest grief, or whether it be exultant with overflowing joy, nowhere can we find
language more appropriate to use in our approaches unto the Majesty on High than in the
recorded sobs and songs of him who tasted the bitters of cruel treatment and base
betrayals, and the sweetness of human success and spiritual communion with the Lord, as
few have done.
Oftentimes the providences of God seem profoundly mysterious to our dull perceptions
and strange unto us do appear the schoolings through which He passes His servants.
Nevertheless, faith is assured that omniscience makes no mistakes and He who is love
causes none of His children a needless tear. Beautifully did C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
introduce his exposition of Psalm 59 by saying, “Strange that the painful events in David’s
life should end in enriching the repertoire of the national minstrelsy. Out of a sour,
ungenerous soil spring up the honey-bearing flowers of psalmody. Had he never been
cruelly hunted by Saul, Israel and the church of God in after ages would have missed this
song. The music of the sanctuary is in no small degree indebted to the trials of the saints.
Affliction is the tuner of the harps of sanctified songsters.” Let every troubled reader seek
to lay this truth to heart and take courage.
“And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in a mountain in the
wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his
hand” (1Sa 23:14). It is blessed to behold David’s self-restraint under sore provocation.
Though perfectly innocent, so far as his conduct toward Saul was concerned, that wicked
king continued to hound him without any rest. David had conducted himself honorably in
every public station he filled and now he has to suffer disgrace in the eyes of the people as
a hunted outlaw. Great must have been the temptation to put an end to Saul’s persecution
by the use of force. He was a skilled leader, had six hundred men under him (1Sa 23:13),
and he might easily have employed strategy, lured his enemy into a trap, fallen upon and
slain him. Instead, he possessed his soul in patience, walked in God’s ways, and waited
God’s time. And the Lord honored this as the sequel shows.
Ah, dear reader, it is written, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he
that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Pro 16:32). O for more godly self-control—
for this we should pray earnestly and oft. Are you, like David was, sorely oppressed? Are
you receiving evil at the hands of those from whom you might well expect good? Is there
some Saul mercilessly persecuting you? Then no doubt you too are tempted to take things
into your own hands, perhaps have recourse to the law of the land. But O tried one, suffer
us to gently remind you that it is written, “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place
unto wrath…vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy
hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink” (Rom 12:19-20). Remember too the example
left us by the Lord Jesus, “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered,
he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1Pe 2:23).
“And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the
wilderness of Ziph in a wood” (1Sa 23:15). How this illustrates what we are told in
Galatians 4:29, “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now”! And let us not miss the deeper spiritual meaning of
this—the opposition which Isaac encountered from Ishmael adumbrated the lustings of the
“flesh” against “the spirit.” There is a continual warfare within every real Christian
between the principle of sin and the principle of grace, commonly termed “the two
natures.” There is a spiritual Saul who is constantly seeking the life of a spiritual David. It
is the “old man” with his affections and appetites, seeking to slay the new man. Against his
relentless attacks, we need ever to be on our guard.
“And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the
wilderness of Ziph in a wood” (1Sa 23:15). “Ziph” derived its name from a city in the tribe
of Judah (Jos 15:24). It is surely significant that “Ziph” signifies “a refining place.”
Possibly the “mountain” there (1Sa 23:14) was rich in minerals and at Ziph there was a
smelter and refiner. Be this as it may, the spiritual lesson is here writ too plain for us to
miss. The hard knocks which the saint receives from a hostile world, the persecutions he
endures at the hands of those who hate God, the trials through which he passes in this
scene of sin, may, and should be, improved to the good of his soul. O may many of the
Lord’s people prove that these “hard times” through which they are passing are a “refining
place” for their faith and other spiritual graces.
“And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his
hand in God. And he said unto him, ‘Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find
thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my
father knoweth. And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David abode in the
wood, and Jonathan went to his house” (1Sa 23:16-18). These verses record the final
meeting on earth between David and the weak, vacillating Jonathan. Attached to David as
he was by a strong natural affection, yet he lacked grace to throw in his lot with the hunted
fugitive. Refusing to join with his father in persecuting David, yet the pull of the palace
and the court was too strong to be resisted. He stands as a solemn example of the spiritual
compromiser, of the man who is naturally attracted to Christ, but lacking a supernatural
knowledge of Him which leads to full surrender to Him. That he “strengthened David’s
hand in God” no more evidenced him to be a regenerate man, than do the words of Saul in
verse 21. Instead of his words in 1 Samuel 23:17 coming true, he fell by the sword of the
Philistines on Gilboa.
“Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of
Jeshimon? Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to
come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand” (1Sa 23:19-20).
Alas, what is man and how little to be depended upon! Here was David seeking shelter
from his murderous foe, and that among the people of his own tribe, and there were they,
in order to curry favor with Saul, anxious to betray him into his hands. It was a gross
breach of hospitality, and there was no excuse for it, for Saul had not sought unto nor
threatened them. It mattered not to them though innocent blood were shed, so long as they
procured the smile of the apostate monarch. That day alone will show how many have
fallen victims before those who cared for nothing better than the favor of those in
authority.
“And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me” (1Sa
23:21). Thankfully did Saul receive the offer of these treacherous miscreants. Observe well
how he used the language of piety while bent on committing the foulest crime! Oh my
reader, for your own good we beg you to take heed unto this. Require something more than
fair words, or even religious phrases, before you form a judgment of another, and still
more so before you place yourself in his power. Promises are easily made and easily
broken by most people. The name of God is glibly taken upon the lips of multitudes who
have no fear of God in their hearts. Note too how the wretched Saul represented himself to
be the aggrieved one and construes the perfidy of the Ziphites as their loyalty to the king.
“Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who
hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtlety. See therefore, and take
knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with
the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I
will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah” (1Sa 23:22-23). Before he
journeyed to Ziph, Saul desired more specific information as to exactly where David was
now located. He knew that the man he was after had a much better acquaintance than his
own of that section of the country. He knew that David was a clever strategist—perhaps he
had fortified some place, and the king wished for details, so that he might know how large
a force would be needed to surround and capture David and his men. Apparently Saul felt
so sure of his prey, he considered there was no need for hurried action.
The news that the Ziphites had proven unfaithful reached the ears of David, and though
the king’s delay gave him time to retreat to the wilderness of Maon (1Sa 23:24), yet he was
now in a sore plight. His situation was desperate and none but an Almighty hand could
deliver him. Blessed is it to see him turning at this time unto the living God and spreading
the urgent case before Him. It was then that he prayed the prayer that is recorded in Psalm
54, the superscription of which reads, “A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said
to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?” In it we are given to hear him pouring out
his heart unto the Lord, and unto it we now turn to consider a few of its details.
“Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength” (Psa 54:1). David was
in a position where he was beyond the reach of human assistance, only a miracle could
now save him, therefore did he supplicate the miracle-working God. Without any
preamble, David went straight to the point and cried, “Save me, O God.” Keilah would not
shelter him, the Ziphites had basely betrayed him, Saul and his men thirsted for his blood.
Other refuge there was none; God alone could help him. His appeal was to His glorious
“Name,” which stands for the sum of all His blessed attributes and to His righteousness.
