By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid, etc. The writer now passes from Joseph to Moses; from the time of the peace and prosperity of the Israelites in Egypt to the time of their heavy oppression and bitter persecution. This persecution culminated in the terrible edict that all their male children that should be born should be cast into the Nile. It was at this time that Moses was born. Hence the Jewish proverb, "When the tale of bricks is doubled then comes Moses." Some of our own proverbs set forth the same truth. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." "The darkest hour of the night is that which precedes the dawn." Our text tells how by faith the parents of Moses protected their child from the fate decreed by Pharaoh, and preserved his life in infancy. We notice -

I. FAITH IN THE DIVINE INTEREST IN HUMAN LIFE. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child." They seem to have believed that their lovely child was the gift of God, and that he was not unmindful of the gift which he had bestowed. Moses was distinguished for his beauty. "He was a goodly child" (Exodus 2:2). "He was exceeding fair," or "fair unto God" (Acts 7:20). Josephus tells that when the daughter of Pharaoh saw the babe, "she was greatly in love with it, on account of its largeness and beauty." He also tells that when he was three years old every one who saw him was "greatly surprised at the beauty of his countenance: nay, it happened frequently that those who met him as he was carried along the road were obliged to turn again upon seeing the child; that they left what they were about, and stood still a great while to look on him; for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators, and made them stay longer to look upon him." Probably his parents believed that so strikingly beautiful a child was destined by God for some great and good end. They may have had a presentiment that God designed him for the accomplishment of some important work. His beauty was to them a presage of his illustrious career. It awakened or strengthened their confidence in the Divine interest in the life of the child. A truth of unspeakable preciousness is this. God is interested deeply and graciously in every human life. He cares not only for the young life before which a great career extends, but for the obscurest and feeblest human creature. "The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works." There is not a sparrow which "is forgotten in the sight of God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." "He careth for you."

II. FAITH IN THE DIVINE POWER AS TRANSCENDING THE AUTHORITY AND MIGHT OF HUMAN SOVEREIGNS. The parents of Moses believed that God could protect their child notwithstanding the cruel edict of the mighty Pharaoh. They showed their faith by concealing their cherished treasure in their house for three months. They showed it yet more clearly and impressively when they placed that treasure in its frail little vessel amongst the flags on the brink of the Nile. They committed their beloved child, not to the margin of the river and its flags, but to the ever-observant and almighty providence of God. Their faith was as reasonable as it was strong. God can either preserve from danger or deliver out of the very midst of it. The most determined edicts of the mightiest monarchs are utterly powerless against his counsels. "He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth." "He poureth contempt upon princes." "God is the Judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another." He is able to guard his faithful servants against the wrath and the power of fierce sovereigns. He can preserve his people unhurt in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19-27); or can make even hungry lions to be unto them as gentle companions (Daniel 6:16-23). Trust in him is, therefore, the highest wisdom; for his gracious interest in humanity is infinite, and his power to defend and save is almighty.

III. FAITH IN GOD INSPIRING HUMAN INGENUITY AND COURAGE. It did so in the parents of Moses. Notice:

1. Their ingenuity. For three months they successfully concealed their beloved babe. They managed to hide the infant from Egyptian eyes, and to prevent his cries from reaching Egyptian ears. They skillfully constructed the ark, and judiciously selected a refuge for it. They did these things by faith. Faith stimulates ingenuity; it quickens the inventive faculties. And when, as in the case before us, love is engaged as well as faith, and the object of affection is in danger, then the inventive faculties are stirred to their highest and utmost exercise. Great inventions and discoveries are impossible apart from great faith.

2. Their courage. "They were not afraid of the king's commandment." It has been well said that "faith has an eagle's eye and a lion's heart. It has a lion's heart to" confront the difficulties and dangers of the present, and it has an eagle's eye to descry the success and blessing of the future. The servant of Elisha was terrified when he saw the Syrian army surrounding Dothan; but Elisha was perfectly calm, because by faith he beheld the hosts of his heavenly guardians. Faith nerves the soul with invincible courage. The most earnest believers are the greatest heroes. The ancient religious believers "through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness," etc. (vers. 33-38). How splendidly was the faith of the parents of Moses vindicated! God kept the infant in safety during the three months in which it was concealed in the house. His eye was fixed on that little ark of bulrushes on the brink of the Nile, making it more secure than if it had been enclosed by castle walls or guarded by hosts of mailed warriors. His hand, unseen and unsuspected, led Pharaoh's daughter to that part of the river where the frail barque with its priceless treasure floated. And in his providence he ordered all things for the protection and education of the life of that Hebrew child, and for the fulfillment of his great destiny. Therefore, "trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." - W.J.

