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As gold is the most precious among the metals, so is faith among the graces. Faith cuts us off from the wild olive of nature, and grafts us into Christ. Faith is the vital artery of the soul: “The just shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4). Such as are destitute of faith may breathe, but they lack life. Faith enlivens the graces; not a grace stirs till faith sets it working.

Faith is to the soul what the animal spirits are to the body, exciting lively activity in it. Faith excites repentance. When I believe God’s love to me, this makes me weep that I should sin against so good a God. Faith is the mother of hope; first we believe the promise, then we hope for it. Faith is the oil which feeds the lamp of hope. Faith and hope are two turtle-dove graces; take away one, and the other languishes.

If the sinews are cut, the body is lame; if this sinew of faith is cut, hope is lame. Faith is the ground of patience; he who believes that God is his God, and that all providences work for his good, patiently yields himself to the will of God. Thus faith is a living principle.

And the life of a saint is nothing but a life of faith. His prayer is the breathing of faith (Jas. 5:15). His obedience is the result of faith (Rom. 16:26). A godly man by faith lives in Christ, as the beam lives in the sun: “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). A Christian by the power of faith sees above reason, trades above the moon (2 Cor. 4:18). By faith his heart is lively quietened; he trusts himself and all his affairs to God (Psa. 112:7). As in a time of war, men get into a garrison and trust themselves and their treasures there, so “the name of the Lord is a strong tower” (Prov. 18:10), and a believer trusts all that ever he is worth in this garrison. “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” (2 Tim. 1:12). God trusted Paul with his gospel, and Paul trusted God with his soul.

Faith is a catholicon—a remedy against all troubles. It is a godly man’s sheet-anchor that he casts out into the sea of God’s mercy, and is kept from sinking in despair. “If only faith is firm, no ruin harms.”

Use: Let us test ourselves by this characteristic. Alas, how far from being godly are those who are destitute of faith! Such are altogether drowned in sense. Most men are spiritually purblind; they can only see just before them (2 Pet. 1:9). I have read of a people who are born with one eye. Such are they who are born with the eye of reason, but lack the eye of faith, who, because they do not see God with bodily eyes, do not believe in a god. They may as well not believe they have souls, because being spirits they cannot be seen.

Oh, where is he who lives in the heights, who has gone into the upper region and sees “things not seen” (Heb. 11:27)? “If men lived by faith, would they use sinful means for a livelihood?” (Chrysostom). If there were faith, would there be so much fraud? If theirs were living faith, would men, like dead fish, swim downstream? In this age there is scarcely so much faith to be found among men as there is among the devils, “for they believe and tremble”(Jas. 2:19).

It was a grave and serious comment of Mr. Greenham, that he feared not papism, but atheism would be England’s ruin. But I shall not expatiate, having written at greater length on this head in another discourse.

Faith and love are the two poles on which all religion turns. A true saint is carried in that chariot, “the midst whereof is paved with love” (Song 3:10). As faith enlivens, so love sweetens every duty. The sun mellows the fruit, so love mellows the services of religion, and gives them a better relish. A godly man is sick of love: “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee” (John 21:16). “Though, dear Savior, I denied thee, yet it was for lack of strength, not for lack of love.” God is the fountain and quintessence of goodness. His beauty and sweetness lay constraints of love upon a gracious heart. God is the saint’s portion (Psa. 119:57). And what more loved than a portion? “I would hate my own soul,” says Augustine, “if I found it not loving God.” A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him.

“Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?” (Song 3:3). The pious soul loves God and therefore thirsts for him. The more he has of God, the more still he desires. A sip of the wine of the Spirit whets the appetite for more. The soul loves God and therefore rejoices to think “of his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). He loves him and therefore longs to be with him. Christ was in Paul’s heart, and Paul would be in Christ’s bosom (Phil. 1:23). When the soul is once like God, it would gladly be with God. A gracious heart cries out, “Oh that I had wings,” that I might fly away, and he with my love, Christ. The bird desires to be out of the cage, though it is hung with pearl.

A godly man loves God, though he is reduced to straits. A mother and her nine-year-old child were about to die of hunger. The child looked at its mother and said, “Mother, do you think God will starve us?” “No, child,” said the mother, “he will not.” The child replied, “But if he does, we must love him, and serve him.”