“Judge me by thy strength” signifies: Secure justice for me, for none else will give it me.
This manifested the innocency of his cause. Only when our case is pure can we call upon
the power of divine justice to vindicate us.
“Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth” (Psa 54:2). How we need
to remember and turn unto the Lord when enduring the contradiction of sinners against
ourselves, to look above and draw strength from God, so that we be not weary and faint in
our minds. Well did C. H. Spurgeon write, “As long as God hath an open ear we cannot be
shut up in trouble. All other weapons may be useless, but all prayer is evermore available.
No enemy can spike this gun.” “For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek
after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah” (Psa 54:3). Those who had no
acquaintance with David, and so could have no cause for ill-will against him, were his
persecutors—strangers were they to God. In such circumstance, it is well for us to plead
before God that we are being hated for His sake.
We must not here expound the remainder of this Psalm. But let us note three other
things in it. First, the marked change in the last four verses, following the “Selah” at the
end of verse 3. On that word there Spurgeon wrote, “As if he said, ‘Enough of this, let us
pause.’ He is out of breath with indignation. A sense of wrong bids him suspend the music
awhile. It may also be observed, that more pauses would, as a rule, improve our devotions.
We are usually too much in a hurry.” Second, his firm confidence in God and the assurance
that his request would be granted. This appears in verses 4-6, particularly in the, “He shall
reward evil unto mine enemies”—the “cut them off” was not spoken in hot revenge, but as
an Amen to the sure sentence of the just Judge. Third, his absolute confidence that his
prayer was answered—the “hath delivered me” of verse 7 is very, very striking and with it
should be carefully compared and pondered Mark 11:24.
It now remains for us to observe how God answered David’s prayer. “And they arose,
and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in
the plain of the south of Jeshimon” (1Sa 23:24). The term “wilderness” is rather
misleading to English ears. It is not synonymous with desert, but is in contrast from
cultivated farmlands and orchards, often signifying a wild forest. “And when Saul heard
that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul went on this side of the
mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to
get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about
to take them” (1Sa 23:25-26). How often is such the case with us. Some sore trial presses
and we cry unto God for relief, but before His answer comes, matters appear to get worse.
Ah, that is in order that His hand may be the more evident.
David’s plight was now a serious one, for Saul and his men had practically enveloped
them and only a “mountain,” or more accurately, a steep cliff, separated them. Escape
seemed quite cut off—outnumbered, surrounded, further flight was out of the question. At
last Saul’s evil object appeared to be on the very point of attainment. But man’s extremity
is God’s opportunity. Beautifully did Matthew Henry comment, “This mountain (or cliff)
was an emblem of the divine providence coming between David and the destroyer, like the
pillar of cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians.” Yet, a few hours at most, and
Saul and his army would either climb or go around that crag. Now for the striking and
blessed sequel.
“But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the
Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and
went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth [The Rock
of Divisions.] And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at Engedi” (1Sa
23:27-29). How marvelously and how graciously God times things! He who orders all
events and controls all creatures, moved the Philistines to invade a portion of Saul’s
territory, and tidings of this reached the king’s ear just at the moment David seemed on the
brink of destruction. Saul at once turned his attention to the invaders and thus he was
robbed of his prey and God glorified as his Protector. Thus, without striking a blow, David
was delivered. O how blessed to know that the same God is for His people today, and
without them doing a thing He can turn away those who are harassing. God does hear and
answer the prayer of faith! David and his little force now had their opportunity to escape,
and fled to the strongholds of Engedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea.
COMING TO CHRIST
Part 1
By way of introduction let us bring before the readers the following Scriptures. (1)
“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life,” Joh 5:40. (2) “Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” Mat 11:28. (3) “No man can
come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him,” Joh 6:44. (4) “All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,”
Joh 6:37. (5) “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 disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple,” Luk
14:26-27. (6) “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God, and precious,” 1Pe 2:4. (7) “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,”
Heb 7:25.
The first of these passages applies to every unregenerate man and woman on this earth.
While he is in a state of nature, no man can come to Christ. Though all excellencies, both
divine and human, are found in the Lord Jesus, though He is “altogether lovely” (Song
5:16), yet the fallen sons of Adam see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. They
may be well instructed in “the doctrine of Christ,” they may believe unhesitatingly all that
Scripture affirms concerning Him, they may frequently take His name upon their lips,
profess to be resting on His finished work, sing His praises, yet their hearts are far from
Him. The things of this world have the first place in their affections. The gratifying of self
is their dominant concern. They surrender not their lives to Him. He is too holy to suit their
love of sin. His claims are too exacting to suit their selfish hearts. His terms of discipleship
are too severe to suit their fleshly ways. They will not yield to His Lordship—true alike
with each one of us till God performs a miracle of grace upon our hearts.
The second of these passages contains a gracious invitation, made by the
compassionate Savior to a particular class of sinners. The “all” is at once qualified, clearly
and definitely, by the words which immediately follow it. The character of those to whom
this loving word belongs is clearly defined—it is those who “labor” and are “heavy laden.”
Most clearly then it applies not to the vast majority of our light-headed, gay-hearted,
pleasure-seeking fellows, who have no regard for God’s glory and no concern about their
eternal welfare. No, the word for such poor creatures is rather, “Rejoice, O young man, in
thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will
bring thee into judgment” (Ecc 11:9). But to those who have “labored” hard to keep the
law and please God, who are “heavy laden” with a felt sense of their utter inability to meet
His requirements, and who long to be delivered from the power and pollution of sin, Christ
says, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest.”
The third passage quoted above at once tells us that “coming to Christ” is not the easy
matter so many imagine it, nor so simple a thing as most preachers represent it to be.
Instead of its so being, the incarnate Son of God positively declares that such an act is
utterly impossible to a fallen and depraved creature unless and until divine power is
brought to bear upon him. A most pride-humbling, flesh-withering, man-abasing word is
this. “Coming to Christ” is a far, far different thing from raising your hand to be prayed for
by some Protestant “priest,” coming forward and taking some cheap-jack evangelist’s
hand, signing some “decision” card, uniting with some “church,” or any other of the “many
inventions” (Ecc 7:29) of man. Before any one can or will “come to Christ,” the
understanding must be supernaturally enlightened, the heart must be supernaturally
changed, the stubborn will must be supernaturally broken.
The fourth passage is also one that is unpalatable to the carnal mind, yet is it a precious
portion unto the Spirit-taught children of God. It sets forth the blessed truth of
unconditional election, or the discriminating grace of God. It speaks of a favored people
whom the Father giveth to His Son. It declares that every one of that blessed company
shall come to Christ—neither the effects of their fall in Adam, the power of indwelling sin,
the hatred and untiring efforts of Satan, nor the deceptive delusions of blind preachers, will
be able to finally hinder them—when God’s appointed hour arrives, each of His elect is
delivered from the power of darkness and is translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. It
announces that each such one who comes to Christ, no matter how unworthy and vile he be
in himself, no matter how black and long the awful catalogue of his sins, He will by no
means despise or fail to welcome him and under no circumstances will He ever cast him
off.
The fifth passage is one that makes known the terms on which alone Christ is willing to
receive sinners. Here the uncompromising claims of His holiness are set out. He must be
crowned Lord of all or He will not be Lord at all. There must be the complete heart-
