Translate

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

There Is Power In The Name Of JESUS





Proverbs 18:1-24 NIV






1An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.
2Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.
3When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes reproach.
4The words of the mouth are deep waters,
but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.




5It is not good to be partial to the wicked
and so deprive the innocent of justice.
6The lips of fools bring them strife,
and their mouths invite a beating.
7The mouths of fools are their undoing,
and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
8The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;




they go down to the inmost parts.




9One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
10 The Name of The Lord Is a fortified tower;




the righteous run to it and are safe.




11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

12Before a downfall the heart is haughty,
but humility comes before honor.
13To answer before listening—
that is folly and shame.
14The human spirit can endure in sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
15The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge,
for the ears of the wise seek it out.
16A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.
17In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right,
until someone comes forward and cross-examines.
18Casting the lot settles disputes
and keeps strong opponents apart.
19A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city;
disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.
20From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled;
with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.
21The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.





22He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from The Lord.
23The poor plead for mercy,
but the rich answer harshly.
24One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.









Verse 10



The Name of Jehovah Is a Fortified Tower; the righteous run to it and are safe



By "The Name of The Lord" may be meant, either the attributes and perfections of GOD, by which HE Is Made Known, and which are the strength and security of His people; His Goodness, Grace, and Mercy, are their defense; His Favor Encompasses them about, as a shield; His Justice protects them from all injuries and insults; His Truth and Faithfulness preserve them; they are kept by His Power, as in a garrison; and His Unchangeableness is a reason why they are not consumed.


Or else The Lord Himself; His Name is put for Himself, Psalm 20:1; and may be well interpreted of The MESSIAH, in and by Whom GOD Is Manifested to men as The GOD of Grace; in Whom HE Proclaims His Name, a GOD Gracious and Merciful; Whose Name Is in Him, and Who has the same nature and perfections with Him; 


His Name is JEHOVAH, our Righteousness; Immanuel, GOD With us; the Mighty GOD, and Prince of peace; and Who Is Called JESUS, because HE Saves His people from their sins, and so is their security from eternal destruction.


What a strong tower is to them that are within it, against an enemy outside, that is the Power, Strength, and Might of CHRIST to His people; as a Divine Person, HE Is Strong and Mighty, the Most Mighty, the ALMIGHTY; as man, HE Is the Man of GOD's Right Hand, Made Strong for Himself and us; as Mediator, HE Has all Power in heaven and earth: in Him Is Everlasting Strength for His people; HE Is their fortified place, or city of refuge, to flee to on all occasions; HE Is the Stronghold, whither prisoners of hope are directed to turn to; HE Is their place of defense, and a strong tower, so deeply founded, no enemy can work under it; and plant a mine to blow it up; so highly built; no scaling ladders can reach it; so fortified, no cannon balls can break through it, or demolish any of its walls and bulwarks, which are His Salvation; the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; it is not to be taken by storm, or by the most violent attack of the whole posse of men and devils.


The righteous runs into it; not self-righteous persons, they run from CHRIST and His Righteousness, not to Him and that; but such who see their own righteousness will not justify them; who indeed are sinners, know and acknowledge themselves to be such; as sinners go to CHRIST, Who Receives them; and these are righteous through the Righteousness of CHRIST imputed to them, and live soberly, righteously, and godly: and it is the continual business of their faith to betake themselves to CHRIST upon all occasions; they are continually coming to Him, and exercising faith upon Him, as The Lord their Righteousness, which is meant by "running" to Him; this supposes knowledge of Him, as the strong tower and city of refuge; of the way unto him, and of the reception by Him which may be expected; it supposes a principle of spiritual life, and some degree of spiritual strength; a sense of danger or of want in themselves, and of safety and fullness in CHRIST.


And such a man who runs to Him is safe; from the avenging Justice of GOD; from the curse and condemnation of the Law; from sin, and all its dreadful consequences; from Satan, and all spiritual enemies; from wrath to come, hell, and the second death or is "set aloft"; is on high; for this tower, as it is a strong one, it is a high one; a rock of refuge, higher than men, or angels, or heaven itself; and such who are in it are out of the reach of all danger and every enemy.




