These are the idols of the heart. John Angel James Spiritual Idolatry
The first commandment of the Decalogue says, You shall have
no other gods before me. The meaning of this precept,
which is the foundation of all religion, is not merely that
we shall not acknowledge any other god besides Jehovah, but
also that we shall treat him as God, that is, we must love
him with all our hearts, serve him with all our lives, and depend
upon him for our supreme felicity. It is obvious that whatever we
love most and are most anxious to retain and please, whatever
it is we depend most upon for happiness and help, whatever
has most of our hearts, that is, in effect, is our God. It does not matter whether it
is friends, possessions, desires, or our own selves. These are
the idols of the heart. Self is a great idol, which is
a rival of God, and which divides with him the worship of the human
race. It is surprising and affecting
to think how much self enters into almost all we do, besides
the grosser form of self-righteousness, which leads many unconverted
people actually to depend upon their own doings for acceptance
with God. How much of self-seeking, self-valuing,
self-admiration, self-dependence there is in many converted ones. How covertly do some seek their
own praise in what they professedly do for God and their fellow creatures. How eager are they for the admiration
and applause of their fellow creatures. How much of self,
yet how little suspected by themselves, is seen by one who knows them
better than they know themselves, at the bottom of their most splendid
services, donations, and most costly sacrifices? In how many
ways does self steal away the heart from God? How subtle are its workings,
how concealed its movements, yet how extensive is its influence. How self perverts our motives,
lowers our aims, corrupts our affections, and taints our best
actions. How much incense is burned and
how many sacrifices are offered on the altar of this idol. Little
children, keep yourself from idols. 1 John 5 verse 21. God's nature. Contemplating God's
greatness. From Charles Spurgeon's sermon,
Fear Not. Lift up your eyes. Behold the
heavens, the work of God's fingers. Behold the sun, guided in his
daily march. Go forth at midnight, and behold
the heavens. Consider the stars and the moon.
Look upon these works of God's hands. And if you be men of sense,
and your souls are attuned to the high music of the spheres,
you will say, What is man's that you are mindful of him? My God,
when I survey the boundless fields of Ether and see those ponderous
orbs rolling therein, when I consider how vast are your dominions,
so wide that an angel's wing might flap to all eternity and
never reach a boundary, I marvel that you should look on insects
so obscure as man. I am so little that I shrink
into nothingness when I behold the Almightyness of Jehovah.
So little, that the difference between the molecule and man
dwindles into nothing when compared with the infinite chasm between
God and man. Let your mind rove upon the great
doctrines of the Godhead. Consider the existence of God
from before the foundations of the world. Behold Him who is,
and was, and is to come, the Almighty. Let your soul comprehend
as much as it can of the Infinite, and grasp as much as possible
of the Eternal. And I am sure if you have minds
at all, they will shrink with awe. The tar archangel bows himself
before his master's throne, and we shall cast ourselves into
the lowest dust when we feel what base nothings, what insignificant
specks we are when compared with our all-adorable Creator. Labor, O soul, to know your nothingness
and learn it by contemplating God's greatness. Nothing escapes his notice from
Arthur W. Pink, the attributes of God. What a wondrous being is a God
of Scripture. Nothing in all creation is hidden
from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews
4 verse 13. God is omniscient. He knows everything. everything possible, everything
actual, all events, all creatures of the past, the present, and
the future. He is perfectly acquainted with
every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and
in hell. Nothing escapes his notice. Nothing
can be hidden from him. Nothing is forgotten by him.
His knowledge is perfect. He never errs. He never changes. He never overlooks anything.
God not only knows whatever has happened in the past and every
part of his vast domains, and he is not only thoroughly acquainted
with everything that is now transpiring throughout the entire universe,
but he is also perfectly cognizant of every event, from the least
to the greatest, that ever will happen in the ages to come. God's
knowledge of the future is as complete as his knowledge of
the past and the present, and that because the future depends
entirely upon himself. God has himself designed whatever
shall yet be, and what he has designed must be effectuated.