renunciation of all that stands in competition with Him. He will brook no rival. All that
pertains to “the flesh,” whether found in a loved one or in self, has to be hated. The “cross”
is the badge of Christian discipleship, not a golden one worn on the body, but the principle
of self-denial and self-sacrifice ruling the heart. How evident is it, then, that a mighty,
supernatural, divine work of grace must be wrought in the human heart, if any man will
even desire to meet such terms!
The sixth passage tells us that the Christian is to continue as he began. We are to
“come to Christ” not once and for all, but frequently, daily. He is the only one who can
minister unto our needs and to Him we must constantly turn for the supply of them. In our
felt emptiness, we must draw from His “fullness” (Joh 1:16). In our weakness, we must
turn to Him for strength. In our ignorance, we must apply to Him for wisdom. In our falls
into sin, we must seek afresh His cleansing. All that we need for time and eternity is stored
up in Him—refreshment when we are weary (Isa 40:31), healing of body when we are sick
(Exo 15:26), comfort when we are sad (1Pe 5:7), deliverance when we are tempted (Heb
2:18). If we have wandered away from Him, left our first love, then the remedy is to
“repent, and do the first works” (Rev 2:5), that is, cast ourselves upon Him anew, come
just as we did the first time we came to Him—as unworthy, self-confessed sinners, seeking
His mercy and forgiveness.
The seventh passage assures us of the eternal security of those who do come. Christ
saves “unto the uttermost” or “for evermore” those who come unto God by Him. He is not
of one mind today and of another tomorrow. No, He is “the same yesterday, and today, and
forever” (Heb 13:8). “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end” (Joh 13:1), and blessedly does He give proof of this, for “He ever liveth to make
intercession for them.” Inasmuch as His prayers are effectual, for He declares that the
Father hearest Him “always” (Joh 11:42), none whose name is indelibly stamped on the
heart of our great High Priest can ever perish. Hallelujah!
Having sought to thus introduce some of the leading aspects of the subject which is to
engage our attention, we now propose to enter into some detail as the Spirit of truth is
pleased to grant us His much-needed assistance. Let us consider some of the
I. Obstacles in coming to Christ.
Under this head it will be our endeavor to show why it is that the natural man is unable
to “come to Christ.” As a starting point, let us again quote John 6:44, “No man can come to
me, except the Father which has sent me draw him.” The reason why this is such a “hard
saying,” even unto thousands who profess to be Christians, is because they utterly fail to
realize the terrible havoc which the Fall has wrought, and it is greatly to be feared, because
they are themselves strangers to “the plague” of their own hearts (1Ki 8:38). Surely if the
Spirit had ever awakened them from the sleep of spiritual death and given them to see
something of the dreadful state they were in by nature, and they had been brought to feel
that the carnal mind in them was “enmity against God” (Rom 8:7), then they would no
longer cavil against this solemn word of Christ’s. But the spiritually dead can neither see
nor feel spiritually.
Wherein lies the total inability of the natural man? 1. It is not in the lack of the
necessary faculties. This needs to be plainly insisted upon or otherwise fallen man would
cease to be a responsible creature. Fearful as were the effects of the Fall, yet they deprived
man of none of the faculties with which God originally endowed him. True it is that the
coming in of sin took away from man all power to use those faculties aright, that is, to
employ them for the glory of his Maker. Nevertheless, fallen man possesses identically the
same threefold nature of spirit and soul and body, as he did before the Fall. No part of
man’s being was annihilated, though each part was defiled and corrupted by sin. True, man
died spiritually, but death is not extinction of being—spiritual death is alienation from God
(Eph 4:18). The spiritually dead one is very much alive and active in the service of Satan.
No, the inability of fallen man to “come to Christ” lies in no physical or mental defect.
He has the same feet to take him unto a place where the Gospel is preached, as he has to
walk with to a picture-show. He has the same eyes by which to read the Holy Scriptures, as
he has to read the world’s newspapers. He has the same lips and voice for calling upon
God, as he now uses in idle talk or foolish song. So too he has the same mental faculties
for pondering the things of God and the concerns of eternity, as he now uses so diligently
in connection with his business. It is because of this that man “is without excuse” (Rom
1:20). It is the misuse of the faculties with which the Creator has endowed him which
increases man’s guilt. Let every servant of God see to it that these things are constantly
pressed upon their unsaved hearers.
2. We have to search deeper in order to find the seat of man’s spiritual impotency. His
inability lies in his corrupt nature. Through Adam’s Fall, and through our own sin, our
nature has become so debased and depraved that it is impossible for any man to “come to
Christ,” to “love and serve Him,” to esteem Him more highly than all the world put
together, and submit to His rule, until the Spirit of God renews him and implants a new
nature. A bitter fountain cannot send forth sweet waters, nor an evil tree produce good
fruit. Let us try and make this still clearer by an illustration. It is the nature of a vulture to
feed upon carrion. True, it has the same bodily members to feed upon the wholesome grain
the hens do, but it lacks the disposition and relish for it. It is the nature of a sow to wallow
in the mire. True, it has the same legs as a sheep to conduct it to the meadow, but it lacks
the desire for the green pastures. So it is with unregenerate man. He has the same physical
and mental faculties as the regenerate has for the things and service of God, but he has no
love for them.
Adam “begat a son in his own likeness, after his image” (Gen 5:3). What an awful
contrast is found here from that which we read two verses before, “God created man, in the
likeness of God made He him.” In the interval, Adam had fallen, and a fallen parent could
beget only a fallen child, transmitting unto him his own depravity. “Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean?” (Job 14:4). Therefore do we find the sweet singer of Israel
declaring, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa
51:5). Though, later, grace made him the man after God’s own heart, yet by nature, David
(as we) was a mass of iniquity and sin. How early does this corruption of nature appear in
children. “Even a child is known by his doings” (Pro 20:11). The evil bias of its heart is
soon manifested—pride, self-will, vanity, lying, averseness to good, are the bitter fruits
which quickly appear on the tender but vitiated twig.
3. The inability of the natural man to “come to Christ” lies in the complete darkness of
his understanding. This leading faculty of the soul has been despoiled of its primitive glory
and covered over with confusion. Both mind and conscience are defiled “There is none that
understandeth” (Rom 3:11). Solemnly did the apostle remind the saints “For ye were
sometimes darkness” (Eph 5:8), not merely “in darkness,” but “darkness” itself. “Sin has
closed the windows of the soul, darkness is over all the region. It is the land of darkness
and shadow of death, where the light is as darkness. The prince of darkness reigns there
and nothing but the works of darkness are framed there. We are born spiritually blind and
cannot be restored without a miracle of grace. This is thy case, whoever thou art, that art
not born again” (Thomas Boston, 1680). “They are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge” (Jer 4:22).
“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). There is in the unregenerate an opposition to what is spiritual
and an aversion against it. God has made a revelation of His will unto sinners touching the
way of salvation, yet they will not walk therein. They hear that Christ alone is able to save,
yet they refuse to part with those things that hinder their coming to Him. They hear that it
is sin which slays the soul and yet they cherish it in their bosoms. They heed not the threats
of God. Men believe that fire will burn them, and are at great pains to avoid it, yet they
show by their actions that they regard the everlasting burnings as a mere scarecrow. The
divine commandments are “holy, just, and good,” but men hate them, and observe them
only so far as their respectability among men is promoted.
4. The inability of the natural man to “come to Christ” lies in the complete corruption
of his affections. “Man as he is, before he receives the grace of God, loves anything and
everything above spiritual things. If ye want proof of this, look around you. There needs no
monument to the depravity of the human affections. Cast your eyes everywhere—there is
not a street, nor a house, nay, nor a heart, which doth not bear upon it sad evidence of this
dreadful truth. Why is it that men are not found on the Sabbath day universally flocking to
the house of God? Why are we not more constantly found reading our Bibles? How is it
that prayer is a duty almost universally neglected? Why is Christ Jesus so little beloved?
Why are even His professed followers so cold in their affections to Him? Whence arise