I. WHAT IS COMMENDED. "Faith." Natural affections sanctified are subservient and useful to faith; grace cloth not abolish nature, but perfect it. We are to obey God against our natural affections; as by faith Abraham offered his son Isaac; nature was against it. And we are to obey God with natural affection: by faith Moses was hid of his parents; there nature was for it. Many times God's interests and ours are twisted together, and then nature is allowed to work, but grace must bear sway; sometimes they are severed, and then we must leave nature to keep company with God. Use

1. It informeth us, that to strengthen faith we may and must take in the help of nature; it is God's allowance, that we may be carried out more cheerfully in the work of God (Philemon 1:16).

2. That their wickedness is very great that sin against nature.

3. In all these mixed actions look to your principles, what beareth sway and worketh most — faith or natural affection. But wherein lay the faith of this action? Chiefly in overcoming fear, in trusting God's protection for the preservation of the child; and possibly there might be something of a public regard and consideration, in believing the future deliverance of the Church and people of God out of Egypt.

II. WHO ARE COMMENDED. "His parents." Husband and wife should go hand in hand to the throne of grace, and join together in every good thing; they should agree together in the worship of God, and promoting the good of their children. When the will of the wife and the will of the husband fall in, like the tenon and the mortise, the building goes on; but when one draws one way, and another the other way, like untamed heifers in the yoke, all cometh to ruin.

III. THE COMMENDATION ITSELF.

1. The action, where —

(1)The time — "When he was born."

(2)The action itself — "He was hid."

(3)The duration — "Three months."

2. I come now to the considerations on which it was done.(1) The external impulsive cause — "Because they saw he was a proper child," ἀστεῖον, comely, and fair (Acts 7:20). Beauty is not always a sure sign of excellency — there is no trust to the brow; but they saw special lineaments of majesty, and of a heroical disposition in his countenance, which, being accompanied with some secret instinct, moved them to think that God had designed him to some eminent work, probably to the deliverance of his people.(2) The internal moving cause — "And they not afraid of the king's commandment," that bloody law of destroying their children. Here are three points —

(a)Princes must not be obeyed in things contrary to the Word of God.

(b)The commands of kings and princes have been a usual trial of God's children, as Nebuchadnezzar's command was to fall down and worship the golden image.Use: This should draw us off from men. To this end consider —

1. We are bound to God more than to men.

2. None can reward us as God can.

3. None can punish our disobedience as God can (Matthew 10:28).

4. We live longer with God than we do with men; therefore if a man would study to please, he should rather please God than men. God is eternal, man is but mortal (Isaiah 51:12).

5. God can make others our friends (Proverbs 16:7).

6. They that please men shall have enough of it (Hosea 5:12).(c) In such cases carnal fear doth betray us, and faith carries us through (Isaiah 8:12, 13).

(T. Manton, D. D.)

I. WHERE THERE IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE IN FAITH AND FEAR OF THE LORD, IT MAKES WAY UNTO A BLESSED SUCCESS IN ALL THEIR DUTIES: when it is otherwise, nothing succeeds unto their comfort.

II. WHEN DIFFICULT DUTIES BEFAL PERSONS IN THAT RELATION, IT IS THEIR WISDOM EACH TO APPLY THEMSELVES UNTO THAT PART AND SHARE OF IT WHICH THEY ARE BEST SUITED FOR. So was it in this case; Amram, no doubt, was the principal in the advice and contrivance, as his wife was in its actual execution.

III. THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF PERSECUTION, WHEN PRIVATE HOUSES ARE SEARCHED BY BLOODY OFFICERS, TO EXECUTE TYRANNICAL LAWS — when the last and utmost retreat of innocence, for that protection which is due unto it by the law of God and nature, with the common rules of human society, cannot be a shelter against wicked rage and fury. No doubt but during this season their diligence was accompanied with fervent cries unto God, and the exercise of trust in Him. The occasion was great on all hands, and they were not wanting unto any part of their duty. The outward act of hiding the child was but an indication of the internal working of their faith.

