THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “Verse 1 CONTENTS God the Holy Ghost is here celebrating the glory and praise of Christ, and his Church in him; and showing what a vast accession of redeemed souls shall pour into the Redeemer’s kingdom in the latter-day glory. Verses 1-3 I beg to be understood as speaking with all due humility, on a subject so infinitely sublime and glorious; and rather as asking than deciding upon it; but I venture to say, it strikes me that the person here spoken to, is Christ, the glorious Head of his Church,…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call To Worship December 22 2019
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle “Let us mark, fourthly — the hymn of praise which the heavenly host sang in the hearing of the shepherds. They said, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.’ These famous words are variously interpreted. Man is by nature so dull in spiritual things, that it seems as if he cannot understand a sentence of heavenly language when he hears it. Yet a meaning may be drawn from the words which is free from any objection, and is not only good sense, but excellent theology. ‘Glory…
Call To Worship December 15 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “Isaiah 7-Verses 10-15 Reader! do not forget again, in the perusal of this most blessed scripture, to observe how the Lord takes occasion from man’s unworthiness to magnify the riches of his grace. So, indeed, the Lord hath done from the beginning. The fall of Adam made way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! what wonders are found in the subject of redeeming grace! How blessed is it to see God’s graciousness! The Lord had sent his servant, the prophet, on a message to Ahaz, to comfort him, notwithstanding…
Call to Worship December 8, 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker REFLECTIONS “MY soul! behold to what temptations thou art exposed, not only from false prophets and false teachers, but also from false friends and relations. How hath the GOD of this word blinded the minds of men and brought them over to his interests! How doth that prince of the power of the air, as he is called by the apostle, still work in the children of disobedience! And how doth he govern them, direct them, and influence them, by his secret insinuations, to dishonour GOD themselves, and prompt others by their…
Call To Worship December 1 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “This is a most blessed Chapter, for the precious contents of which the Church of CHRIST has found occasion in all ages since possessed of it, and will find occasion to bless GOD the HOLY GHOST for it till time shall be no more. We have in it the memorable spot predicted where CHRIST should be born; with assurances of his spiritual government and kingdom, and the gracious marks by which his spiritual Israel should be known! MICAH 5:1 The Chapter is introduced with an account of Zion’s troubles. She is…
Call to Worship November 24 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “DEUTERONOMY 12:1 Sweet thought arising out of this verse, that our religion founded in JESUS the chief corner stone, is of daily obligation and of never ceasing importance. If JESUS be the statute of my soul this day, so is he tomorrow, and so will he be forever. Hebrews 13:8. DEUTERONOMY 12:2-3 He that is at peace with GOD in CHRIST, is at war with all the enemies of GOD and CHRIST. Reader! if your body be really a temple of the HOLY GHOST, all idol worship is your abhorrence. See…
Call to Worship November 17 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “DEUTERONOMY 11:1 The charge to Israel was special and distinguishing. Israel was set apart, and distinguished, from all other nations of the earth. No people knew the LORD by signs and wonders, by holy worship and ordinances, as Israel did. What nation (as Moses told them) had the LORD so nigh [near] as Israel? Deuteronomy 4:7. Reader! I charge it upon your mind, in the view of this subject, to consider how infinitely this argument is heightened since the SON of GOD, in substance of our flesh, came and tabernacled…
Call to Worship November 10 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY by Robert Hawker “DEUTERONOMY 10:14-15 It is very precious to trace all mercies to their source. The infinite greatness of GOD, and the infinite littleness of man, are in these verses most suitably brought together, by way of demonstrating, to the full, the wonderful properties of distinguishing grace. Nothing but distinguishing grace can be the cause assigned for GOD’S mercy. The love of GOD is the source, the first, the predisposing, the original, and only cause. The blood of JESUS, the price given for the purchase; and the HOLY SPIRIT, the whole cause of…
Call to Worship December 3, 2019
THE POOR MAN’S OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY Robert Hawker “DEUTERONOMY 9:23-29 I would again remind the Reader, in this place, of that sweet office of the HOLY GHOST as the LORD’S Remembrancer. Moses was acting in this instance as his instrument. And when at any time our sins and rebellions are brought to our remembrance, whatever is the instrument, may we have grace to consider in it the HOLY SPIRIT’s work. This will open a blessed source of improvement…What a beautiful strain of earnestness in prayer is here read to us, of Moses’s pleading with GOD in his covenant relation and…
Call to Worship October 27, 2019
Seeking a Reformation of Worship BY R.C. SPROUL “When Israel’s prophets denounced the corruption of Israelite worship, they sought reform, not revolution. Though they vehemently criticized liturgicalism, they never attacked the liturgy. Though they railed against externalism and formalism, they never sought to remove the externals and forms God had instituted. For the forms of worship to communicate the content they are designed to convey, there must be constant instruction so that people understand their meaning. The sacraments are not naked symbols. They must be clothed with the Word. Word and sacrament must go together. Sacrament without Word inevitably yields formalism. Word without sacrament…