Use: Let us test our godliness by this touch-stone: Do we love God? Is he our treasure and center? Can we, with David, call God our “joy”, yes, our “exceeding joy” (Psa. 43:4)? Do we delight in drawing near to him, and “come before his presence with singing”(Psa. 100:2)? Do we love him for his beauty more than his jewels? Do we love him, when he seems not to love us?

If this be the sign of a godly man, how few will be found in the number! Where is the man whose heart is dilated in love to God? Many court him, but few love him. People are for the most part eaten up with self-love; they love their ease, their worldly profit, their lusts, but they do not have a drop of love to God. If they loved God, would they he so willing to be rid of him? “They say unto God, Depart from us” (Job 21:14). If they loved God, would they tear his name by their oaths? Does he who shoots his father in the heart love him? Though they worship God, they do not love him;they are like the soldiers who bowed the knee to Christ, and mocked him” (Matt. 27:29). He whose heart is a grave in which the love of God is buried, deserves to have that curse written upon his tombstone, “Let him be Anathema Maranatha” (I Cor. 16:22). A soul devoid of divine love is a temper that best suits damned spirits. But I shall waive this, and pass to the next.

Excerpted and edited from The Godly Man’s Picture.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

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(1) If it is not pure, we differ nothing from a Pharisaical purity.

The Pharisees holiness consisted chiefly in externals. Theirs was an outside purity. They never minded the inside of the heart. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion,” and “Ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s hones” (Matthew 23:25, 27). The Pharisees were good only on the surface. They were whited over, not white. They were like a rotten post laid in vermilion color, like a fair chimney-piece gilded without, but within nothing but soot. We must go further. Be “pure in heart,” like the king’s daughter “all glorious within” (Psalm 45:13); else ours is but a Pharisaical purity; and Christ says, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

(2) It is the chief seat or place of God’s residence.

God dwells in the heart. He takes up the heart for his own lodging (Isaiah 57:15; Ephesians 3:17), therefore it must be pure and holy. A king’s palace must be kept from defilement, especially his presence-chamber. How holy ought that to be! If the body be the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19), the heart is the holy of holies. Oh, take heed of defiling the room where God is to come. Let that room be washed with holy tears.

(3) It is the heart that sanctifies all we do.

If the heart be holy, all is holy – our affections holy, our duties holy. “The altar sanctifieth the gift” (Matthew 23:59). The heart is the altar that sanctifies the offering. The Romans kept their springs from being poisoned. The heart is the spring of all our actions; let us keep this spring from poison. Be “pure in heart.”

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

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Ye have heard of the patience of Job (James 5:11). Patience is a star which shines in a dark night. There is a twofold patience:

1. Patience in waiting.

If a godly man does not obtain his desire immediately, he will wait till the mercy is ripe: “My soul waiteth for the Lord” (Psa. 130:6). There is good reason why God should have the timing of our mercies: “I the Lord will hasten it in his time”(Isa. 60:22). Deliverance may delay beyond our time, but it will not delay beyond God’s time.

Why should we not wait patiently for God? We are servants; it becomes servants to be in a waiting posture. We wait for everything else; we wait for the fire till it burns; we wait for the seed till it grows (Jas. 5:7).

Why cannot we wait for God? God has waited for us (Isa. 30:18). Did he not wait for our repentance? How often did he come year after year before he found fruit? Did God wait for us, and cannot we wait for him? A godly man is content to await God’s leisure; though the vision is delayed, he will wait for it (Hab. 2:3).

2. Patience in bearing trials.

This patience is twofold: (a) Either in regard to man, when we bear injuries without revenging, or (b) in regard to God, when we bear his hand without repining. A good man will not only do God’s will, but bear his will: “I will bear the indignation of the Lord” (Mic. 7:9). This patient bearing of God’s will is not:

(a) A stoical apathy; patience is not insensitivity under God’s hand; we ought to be sensitive.

(b) Enforced patience, to bear a thing because we cannot help it, which (as Erasmus said) is rather necessity than patience. But patience is a cheerful submission of our will to God: “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14). A godly man acquiesces in what God does, as being not only good but best for himself. The great quarrel between God and us is, Whose will shall stand? Now the regenerate’s will falls in with the will of God. We must be patient when God afflicts any evil on us. “Patient in tribulation” (Romans 12:12).

