to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword. Sermons
I. THE ADVENT OF THE DIVINE VOICES. Elihu reminds us of Eliphaz, yet with a difference. Both men believe in superhuman influences, in God-sent messages, But Eliphaz tells of a stately vision, an awful and overwhelming apparition; Elihu, on the other hand, is satisfied with dream-voices. God approaches man in various ways. The most awe-inspiring is not necessarily the most instructive. Dreams have been continually recognized among the channels of Divine communication, e.g. the stories of Joseph and Daniel and the prediction of Joel (Joel 2:28). It is very easy to misinterpret a dream, and to attribute to a Divine impulse what only springs from the vagaries of one's own fancy. We need some assurance that the voices are from God. Now, the test is in their character. All holy thoughts proceed from God, and none that are unholy. When we are visited by a holy thought, whether in sleep or in waking hours, we may rejoice with gratitude to know that God has spoken to us. II. THE REPETITION OF THE DIVINE VOICES. "God speaketh once, yea twice." Pharaoh's dreams were repeated (Genesis 41:32). Joseph's different dreams reiterated the same message (Genesis 37:9). Prophet followed prophet with warning and promise for Israel. The new Christian voice followed the old Jewish voice. God is speaking now, sending one message after another in his providence. We have all heard from God more than once. His was the Voice that instilled the first eager desires for goodness in childhood, and his the voice that pleaded amid the passionate enthusiasms of youth. It has sounded in our ears repeatedly among the varied scenes of life warning against sin, and calling to Christian service. It is repeated whenever the Bible is read, whenever Divine truth is preached, whenever conscience is aroused. III. THE RECEPTION OF THE DIVINE VOICES. Too often they are unheeded. "Man perceiveth it not." A mood of spiritual dulness may let the voices pass unheard. But this is not a natural condition. The little child is not thus deaf. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy." Later years deaden our perceptions, not indeed by the simple wear and tear of life, but by the evil things that are engendered. Distracting worldliness and sin, the deadliest foes to the heavenly voices, make us careless of the messages from God. IV. THE PURPOSE OF THE DIVINE VOICES. They are to guide and save. "To withdraw man from his purpose," when that purpose is evil or dangerous. "To hide pride from man," i.e. to save man from his pride. Thus the voices are warning and deterrent. They remind us of the "demon" of Socrates, which, he said, told him when he was not to do something, but did not prompt him to do anything. We know that God inspires for action, that heavenly voices summon to toil and battle. Yet perhaps we may perceive that the inner voice is more often a restraining than a stimulating voice. For the stimulus we look to the living Christ. Yet the restraint is sent in mercy. God warns, that he may save. - W.F.A. In a dream. How persevering is Divine love. God has voices which He uses in such a way that men must and shall hear.I. So, then, first, let us begin with what is a very humbling consideration, namely, that MAN IS VERY HARD TO INFLUENCE FOR GOOD. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" According to the text, before God Himself can save men, He has to open their ears: "Then He openeth the ears of men." Towards God, men's ears are often stopped. Original sin engenders in men great carelessness about Divine things. How quickly they are aroused by talk about politics! Their ears are stopped by carelessness. Often, too, there is another form of stopping, which is very hard to get out of the ear; that is, worldliness. "I am too busy to attend to religion!" In some cases the ear is stopped by prejudice. It would be a foolish thing for a man to prejudice himself into rags and beggary; but it is far worse when a man prejudices himself out of life eternal into everlasting woe. With a great many more the ear seems to be doubly sealed up by unbelief. They will not believe that which God Himself has spoken. It may also be stopped by self-sufficiency; when a man has enough in himself to satisfy him, he wants nothing of Christ. Then there is another difficulty. If we get through the ear, and the man is influenced to listen, his heart does not retain that which is good, he so soon forgets it. Hence the text says of the Lord, "He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction." Ah! we think the child, the man, the woman, has learned that truth at last; but it is much as if we had written it on a blackboard, it is soon wiped out. How shall men be saved? We cannot impress them; or, if we do impress them, how often it ends in nothing! Another difficulty must be noticed: that is, the purpose of so many men; indeed, the secret purpose of all men; and from this purpose men have to be withdrawn. The purpose of most men is to seek after happiness, and their notion is that they will find it by having their own way. Ay, and there is one thing more which is, perhaps, the greatest barrier of all. It is not merely their deafness of ear, and their unretentiveness of spirit, and their resoluteness of purpose; but it is their pride of heart. Oh, this is like adamant; where shall we find the diamond that can cut a thing so hard as man's pride? God save us from that sin! It needs