these things? Assuredly, dear brethren, we can trace them to no other source than this, the
corruption and vitiation of the affections. We love that which we ought to hate and we hate
that which we ought to love. It is but human nature, fallen human nature, that man should
love this present life better than the life to come. It is but the effect of the Fall, that man
should love sin better than righteousness, and the ways of the world better than the ways of
God” (C. H. Spurgeon, sermon on John 6:44).
The affections of the unrenewed man are wholly depraved and distempered. “The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). Solemnly did the Lord
Jesus affirm that the affections of fallen man are a mother of abominations, “For from
within [not from the devil!], out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mar 7:21-22). “The natural man’s affections are
wretchedly misplaced. He is a spiritual monster. His heart is where his feet should be,
fixed on the earth. His heels are lifted up against heaven, which his heart should be set on,
Acts 9:5. His face is towards hell, his back towards heaven, and therefore God calls to him
to turn. He joys in what he ought to mourn for, and mourns for what he should rejoice in.
Glories in his shame and is ashamed of his glory. Abhors what he should desire and desires
what he should abhor. Proverbs 2:13-15” (From Thomas Boston’s, Fourfold State).
5. The inability of the natural man to “come to Christ” lies in the total perversity of his
will. “‘Oh!’ said the Arminian, ‘men may be saved if they will.’ We reply, ‘My dear sir,
we all believe that, but it is just the if they will that is the difficulty.’ We assert that no man
will come to Christ unless he be drawn, Nay, we do not assert it, but Christ Himself
declares it—‘Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life’ (Joh 5:40), and as long as
that ‘ye will not come’ stands on record in Holy Scripture, we shall not be brought to
believe in any doctrine of the freedom of the human will. It is strange how people, when
talking about free will, talk of things which they do not at all understand. ‘Now’ says one,
‘I believe men can be saved if they will.’ My dear sir, that is not the question at all. The
question is, are men ever found naturally willing to submit to the humbling terms of the
Gospel of Christ? We declare, upon Scriptural authority, that the human will is so
desperately set on mischief, so depraved, and so inclined to everything that is evil, and so
disinclined to everything that is good, that without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible
influence of the Holy Spirit, no human being will ever be constrained towards Christ” (C.
H. Spurgeon).
“Now here is a threefold card against heaven and holiness, not easily to be broken—a
blind mind, a perverse will, and disorderly, distempered affections. The mind, swelled with
self-conceit, says the man should not stoop. The will, opposite to the will of God, says, he
will not. And the corrupt affections rising against the Lord, in defense of the corrupt will,
says, he shall not. Thus the poor creature stands out against God and goodness, till a day of
power come, in which he is made a new creature” (Thomas Boston, 1676-1732). Perhaps
some readers are inclined to say, “Such teaching as this is calculated to discourage sinners
and drive them to despair.” Our answer is, First, it is according to God’s Word! Second, O
that it may please Him to use this article to drive some to despair of all help from
themselves. Third, it makes manifest the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit’s working
with such depraved and spiritually helpless creatures, if they are ever to savingly come to
Christ. And until this is clearly perceived, HIS aid will never be really sought in earnest!
DISPENSATIONALISM
1. The Promises of God
The general policy which we have steadily sought to follow during the past eleven
years has been that of seeking (by divine aid) the spiritual edification of our Christian
readers. For this we have endeavored to set forth a well-balanced constructive ministry.
Poisons do not nourish, nor does the refutation of error build up the soul. Very
occasionally have we departed from our rule, and only then against our spiritual
inclinations, for we know full well it is difficult to handle pitch without being defiled. But
once or twice we have felt forced to lift up our voice and sound an alarm. We feel
constrained to do so again. While Paul was at Athens and saw the city wholly given up to
idolatry, “his spirit was stirred in him,” and as we behold the reckless and irreverent
handling of the Word of God, by many who style themselves the teachers of
“dispensational truth,” and witness the pernicious effects it has produced in the minds and
lives of many, we are moved by what is, we trust, a holy indignation.
It is not our present purpose to take up seriatim the various postulates of this modern
school of prophetic interpretation, nor to examine in detail the wild conclusions which
have been drawn from flimsy premises. Nor have we any expectation of converting from
the error of their way any of the present-day leaders of this system which is growing in
popularity. No, we would not waste valuable time on them, for it is our firm conviction
that God has given them over to the spirit of delusion. If the Lord permits, we expect to
deal with some other features of this “false doctrine” in later issues, but for the moment we
confine our attention to one fearful evil which has been engendered by it, namely, the
robbing of God’s children of many “exceeding great and precious promises” (2Pe 1:4).
We are not unmindful of the subtle distinctions which have been drawn by the above-
mentioned teachers between the interpretation and the application of Scripture, nor of their
oft-repeated slogan that, “All Scripture is for us, but it is not all to us, or about us.”
Whatever may be thought of such a statement, this is clear and cannot be gainsaid, that
there are now tens of thousands in Great Britain and the U.S.A. who say of large portions
of God’s Word, “This is not for me; this belongs to the Jews. This relates not to the present
dispensation, that concerns those who will be on earth during the great tribulation or the
millennium.” And thus their souls are deprived of the present value of much which God
Himself plainly declares is “profitable” for us (2Ti 3:16).
It may surprise some of our readers when we say that this limiting of so much of God’s
Word to the Jews is an ancient lie of the devil’s dressed up in a new garb. Yet such it is.
Nor should any be surprised at this news, for Scripture declares that, “There is no new
thing under the sun” (Ecc 1:9). Two hundred and fifty years ago, in his work on “The
Doctrine of the Saints’ Perseverance Explained and Confirmed,” John Owen wrote, “Some
labor much to rob believers of the consolation intended for them in the evangelical
promises of the Old Testament, though made in the general to the church on this account,
(affirming) that they were made to the Jews, and being to them peculiar, our concernment
lieth not now in them.” Over three hundred years ago, when the Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England (the “Episcopal Church”) were drawn up, the 7th read as follows, “The
Old Testament is not contradictory to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament
everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God
and men, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that
the old fathers (OLD TESTAMENT saints) did look only for transitory promises.”
Almost four hundred years ago, John Calvin (1509-1564), in his “Institutes” began his
chapter on, “The Similarity of the Old and New Testaments” by saying, “From the
preceding observations it may now be evidenced, that all those persons, from the beginning
of the world, whom God has adopted into the society of His people, have been federally
connected with Him by the same law and the same doctrine which are in force among us,
but because it is of no small importance that this point be established, I shall show, by way
of appendix, since the fathers were partakers with us of the same inheritance and hoped for
the same salvation through the grace of our common Mediator, how far their condition in
this connection was different from ours. For though the testimonies we have collected from
the law and the prophets in proof of this, render it sufficiently evident that the people of
God have never had any other rule of religion and piety, yet because some writers have
raised many disputes concerning the difference of the Old and New Testaments, which
may occasion doubts in the mind of an undiscerning reader, we shall assign a particular
chapter for the better and more accurate discussion of this subject. Moreover, what would
otherwise have been very useful, has now been rendered necessary for us by Servetus and
some madmen of the sect of the Anabaptists, who entertain no other ideas of the Israelitish
nation than of a herd of swine, whom they pretend to have been pampered by the Lord, in
this world without the least hope of future immortality in heaven.”
One plain statement of Holy Writ is of infinitely more value than all the empty
reasonings of carnal men. Such a statement we have concerning the promises of God in 2
Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the
glory of God by us.” The line of thought in the context is easily followed. First, the apostle
had intended to pay the Corinthians a second visit (2Co 1:15-16), but he had been