There are four things opposite to this patient frame of soul:

1. God sometimes lays heavy affliction on his people.

The Hebrew word for “afflicted” signifies “to be melted.” God seems to melt his people in a furnace.

2. God sometimes lays various afflictions on the saints.

As we have various ways of sinning, so the Lord has various ways of afflicting. Some he deprives of their estates; others he chains to a sick bed; others he confines to a prison. God has various arrows in his quiver which he shoots.

3. Sometimes God lets the affliction lie for a long time.

“There is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long” (Psa. 74:9). As it is with diseases — some are chronic and linger and hang about the body several years on end — so it is with afflictions. The Lord is pleased to exercise many of his precious ones with chronic afflictions, which they suffer for a long time. Now in all these cases, it becomes the saints to rest patiently in the will of God. The Greek word for “patient” is a metaphor and alludes to one who stands invincibly under a burden. This is the right notion of patience, when we bear affliction invincibly without fainting or fretting.

The test of a [ship’s] pilot is seen in a storm; so the test of a Christian is seen in affliction. That man has the right art of navigation who, when the boisterous winds blow from heaven, steers the ship of his soul wisely, and does not dash upon the rock of impatience. A Christian should always maintain decorum, not behaving himself in an unseemly manner or disguising himself with intemperate passion when the hand of God lies upon him. Patience adorns suffering.

Affliction in Scripture is compared to a net: “Thou broughtest us into the net” (Psa. 66:11). Some have escaped the devil’s net, yet the Lord aflows them to be taken in the net of affliction. But they must not be “as a wild bull in a net” (Isa. 51:20), kicking and flinging against their Maker, but lie patiently till God breaks the net and makes a way for their escape. I shall propound four cogent argu ments to encourage patience under those evils which God inflicts on us:

4. Afflictions are for our profit, for our benefit.

“He for our profit” (Heb. 12:10). We pray that God would take such a course with us as may do our souls good. When God is afflicting us, he is hearing our prayers; he does it “for our profit.” Not that afflictions in themselves profit us, but as God’s Spirit works with them. For as the waters of Bethesda could not give health of themselves unless the angel descended and stirred them (John 5:4), so the waters of affliction are not in themselves healing till God’s Spirit co-operates and sanctifies them to us. Afflictions are profitable in many ways:

(i) They make men sober and wise. Physicians have mental patients bound in chains and put on a frugal diet to bring them to the use of reason. Many run stark mad in prosperity; they know neither God nor themselves. The Lord therefore binds them with cords of affliction, so that he may bring them to their right minds. “If they be held in cords of affliction, then he sheweth them their transgressions. He openeth also their ear to discipline” Job 36:8-10).

(iii) They augment grace. The people of God are beholden to their troubles; they would never have had so much grace, if they had not met with such severe trials. Now the waters run and the spices flow forth. The saints thrive by affliction as the Lacedemonians grew rich by war. God makes grace flourish most in the fall of the leaf.

(iii) Afflictions quicken our pace on the way to heaven. It is with us as with children sent on an errand. If they meet with apples or flowers by the way, they linger and are in no great hurry to get home, but if anything frightens them, then they run with all the speed they can to their father’s house. So in prosperity, we gather the apples and flowers and do not give much thought to heaven, but if troubles begin to arise and the times grow frightful, then we make more haste to heaven and with David “run the way of God’s commandments” (Psa. 119:32).

(iv) God intermixes mercy with affliction. He steeps his sword of justice in the oil of mercy. There was no night so dark but Israel had a pillar of fire in it. There is no condition so dismal but we may see a pillar of fire to give us light. If the body is in pain and conscience is at peace, there is mercy. Affliction is for the prevention of sin; there is mercy. In the ark there was “a rod and a pot of manna,” the emblem of a Christian’s condition: “mercy interlined with judgment” (Psa. 101:1). Here is the rod and manna.

(v) Patience proves that there is much of God in the heart. Patience is one of God’s titles: “the God of patience” (Rom.15:5). If you have your heart cast in this blessed mold, it is a sign that God has imparted much of his own nature to you; you shine with some of his beams.