God to do so, for only He can "hide pride from man." II. Now, secondly, though man is hard to influence, GOD KNOWS HOW TO COME AT HIM, and He does it in many ways. According to the text, He sometimes does it "in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the bed." I have no doubt that many, many times, men's sleeping thoughts have been the beginnings of better things for them. You see, reason holds the helm of the vessel when we are awake, and as a consequence it keeps conscience down in the hold, and will not let him speak; but in our dreams, reason has quitted the helm, and then, sometimes, conscience comes up, and in his own wild way he begins to sound such an alarm that the man starts up in the night. Did you ever notice how God aroused Nebuchadnezzar, that greatest man, perhaps, of his age? Why, in a dream! God gets at other men in a different way, namely, by affliction, or by the death of others. So have I known men aroused by strange providences. If God does not come at men by strange providences, how often He does it by singular words from the preacher! Then God has a way of coming to men's hearts by personal visitations, without dream, without speech, without voice. III. WHEN GOD DOES GET AT MEN HE ACCOMPLISHES GREAT PURPOSES. His purpose is, first, to withdraw man from his own purpose. "That He may withdraw man from his purpose." Sometimes a man has proposed at a certain moment to commit a sin, and God stops him from doing it. He also withdraws men from their general purpose of continuing in sin. I find the translation may be, that God withdraweth man from his work, from that which has been his life work; from the whole run and tenor of his conversation, God withdraws him. A man goes out after having received the Word of the Lord, and he is a different man from that hour. Then what else does God do? He hides pride from man. That is a very strange expression, certainly, to "hide pride from man." Did none of you ever hide away a knife from a child? Have you never hidden away fruit from your little children when they have had enough, and they would have eaten more if they could find it? God often hides pride from men because, if man can find anything to be proud of, he will be. Then. lastly, He thus secures man's salvation from destruction. "He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." How wonderfully has God kept some of us back from what would have been our destruction if we had gone on! () Homilist. All dream, and each knows what a dream is better than he can be told. I. THEIR PHILOSOPHY. 1. What originates a dream? Probably it has more causes than one, and different kinds of dreams have different causes. The cause of some may be found in the state of body at the time. The cause of others may be found in something that has made more than ordinary impression on the mind. "A dream," says the wise man, "cometh from a multitude of business." 2. Why do thoughts take such grotesque forms in dreams? The reason may be this, — the mind in sleep is left uncontrolled by the will. If the thought is of an unnatural kind, it will go on producing the unnatural and the monstrous. In dreams the mind is like a vessel without a rudder. The laws of association heave her about in all directions. II. THEIR USES. 1. They serve to throw some light on our spiritual constitution.(1) They show the soul's power for involuntary action; action in which the will is not concerned. There are two kinds of involuntary action. In obvious peril, we involuntarily seek safety. In the presence of axiomatical truths we involuntarily believe; in the view of the truly beautiful, we involuntarily admire and love. There is an involuntary action that is wrong. It arises from a thorough infirmity of the will, through the indulgence of the passions, and long habits of sin.(2) The soul's power for vivid realisation. In dreams the spirit sees the objects with all the vividness of reality. When awake, we see outward objects through our sensations; but the objects which come to us in dreams we see directly face to face.(3) The soul's power of rapid movement.(4) The soul's power of uncorporeal action.(5) The soul's power of moral character. 2. They are sometimes the organs of Divine communication. The subject teaches that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. () People JobPlaces UzTopics Corruption, Dart, Destruction, Keepeth, Keeps, Passing, Perishing, Pit, Sheol, Soul, Sword, UnderworldOutline 1. Elihu offers himself instead of God to reason with Job
8. He excuses God from giving man an account of his ways, by his greatness
14. God calls man to repentance by visions, by afflictions, and by his ministry
31. He incites Job to attention
Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 33:18 4257 pit Job 33:14-18 5533 sleep, physical Job 33:15-18 5548 speech, divine Job 33:16-18 6245 stubbornness Library The Host of Heaven and of Earth.
"The Spirit of God hath made me."--Job xxxiii. 4. Understanding somewhat the characteristic note of the work of the Holy Spirit, let us see what this work was and is and shall be. The Father brings forth, the Son disposes and arranges, the Holy Spirit perfects. There is one God and Father of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things; but what does the Scripture say of the special work the Holy Spirit did in creation and is still doing? For the sake of order we examine …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy SpiritThe Creaturely Man.