providentially hindered (2Co 1:8-10). Second, knowing that his enemies were likely to use
his delay as a taunt that he was ignorant of the Lord’s mind and fickle in the keeping of his
word, the apostle anticipates this charge (2Co 1:17-18)—there were divine reasons why
Paul had delayed his promised journey to them. Third, whether that satisfied the
Corinthians or no, this could not be gainsaid, that there was no uncertainty about his
preaching. He had proclaimed Jesus Christ among them in a plain and positive way (2Co
1:19).
Having reminded the Corinthians that the message he had delivered in their hearing on
his first visit was invariable and constant (2Co 1:19), the apostle now gave proof of his
assertion—Christ was the sum and substance of his preaching. He had known nothing
among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified (see 1Co 2:2), and since Christ Himself is
always “yea” or unchanging, then his message was always “yea” or the same. The manner
in which he now supplied proof of this was by affirming, “For all the promises of God in
him [viz. Christ] are yea, and in him [Christ], amen.” Therefore, Christ cannot be “yea and
nay.” The plain meaning of 2 Corinthians 1:20 is—The promises which God has given His
people are absolutely reliable, for they were made to them in Christ. They are absolutely
certain of fulfillment, for they are accomplished in Him.
1. Since the Fall alienated the creature from the Creator, there could be no intercourse
between God and man but by some promise on His part. None can challenge anything
from the Majesty on High without a warrant from Himself, nor could the conscience be
satisfied unless it had a divine promise for any good that we hope for from God. 2. God
will have His people ruled by promises in all ages so as to exercise faith, hope, prayer,
dependence upon Himself. God gives us promises to test whether or not we trust Him. 3.
The ground of the promises is the God-man Mediator, Jesus Christ, for all intercourse
between God and us can only be in and through the appointed Daysman. Christ must
receive all good for us and we must have it at second hand from Him. Hence “all the
promises of God in him [Christ] are yea and amen.”
4. Let the Christian be ever on his guard never to contemplate any promise of God
apart from Christ, whether the thing promised, the blessing desired, be temporal or
spiritual, we cannot rightly or truly enjoy it except in and by Christ. Therefore did Paul
remind the Galatians, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal 3:16),
about which (D.V.) we shall have more to say later. All the promises of good to us are
made to Christ, the Surety of the everlasting covenant, and are conveyed from Christ to
us—both the promises and the things promised. “This is the [all-inclusive] promise that he
hath promised us, even eternal life” (1Jo 2:25), and as 1 John 5:11 tells us, “This life is in
his Son”—and so of “grace” and whatsoever is in Him. “If I read any of the promises, I
found that all and every one contained Christ in their bosom, He Himself being the one
great Promise of the Bible. To Him they were all first given; from Him they derive all their
efficacy, sweetness, value, and importance; by Him they are brought home to the heart; and
in Him they are all yea and amen” (Robert Hawker, 1810).
5. All the promises of God are made in Christ, none of them can be of any good to
those who are out of Christ, for a man out of Christ is out of the favor of God. God cannot
look on such a man but as an object of His wrath, as fuel for His vengeance. There is no
hope for any man till he be in Christ. But it may be asked, Does not God do many good
things to them that are out of Christ, sending His rain on the just as well as the unjust, and
filling the bellies of the wicked with good things (Psa 17:14)? Yes, He does indeed, but are
those temporal mercies blessings? Indeed they are not. As God says in Malachi 2:2, “I will
curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart”—
cf. Deuteronomy 28:15-20. Unto the wicked, the temporal mercies of God are like the food
given to bullocks—they do but “prepare them for the day of slaughter” (Jer 12:3 and cf.
Jam 5:5).
Having presented above a brief outline of the subject of the divine promises, let us now
carefully observe the fact that 2 Corinthians 1:20 plainly affirms, “For all the promises of
God in him are yea, and in him Amen.” How inexpressibly blessed is this to the humble-
minded children of God—yet a mystery hidden from those who are wise in their own
conceits. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things” (Rom 8:32). The promises of God are many,
relating both to this life and also to that which is to come, concerning our temporal well-
being as well as our spiritual, covering the needs of the body as well as the soul, but
whatever be their character, not one of them could be made good unto us except in and
through and by Him who died for us.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2Co 7:1). What promises? Why, those mentioned in the
closing verses of the preceding chapter, of course. There we read, “And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people” (2Co 6:16). And where had God said this? Why, away back in Leviticus 26:12,
“And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” That was
a promise made to Israel in the days of Moses! Again, in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 we read,
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be
my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” which words are a manifest reference
unto Jeremiah 31:9 and Hosea 1:9-10.
Now observe very particularly what the Holy Spirit says about these “promises” unto
the New Testament saints. He makes no mention of His “applying” them. He says nothing
about our “appropriating” them. Instead, He assures us, “Having these promises.” Yes,
“these” Old Testament “promises” are ours—ours to enjoy, ours to feed upon, ours to
delight in, ours to give praise for. Since Christ is ours, all things are ours (1Co 3:22-23). O
my reader, allow no man, under the pretense of “rightly dividing” the Word of truth, to cut
you off from any of the “exceeding great and precious” promises of your Father. If he is
determined to confine himself to a few epistles in the New Testament, let him do so—that
is his loss, but suffer him not to confine you to so narrow a place.
One other passage shall engage our attention and we will close this article. Writing to
the New Testament saints, the apostle Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to say, “Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he
hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5). And to whom do you
suppose this blessed “promise” was first given? Why, to Joshua—see Joshua 1:5. Well did
John Owen (following his reference to the religious thieves of his day, who sought to rob
believers of the consolation intended for them in the evangelical promises of the Old
Testament) say, “If this plea might be admitted, I know not any one promise that would
more evidently fall under the power of it, than this we have now in consideration. It was
made to a peculiar person and that upon a peculiar occasion; made to a general or captain
of armies, with respect to the great wars he had to undertake, upon the special command of
God. May not a poor hungry believer say, What is this to me? I am not a general of an
army, have no wars to make upon God’s command, the virtue of this promise doubtless
expired with the conquest of Canaan, and died with him to whom it was made. To manifest
the sameness of love, that is in all the promises, with their establishment in one Mediator,
and the general concernment of believers in every one of them, however, and on what
occasion soever given to any, this promise to Joshua is here applied to the condition of the
weakest, meanest, and poorest of the saints of God; to all, and every one of them, be their
state and condition what it will. And doubtless, believers are not a little wanting in
themselves, and their own consolation, that they do no more particularly close with those
words of truth, grace, and faithfulness, which upon sundry occasions, and at divers times,
have been given out unto the saints of old, even Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the
residue of them, who walked with God in their generations: these things in an especial
manner are recorded for our consolation, that we ‘through patience and comfort of the
scriptures might have hope’ (Rom 15:4).
“Now the Holy Spirit, knowing the weakness of our faith, and how apt we are to be
beaten from closing with the promises, and from mixing them with faith, upon the least
discouragement that may arise (as indeed this is none of the least—the promise is not made
to us, it was made to others, and they may reap the sweetness of it. God may be faithful in
it, though we never enjoy the mercy intended in it, I say), in the next words, He leads
believers by the hand to make the same conclusion with boldness and with confidence
from this and the like promises, as David did of old, upon the many gracious assurances
that he had received of the presence of God with him, ‘So that [saith He, upon the account
of that promise] we may say boldly [without staggering at it by unbelief] the Lord is my
Helper.’ This is a conclusion of faith, because God said to Joshua, a believer, ‘I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee’—though upon a particular occasion and in reference to a
particular employment—every believer may say with boldness, ‘He is my Helper’.”
LETTER TO A DEEPLY EXERCISED SOUL