Impatience proves that there is much unsoundness of heart. If the body is of such a type that every little scratch of a pin makes the flesh fester, you say, “Surely this man’s flesh is very unsound.” So impatience with every petty annoyance and quarreling with providence is the sign of a disturbed Christian. If there is any grace in such a heart, they who can see it must have good eyes. But he who is of a patient spirit is a graduate in religion and participates in much of the divine nature.

(vi) The end of affliction is glorious. The Jews were captive in Babylon but what was the end? They departed from Babylon with vessels of silver, gold and precious things (Ezra 1:6). So, what is the end of affliction? It ends in endless glory (Acts 14:22; 2 Cor. 4:17). How this may rock our impatient hearts quiet! Who would not willingly travel along a little dirty path and ploughed lands, at the end of which is a fair meadow and in that meadow a goldmine?

Question: How shall I get my heart tuned to a patient mood?

Answer: Get faith; all our impatience proceeds from unbelief. Faith is the breeder of patience. When a storm of passion begins to arise, faith says to the heart, as Christ did to the sea, “Peace, be still,” and there is at once a calm.

Question: How does faith work patience?

Answer: Faith argues the soul into patience. Faith is like that town clerk in Ephesus who allayed the contention of the multitude and argued them soberly into peace (Acts 19:35,36). So when impatience begins to clamor and make a hubbub in the soul, faith appeases the tumult and argues the soul into holy patience.

Faith says, “Why art thou disquieted, Oh my soul?” (Psa. 42:5). Are you affficted? Is it not your Father who has done it? He is carving and polishing you and making you fit for glory. He smites that he may save. What is your trial? Is it sickness? God shakes the tree of your body so that some fruit may fall, even “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). Are you driven from your home? God has prepared a city for you (Heb. 11:16). Do you suffer reproach for Christ’s sake? “The spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (1 Pet. 4:14). Thus faith argues and disputes the soul into patience.

Pray to God for patience. Patience is a flower of God’s planting. Pray that it may grow in your heart, and send forth its sweet perfume.

From The Godly Man’s Picture: Drawn with a Scripture Pencil

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

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There are two things which I have always looked upon as difficult. The one is, to make the wicked sad; the other is, to make the godly joyful. Dejection in the godly arises from a double spring; either because their inward comforts are darkened, or their outward comforts are disturbed. To cure both these troubles, I have put forth this ensuing piece, hoping, by the blessing of God, that it will buoy up their despondent hearts, and make them look with a more pleasant aspect.

I would prescribe them to take, now and then, a little of this Cordial: ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD. To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that ALL things which fall out shall cooperate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over.

If the whole Scripture be the feast of the soul, as Ambrose said, then Romans 8 may be a dish at that feast, and with its sweet variety may very much refresh and animate the hearts of God’s people. In the preceding verses the apostle had been wading through the great doctrines of justification and adoption, mysteries so arduous and profound, that without the help and conduct of the Spirit, he might soon have waded beyond his depth. In this verse the apostle touches upon that pleasant string of consolation, “WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD.” Not a word but is weighty; therefore I shall gather up every filing of this gold, that nothing be lost.

In the text there are three general branches:

First, a glorious privilege. All things work for good.

Second, the persons interested in this privilege. They are doubly specified. They are lovers of God, they are the called.

Third, the origin and spring of this effectual calling, set down in these words, ‘according to his purpose.’

First, the glorious privilege. Here are two things to be considered.

I. The certainty of the privilege – “We know.”

2. The excellency of the privilege – “All things work together for good.”

I. The certainty of the privilege: “We know.” It is not a matter wavering or doubtful. The apostle does not say, we hope, or conjecture, but it is like an article in our creed, We KNOW that all things work for good. Hence observe that the truths of the gospel are evident and infallible.

A Christian may come not merely to a vague opinion, but to a certainty of what he holds. “We know,” says the apostle. Though a Christian has not a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel, yet he has a certain knowledge. “We see through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12), therefore we have not perfection of knowledge; but “we behold with open face” (2 Cor. 3:18), therefore we have certainty. The Spirit of God imprints heavenly truths upon the heart as with the point of a diamond. A Christian may know infallibly that there is an evil in sin, and a beauty in holiness. He may know that he is in the state of grace. “We know that we have passed from death to life” ( I John 3:14).

