"I believed, and therefore have I spoken" (Psalm 116:10).
To speak what I do not believe is hypocrisy. Not to speak what I do believe is cowardly. To speak what I believe only when and where I know it will be received is deceitful.
Pastor Henry Mahan
Contending for the Truth
Contending for the truth against the errors of modern religion is the duty of God's servants. I hope our spirit is one of genuine love to all the chosen of God; but today's rule of charity which requires us to keep silent on certain points in order to avoid controversy, I utterly despise. It is treason to the Lord Jesus to be silent on any point where He has spoken and the honor of His gospel is concerned. It is easy on the flesh to deal in generalities, to denounce hyper-this or hyper-that, and to claim to be a friend to all; but it is required of the loyal servant of King Jesus to maintain His crown-rights and to stand up for His gospel of glory and grace.
Pastor Henry Maha
"Go
home to thy friends and tell them how great things
the Lord hath done for thee." (Mark 5:19)
The
Lord had shown great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from
demons and from sin. Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends
and be THE LORD'S WITNESS.
Do
not go home and begin to preach. Do not go home and take up the great
doctrines of grace and expound them. Do not go home and strive to bring
everyone to your views and beliefs. Do not go home and condemn all who
do not see what you see. Go home and tell them WHAT GREAT THINGS THE
LORD HAS DONE FOR YOU! Not what great things you have read or heard,
but what great things you have EXPERIENCED!
This is the way
to begin our witnessing. There is never a more interesting story than
the story a person has experienced, lived, and felt. If you would
really interest others and get their attention, tell them what great
things the Lord has done IN you and FOR you!
Notice the Lord said, "Tell them what great things THE LORD HATH
DONE." It is a story of FREE GRACE. Not what we did, willed,
or gave, but what He did for us by His own free, sovereign, and undeserved
love. We will not convince them nor change them, anymore than another
man could convert us. But THE LORD, who did great things for us, can
do great things for them if He is so pleased. And He is pleased to
use the faithful witness of those who go and tell "how great
things the LORD hath done for thee."
Henry
Mahan
No
man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither
under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see
the light. (Luke 11:33)
What
is the sign that God expects from us for the evidencing of our faith
— that serious practice of that religion which we profess to believe
— but a readiness to entertain all divine truths, when brought
to us in their proper evidence?
The Jews had the light with all the advantage they could desire. For
God, having lighted the candle of the gospel, did not put it in a secret
place, or under a bushel; Christ did not preach in corners. The apostles
were ordered to preach the gospel to every creature; and both Christ
and his ministers cry in the places of concourse. It is a great privilege
that the light of the gospel is put on a candlestick, so that all who
come in may see it, and may see by it where they are and whither they
are going, and what is the true, and sure, and only way to happiness.
Matthew
Henry