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On the Lord’s Chastening
The Lord loves his children too well either to let them sin at ease or live at ease; and though free-willers say that the discriminating grace of God leads to licentiousness, God's quickened family know better; and no others are capable of judging or being witnesses, for they know nothing about it. It is to the glory of grace that the Lord will chasten his people for their sins; not in vindictive wrath, but in love; for as many as the Lord loves, he rebukes and chastens—Revelations 3:19: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” When the dear child of God is under his chastening hand, he is often ready to say, “I cannot be a real Christian,…
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Hope Maketh Not Ashamed
Manchester, 20 February 1835 I am glad to find that the Lord now and then affords you a few moments' sweet intercourse with himself. This is one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy. The comforts of this life are great blessings; but to enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God, our Portion, and our eternal All, is a blessing indeed. O my dear friend, what an indescribable mercy it is for such poor sinners as we to be raised up to the sweet enjoyment of Christ! This is entering blessedly into the solemn truth contained in that portion of the Word of God: “The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the…
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30 Doing The Will Of God, And The Need Of Patience
A Sermon Preached By William Gadsby At Attleborough, Warwickshire, On Wednesday, June 15th, 1842. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”—Hebrews 10:36As the Lord shall direct me, I shall endeavour, I. To make a remark or two on the promise. There is one great object set before us—”the promise.” II. Endeavour to enter a little into the solemn business of “doing the will of God.” III. Notice that we “have need of patience, that, after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise.” I. The promise. What is this promise? It appears to my view to be couched in this text: “In hope of eternal life, which God,…
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41 The Wrestlings of Naphtali
A Sermon Preached By William Gadsby At Zoar Chapel, Great Alie Street, London, On Sunday Morning, May 28th, 1843. “And of Naphtali, he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord.”—Deuteronomy 33:23 It is a blessed time with the soul, when it can really feel, and sweetly enter into the enjoyment of the language you have just been singing: “While Jesus shows his heart is mine, And whispers I am his!” But I believe the Lord never bestows such solemn favors either to be sported or trifled with; and when the favour comes to our souls in this way, it is either to prepare us for trouble, to prop us up in trouble, or to deliver us out of…
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45 No Guile In The Spirit, And Keeping Silence
“Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile.”—Psalm 32:2“O!” says some poor soul; “that is not me; for I feel that I am full of guile.” Indeed! Can you then go to the Lord and tell him you have no sin, that you are as good as your neighbours, and that you have a claim upon his mercy? “No,” say you. “I have to tell the Lord that I am full of sin and that I deserve nothing but his wrath.” Then in your spirit there is no guile. God has made you honest, that you can neither attempt to deceive him nor yourself. There is no deceit in you nor about you in this respect. “When I kept silence,” &c. (Ver.…
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51. The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
Preached, on Lord's Day Morning, Nov. 1st, 1840, in Manchester. “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”—Ps. 116:17. Under the Jewish dispensation, God had appointed a variety of offerings and sacrifices for the Jews, under certain circumstances, to be attended to; and if you turn to Leviticus 7, you will find that the offering of the sacrifice of thanksgiving was to be accompanied with unleavened bread, mingled with oil, with wafers anointed with oil, and with cakes fried in oil. Now in reality, beloved, there is no sacrifice of thanksgiving without this oil; and it is not necessary merely that the wafers should be anointed with oil, but that the fat of the offering should be mingled with oil. The figure imports the…
