From this Encouragement

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that 
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 
                                          Hebrew 4:16

1.  From this encouragement, he draweth another direction, to come
boldly to God in prayer for everything whereof we stand in need.
Then, the Apostle alloweth unto the believer,  1.  Certain persuasion
of the acceptation of his person: he biddeth him Come boldly.  2.  He
alloweth certain persuasion of the granting of his prayers, in the matter
namely of grace and mercy; which includeth the remission of sins.
    
2.  The Throne of Grace, or the Mercy Seat, was above the ark,
within the Sanctuary, and represented God in Christ reconciled to His
people, gracious and merciful unto them.  To this he alludeth, and by
this means teacheth us, 1.  That the substance of that typical Mercy Seat,
is to be found in Christ under the Gospel.  In Him God is ever to be found,
on His Throne of Grace, 2.  That the veil of the ceremonial Sanctuary, is
rent in Christ’s suffering, and an open door made unto the Holiest, unto
every believer, and not for the Highest alone, to enter in, 3.  That God
layeth aside His terror and rigor of justice, when His own come unto
Him in Christ, and offereth access unto the Throne of Grace, unto them.

3.  He will have us coming with boldness to obtain Mercy, including
himself with the faithful, and joining the meanest of the faithful to whom
he writeth in the same privilege with himself.  Then, 1.  Free liberty to
expound all our mind to God, as the word importeth, without employing
the mediation of saint or angel, or any beside Christ, is one of the
privileges of Christian religion.  2.  This privilege is common to the meanest
of the faithful, with the chiefest Apostles.  3.  There is mercy to be had
for such as come for removing of every sin, and remedy of every misery.

4.  He setteth before them the hope of Grace, to help in time of need. 
Importing Hereby, 1.  That albeit, for the present, possibly, we be not
touched with the sense of Wants, Straights, and Difficulties, yet we are to
expect, that time of need will come.  2.  That it is good to foresee this,
and make provision, in the time of Grace, in this acceptable Day, while
God is on His Throne of Grace.  3.  That our prayers, if they get not
an answer presently, yet shall they get an answer in the time of need.
When our need cometh, then shall our Help come also.
                                                           David Dickson

Can Apply One Promise

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, 
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.     
                                Hebrews 13:6

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can 
man do unto me?     
                                                 Psalms 118:6

.....1.  He that can apply one promise to himself, may
confidently apply another also.  2. The weakest true
Believer, hath as good ground of confidence in GOD,
for every good, needful for Soul or body, as the LORD'S
chief Prophets, and as good Warrant to apply the Scriptures,
to their own use, which speak of them.  3.  He who believeth
in GOD, needeth not to fear what flesh can do unto him.
4.  Faith, then, doeth its part duly when it glorieth in                    
the LORD, against all opposition.
                                                        David Dickson

Give Them You!

The Christians Walls are His Prayers

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven 
and earth.
                                                  Psalms 124:8

The Romans in a great distress were put so hard to it, that they
were fain to take the weapons out of the temples of their gods
to fight with them; andso they overcame.  And this ought to be
the course of every good Christian, in times of public distress,
to fly to the weapons of the church, prayers and tears.  The
Spartans walls were their spears, the Christians walls are
his prayers.  His help standeth in the name of the Lord who
hath made both heaven and earth.
                                              Edmund Calamy

It is Sweet Being in His Presence

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. 
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, 
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
                    Psalms 84:10

Another sign of God’s children is, to delight to be much in God’s
presence.  Children are to be in the presence of their father;
where the King is, there is the court; where the presence of God
is, there is heaven.  God is in a special manner present in his
ordinances, they are the Ark of his presence.  Now, if we are
his children, we love to be much in holy duties.  In the use of
ordinances we draw near to God, we come into our Father’s
presence; in prayer we have secret conference with God; the
soul while it is praying, is as it were parlying with God.  In the
word we hear God speaking from heaven to us; and how doth
every child of God delight to hear his Father’s voice!  In the
sacrament God kisseth his children with the kisses of his lips;
he gives them a smile of his face, and a privy-seal of his love:
oh, it is good to draw near to God.  It is sweet being in his
presence: every true child of God saith, “A day in thy courts is
better than a thousand!”
                                                            Thomas Watson