"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."-- Job xxxiii. 4. The Eternal and Ever-blessed God comes into vital touch with the creature by an act proceeding not from the Father nor from the Son, but from the Holy Spirit. Translated by sovereign grace from death unto life, God's children are conscious of this divine fellowship; they know that it consists not in inward agreement of disposition or inclination, but in the mysterious touch of God upon their spiritual …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit Whether the Testimony of the Father's Voice, Saying, "This is My Beloved Son," was Fittingly Added?
Objection 1: It would seem that the testimony of the Father's voice, saying, "This is My beloved Son," was not fittingly added; for, as it is written (Job 33:14), "God speaketh once, and repeateth not the selfsame thing the second time." But the Father's voice had testified to this at the time of (Christ's) baptism. Therefore it was not fitting that He should bear witness to it a second time. Objection 2: Further, at the baptism the Holy Ghost appeared under the form of a dove at the same time as …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether for the Justification of the Ungodly is Required a Movement of the Free-Will?
Objection 1: It would seem that no movement of the free-will is required for the justification of the ungodly. For we see that by the sacrament of Baptism, infants and sometimes adults are justified without a movement of their free-will: hence Augustine says (Confess. iv) that when one of his friends was taken with a fever, "he lay for a long time senseless and in a deadly sweat, and when he was despaired of, he was baptized without his knowing, and was regenerated"; which is effected by sanctifying …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Divination by Dreams is Unlawful?
Objection 1: It would seem that divination by dreams is not unlawful. It is not unlawful to make use of divine instruction. Now men are instructed by God in dreams, for it is written (Job 33:15,16): "By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds, then He," God to wit, "openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn." Therefore it is not unlawful to make use of divination by dreams. Objection 2: Further, those …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Nocturnal Pollution is a Mortal Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that nocturnal pollution is a sin. For the same things are the matter of merit and demerit. Now a man may merit while he sleeps, as was the case with Solomon, who while asleep obtained the gift of wisdom from the Lord (3 Kings 3:2, Par. 1). Therefore a man may demerit while asleep; and thus nocturnal pollution would seem to be a sin. Objection 2: Further, whoever has the use of reason can sin. Now a man has the use of reason while asleep, since in our sleep we frequently …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Pride is a Special Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that pride is not a special sin. For Augustine says (De Nat. et Grat. xxix) that "you will find no sin that is not labelled pride"; and Prosper says (De Vita Contempl. iii, 2) that "without pride no sin is, or was, or ever will be possible." Therefore pride is a general sin. Objection 2: Further, a gloss on Job 33:17, "That He may withdraw man from wickedness [*Vulg.: 'From the things that he is doing, and may deliver him from pride']," says that "a man prides himself when …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Christian Man
Scripture references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7; 9:6; Job 33:4; Psalm 100:3; 8:4-9; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Acts 17:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:7; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 15:45; Hebrews 2:6,7; Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Corinthians 2:9. WHAT IS MAN? What Shall We Think of Man?--Who is he? What is his place on the earth and in the universe? What is his destiny? He is of necessity an object of thought. He is the subject of natural laws, instincts and passions. How far is he free; how far bound? …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe.
There are many who think of the work of the Holy Spirit as limited to man. But God reveals to us in His Word that the Holy Spirit's work has a far wider scope than this. We are taught in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has a threefold work in the material universe. I. The creation of the material universe and of man is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." We …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit Whether a Movement of the Free Will is Required for the Justification of the Ungodly
Whether a Movement of the Free Will is required for the Justification of the Ungodly We proceed to the third article thus: 1. It seems that a movement of the free will is not required for the justification of the ungodly. For we see that infants are justified through the sacrament of Baptism without any movement of the free will, and sometimes adults also. Augustine indeed says that when one of his friends lay sick of a fever, "he lay for long unconscious in a deathly sweat, and when given up in …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace Whether the Precept of Fraternal Correction Demands that a Private Admonition Should Precede Denunciation?
Objection 1: It would seem that the precept of fraternal correction does not demand that a private admonition should precede denunciation. For, in works of charity, we should above all follow the example of God, according to Eph. 5:1,2: "Be ye followers of God, as most dear children, and walk in love." Now God sometimes punishes a man for a sin, without previously warning him in secret. Therefore it seems that there is no need for a private admonition to precede denunciation. Objection 2: Further, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in his Names.