IV. IT IS WELL WHEN ANYTHING OF EMINENCE IN OUR CHILDREN DOTH SO ENGAGE OUR AFFECTIONS UNTO THEM, AS TO MAKE THEM USEFUL AND SUBSERVIENT UNTO DILIGENCE IN DISPOSING OF THEM UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD. Otherwise a fondness in parents, arising from the natural endowments of children, is usually hurtful, and oftentimes ruinous unto the one and other.

V. THE RAGE OF MEN AND THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH SHALL WORK OUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GOD'S COUNSELS AND PROMISES, UNTO HIS GLORY, FROM UNDER ALL PERPLEXITIES AND DIFFICULTIES THAT MAY ARISE IN OPPOSITION UNTO IT. So they did in this instance in an eminent manner.

(J. Owen, D. D.)

I. A BELOVED CHILD IN GREAT DANGER. Children are always in danger.

1. There are the perils connected with physical well-being.

2. Those which come from the hardening influence of resistance of Divine grace. What if the child should steadfastly persist in evil habits which already show themselves!

3. Those which come through the malice of Satan. Satan is on the track of the children.

II. THE PARENTS' FEARLESS FAITH. "Parents." The strength of the faith may have been due to that; it was the joint faith of two. This faith showed itself —

1. In a quiet confidence that God would protect their child.

2. In the adoption of all possible means to the right end.

III. THIS FEARLESS FAITH RESTING ON SUFFICIENT GROUNDS. What are they?

1. The intrinsic worth of a child. Who can tell what any child may become?

2. The fact that the child is fair to God. (See margin of Acts 7:20).

3. The distinct promises of God's Word.

(C. New.)

I. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING WHEN IN A FAMILY BOTH THE PARENTS HAVE FAITH. "By faith he was hid three months of his parents." Moses himself (Exodus 2.) ascribes this to his mother — "When she saw that he was a goodly child she hid him three months." Stephen (Acts 7.). says, "In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months": thus mentioning rather his father than his mother. No doubt the apostle combined the two other inspired utterances. Do you wonder that Moses chiefly mentions his mother, Joehebed? I do not. What man is there among us but always delights to mention his godly mother, and though we would have no partialities about our parents, yet without controversy great is the mystery of a mother's love, and there are some points about it in which it makes a deeper impression upon the memory than a father's care. Prize fathers as you may, and should, yet there is a tender touch that comes home to every man's heart when he thinks of his mother. It seems natural that Moses should, when he wrote the account, mention most of all his mother; and indeed a mother has more to do with a babe than a father can have: in its tender infancy she is naturally its chief guardian. Perhaps, too, though we cannot be sure, Jochebed. may have been the stronger believer of the two, and may have been the main instigator of the child's preservation.

II. TRUE AND EVEN REMARKABLE FAITH MAY ACT IN A VERY COMMONPLACE WAY. What do we read? By faith they "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness," and so on. Why these are great things, worthy of mention. Yes, but this also is great in its ways — "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents." It has no trumpet ring about it like stopping lions' mouths and quenching fires, and subduing kingdoms, but in God's point of view, the hiding of a little baby three months, may be as great an instance of acceptable faith as any of them: even turning to flight the armies of the alien may not be greater than defeating the malice of a king by saving a little child. But you say, "Was it not natural enough that a mother should try to preserve her child's life? Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" Yes, I know all that; but still the Lord is not praising the natural affections but the supernatural faith. We should say, "Nature led them to conceal the babe," but God says, "Faith led them to do it," and, in their degree, both are true. Nature prompted, but faith constrained, and enabled them to do what else their timidity would not have ventured upon.

III. FAITH WILL ACT WITH A VERY SLENDER ENCOURAGEMENT. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child." Stephen says in his speech that the child was "exceeding fair"; and if you look at Stephen's speech you will see that the translators have put in the .margin, "fair to God." So it may run, "when they saw that the child was fair to God." Now, I gather from that expression that the child was beautiful beyond the common run of children; that there was a charm about its features, and something superhuman, probably, since it was fair to God. In the babe's face there were prophecies of the man of God. Surely among them that have been born of woman there has not been born a greater than Moses; and about him as a child there was a something so marvellously beautiful, that his parents were fascinated by him.