Standing on the Promises

One Day

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had 
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
                     Psalms 84:10

The least good look that a man hath from God, and the least
good word that a man hears from God, and the least love letter
and love token that a man receives from God, is exceedingly
precious to that man that hath God for his portion. “One day in 
thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”  He doth not
say, One year in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere,
but One day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere;
nor doth he say, One quarter of a year in thy courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere, but “One day in thy courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere”; nor doth he say, One month is better
than a thousand elsewhere, but “One day in thy courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere,” to shew that the very least of God
is exceeding precious to a gracious soul that hath God for his portion.
                                                             Thomas Brooks

Look Upon Mine

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of 
thine anointed.
                              Psalms 84:9

For I shall never come to look upon thy face, if thou vouchsafe
not first to look upon mine: if thou afford me not as well the benefit
of thine eyes, to look upon me, as the favour of thine ears to hear
me, I shall be left only to a bare expectation, but never come to the
happiness of fruition; but when thou vouchsafest to look upon my
face, that look of thine hath an influence of all true blessedness, and
makes me find what a happiness it is to have the God of Jacob
for my shield.
                                                          Sir Richard Baker

Where Layest Thou up Thy Treasure

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments 
help me.       
                                                 Psalms 119:175

The saint improves his earthly things for an heavenly end.  Where
layest thou up thy treasure?  Dost thou bestow it on thy voluptuous
appetite, thy hawks and thy hounds; or lockest thou it up in the bosom
of Christ’s poor members?  What use makest thou of thy honour and
greatness?  To strengthen the hands of the godly or the wicked?  And
so of all thy other temporal enjoyments.  A gracious heart improves
them for God; when a saint prays for these things, he hath an eye to
some heavenly end.  If David prays for life, it is not that he may live,
but “live and praise God.”  When he was driven from his regal throne
by the rebellious arms of Absalom, see what his desire and hope were,
2 Samuel 15:25: ”The king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of
God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he
will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation.” Mark,
not shew me my crown, my palace, but the ark, the house of God.
                                                       William Gurnall    

Be of Good Cheer

If I had the Offer made Me

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: 
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.     
                                                                        Psalms 84:2

Every amiableness is not so great to make a longing, nor every longing so
great to make a fainting; nor every fainting so great, to make the soul to faint;
Oh, then, consider how great this amiableness is, which makes my soul not
only to long, but to faint with longing!  And blame me not for fainting, as
though it were my own fault for not restraining my longing; for seeing his
Tabernacles are of infinite amiableness, they must needs work in me an
infinite delighting, and that delighting an infinite longing; and what restraint
can there be of that which is infinite?  No, alas, my fainting is but answer
able to my longing, and my longing but answerable to the amiableness.  If
I had the offer made me, which was made to Christ, to enjoy all the kingdoms
of the earth, but with condition to want the Courts of the Lord; this want
would bring to my soul a greater grief than that enjoying would give it
contentment: for seeing his Tabernacles are so amiable, where He is Lord
of Hosts, how amiable must they needs be, where he is Prince of Peace?
and Prince of Peace he is in his Courts, though in his camp he be Lord of
Hosts.
                                                                Sir Richard Baker

The Greatest Service that We Can Do Unto God

They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which 
cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
                                          Psalms 125:1

.....the greatest service that we can do unto God is to trust him.
For this is the nature of God to create all things of nothing. Therefore
he createth and bringeth forth in death, life; in darkness, light.  Now
to believe this is the essential nature and most special property of faith.
When God then seeth such a one as agreeth with his own nature, that
is, which believeth to find in danger help, in poverty riches, in sin
righteousness, and that for God’s own mercy’s sake in Christ alone,
him can God neither hate nor forsake.
                                                Martin Luther

Sing Unto Him

They Can Never be Removed

They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which 
cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
                                                                Psalms 125:1


They can never be removed from the Lord, though they may be
removed from his house and ordinances, as sometimes David
was; and from his gracious presence, and sensible communion
with him; and out of the world by death: yet never from his heart’s
love, nor out of the covenant of his grace, which is sure and everlasting;
nor out of his family, into which they are taken; nor from the Lord
Jesus Christ, nor out of his hands and arms, nor from off his heart;
nor from off him, as the foundation on which they are laid; nor out of
a state of grace, either regeneration or justification; but such abide in
the love of God, in the covenant of his grace, in the hands of his Son,
in the grace wherein they stand, and in the house of God for evermore.
                                                                   John Gill   