At least twenty-five different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. I. The Spirit. The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head of this paragraph--"The Spirit." This name is also used as the basis of other names, so we begin our study with this. …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Order of Thought which Surrounded the Development of Jesus.
As the cooled earth no longer permits us to understand the phenomena of primitive creation, because the fire which penetrated it is extinct, so deliberate explanations have always appeared somewhat insufficient when applying our timid methods of induction to the revolutions of the creative epochs which have decided the fate of humanity. Jesus lived at one of those times when the game of public life is freely played, and when the stake of human activity is increased a hundredfold. Every great part, …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus "Let any Man Come. "
[7] "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."--John 7:37-38. THE text which heads this paper contains one of those mighty sayings of Christ which deserve to be printed in letters of gold. All the stars in heaven are bright and beautiful; yet even a child can see that "one star differeth from another in glory" …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit Its Source
Let us here review, briefly, the ground which we have already covered. We have seen, first, that "to justify" means to pronounce righteous. It is not a Divine work, but a Divine verdict, the sentence of the Supreme Court, declaring that the one justified stands perfectly conformed to all the requirements of the law. Justification assures the believer that the Judge of all the earth is for him, and not against him: that justice itself is on his side. Second, we dwelt upon the great and seemingly insoluable …
Arthur W. Pink—The Doctrine of Justification The Care of the Soul Urged as the one Thing Needful
Luke 10:42 -- "But one thing is needful." It was the amiable character of our blessed Redeemer, that "he went about doing good," this great motive, which animated all his actions, brought him to the house of his friend Lazarus, at Bethany, and directed his behavior there. Though it was a season of recess from public labor, our Lord brought the sentiments and the pious cares of a preacher of righteousness into the parlor of a friend; and there his doctrine dropped as the rain, and distilled as the …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield The Sick Person Ought Now to Send for Some Godly and Religious Pastor.
In any wise remember, if conveniently it may be, to send for some godly and religious pastor, not only to pray for thee at thy death--for God in such a case hath promised to hear the prayers of the righteous prophets, and elders of the church (Gen. xx. 7; Jer. xviii. 20; xv. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 19, 23; James v. 14, 15, 16)--but also upon thy unfeigned repentance to declare to thee the absolution of thy sins. For as Christ hath given him a calling to baptize thee unto repentance for the remission of thy …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety "That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us. "
Rom. viii. 4.--"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." God having a great design to declare unto the world both his justice and mercy towards men, he found out this mean most suitable and proportioned unto it, which is here spoken of in the third verse,--to send his own Son to bear the punishment of sin, that the righteousness of the law might be freely and graciously fulfilled in sinners. And, indeed, it was not imaginable by us, how he could declare both in the salvation …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Conversion.
THE DIFFICULTY OF CONVERSION. CONVERSION to God is not so easy and so smooth a thing, as some would have men believe it is. Why is man's heart compared to fallow ground, God's word to a plough, and his ministers to ploughmen, if the heart indeed has no need of breaking in order to the receiving of the seed of God unto eternal life? Why is the conversion of the the soul compared to the grafting of a tree, if that be done without cutting? CONVERSION THE POWER OF GOD. A broken heart is the handy-work …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
I. THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1. PERSONAL NAMES GIVEN TO THE SPIRIT. 2. PERSONAL PRONOUNS USED OF THE SPIRIT. 3. THE SPIRIT ASSOCIATED WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON. 4. THE SPIRIT POSSESSES PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 5. PERSONAL ACTS ARE ASCRIBED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 6. THE SPIRIT IS SUBJECT TO PERSONAL TREATMENT. II. THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1. DIVINE NAMES ARE GIVEN TO THE SPIRIT. 2. DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 3. DIVINE WORKS. 4. NAME OF THE SPIRIT ASSOCIATED WITH NAMES OF THE DEITY. 5. COMPARISON …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible A Prayer when one Begins to be Sick.
O most righteous Judge, yet in Jesus Christ my gracious Father! I, wretched sinner, do here return unto thee, though driven with pain and sickness, like the prodigal child with want and hunger. I acknowledge that this sickness and pain comes not by blind chance or fortune, but by thy divine providence and special appointment. It is the stroke of thy heavy hand, which my sins have justly deserved; and the things that I feared are now fallen upon me (Job iii. 25.) Yet do I well perceive that in wrath …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Links Job 33:18 NIV
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