He may know that he shall go to heaven. “We know that if our earthly tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). The Lord does not leave His people at uncertainties in matters of salvation. The apostle says, “We know.” We have arrived at a holy confidence. We have both the Spirit of God, and our own experience, setting seal to it. Let us then not rest in skepticism or doubts, but labor to come to a certainty in the things of religion.

2. The excellency of the privilege, “All things work together for good.” This is as Jacob’s staff in the hand of faith, with which we may walk cheerfully to the mount of God. What will satisfy or make us content, if this will not? All things work together for good. This expression “work together” refers to medicine. Several poisonous ingredients put together, being tempered by the skill of the druggist make a sovereign medicine, and work together for the good of the patient. So all God’s providences, being divinely tempered and sanctified, work together for the best to the saints.

He who loves God and is called according to His purpose, may rest assured that every thing in the world shall be for his good. The result of the text is this. ALL THE VARIOUS DEALINGS OF GOD WITH HIS CHILDREN DO BY A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE TURN TO THEIR GOOD. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and every unto such as keep his covenant” (Psalm 25:10). If every path has mercy in it, then it works for good.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

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To discover what true repentance is, I shall first show what it is not. There are several deceits of repentance which might occasion that saying of Augustine that “repentance damns many.” He meant a false repentance; a person may delude himself with counterfeit repentance.

I. The first deceit of repentance is legal terror.

A man has gone on long in sin. At last God arrests him, shows him what desperate hazard he has run, and he is filled with anguish. Within a while the tempest of conscience is blown over, and he is quiet. Then he concludes that he is a true penitent because he has felt some bitterness in sin. Do not be deceived: this is not repentance. Ahab and Judas had some trouble of mind. It is one thing to be a terrified sinner and another to be a repenting sinner. Sense of guilt is enough to breed terror. Infusion of grace breeds repentance. If pain and trouble were sufficient to repentance, then the damned in hell should be most penitent, for they are most in anguish. Repentance depends upon a change of heart. There may be terror, yet with no change of heart.

II. Another deceit about repentance is resolution against sin.

A person may purpose and make vows, yet be not penitent. “Thou saidst, I will not transgress” (Jer. 2.20). Here was a resolution; but see what follows: “under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.” Notwithstanding her solemn engagements, she played fast and loose with God and ran after her idols. We see by experience what protestations a person will make when he is on his sick-bed, if God should recover him again; yet he is as bad as ever. He shows his old heart in a new temptation.

Resolutions against sin may arise:

(1) From present extremity; not because sin is sinful, but because it is painful. This resolution will vanish.

(2) From fear of future evil, an apprehension of death and hell: “I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him” (Rev. 6.8). What will not a sinner do, what vows will he not make, when he knows he must die and stand before the judgment-seat? Self-love raises a sickbed vow, and love of sin will prevail against it. Trust not to a passionate resolution; it is raised in a storm and will die in a calm.

III. The third deceit is the leaving of many sinful ways.

It is a great matter, I confess, to leave sin. So dear is sin to a man that he will rather part with a child than with a lust: “Shall I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Mic. 6.7). Sin may be parted with, yet without repentance.

(1) A man may part with some sins and keep others, as Herod reformed many things that were amiss but could not leave his incest.

(2) An old sin may be left in order to entertain a new, as you put off an old servant to take another. This is to exchange a sin. Sin may be exchanged and the heart remained unchanged. He who was a prodigal in his youth turns usurer in his old age. A slave is sold to a Jew; the Jew sells him to a Turk. Here the master is changed, but he is a slave still. So a man moves from one vice to another but remains a sinner still.

(3) A sin may be left not so much from strength of grace as from reasons of prudence. A man sees that though such a sin be for his pleasure, yet it is not for his interest. It will eclipse his credit, prejudice his health, impair his estate. Therefore, for prudential reasons, he dismisses it.

True leaving of sin is when the acts of sin cease from the infusion of a principle of grace, as the air ceases to be dark from the infusion of light.

From The Doctrine of Repentance.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

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