God's knowledge does not arise from things because they are
or will be, but because he has ordained them to be. Yes, such
is the God with whom we have to do. You know when I sit and
when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from
afar. You discern my going out and
my lying down. You are familiar with all my
ways. Before a word is on my tongue,
you know it completely, O Lord. Psalm 139 verses 2 to 4. How solemn is this fact! Nothing
can be concealed from God. For I know the things that come
into your mind, every one of them. Ezekiel 11, verse 5. Though He is invisible to us,
we are not so to Him. Neither the darkness of night,
the closest curtains, nor the deepest dungeon, can hide any
sinner from the eyes of omniscience. Men would strip deity of his
omniscience if they could. They wish there might be no witness
of their sins, no searcher of their hearts, no judge of their
deeds. I know that the Lord is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods. The Lord does whatever
pleases Him, in the heavens, and on the earth, in the seas,
and all depths. Psalm 135 verses 5 and 6 God
rules all, and though He is concealed by a veil of second causes from
common eyes, so that they can perceive only the means, instruments,
and contingencies by which He works, and therefore think He
does nothing, Yet in reality he does all according to his
own counsel and pleasure, in the armies of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth. Who can enumerate all the beings
and events which are incessantly before his eye, adjusted by his
wisdom, dependent on his will, and regulated by his power? If
we consider the heavens, the work of his fingers, the moon
and the stars which he has If we call in the assistance of
astronomers to help us in forming a conception of the number, distances,
magnitudes, and motions of the heavenly bodies, the more we
search, the more we shall be confirmed that these are but
a small portion of His ways. He calls them all by names. upholds them by His power, and
without His continual energy upholding them, they would rush
into confusion or sink into nothing. They are all dependent upon His
power and obedient to His command. To come nearer home, and to speak
of what seems more suited to our scanty apprehensions, still
we may be lost in wonder. With respect to mankind, he reigns
with uncontrolled dominion over every kingdom, family, and individual. Before this blessed and only
potentate, all the nations of the earth are but as a dust upon
the balance, and a small drop of a bucket, and might be thought,
if compared with the immensity of his works, scarcely worthy
of his notice. Yet here he presides, pervades,
provides, protects, and rules. All changes, successes, and disappointments,
all that is memorable in the annals of history, all the rising
and falls of empires, all the turns in human life, take place
according to his plan. In Him its creatures live, move,
and have being. From Him is food and preservation. The eyes of all are upon Him. What He gives, they gather, and
can gather no more. And at His word, they sink into
the dust. There is not a worm which crawls
upon the ground, or a flower which grows in the pathless wilderness. Or a shell upon the seashore,
but bears the impress Of his wisdom, power, and goodness. He preserves man and beast, sustains
the young lion in the forest, Feeds the birds of the air, which
have neither storehouse or barn, And adorns the insects and the
flowers of the field With a beauty and elegance beyond all that
can be found In the courts of kings. All things serve him and
are in his hands, A clay in the hands of the potter, Great and
marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
your ways, O King of Saints. This is a God whom we adore.
This is He who invites us to lean upon His almighty arm and
promises to guide us with unerring eye. God has two fires. Thomas Watson
The Beatitudes 1660 I have refined you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48 verse 10 Away with you, you cursed ones, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons, and they
will go away into eternal punishment. Matthew 25 verses 41 and 46. God has two fires, one where
he puts his gold, one where he puts his dross. The fire where
he puts his gold is a fire of affliction to purify them. The fire where he puts his dross
is a fire of damnation to punish them. when he shows no anger. THE MUTE
CHRISTIAN UNDER THE SMARTING ROD or THE SILENT SOUL WITH SOVEREIGN
ANTIDOTES by Thomas Brooks 1659 London The Lord disciplines the
one he loves, and punishes every son whom he receives. Hebrews
12 verse 6 There cannot be a greater evidence of God's hatred and
wrath, than is refusing to correct men for their sinful courses
and vanities. Where God refuses to correct,
there God resolves to destroy. There is no man so near God's
axe, so near the flames, so near hell, as he whom God will not
so much as spend a rod upon. Those whom I love, I rebuke and
discipline. Revelation 3 verse 19. God is most angry when he shows
no anger. Who can seriously meditate upon
this and not be silent under God's most smarting rod? God laughs. Thomas Watson. Kiss the sun. The Lord laughs
at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming. Psalm 37, verse
13. Let us break their chains, they
say, and throw off their fetters. The one enthroned in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger
and terrifies them in His wrath. Psalm 2, verses 3 to 5. God laughs to see men's folly,
to see poor, weak, clay, strive with the almighty potter. But
let the wicked remember that God is never more angry with
them than when he laughs. After his laughing, then he shall
speak to them in his wrath. I in turn will laugh at your
disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes
you. Proverbs 1 verse 26. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry,
and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare
up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge
in him. Psalm 2, verse 12. His Dreadful Threatenings Thomas
Brooks, Paradise Opened, 1675 Sin and sorrow, iniquity and
misery always go hand in hand. The wages of sin is death. Romans
6, 23 Every sinner is worthy of death. Those who do such things
deserve death. Romans 1 verse 32 If God is a
just and righteous God, then sin cannot absolutely escape
unpunished, for it is but a just and righteous thing with God
to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment. As God must be
just, so he must be faithful. And if he must be faithful, then
he must carry out his threatenings against sin and sinners. Look,
as there is not a promise of God but shall surely take place,
just so, there is not a threatening of God but shall surely take
place. The faithfulness of God and the
honor of God are as much concerned in making good of His dreadful
threatenings as they are concerned in making good of His precious
promises. God has given it from His own
mouth that He will by no means clear the guilty. The soul that
sins shall surely die. The wickedness of the wicked
shall be upon him. He will render to every man according
to his deeds. Will God abrogate His own laws? Or will He dare men to sport
and play with His threatenings? Will not every wise and prudent
king look to the execution of their own laws? And shall not
that God, who is wonderful in wisdom, and whose understanding
is infinite, see all that all His laws are put in execution
against offenders? Surely yes. He will repay them
for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness. The Lord
our God will destroy them. Psalm 94 verse 23. I will not look on you with pity
or spare you. I will repay you in accordance
with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you
will know that it is I the Lord who strikes the blow. Ezekiel
7 verse 9. When I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me. Deuteronomy 32 verse 41 He does whatever he pleases.