Dear A.—You doubtless will be surprised that so humble and unworthy an individual
as myself should attempt to address you. It is however by no means uncongenial, with my
feelings, though under a deep sense of my utter inability to do so, suitable, but, “Unto thee
lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens;” for Thou seest every secret and
hidden thing and Thou knowest Thy handmaid altogether, and searchest all the hearts of
the children of men. O minister to her present necessities, though the unworthiest of Thy
creatures whom Thou hast brought up from the pit of corruption, and saved from the
lowest hell, and raised from the gates of the grave, to tell her fellow-sinners that Thou hast
saved to the uttermost. However low they may be sunk in the mire, Thine arm can reach
them and Thy salvation set them on high. Breathe, Holy Comforter!—instruct Holy
Teacher!—or we shall read and write in vain.
Dear A.—you lately desired to know of yourself. But O you little thought what the
horrifying sight and awful realization of evil which the granting of such a desire would
bring. Perhaps you hoped for more solid assurances that you were right by having your
heart turned inside out. But verily such a laying open of ourselves to ourselves makes all
appear wrong. Perhaps you thought the painful sight would soften you into tears of
penitence, and the humbling view lay you gently down in the dust of self-abasement, and
that thus, as a polluted sinner, you should weep and love at the dear Redeemer’s feet. But
ah! These blessed feelings are more from the joys of salvation than the dark discoveries of
guilt, more in being found than feeling we are lost. To know yourself and what your sin is,
methinks you could not bear to the full extent. The corruption of fallen humanity is so
offensive, its deceptiveness so deep, its outrage against omnipotence so daring, and its
callousness under all so impenetrable, that surely the fullest sense of it must crush finite
worms into despair and drive them out of existence. But mark, it would never bring them
to the Mercy-seat. It would not fill them with prayer, and hope, and humble cries for
pardon. The terrible majesty and holiness of the Being sinned against, and the feeling of
His fearful and dreadful power, and justice, would strike the soul to a farther and farther
distance from Him, not in the softness of contrition, but in the hardening of hopelessness. I
do humbly believe that would be the effect of discovering the whole depth of our depravity
in the full light of Jehovah’s strict holiness, such will be the effect, in a lesser degree, as we
discover some of that depravity by some rays of that searching light, for it is “light that
makest manifest.” As Adam when he discovered his nakedness, did not run to God, but
from Him, so it is with every soul of man, and so it seems with you. For you say that under
insensibility, hardness, and carelessness, you are not driven to the throne of grace, but to
the contrary. Sin does not bring forth life, but sin, when it is finished, “bringeth forth
death,” and as it works, produces deathliness of feeling.
All do not learn the mystery of iniquity to the same extent, but it is decreed every soul
that is saved shall feel something of its painful experience, something of what they are
saved from and out of, as well as what they are saved unto. In learning this, they find a
strange work. In this lesson, many hard sayings which they can hardly bear. They have
read that the “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” and “that he who
trusts in his own heart, is a fool.” But they find it a very different thing to feel the
deceivableness of unrighteousness at work within, and to be brought off from trusting the
heart, because they feel its treachery and vileness. They have confessed they were sinners
and believed it, but to feel sin working distance, darkness, coldness, and hardness, is
experimental proof of sinnership, which feels more like destruction than salvation, and
seems very far from drawing them to God. Should this present year of your life be spent
chiefly under this dark discipline, you will often feel that if the blessing is coming, it is
indeed “cross-handed” and that if prayer is being answered, it is truly by most unexpected
contrarieties. Nevertheless, as the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands must
destroy all kingdoms that it may fill the whole earth, so must this wondrous Stone break in
pieces in our souls the iron, brass, clay, the silver, and the gold (Dan 2:34)—things that we
have counted refuse and things that we have held in estimation. All that is ours must come
forth to destruction that we may be saved and Christ to us “all in all.” He cannot fill us
while we are filled, or half filled, with anything else, seem it badness or goodness.
Whatever form it may assume, be it not Christ, it is naught and is a work of the flesh or the
devil. But for this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the
works of the devil (1Jo 3:8). He comes to the renewed soul as a “refiner’s fire and as
fuller’s soap,” but who may “abide the day of His coming?” (Mal 3:2). None but those
whom He has created anew in Himself. All that is of our flesh shall be as stubble before
Him, and we need not fear its destruction, for it will ever do wickedly. And bless His holy
name, He will take care of the jewel, the precious life which He has implanted in the soul,
while He deals thus roughly with our deeds of darkness. He is only bringing us to what we
often talk about—to be nothing, that He may be all in all, and that we may glory in Him
alone.
You say, how much of self you see working in your past life. You see truly, but you
see not half of the abominations of this image that “provoketh to jealousy.” I have been
here before you and I speak from experience, and though turned again and again to see
greater abominations of self, which were to issue in the lifting up of “Jesus on high” in my
soul, into which He came like the ark into Dagon’s temple (1Sa 5:4), when His powerful
presence caused the hateful self which I had set up to fall prostrate and lose its head and
feet, so that now it is good for nothing and can neither work nor walk, though it would
often pretend. As said Delilah to Samson, “The Philistines be upon thee,” (Jud 16:20) so
would I say to this marring, proud, hateful, self, “The power of Christ’s death be ever upon
thee” (2Co 4:10). Nothing else will ever bring it down, and as the Holy Spirit first leads us
through the “chambers of imagery” and reveals the hidden things of our own darkness, so
does He afterwards reveal Christ and gives us victory through Him. The Holy Spirit
breathes upon our fancied godliness (Isa 40:6-7) to make it wither, so is it that the beauty
of the Lord our God (Psa 90:17) may be upon us, that we may understand those sweet
words, “Ye are complete in him,” and that “he that glorieth may glory in the Lord.”
You complain that the Bible which you once enjoyed is now to you a sealed book. May
not this be another answer to know, or to your desire to know, more of yourself? For you
find that yourself may read the Word, quote the Word, and have some judgment and light
in the Word, yet you cannot find the Word and eat it and make it the joy and rejoicing of
your soul. Yourself cannot unlock the secrets contained therein, cannot receive “the sincere
milk of the word, so that ye may grow thereby,” (1Pe 2:2) or eat the strong meats when
you please. May you not hereby be learning that you are not ignorant in divine things and
that Christ must be your wisdom?—that you are powerless and that He must be the power
of God unto you for salvation and instruction in righteousness? May not the Holy Spirit be
going forth in your soul like the voice of John in the wilderness, to “prepare the way of the
Lord” (Mar 1:3, Isa 40:3) before Him, and to make straight in your seemingly desert heart
a highway for our God? And may He not, ere long, say to you with almighty power,
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world?” (Joh 1:29). When by
faith you behold Jesus as your Surety and Savior standing in your law-place, bearing your
sin and guilt, and delivering your soul from punishment, by being Himself your ransom,
then will your heart dissolve and tears of thankfulness flow. Having sweet forgiveness, you
will love Him much and desire “to know no will but His.” “Old things will pass away and
all things become new,” See 2Co 5:17 and you will become a new creature in a new world,
whilst His gracious presence remains with you.
May it please the Lord that your painful exercise may end in this glorious issue. There
are those now triumphing in Christ who have traveled mournfully through this wilderness
of self before you and found it a land of darkness and drought and shadow of death, and
thought while in it that it was a land which none of the Lord’s living ones ever passed
through. But He turned for them the shadows of death into morning. May He also do a sure