IV. FAITH HAS GREAT POWER IN OVERCOMING FEAR. There was, no doubt, appended to Pharaoh's statute a punishment for anybody who should not obey the law. Perhaps four lives were in danger for the sake of that one little life — her husband, herself, Aaron, and Miriam, her daughter. Yet through faith she will run all risks, and so will all her family, that this promising child whom they believe God has sent to them for a noble purpose may still live. Now, if you have faith in Christ manifest it by overcoming all fear of the consequences of doing right. It is right to obey God rather than man.

V. FAITH IS OFTEN DRIVEN TO GREAT SHIFTS. The mother was put to great shifts to hide her child, and she used all her wits and common-sense. She did not put her child in the front room, or carry it into the street or sit at the open door and nurse it, but she was prudent, and acted as if all depended upon her concealing the babe. Some people suppose that if you have faith you may act like a fool. But faith makes a person wise. It is one of the notable points about faith that it is sanctified common-sense. It is not fanaticism, it is not absurdity; it is making God the grandest asset in our account, and then reckoning according to the soundest logic.

VI. FAITH'S SIMPLE ACTS OFTEN LEAD ON TO THE GRANDEST RESULTS. Great wheels turn on little axles. There is a tiny part to each machine of unutterable importance. You never know the infinity of the influence of a word. To the wise man nothing is little; to the fool nothing is truly great. Make all things great by doing them by faith.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Who can say how vast are the potentialities involved in the life of a young child? More than nineteen hundred years ago, in the civil wars of Rome, the life of a beautiful child was again and again saved from the extremest peril. That child grew up to be a heavy curse to himself, a heavy curse to others; he grew up to be one of the worst men who ever lived; the Emperor Tiberius, in whose reign Christ was crucified. Again, some hundred and fifty years ago, a house in an English village was found to be in flames. The clergyman and his family — for it was the vicarage — were roused, and when they had escaped, it was found that one little boy was still in the burning house. A ladder was placed to the window, he was rescued, and handed unhurt into his father's arms. What would the world have lost had that little boy perished? For his name was John Wesley, and by his piety and zeal he fanned into flame once more the dead white embers of Christian faith. Now, who can tell what a little child may be! He may grow up, as has been said, like Beethoven, to lift the soul by the magic of Divine melody into the seventh heaven of ineffable vision and incommensurable hope; or like Newton, to weigh the far-off stars in the balance, and measure the heavings of the eternal flow; or like Luther, to scorch up what is cruel and false by a word, as by a flame; or like Milton and Burke, to awake men's hearts with the note of an organ trumpet; or like the great saints of the Churches and the great sages of the Schools, to add to those acquisitions of spiritual beauty and intellectual mastery which have, one by one, and little by little, raised men from being no higher than the brute to be only a little lower than the angels. You never know but what the child, in rags and pitiful squalor, that meets you in the streets, may have in him the germ of gilts that might add new treasure to the storehouse of beautiful things or noble acts. In that great storm of terror which swept over France in 1793, a certain man who was every hour expecting to be led off to the guillotine uttered this memorable sentiment: "Even at this incomprehensible moment," he said, "when morality, enlightenment, love of country, all of them only make death at the prison door or on the scaffold more certain — yes, on the fatal tumbril itself, with nothing free but my voice, I could still cry 'Take care' to a child that should come too near the wheel. Perhaps I may save his life; perhaps he may one day save his country."

(Archdeacon Farrar.)

Abel, Barak, Cain, David, Egyptians, Enoch, Esau, Gedeon, Gideon, Hebrews, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jephthae, Jephthah, Joseph, Noah, Pharaoh, Rahab, Samson, Samuel, Sara, SarahEgypt, Jericho, Jerusalem, Red SeaAfraid, Beautiful, Beauty, Birth, Born, Child, Comely, Commandment, Decree, Edict, Fair, Faith, Fear, Goodly, Hid, Hidden, Injunction, Kept, King's, Months, Orders, Ordinary, Parents, Proper, Rare, Secretly, Terror1. What faith is.
6. Without faith we cannot please God.
7. The examples of faithfulness in the fathers of old time.