Amen.








What A Friend We Have In JESUS, Our Brother In Adversity





 Proverbs 17:1-28 NIV




1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, with strife.
2A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son
and will share the inheritance as one of the family.
3The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but The Lord tests the heart.
4A wicked person listens to deceitful lips;
a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.
5Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.
6Children’s children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children.





7Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool—
how much worse lying lips to a ruler!
8A bribe is seen as a charm by the one who gives it;
they think success will come at every turn.
9Whoever would foster love covers over an offense,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.





10A rebuke impresses a discerning person
more than a hundred lashes a fool.
11Evildoers foster rebellion against God;
the messenger of death will be sent against them.
12Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool bent on folly.
13Evil will never leave the house
of one who pays back evil for good.
14Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
15Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
The Lord detests them both.





16Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom,
when they are not able to understand it?






17 A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for a time of adversity.





18One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge
and puts up security for a neighbor.
19Whoever loves a quarrel loves sin;
whoever builds a high gate invites destruction.
20One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper;
one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble.
21To have a fool for a child brings grief;
there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.
22A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.





23The wicked accept bribes in secret
to pervert the course of justice.
24A discerning person keeps wisdom in view,
but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.
25A foolish son brings grief to his father
and bitterness to the mother who bore him.
26If imposing a fine on the innocent is not good,
surely to flog honest officials is not right.
27The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
28Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.




Verse 17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity


A true, hearty, faithful friend, loves in times of adversity as well as in times of prosperity: there are many that are friends to persons, while they are in affluent circumstances; but when there is a change in their condition, and they are stripped of all riches and substance; than their friends forsake them, and stand at a distance from them; as was the case of Job, Job 19:14; it is a very rare thing to find a friend that is a constant lover, such an one as here described.

And a brother is born for adversity; for a time of adversity. HE is born into the world for this purpose; to sympathize with His brother in distress, to relieve him, comfort and support him; and if HE does not do this, when it is in His Power to do it, HE does not answer the purpose of His being born into the world.

To no one person can all this be applied with so much truth and exactness as to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

He is a "Friend", not of angels only, but of men; more especially of His church and people; of sinful men, of publicans and sinners; as appears by His calling them to repentance, by His receiving them, and by His coming into the world to save them. HE "loves" them, and loves them constantly; HE loved them before time; so early were they on His Heart and in His Book of Life; so early was HE the surety of them, and the Covenant of Grace made with Him; and their persons and grace put into His Hands, which HE took the care of.

He loved them in time, and before time began with them; thus they were preserved in Him, when they fell in Adam; were redeemed by His Precious Blood, when as yet they were not in being, at least many of them: HE loves them as soon as time begins with them, as soon as born; though impure by their first birth, transgressors from the womb, enemies and enmity itself to Him; He waits to be gracious to them, and sends His Gospel and His Spirit to find them out and call them: and HE continues to love them after conversion; in times of backsliding; in times of desertion; in times of temptation, and in times of affliction: HE loves them indeed to the end of time, and to all eternity; nor is there a moment of time to be fixed upon, in which HE does not love them.

And HE is a "Brother" to His people; through His Incarnation, He is a partaker of the same flesh and blood with them; and through their adoption, they having one and the same Father; nor is HE ashamed to own the relation; and HE has all the freedom, affection, compassion, and condescension, of a brother in Him: and now He is a brother "born"; see Isaiah 9:6; born of a woman, a virgin, at Bethlehem, in the fullness of time, for and on the behalf of His people; even "for adversity"; to bear and endure adversity Himself, which He did, by coming into a state of meanness and poverty; through the reproaches and persecutions of men, the temptations of Satan, the ill usage of His Own disciples, the desertion of His Father, the strokes of Justice, and the Sufferings of Death; also for the adversity of His people, to sympathize with them, bear them up under it, and deliver them out of it.

The ancient Jews had a notion that this Scripture has some respect to The Messiah; for, to show that The Messiah, being God The Son, would by His Incarnation become a brother to men, they cite this passage of Scripture as a testimony of it.