Arthur Pinck. The Attributes of God. Job 23,
verse 13. Ah, my reader, the God of Scripture
is no make-believe monarch. No mere imaginary sovereign,
but king of kings and lord of lords. To countless thousands,
even among those professing to be Christians, the God of the
Scriptures is quite unknown. The God of this twentieth century
no more resembles the supreme sovereign of Holy Writ, than
does a dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun.
The God who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken
of in the ordinary Sunday school, mentioned in much of the religious
literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible
conferences, is a figment of human imagination, an invention
of mushy sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pell
of Christendom forms gods out of wood and stone, while the
millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their
own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists,
for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely
supreme god and no god at all. A god whose will is resisted.
whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated,
possesses no title to deity, and so far from being a fit object
of worship, merits nothing but contempt. Our God is in heaven
and does whatever he pleases. Psalm 115 verse 3 I know that
you can do anything, and no plan of yours can be thwarted. Job
42 verse 2 The Lord does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths. Psalm 135 verse 6 Alleluia, for
the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Revelation 19 verse 6 God would be voted out of the
world. Thomas Boston. Human nature in
its fourfold state. Haters of God. Romans 1 verse
30. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Romans 8 verse 7. Men set up
for themselves an idol of their own fancy instead of the true
God and then fall down and worship it. Every natural man is an enemy
to God, as he is revealed in his word. The infinitely holy,
just, powerful, and true God is not the God whom he loves,
but the God whom he loathes. The pagans, finding that they
could not be like God in holiness, made their gods like themselves
in filthiness, and thereby they show what sort of a god the natural
man would have. God is holy. Can an unholy creature
love his unspotted holiness? There is not a man who is wedded
to his lusts, as all the unregenerate are, but would desire to blot
out the God of justice. Can a malefactor love his condemning
judge? Can an unjustified sinner love
a just God? No, he cannot. Men naturally
would rather have a blind idol than the all-seeing God. They
no more love the all-seeing, everywhere-present God than the
chief loves to have the judge witness to his evil deeds. If
it could be carried by votes, God would be voted out of the
world. For the language of the carnal heart is, the Lord does
not see us, the Lord has abandoned the earth. Ezekiel 8 verse 12. Every unrenewed man is an enemy
to the true God. They say unto God, leave us alone. We have no desire to know your
ways. Job 21 verse 14. Why was his soul troubled? Octavius
Winslow. Consider Jesus. 1870 My soul is overwhelmed with
sorrow to the point of death. Mark 14, verse 34. In this lay our Lord's greatest
suffering, His sole sorrow, compared with this the lingering, excruciating
tortures of the cross, the extended limbs, the quivering nerves,
the bleeding wounds, the burning thirst, were as nothing. So long
as our blessed Lord endures the jibes and insults and calumnies
of mere men, not a complaint escaped His lips. But when the
wrath of God, endured as the substitute of His people, entered
within His holy soul, then the well of agony rose strong and
piercing. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Why was his soul troubled? He
was now bearing sin and consequently the punishment of sin, the wrath
of God overwhelming his soul. Divine justice, finding the sins
of God's elect meeting on his holy soul, exacted full payment
and inflicted the utmost penalty. God's Sovereignty Charles Spurgeon
There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of
God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances,
in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has
ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and
that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for
which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend. than
the doctrine of their master over all creation, the kingship
of God over all his works of his own hands, the throne of
God, and his right to sit upon that throne. On the other hand,
there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which
they have made such a football as a great, stupendous, but yet
most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah.
Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will
allow Him to be in His workshop, to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in
His almonery, to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties.
They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars
thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of
the ever-moving ocean. But when God ascends his throne,
then his creatures gnash their teeth. We proclaim and enthrone
God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose
of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them
in the matter. Then it is that we are hissed
and execrated, and that it is that men turn a deaf ear to us.
For God on a throne is not the God they love, but it is a God
upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon a throne
whom we trust. God see through these fig leaves,
Thomas Watson, body of divinity. My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me.
Nor is there sin concealed from my eyes. Jeremiah 16 verse 17
If God is a God of infinite knowledge, Then see the folly of hypocrisy. Hypocrites carry it fair with
men, But care not how bad their hearts are. They live in secret
sin. They say, How can God know? Does
the Most High have knowledge? What does God know? Can He judge
through thick darkness? God is forgotten. He hides His
face. He will never see it. But his
understanding is infinite. He has a window to look into
men's hearts. He has a key to open up the heart. Your father who sees in secret,
God sees in secret. As a merchant enters depths in
his book, so God has his depth book. in which he injures every
sin. The hypocrite thinks to disguise
and juggle with God, but God will unmask him. God shall bring
every work into judgment with every secret thing, for they
have done outrageous things. I know it, and am a witness to
it, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29 verse 23 The hypocrite hopes he shall
cover over his sin and make it look very good. Absalom masks
over his treason with the pretense of a religious vow. Judas cloaks
his covetousness with the pretense of charity to the poor. Jehu
makes religion a cloak for his selfish design. But God sees
through these fig leaves. Take off the shoes from your
feet. James Waddell Alexander Consolation 1852 The perfections
and attributes of God afford a refuge, and in time of trouble,
faith resorts to this refuge. If God were ignorant or unwise,
we might suffer without His knowledge, or sink into waters which He
could not explore. We might be lost in mazes where
his eye could not follow us, or be carried away in whirlwinds
which he knew not how to quell. If God were limited in power,
we might groan under the very burden which he could not lift
off. If God were afar off, in some
pavilion beyond our solar system, He could not be reached by our
cry of anguish when the deep waters went over our soul. And
were He not here this moment, it would be mockery to pray.
If God were not good, our happiness would be nothing to Him, and
we might have hellish pain forever and ever. If God were not merciful,
he would not care how wretched we are. If God were not gracious,
we would sink in despair, being sinners. But because God is almighty,
all-wise, all-seeing, everywhere present, boundless, everlasting,
and unchangeable in goodness, mercy, and compassion, We have
in him a refuge and stronghold to which we may continually resort. Raise your eyes towards the loftiness
of our stronghold, but take off the shoes from your feet, for
the place is holy ground. Mercy J.C. Philpott, the Lord's merciful
look upon his people, Look upon me and be merciful unto me. Psalm 119 verse 132 When shall
we ever get beyond the need of God's mercy? We feel our need
of continual mercy as our sins abound. as our guilt is felt,
as our corruption works, as our conscience is burdened, as the
iniquities of our heart are laid bare, as our hearts are opened
up in the Spirit's light. We need mercy for every adulterous
look, mercy for every covetous thought. Mercy for every light
and trifling word. Mercy for every wicked movement
of our depraved hearts. Mercy while we live. Mercy when
we die. Mercy to accompany us every moment. Mercy to go with us down to the
portals of the grave. Mercy to carry us safely through
the swellings of Jordan. Mercy to land us safe before
the Redeemer's throne. Look upon me and be merciful
unto me. Why me? Because I am so vile
a sinner. Because I am so base a backslider. Because I am such a daring transgressor. Because I sin against you with
every breath that I draw. Because the evils of my heart
are perpetually manifesting themselves. Because nothing but your mercy
can blot out such iniquities as I feel working in my carnal
mind. I need inexhaustible mercy, everlasting
mercy, superabounding mercy. Nothing but sure mercy as this
can suit such a guilty sinner. The Presence of a Loving God
Thomas Brooks A Word in Season to Suffering Saints You were
precious in my sight, and I have loved you. Isaiah 43 verse 4
God loves his people with a first love. 1 John 4 verse 19 We love
him because he first loved us. By nature we were without God
