THE KING’S BUSINESS
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His heedful ear attends our cry; He knows the meaning of each sigh, And will deliver speedily. I. What He Sees,—“the afflictions” of Bis people.—Gen. 16:5-8, 14, 15; 1 Kings 19:5-7; Mark 6:45-51. II. What He Hears,-—' “their cry.”—John 11:3, 11; Matt. 14:30, ■ 3 1 ;'Acts ■ 12:5, 11; 16 :25, 26. ' III. What He Knows,—' ’‘their sorrows.” —Isa. 63:9; Rev. 2:2, 3; Heb. 4:14-16. IV. What He Does,— Comes “down to deliver.”—Dan. 3:24, 25; 6 :22; Matt.11 :20, 21; Acts 1:11; Rev. 19:11; 20:4; 21:3, 4. Reflections : It is. hard for God’s people to rfestfully; believe this four-fold comfort. Like -Israel in Egypt they are consciously unworthy, morally and socially. As with them circumstances may seem to contradict God’s professed care for us. Like them we cry out to God, perhaps for years, and He seems deaf to our cry. ■ Like theirs our, affairs often grow worse and worse. And yet God does see and hear and know and will come down and deliver, He is the covenant-keeping God.—5". Outlines (1) It alone sets it in the true . light. Browning sees “reasons on reasons” for be lieving it “chiefly1this”— “It is the first to hurl the dart ■Jit that hideous monster Sin!” (2) It represents sin as hateful, hurtful, deadly (Jer. 4:44; 2:19; Rom. 6:21). (3) It reasonably shuts sinners from the peaceful kingdom coming (Rev, 21:27). III. Its Appeals to Sinners Are Reason able. (1) it proposes that they pause and talk things oyer (Isa. 1:18; 42:20; Hag. 1:7). (2) It entreats a frank acknowledgment of their error (Jer. 3 ;13; 1 John 1:9). (3) It bids quit sin and do right (Isa. 1:16; Mic. 6:8; Rom. 12:1). IV. It Proposes Reasonable Conditions. (1) Repentance (Acts 17:30). (2) Faith (Acts 16:31).
i D—Mankind as a:'whole (“All Gentiles”) Messed.—Acts 15:16). C—Curse removed and earth blessed and beautified.—Amos 9:13-15; Isa. 35:1; Psalm 67:6. B—Satan’s final rebellion. —Réy. 20:7. . A—“New heaven and new earth.”—Rev. 21 : 1 . “Known unto God are all his works from ‘the beginning’ of the world” (Acts 15:18). — M. IV. Plummer. JEHOVAH’S CARE FOR HIS OWN "And, the Lord said, I have seen the af fliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard, their cry. . . . -for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver¡’ etc.—ExoduS. 3 :7, 8. Times and circumstances differ but essen tially the experiences of the people of God aré the same. Therefore the Bible is never Out of date. It partakes of the nature of its Author who never changes and who is “no respecter of.persons.” All things were written “for our admonition upon whom the ends of the wprld are come” (1 Cor. 5:10). God turns on us a pitying eye;' Sermon A PROPOSAL -TO ARBITRATE. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scar let, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." —Isa. 1:18. I. The Bible Is a Reasonable Book. (1) Supernatural, yet level to natural understanding (Heb. 2:2; Mark 1:22; 12: 37). (2) Full of miracles, yet credited by (1) Their merciful purpose; (2) Their spiritual meanings; (3) Their need to credit mes senger and message (Acts 10:38; Heb. 2:3, 4; Acts 1:3). v (3) Addressed to rebels, yet mild and conciliatory in tone (Matt. 11:28-30; John 3:16; Rev. 22:17). II. The Bible’s Attitude to Sin Is Rea sonable.
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