Good News of God, 8 - 'DE PROFUNDIS'
PSALM cxxx. 1.
Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice.
What is this deep of which David speaks so often? He knew it well, for he had been in it often and long. He was just the sort of man to be in it often. A man with great good in him, and great evil; with very strong passions and feelings, dragging him down into ...read
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Good News of God, 9 - THE LOVE OF GOD ITS OWN REWARD
DEUT. xxx. 19, 20.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell ...read
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Good News of God, 10 - THE RACE OF LIFE
JOHN i. 26.
There standeth one among you whom ye know not.
This is a solemn text. It warns us, and yet it comforts us. It tells us that there is a person standing among us so great, that John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, was not worthy to unloose his shoes' latchet.
Some of you know who he is. Some of you, perhaps, do not. If ...read
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Good News of God, 11 - SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
PSALM vii. 8.
Give sentence for me, O Lord, according to my righteousness; and according to the innocency that is in me.
Is this speech self-righteous? If so, it is a bad speech; for self- righteousness is a bad temper of mind; there are few worse. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess ...read
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Good News of God, 12 - TRUE REPENTANCE
EZEKIEL xviii. 27.
When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
We hear a great deal about repentance, and how necessary it is for a man to repent of his sins; for unless a man repent, he cannot be forgiven. But do we all of us really know ...read
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Good News of God, 13 - THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT
(Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.)
II COR. iii. 6.
God, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
When we look at the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for to-day one after the other, we do not see, perhaps, what they have to do with each other. B ...read
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Good News of God, 14 - HEROES AND HEROINES
(Whitsunday.)
PSALM xxxii. 8.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
This is God's promise; which he fulfilled at sundry times and in different manners to all the men of the old world who trusted in him. He informed them; that is, he put them into right form, right shape, right ...read
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Good News of God, 15 - THE MEASURE OF THE CROSS
EPHESIANS iii. 18, 19.
That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
These words are very deep, and difficult to understand; for St. Paul does not tell us exactly of what he is speaking. He does not say what it is, the breadth an ...read
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Good News of God, 16 - THE PURE IN HEART
TITUS i. 15.
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
This seems at first a strange and startling saying: but it is a true one; and the more we think over it, the more we shall find it true.
All things are pure in themselves; good in th ...read
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Good News of God, 17 - MUSIC
(Christmas Day.)
LUKE ii. 13, 14.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
You have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the first Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Pe ...read
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Good News of God, 18 - THE CHRIST CHILD
(Christmas Day.)
LUKE ii. 7.
And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.
Mother and child.--Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. What more beautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautiful sight, and what more wonderful sight?
What more beautiful? That man must b ...read
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Good News of God, 19 - CHRIST'S BOYHOOD
LUKE ii. 52.
And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both with God and man.
I do not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them because the Church has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. At Christmas we think of our Lord's birth. What more reasonable, than that we should go on to think of our Lord's boyh ...read
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Good News of God, 20 - THE LOCUST-SWARMS
JOEL ii. 12, 13.
Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
This is one of th ...read
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Good News of God, 21 - SALVATION
ISAIAH lix. 15, 16.
And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him.
This text is often held to be a prophecy of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I certai ...read
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Good News of God, 22 - THE BEGINNING AND END OF WISDOM
PROVERBS ii. 2, 3, 5.
If thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after wisdom, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
We shall see something curious in the last of these verses, when we compare it with one ...read
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Good News of God, 23 - HUMAN NATURE
(Septuagesima Sunday.)
GENESIS i. 27.
So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
On this Sunday the Church bids us to begin to read the book of Genesis, and hear how the world was made, and how man was made, and what the world is, and who man is.
And why?
To prepare us, I ...read
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Good News of God, 24 - THE CHARITY OF GOD
(Quinquagesima Sunday.)
LUKE xviii. 31, 32, 33.
All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again.
This ...read
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Good News of God, 25 - THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
JAMES i. 17.
Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness, nor shadow of turning.
It seems an easy thing for us here to say, 'I believe in God.' We have learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us strange and ridiculous that people a ...read
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Good News of God, 26 - THE HEAVENLY FATHER
ACTS xvi. 24-28.
God that made the world, and all that therein is, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
I told you last Sunday of the meaning of the days of the week ...read
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Good News of God, 27 - THE GOOD SHEPHERD
JOHN x. 11.
I am the good shepherd.
Here are blessed words. They are not new words. You find words like these often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings, priests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. David is called the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, a ...read
Charles Kingsley