and afar off from God. We were strangers to God and
enemies to God. Yes, haters of God. Therefore
if God had not loved us first, we would have been everlastingly
undone. God loves his people with the
free love. Hosea 14 verse 4 I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely. I know they are backslidden,
but I will heal their backslidings. I know there is nothing at all
in them which is excellent or imminent, which is honorable
or acceptable, which is laudable or lovely. Yet I will love them
freely of my own free, rich, absolute and sovereign grace. God loves his people with an
everlasting love. Jeremiah 31 verse 3 I have loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn you. That is, I love you with a love
of perpetuity or with a love of eternity. My love and my affections
to you shall continue forever. God loves his people with an
unchangeable love. Malachi 3 verse 6. I am the Lord, I do not change,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Men change, and
councils change, and occurrences change, and friends change, and
relations change, and kingdoms change, but God never changes. He who is the glory of Israel
does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should
change his mind. 1 Samuel 15 verse 29 God is immutable
in his nature, in his essence, in his counsels, in his attributes,
in his decrees, in his promises, and so on. He is omninna, immutabilis,
altogether immutable. God loves his people with a special
love, with a peculiar love, with a distinguishing love, with a
superlative love. God loves his people with the
greatest love, with a matchless love. John 3 verse 16, God so
loved. This signifies the greatness
of God's love. the vehemence of His love and
the admirableness of His love. What an unspeakable comfort must
this be to God's people, to have the presence of a loving God,
to have the presence of such a loving God with them in all
their troubles and deep distresses. If the presence of a loving friend,
a loving relation in our troubles and distresses is such a mercy,
oh, what then is the presence of a loving God? The wrath of God let loose upon
his son, Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680. Yet it was the Lord's will to
crush him and cause him to suffer. Isaiah 53 verse 10 Not all the vials of judgment
that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor
the flaming furnace of a sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible
sentence pronounced against the rebellious demons, nor the groans
of the damned creatures, give such a demonstration of God's
hatred of sin as the wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never
did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at
the time our Savior's countenance was most marred in the midst
of his dying groans. When God had turned his smiling
face from him, and thrust his sharp knife into his heart, which
forced that terrible cry from him, My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me? Joseph saw God in the room, Thomas
Brooks, the golden key to open hidden treasures. The eyes of
the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15 verse 9. The harboring of any known sin,
either in heart or life, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye
of God, of the omnipresence of God. It is well known what Ahasuerus,
that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when he found him cast
upon the queen's couch on which she sat. What, says he, will
he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my
very eyes? What, will he dare to commit
such a villainy, as I stand and look on? O sirs, to do wickedly
in the sight of God is a thing which he looks upon as the greatest
affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him. What
says he? Will you be drunk before me,
and swear and blaspheme before me, and be wanton and immoral
before me, and break my laws before my eyes? This, then, is
the killing aggravation of all sin. that it is done before the
face of God, in the presence of God. The consideration of
God's omnipresence, that he stands and looks on, should be as a
bar to stop the proceedings of all wicked intentions and a great
dissuasive from sin. It was an excellent saying of
Ambrose, if you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's
minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide yourself from
him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun.
There is no drawing of a curtain between God and you. When you
are in secret, consider that God is present. God is all eye. He sees all things, in all places,
at all times. The godly are dissuaded from
wickedness upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience.
Joseph saw God in the room, and therefore dare not yield to lust. But Potiphar's wife saw none
but Joseph, and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to
sin. I have read of two godly men who took contrary courses
with two harlots whom they desired to reclaim from their wicked
course of life. One of the men told one of the
women that he was desirous to enjoy her company in secret.