Hebrews 11:23

     5219   authority, human institutions
     5257   civil authorities
     5370   kingship, human
     5720   mothers, examples
     5731   parents
     5812   concealment
     5931   resistance

Hebrews 11:1-39

     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     8412   decisions

Hebrews 11:1-40

     8020   faith

Hebrews 11:4-28

     5714   men

Hebrews 11:4-38

     8428   example

Hebrews 11:23-29

     5102   Moses, life of

October 15. "Faith is the Evidence of Things not Seen" (Heb. xi. 1).
"Faith is the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. xi. 1). True faith drops its letter in the post-office box, and lets it go. Distrust holds on to a corner of it, and wonders that the answer never comes. I have some letters in my desk that have been written for weeks, but there was some slight uncertainty about the address or the contents, so they are yet unmailed. They have not done either me or anybody else any good yet. They will never accomplish anything until I let them go out of my hands and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 26. "Strangers and Pilgrims" (Heb. xi. 13).
"Strangers and pilgrims" (Heb. xi. 13). If you have ever tried to plough a straight furrow in the country--we are sorry for the man that does not know how to plough and more sorry for the man that is too proud to want to know--you have found it necessary to have two stakes in a line and to drive your horses by these stakes. If you have only one stake before you, you will have no steadying point for your vision, but you can wiggle about without knowing it and make your furrows as crooked as a serpent's …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 3. "He Went Out, not Knowing Whither He Went" (Heb. xi. 8).
"He went out, not knowing whither He went" (Heb. xi. 8). It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January the First the Unknown Journey
"He went out not knowing whither he went." --HEBREWS xi. 6-10. Abram began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate destination. He obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its consequences. He took "one step," and he did not "ask to see the distant scene." And that is faith, to do God's will here and now, quietly leaving the results to Him. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Illusiveness of Life.
Preached June 9, 1850. THE ILLUSIVENESS OF LIFE. "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."--Hebrews xi. 8-10. Last Sunday we touched upon …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

The Pilgrim's Longings
Now, our position is very similar to theirs. As many of us as have believed in Christ have been called out. The very meaning of a church is, "called out by Christ." We have been separated. I trust we know what it is to have gone without the camp, bearing Christ's reproach. Henceforth, in this world we have no home, no true home for our spirits; our home is beyond the flood; we are looking for it amongst the unseen things; we are strangers and sojourners as all our fathers were, dwellers in this wilderness, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

Rahab's Faith
I do think this triumph of faith over sin is not the least here recorded, but that if there be any superiority ascribable to any one of faith's exploits, this is, in some sense, the greatest of all. What! faith, didst thou fight with hideous lust? What! wouldst thou struggle with the fiery passion which sendeth forth flame from human breasts? What! wouldst thou touch with thy hallowed fingers foul and bestial debauchery? "Yea," says faith, "I did encounter this abomination of iniquity; I delivered …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Faith
This is an old law; it is as old as the first man. No sooner were Cain and Abel born into this world, and no sooner had they attained to manhood, than God gave a practical proclamation of this law, that "without faith it is impossible to please him." Cain and Abel, one bright day, erected an altar side by side with each other. Cain fetched of the fruits of the trees and of the abundance of the soil, and placed them upon his altar; Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock, and laid it upon his …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Noah's Faith, Fear, Obedience, and Salvation
We may take pleasure in thinking of Noah as a kind of contrast to Enoch. Enoch was taken away from the evil to come: he saw not the flood, nor heard the wailing of those who were swept away by the waterfloods. His was a delightful deliverance from the harvest of wrath which followed the universal godlessness of the race. It was not his to fight the battle of righteousness to the bitter end; but by a secret rapture he avoided death, and escaped those evil days in which his grandson's lot was cast. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 36: 1890