"Even for Ever"

They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which 
cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.  As the mountains 
are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his 
people from henceforth even for ever.    
                                                          Psalms 125:1-2

     That which is here promised the saints is a perpetual preservation
of them in that condition wherein they are; both on the part of God,
“he is round about them from henceforth even for ever”; and on their
parts, “they shall not be removed,”-- that is, from the condition of
acceptation with God wherein they are supposed to be, but they
shall abide for ever, and continue therein immovable unto the end.
This is a plain promise of their continuance in that condition wherein
they are, with their safety from thence, and not a promise of some
other good thing provided that they continue in that condition.  Their
being compared to mountains, and their stability, which consists in their
being and continuing so, will admit no other sense.  As mount Zion
abides in its condition, so shall they; and as the mountains about Jerusalem
continue, so doth the Lord continue his presence unto them.
     That expression which is used, verse 2, is weighty and full to this
purpose, “The LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for
ever.”  What can be spoken more fully, more pathetically?  Can any
expression of men so set forth the safety of the saints?  The Lord is round
about them, not to save them from this or that incursion, but from all; not
from one or two evils, but from every one whereby they are or may be
assaulted.  He is with them, and round about them on every side that no
evil shall come nigh them.  It is a most full expression of universal
preservation, or of God’s keeping his saints in his love and favour, upon
all accounts whatsoever; and that not for a season only, but it is
“henceforth,” from his giving this promise unto their souls in particular,
and their receiving of it, throughout all generations,”even for ever.”
                                                     John Owen

Unless Heaven Could Lose God

.....the lot of the righteous.....
                                                      Ps 125:3


There is a fourfold lot belonging to the faithful.  1.  The lot of the
saints is the sufferings of the saints.  “All that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution:” 2 Tim. 3:12.  2.  The lot of the saints
is also that light and happiness they have in this world.  The lot is
“fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage:” Ps. 16:6.
When David sat at the sheepfold, which was his lot, he was thus prepared
for the kingdom of Israel which was given him by lot from God.
3.  But more specially faith, grace, and sanctification; which give them
just right and title to the inheritance of glory.  Heaven is theirs now;
though not in possession, yet in succession.  They have the earnest
of it; let them grow up to stature and perfection, and take it.
4.  Lastly, they have the lot of heaven.  Hell is the lot of the
wicked: “Behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning
he is not.  This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them
that rob us”; Isa. 17:14.  Therefore it is said of Judas, that he went
“to his own place”: Acts 1:25.  “Upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be
the portion of their cup”:  Ps. 11:6.  But the lot of the righteous is
faith, and the end of their faith the salvation of their souls.  God
gives them heaven, not for any foreseen worthiness in the receivers,
for no worthiness of our own can make us our father’s heirs; but
for his own mercy and favour in Christ, preparing heaven for us,
and us for heaven.  So that upon his decree it is allotted to us; and
unless heaven could lose God, we cannot lose heaven......
                                                                       Thomas Adams

Lift Up the Hands

Always to Pray

He Cannot Make Another Truth

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise
thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: 
for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. 
                                               Psalms 138:2


“Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”  Every
creature bears the name of God; but in his word and truth
therein contained it is written at length, and therefore he is
more choice of this than of all his other works; he cares not
much what becomes of the world and all in it, so that he keeps
his word, and saves his truth.  Ere long we shall see the world
in flames; the heavens and earth shall pass away, “but the
word of the Lord endures for ever.”  When God will, he can
make more such worlds as this; but he cannot make another
truth, and therefore he will not lose one jot thereof. Satan,
knowing this, sets all his wits on work to deface this and disfigure
it by unsound doctrine.  The word is the glass in which we see
God, and seeing him are changed into his likeness by his Spirit.
If this glass be cracked, then the conceptions we have of God
will misrepresent him unto us; whereas the word, in its native
clearness, sets him out in all his glory unto our eye.
                                                  William Gurnall

God Reserves Happiness

 

Precious

And the Whole Earth