work in your soul and give you feelingly to say, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:
but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all
my sins behind thy back” (Isa 38:17).
Your letter made me weep well, knowing the bitterness of the “wormwood and gall.”
“My soul hast thou still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.” I had hoped that the Lord
was going to bring you forth to the light, that you might behold His righteousness. I have
not come unto you with smooth things, but having spread yours before the Lord, who
knoweth the end from the beginning (See Isa 46:10). Such as I have, give I unto thee. If He
said it, may He bless it to your soul’s benefit, and He shall have the glory. If not, may my
unworthy self be pardoned.
I remain, yours ever affectionately, ONE WHO HAS BEEN IN THE FURNACE,
1850.
ASSURANCE
Dialogue 1
The article which appeared in the last issue really completed our present treatment of
this theme. It has since occurred to us though that perhaps some would be helped were we
to further explain and amplify one or two of the leading points. Really, this ought not to be
necessary, yet Scripture tells us that it is “line upon line” (Isa 28:10). Moreover, in view of
the error which now so widely abounds and the confusion which beclouds so many minds,
it is hardly to be expected that one can unlearn in a few hours what he has been mistakenly
receiving as God’s truth for so many years. Doubtless not a few of our readers wish they
had the opportunity for a personal conversation on the subject, so that they could state their
difficulties and ask questions on anything that is not yet clear to them. We have therefore
decided to write two further articles in the form of dialogues, introducing widely different
characters, who express a desire to discuss the subject. The first is,
Mr. Carnal Confidence. “Good morning, Mr. Editor, I wish to have a talk with you
about those articles on ‘Assurance’ which you published in last year’s ‘Studies.’ The
Writer: “Be seated, please. First of all, may we courteously but frankly inform you that our
time is already fully occupied in seeking to minister unto God’s dear children, yet we are
never too busy to do all in our power to help a needy soul.” Carnal Confidence: “O I am
not seeking help, my purpose in calling is to point out some things in your articles where I
am quite sure you erred.” The Writer: “It is written, dear friend, ‘If any man think that he
knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know’ (1Co 8:2), therefore I
trust that God will ever give me grace to willingly consider and weigh the views of others
and receive through them anything He may have for me. Yet, on the other hand, I am not
prepared to debate with any man upon divine things.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “Well, I am quite sure that I am right and you are wrong, and I
feel it my duty to tell you so.” The Writer: “Very good, I am ready to listen unto what you
have to say, only reminding you again that I cannot enter into a debate with you, for the
things of God are too holy to argue about, though a friendly discussion, in the right spirit,
may prove mutually helpful. Before beginning, shall we seek the help of the Holy Spirit
that He may graciously subdue the flesh in each of us, guide our conversation so that the
words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts may be ‘acceptable’ in God’s sight
(Psa 19:14), remembering that for every idle word each of us will yet have to give an
account.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I consider that in your articles you have made a very difficult
and complicated matter out of what is really very simple. According to your ideas, a person
has to go to a lot of trouble in order to discover whether or not he is saved, whereas if a
man believes God’s Word he may be sure in a moment.” The Writer: “But are all those
who believe God’s Word really saved? Did not the Jews of Christ’s day believe implicitly
in the divine authorship of the Old Testament? Do not Russellites and others today insist
loudly upon their faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible? Does not the devil himself
believe the same?” Mr. Carnal Confidence: “That is not what I meant. My meaning is that,
if I rest upon some verse of Holy Writ as God’s promise to me, then I know He cannot
disappoint me.” The Writer: “That is just the same in principle. Does not the Romanist rest
with full confidence upon that declaration of Christ’s, ‘This is My body’? Saving faith is
not faith in the authenticity of any verse of Scripture, but rather faith in the Person of Him
who gave us the Scriptures, faith in the Christ who is made known in the Scriptures.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “Yes, I know that, and I do believe in God and in His Son, and
I know that I am saved because He says so.” The Writer: “Where in Scripture does God say
that you are saved?” Mr. Carnal Confidence: “In John 5:24, in Acts 16:31, and many other
places.” The Writer: “Let us turn to these passages please. In John 5:24, the Lord Jesus
describes one who has ‘passed from death unto life.’ He tells us two things about that
individual which serve to identify him. First, ‘he that heareth my word.’ That is definite
enough. But of course it means far more than simply listening to His Word with the
outward ear.” Mr. Carnal Confidence: “Ah, right there you want to mystify what is simple,
and perplex souls with what is quite clear.” The Writer: “Pardon me, you are mistaken. I
only wish to rightly understand the words God has used, and to do this it is necessary to
carefully compare Scripture with Scripture and discover how each word is used by the
Spirit.” Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I object. That may be all right for you, but common
people do not have the leisure for deep study. God knew this and has written His word in
plain language that ordinary folks can understand. ‘Hear’ means ‘hear,’ and that is all there
is to it.”
The Writer: “I believe you are quite sincere in what you have said and you have
expressed the view which a great many hold today, but if you will allow me to say so, it is
a very defective one. God places no premium upon laziness. God has so ordered things that
nothing is obtained without diligence and industry. Much work and care has to be devoted
to a garden if anything is obtained from it. The same holds good every where else. What
time and trouble is required in order to keep our bodies in working order! Can, then, the
eternal concerns of our souls be more lightly dismissed or more easily secured? Has not
God bidden us ‘Buy the truth’ (Pro 23:23)? Has He not plainly told us, ‘If thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and
searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and
find the knowledge of God’ (Pro 2:3-5)?”
The Writer: “Mark how the Israelites were fed of old in the wilderness, Exodus 16.
God did not provide them with baked loaves of bread ready to eat. No, instead, He gave
them manna from heaven, which was ‘a small round thing’ (Exo 16:14). Work and
patience were called for in order to ‘gather’ (Exo 16:17) it. Note too, ‘When the sun waxed
hot, it melted’ (Exo 16:21), so that they had to get up early to secure it! Moreover, the
manna would not keep, ‘Let no man leave of it till the morning,’ it ‘bred worms and stank’
(Exo 16:19-20) if they tried to preserve it for another day. Then, after it had been gathered,
the manna had to be ‘ground in mills or beaten in a mortar,’ and baked in pans and made
into cakes (Num 11:8). All of this typified the fact that if a soul is to eat the Bread of Life,
he must devote himself in earnest and as Christ says, ‘Labor…for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life’ (Joh 6:27).”
The Writer: “Thus it is in connection with the obtaining of a right understanding of any
verse of Scripture. Pains have to be taken with it, patience has to be exercised, and
prayerful study engaged in. Returning to John 5:24: The one who has passed from death
unto life, says Christ, is he that ‘heareth My word.’ Let us turn then to other passages
where this term is found. ‘They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which
refused to hear my words’ (Jer 11:10). ‘Because ye have not heard my words, behold I
will send and take all the families of the north’ etc. (Jer 25:8-9). And see Jeremiah 35:17,
Zechariah 1:4, Matthew 7:24, John 10:27. In all of these verses, and in many others which
might be given, to ‘hear’ means to heed what God says, to act upon it, to obey Him. So he
who ‘hears’ the voice of Christ heeds His command to turn away from all that is opposed
to God and become in subjection to Him.
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “Well, let us turn to Acts 16:31, that is simple enough. There is
no room allowed there for any quibbling. God says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved.’ God says that to me. I have believed on Christ and so I must be
saved.” Writer: “Not so fast, dear friend. How can you prove God says that to you? Those