After she had brought him into a private room and locked a door,
he told her, All your bars and bolts cannot keep God out. The
other godly man asked the other harlot to be unchaste with him
openly in the streets, which she rejected as an insane request. He then told her, It was better
to do it before the eyes of a crowd, than before the eyes of the all-seeing
God. O why shall not the presence
of that God who hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it
with hell flames, make us ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare him
to his face? Let your eye be ever on him whose
eye is always on you. When God dwelt all alone, Arthur
Pink, The Attributes of God. Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity
to eternity you are God. Psalm 90 verse 2. There was a
time, if time it could be called, when God dwelt all alone. There
was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage
His attention. There were no angels to hymn
His praises. There was no universe to be upheld
by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but
God. and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but from eternity. During eternity past, God was
alone, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had
human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they would have
been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of
them, when he did, added nothing to God essentially. He does not
change. Malachi 3 verse 6. Therefore
his essential glory can neither be augmented nor diminished. Before him all the nations are
as nothing. They are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing. Isaiah 40 verse 17. The best friend, but the worst
enemy. Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity. Woe to all such as have God against
them. He lives forever to be avenged
upon them. Can your heart endure, or can
your hands be strong in a day that I shall deal with you? Such
as oppose his people, trampling these jewels in the dust, and
such as live in contradiction to God's word, engage the infinite
majesty of heaven against them. How dreadful will their case
be! As surely as I live, when I sharpen my flashing sword and
begin to carry out justice, I will bring vengeance on my enemies
and repay those who hate me. If it is so dreadful to hear
the lion roar, what must it be when he begins to tear his prey? Consider this, you who forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces. Oh, that men would think of this,
who go on in sin. Shall we engage the great God
against us? God strikes low, but heavy. Have you an arm like God? Can you strike such a blow? God
is a best friend, but the worst enemy. If he can look men into
their grave, how far can he throw them? Who knows the power of
his wrath? What fools are they who, for
a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath? Paralysis speaks of
a craze some have which will make them die dancing, just so
sinners go dancing to hell. Modern manufacturers of gods? Charles Spurgeon, Joy in God,
number 2550, Romans 5, verse 11. Many are very busy trying to
construct a God for themselves, such as they think God ought
to be. And it generally turns out that they fashion a God like
themselves. For that saying of the psalmist
concerning idols and idol makers is still true. And those who
make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
Psalm 135 verse 18. These modern manufacturers of
gods make them blind because they are themselves blind, and
deaf because they are deaf, and dead because they are spiritually
dead. Some quarrel with God as a sovereign, and no doctrine
makes them grind their teeth like the glorious truth of divine
sovereignty. They profess to want a god, but
he must not be on a throne, he must not be a king, He must not
be absolute and universal monarch. He must do as his creatures tell
him, not as he himself wills. Their effeminate deity is not
worthy to be known by the name of God. Two infamous trumpets. Thomas
Brooks, The Praviki of Heaven, 1665. You have set out iniquities before
you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Psalms 90 verse
8. Can anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?
Jeremiah 23 verse 24. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good. Proverbs 15 verse 3.
As we are never out of the reach of God's hand, so we are never
from under the view of God's eye. God is privy to our most
secret sins. His eye is as much upon secret
sins as it is upon open sins. God has an eye upon our inmost
evils. He sees all that is done in the
dark. There is no cloud. nor curtain,
nor moment of darkness, which can stand between the eyes of
God and the ways of men. For a man's ways are in full
view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths. Proverbs 5 verse
21 In this scripture, Solomon mainly
speaks of the ways of the adulterer, which usually are plotted with
the most cunning secrecy. Yet God sees all those ways. Look, as no boldness can exempt
the adulterer from the justice of God, so no secrecy can hide
him from the eye of God. Though men labor to hide their
ways from others and from themselves, yet it is but labor in vain to
endeavor to hide them from God. Men who labor to hide God from
themselves can never hide themselves from God. Paphnutius turned Thais
and Ephron to infamous trumpets from their harlotry, with only
this argument, that God sees all things in the dark, when
the doors are closed, the windows shut, and the curtains drawn. Those sins which lie closest,
and are most secretly lurking in the heart, are as obvious
and odious to God as those who are most fairly written upon
a man's forehead. God is all eye. so that he sees
all, even the most secret turnings and windings of our hearts. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and open, that is, anatomized, to the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4 verse 13 What is a curtain, or the darkest
night, or the double lock, or the secret chamber, to him who
clearly observes all things in a perfect nakedness? God has
an eye upon the most inward intentions of the heart. in the most subtle
motions of the soul. Certainly there is not a creature,
not a thought, not a thing, but lies open to the all-seeing eye
of God. The Lord knows all our secret
sinnings as exactly as our visible sinnings. If you cannot hide
yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light, how
impossible will it be to hide yourself from him whose eyes
are ten thousand times brighter than the sun." Ambrose. My eyes are on all their ways,
they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from
my eyes. Jeremiah 16 verse 17. This is a killing aggravation