The Best Strengthening Medicine
THOSE WHO OUT OF WEAKNESS were made strong are written among the heroes of faith, and are by no means the least of them. Believers "quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong." Who shall tell which of the three grand deeds of faith is the greatest? Many of us may never have to brave the fiery stake, nor to bow our necks upon the block, to die as Paul did; but if we have grace enough to be out of weakness made strong, we shall not be left out of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Obedience of Faith
"Is there a heart that will not bend To thy divine control? Descend, O sovereign love, descend, And melt that stubborn soul! " Surely, though we have had to mourn our disobedience with many tears and sighs, we now find joy in yielding ourselves as servants of the Lord: our deepest desire is to do the Lord's will in all things. Oh, for obedience! It has been supposed by many ill-instructed people that the doctrine of justification by faith is opposed to the teaching of good works, or obedience. There …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Call of Abraham
I. First, let us LOOK AT ABRAHAM. Abraham's family was originally an idolatrous one; afterwards some beams of light shone in upon the household, and they became worshippers of the true God; but there was much ignorance mingled with their worship, and at least occasionally their old idolatrous habits returned. The Lord who had always fixed on Abraham to be his chosen servant and the father of his chosen people upon earth, made Abraham leave the society of his friends and relatives, and go out of Ur …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Go Back? Never!
"And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly...city."--Hebrews 11:15, 16. ABRAHAM left his country at God's command, and he never went back again. The proof of faith lies in perseverance. There is a sort of faith which doth run well for a while, but it is soon ended, and it doth not obey the truth. The Apostle tells us, however, that the people of God were …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

The Gaze of the Soul
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.--Heb. 12:2 Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six coming for the first time to the reading of the Scriptures. He approaches the Bible without any previous knowledge of what it contains. He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and nothing to defend. Such a man will not have read long until his mind begins to observe certain truths standing out from the page. They are the spiritual principles behind …
A. W. Tozer—The Pursuit of God

The Christian Faith
Scripture references: Hebrews 11; Matthew 9:29; 17:20; Mark 10:52; 11:22; Acts 2:38; 3:16; 10:43; 16:30,31; Romans 1:17; 5:1; 10:17; Galatians 2:20. FAITH AND PRACTICE Belief Controls Action.--"As the man is, so is his strength" (Judges 8:21), "For as he thinketh in his heart so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). "According to your faith be it unto you" (Matthew 9:28,29). "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The Scriptures place stress upon the fact that …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

The Voices of the Dead
"And by it he being dead yet speaketh." Hebrews xi. 4. Much of the communion of this earth is not by speech or actual contact, and the holiest influences fall upon us in silence. A monument or symbol shall convey a meaning which cannot be expressed; and a token of some departed one is more eloquent than words. The mere presence of a good and holy personage will move us to reverence and admiration, though he may say and do but little. So is there an impersonal presence of such an one; and, though …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

The Practice of Piety; Directing a Christian How to Walk that He May Please God.
Whoever thou art that lookest into this book, never undertake to read it, unless thou first resolvest to become from thine heart an unfeigned Practitioner of Piety. Yet read it, and that speedily, lest, before thou hast read it over, God, by some unexpected death, cut thee off for thine inveterate impiety. The Practice of Piety consists-- First, In knowing the essence of God, and that in respect of, (I.) The diverse manner of being therein, which are three persons--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (II.) …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Testimonies.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."--Heb. xi. 6. In order to prevent the possibility of being led into paths of error, faith is directed, not to a Christ of the imagination, but to "the Christ in the garments of the Sacred Scripture," as Calvin expresses it. And therefore we must discriminate between (1) faith as a faculty implanted in the soul without our knowledge; (2) faith as a power whereby this implanted faculty begins to act; and (3) faith as a result,--since with this faith (1) …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Abraham and Isaac. Genesis xxii.
1.--"After these things." What things? See verse 33 in preceding chapter. After Abraham had given himself to prayer. It often happens that grace is given for grace. God prepares his own for trial and suffering by revealing Himself. "GOD DID TEMPT."--Like a workman who is conscious the work is well done, fears not the scrutiny which waits his labour. When the smith has put good work into the iron cable, he does not then fear the strain of the test put upon it, and God knew what He had done to …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

Enoch, the Deathless
BY REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D. Enoch was the bright particular star of the patriarchal epoch. His record is short, but eloquent. It is crowded into a few words, but every word, when placed under examination, expands indefinitely. Every virtue may be read into them; every eulogium possible to a human character shines from them. He was a devout man, a fearless preacher of righteousness, an intimate friend of God, and the only man of his dispensation who did not see death. He sheds a lustre on the …
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known

Faith an Assurance and a Proof.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen. For therein the elders had witness borne to them. By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear."--HEB. xi. 1-3 (R.V.). It is often said that one of the greatest difficulties in the Epistle to the Hebrews is to discover any real connection of ideas between the author's general purpose in the previous discussion and the …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

A Cloud of Witnesses.
"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.... By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

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