words were spoken under unusual circumstances and to a particular individual. That
individual had been brought to the end of himself. He was deeply convicted of his sins. He
was in terrible anguish of soul. He had taken his place in the dust, for we are told that he
‘came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas’ (Act 16:29). Now is it fair to take the
words of the apostles to such a man and apply them indiscriminately to anybody? Are we
justified in ignoring the whole setting of that verse, wrenching it from its context, and
giving it to those who have not any of the characteristics which marked the Philippian
jailer?”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I refuse to allow you to browbeat me and move me from the
simplicity of the Gospel. John 3:16 says, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.’ Now I have believed on the Son and therefore am fully assured that I possess eternal
life.” Writer: “Are you aware of the fact that in this same Gospel of John, we are told,
‘Many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not
commit himself unto them’ (Joh 2:23-24)? There were many who ‘believed’ in Christ who
were not saved by Him, see John 8:30 and note verse 59! John 12:42-43! There is a
believing in Christ which saves and there is a believing in Him which does not save, and
therefore it behooves every sincere and earnest soul to diligently examine his ‘faith’ by
Scripture and ascertain which kind it is. There is too much at stake to take anything for
granted. Where eternal destiny is involved surely no trouble can be too great for us to make
sure.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I am sure, and no man can make me doubt.” Writer: “Is your
faith purifying your heart (Act 15:9)? Is it evidenced by those works which God requires
(Jam 2:17)? Is it causing you to overcome the world (1Jo 5:4)?” Mr. Carnal Confidence:
“O I don’t claim to be perfect, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He
is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Writer: “We did
not ask if you were perfect, but have you been made a new creature in Christ, have old
things passed away, and all things become new (2Co 5:17)? Are you treading the path of
obedience, for God’s Word says, ‘He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him’ (1Jo 2:4).”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I am not occupied with myself, but with Christ. I am not
concerned about my walk, but with what He did for poor sinners.” Writer: “To be
‘occupied with Christ’ is rather a vague expression. Are you occupied with His authority,
have you surrendered to His Lordship, have you taken His yoke upon you, are you
following the example which He has left His people? Christ cannot be divided. He is not
only Priest to be trusted, but is also Prophet to be heeded, and King to be subject unto.
Before He can be truly ‘received,’ the heart must be emptied of all those idols which stand
in competition with Him. It is not the adulation of our lips, but the affection of our souls,
which He requires. It is not an intellectual assent, but the heart’s surrender to Him which
saves.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “You are departing from the simplicity of the Gospel. You are
making additions unto its one and only stipulation. There is nothing that God requires from
the sinner except that he believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Writer: “You are mistaken. The
Lord Jesus said, ‘Repent ye, and believe the Gospel’ (Mar 1:15).” Mr. Carnal Confidence:
“That was before the cross, but in this dispensation repentance is not demanded.” Writer:
“Then according to your ideas, God has changed the plan of salvation. But you err. After
the cross, Christ charged His disciples, ‘That repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name among all nations’ (Luk 24:47). If we turn to the book of Acts, we
find that the apostles preached repentance in this dispensation. On the day of Pentecost,
Peter bade the convicted Jews to ‘repent’ (Act 2:38). Reviewing his ministry at Ephesus,
Paul declared that he had testified both to Jews and also to the Greeks ‘repentance toward
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Act 20:21), while in Acts 17:30, we are told
that God ‘now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “Then do you insist that if a person has not repented, he is still
unsaved?” Writer: “Christ Himself says so, ‘Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish’
(Luk 13:5). So too if a man has not been converted, he is yet unsaved, ‘Repent ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out’ (Act 3:19). There must be a
right-about-face. There must be a turning from Satan unto God, from the world unto
Christ, from sin unto holiness. Where that has not taken place, all the believing in the
world will save no one. Christ saves none who is still in love with sin, but He is ready to
save those who are sick of sin, who long to be cleansed from its loathsome foulness, who
yearn to be delivered from its tyrannizing power. Christ came here to save His people from
their sins.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “You talk to me as though I were the helpless slave of strong
drink or some other appetite, but I want you to know I was never the victim of any such
thing.” Writer: “There are other lusts in fallen man besides those which break forth in gross
outward sins, such as pride, covetousness, selfishness, self-righteousness, and unless they
be mortified, they will take a man to hell as surely as will profanity, immorality, or murder.
Nor is it enough to mortify these inordinate affections. The fruit of the Spirit, the graces of
godliness, must also be brought forth in the heart and life, for it is written, ‘Follow peace
with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Heb 12:14). And
therefore it is a pressing duty for each of us to heed the divine exhortation, ‘Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?’ (2Co 13:5).”
“Notice very carefully, dear friend, that the one point pressed upon the Corinthians was
‘that Jesus Christ is in you,’ and not their trusting that He died for them. Just as the
Christian can only discover that his name was written in the Book of Life before the
foundation of the world, by discerning that God has written His laws in his heart (Heb
10:16), so I can ascertain that Christ died for me only by making sure that He now lives in
me. And it is obvious that if the Holy One indwells me that His presence must have
wrought a radical change both in character and in conduct. This, above everything else, is
what we sought to make clear and emphasized in our articles on ‘Assurance,’ namely, the
imperative necessity of our making sure that the Lord Jesus occupies the throne of our
hearts, has the supreme place in our affections, and regulates the details of our lives.
Unless this be the case with us, then our profession is vain and all our talk of trusting in
Christ’s finished work is but idle words.”
Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I consider all you have said to be but the language of a
Pharisee. You are occupied with your own fancied goodness and delighting in your own
worthless righteousness.” Writer: “Pardon me, but I rather rejoice in what Christ’s Spirit
has wrought in me and pray that He will carry forward that work of grace to the glory of
His name. But we must bring our discussion to a close. I would respectfully urge you to
attend unto that exhortation addressed to all professing Christians, ‘Give diligence to make
your calling and election sure’ (2Pe 1:10).” Mr. Carnal Confidence: “I shall do nothing of
the sort. I hate the very word ‘election.’ I know that I am saved, though I do not measure
up to the impossible standard you want to erect.” Writer: “Fare thee well. May it please the
Lord to open your blind eyes, reveal to you His holiness, and bring you to His feet in godly
fear and trembling.”


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Vol. XII January, 1933 No.

“Search the Scriptures” John 5:39

EDITOR: Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)

The Holy Spirit ................................................................................................................ 1

The Epistle to the Hebrews ............................................................................................. 4

The Life of David .......................................................................................................... 10

Coming to Christ ........................................................................................................... 15

Letter to a Deeply Exercised Soul................................................................................. 24

STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES

EDITOR: Arthur W. Pink

THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

THE LIFE OF DAVID

LETTER TO A DEEPLY EXERCISED SOUL

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