of all sin, that it is done before the face of God, that it is committed
in the royal presence of the King of Kings. The very consideration
of God's omnipresence should bravely arm us against sin. shall
not the strict, the pure, the jealous eye of an all-seeing
God keep you from sinning in the secret chamber, when all
curtains are drawn, doors bolted, and everyone in the house sleeping,
but you and your Delilah? Oh, what dreadful atheism is
bound up in that man's heart, who is more afraid of the eye
of his father, his pastor, his child, than he is of the eye
and presence of the Eternal God. Those who wallow in secret sins
act as if there were no God to behold them, nor conscience to
accuse them, nor judgment day to arraign them, nor justice
to condemn them, nor hell to torment them. Though they may
escape the eyes of men, yet they shall never escape the judgment
of God. His all-seeing eye. William Plumer,
Theology for the People, 1875. Nothing in all creation is hidden
from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews
4, 13. God is omniscient. His knowledge
is infinite in kind and extent. It is eternal. He knows all things,
past, present, and future. All things that ever have been,
are, or ever shall be. In heaven, earth, and hell, nothing
is hid from His all-seeing eye. God knows the hearts of all His
creatures. God also knows all things which
ever could have been, could now be, or could hereafter be on
any conceivable supposition. His knowledge embraces all plans,
all truths, all systems. God can neither learn nor forget
anything. His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147 verse 5 His Unwearied Care and Concern
Thomas Bradbury Comfort My People 1897 All along their journey, through
a world of sin, suffering, and sorrow, the people of God are
the subjects of trial, temptation, and tribulation. The corruptions
of our vile nature, the fierce assaults of the devil, the ways
of the wicked around us, the perplexities of God's mysterious
providence, and felt spiritual weakness all conspire to make
our hearts disconsolate and cause us to sigh and cry. But God is
never at a loss to help when comfort is weak and weary, tried
and tempted, oppressed and suffering people. His comforts abound with
assistance in necessity, help in extremity, defense in danger,
deliverance from distress, and infinitely more. With all these,
He opens up His heart of love and reveals to them His unwearied
care and concern over them. God's unchanging concern and
care are beautifully illustrated in his love to Ephraim, after
Ephraim's base wanderings from, and rebelliousness against, the
God and Father who loved him so well. Is not Ephraim my dear
son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against
him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for
him. I have great compassion for him. Jeremiah 31 verse 20. All God's children are dear to
Him, Pleasant in His eyes, the delight of His heart. God draws
them to Himself with the cords of love, Blesses them with the
sweets of divine communion, Kisses them with the kisses of His mouth,
Dandles them on His knees of eternal affection. presses them
to his bosom of everlasting love, and holds every covenant blessing
ready for whatever state or condition they may be in. 1621-1686 You can be sure
that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the kingdom
of Christ and of God. For such a person is really an
idolater, who worships the things of this world. Ephesians 5 verse
5 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world." 1 John 2 verse 16. Pleasures and riches
and honors are the carnal man's trinity. These are the three
great idols of worldly men to which they prostrate their souls. Idolatry is to give that honor
and worship to the creature, which is due to the Creator alone.
When this worship is communicated to other things, whatever they
are, we thereby make them idols and commit idolatry. When the
mind is most taken up with an object, and the heart and affections
most set upon it, this is soul worship, and this worship is
due to God alone. Now this worship due to God alone
is given by the savage heathen to their stick and stones, by
the papist to their angels, saints and images, by carnal men to
their lusts. There are two kinds of idolatry.
Number one, open external idolatry. When men, out of a religious
respect, bow to or prostrate themselves before anything besides
the true God, this is the idolatry of the heathen, and in part the
idolatry of papists. 2. Secret and Soul Idolatry When
the mind is set on anything more than God, when anything is more
valued than God, more desired than God, more sought than God,
more loved than God. Hence, secret idolaters shall
have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. Soul idolatry will exclude
men from heaven as much as open idolatry. He who serves his lusts
is as incapable of entering heaven as he who worships idols of wood
and stone. Therefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 14. The wrath of God let loose upon
his son, Octavius Winslow, the God of holiness. Divine holiness
is best exhibited in the cross of Jesus. Not hell itself, dreadful
and eternal as is its suffering, the undying worm, the unquenchable
fire, the smoke of the torment that goes up forever and ever,
affords such a solemn and impressive spectacle of the holiness and
justice of God in the punishment of sin as is presented in the
death of God's beloved Son. An eminent Puritan writer thus
strikingly puts it, not all the vials of judgment that have or
shall be poured out upon this wicked world, nor the flaming
furnace of a sinner's conscience, nor the irrevocable sentence
pronounced against the rebellious devils, nor the groans of the
damned creatures give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin as the
wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never did divine holiness
appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Savior's
countenance was most marred in the midst of his dying groans.
This himself acknowledges in that penitential psalm, when
God turned his smiling face away from him, and thrust his sharp
knife into his heart, which forced that terrible cry from him, My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving
me, so far from the words of my groaning? Yet you are enthroned
as the Holy One. Psalm 22 verses 1 and 2. Such an impressive view of God's
holiness the angels in heaven never before beheld, not even
when they saw the non-elect spirits hurled from the heights of glory
down to the bottomless pit to be reserved in chains of darkness
and woe forever. Jesus was the innocent one dying
for the guilty ones, the holy one dying for the sinful ones.
