Isaiah 38:17-19 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption… "Thou hast loved my soul out of the pit of corruption" (margin). I. We were in the beginning LOVED INTO GRACE. 1. The love of Christ to sinners was the topic which arrested our solemn attention to the Gospel. 2. We sat in the region of the shadow of death, and would have remained there had we not been loved into faith. 3. At the time when faith came into our hearts, there came with it the sister grace, namely, repentance. II. We have been LOVED INTO GROWTH IN GRACE. The great motive power urging us onward has always been the self-same love of God. The Lord loves us out of love to sin. He loves us out of the pit of idolatry. There is another pit of corruption into which children of God sometimes fall, namely, that of sluggishness. The only effectual cure for a slumbering Christian is to let him have the love of Christ shed abroad in his heart. The same is true of that abominable pit of selfishness and self-esteem and pride and self-seeking, into which our feet so easily glide. The love of Christ is equally a cure for despondency and unbelief. Many a child of God can bear witness that the Lord has loved him out of his impatience. III. The Lord will LOVE US OUT OF GRACE INTO GLORY. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. |
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