Divine justice, in its mission of judgment, as it swept by the
cross, found the Son of God impaled upon its wood beneath the sins
and the curse of His people. Upon Him its judgment fell, on
His soul its wrath was poured, in His heart its flaming sword
was plunged. Thus, from Him, justice exacted
the full penalty of man's transgression, the last farthing of the great
debt. Go to the cross then, my reader,
and learn the holiness of God. Contemplate the dignity of Christ,
His preciousness to His Father's heart, the sinlessness of His
nature, and then behold the sorrow of His soul, the torture of His
body, the tragedy of His death, the abasement, the ignominy,
the humiliation into the fathomless depths of which the whole transaction
plunged our incarnate God. And let me ask, standing as you
are before this unparalleled spectacle, can you cherish low
views of God's holiness or light views of your own sinfulness? The power of God Stephen Charnock
1628 to 1680. All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the
powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold
back his hand or say to him, what have you done? Daniel 4
verse 35. The power of God is that ability
and strength. whereby he can bring to pass
whatever he pleases, whatever his infinite wisdom may direct,
and whatever the infinite purity of his will may resolve. His
holiness is the beauty of all God's attributes. So power is
that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the
divine nature. How vain would be the eternal
decrees if power did not step in to execute them. Without power,
His mercy would be but feeble pity. His promise is an empty
sound. His threatening's a mere scarecrow. God's power is like himself,
infinite, eternal, incomprehensible. It can neither be checked, restrained,
nor frustrated by the creature, as his essence is immense, not
to be confined in place, as it is eternal, not to be measured
in time. So it is almighty, not to be
limited in regard of action. You shall not take the name of
the Lord your God in vain. William S. Plumer The Ten Commandments
A great design of true religion is to bring men to habitual reverence
for God's divine majesty. The very moment men cease to
treat God as holy, that moment their worship becomes polluted.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for
the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Exodus
20 verse 7 Anything relating to the true God, His being, His
nature, His will, His works, His worship, His service, or
His doctrine pertains to God's name. This commandment extends
to the state of men's thoughts and hearts as well as to their
speech. To take God's name in vain is
to use it in any frivolous, false, inconsiderate, irreverent, or
otherwise wicked manner. The scope of this commandment
is to secure the holy and reverent use of all that by which God
makes Himself known to His people, and so to guard His sacred name
against all that is calculated to make it contemptible. The
manner of taking his name is to be grave, solemn, intelligent,
thoughtful, sincere, and with godly fear. You shall not take
the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not
hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Exodus 20 verse
7. A mere cloak which covered a
heart full of unclean lusts. Archibald Alexander, The Day
of Judgment. God does not view things the
way men do. People look on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16 verse 7. You are the ones who make yourselves
look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered
of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.
Luke 16 verse 15. He himself knew what was in their
hearts. John 2 verse 25. Lord, you know
the thoughts of everyone. Acts 1 verse 24. And as externally
good actions will then be examined by one who has a full view of
the motives from which they proceeded, and the end which the person
had in view, is it not certain that many religious actions will
then appear to have been mere hypocrisy? That many actions,
apparently just and benevolent, were mere efforts of pride and
selfishness? And that a moral and blameless
life in the eyes of men was a mere cloak which covered a heart full
of unclean lusts? Our most intimate friends here
will be astonished when they see our secret iniquities and
wicked motives exposed to view. The most attestable crimes will
be unveiled in those who pass through life without suspicion.
Oh, how many secret murders, perjuries, thefts, blasphemies
and adulteries will then be brought to light. How much fraud, injustice,
cruelty, oppression, pride, malice, revenge will then be unveiled.
Almighty Lord, you test people justly. You know what is in their
hearts and minds. Jeremiah 20 verse 12. You alone know the thoughts of
the human heart. Deal with each person as he deserves. 1 Kings 8 verse 39. Contemplation of Divinity from
Charles Spurgeon's The Immutability of God. The proper study of a
Christian is the Godhead, the highest science, the loftiest
speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention
of a child of God. is a name, the nature, the person,
the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom
he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly
improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity. It is a subject
so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so
deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects
we can compass and grapple with, and then we feel a kind of self-content,
and go our way with the thought, Behold, I am wise. But when we
come to this master's science, finding that our plumb line cannot
sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height,
we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise,
but he is like a wild donkey's colt, and with a solemn exclamation,
I am but of yesterday and know nothing. No subject of contemplation
will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God.