For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions, it will be easy to understand how necessary it was to make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by the neglect, vanishing away amid the errors, or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men.
It being thus manifest that God, foreseeing the inefficiency of his image imprinted on the fair form of the universe, has given the assistance of his Word to all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually, we, too, must pursue this straight path, if we aspire in earnest to a genuine contemplation of God;—we must go, I say, to the Word, where the character of God, drawn from his works is described accurately and to the life; these works being estimated, not by our depraved Judgment, but by the standard of eternal truth.
If, as I lately said, we turn aside from it, how great soever the speed with which we move, we shall never reach the goal, because we are off the course.
“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.”—1 Peter 2:7.
I. First, this is a positive fact, that UNTO BELIEVERS JESUS CHRIST IS PRECIOUS.
In himself he is of inestimable preciousness, for he is the very God of very God. He is moreover, perfect man without sin. The precious gopher wood of his humanity is overlaid with the pure gold of his divinity. He is a mine of jewels, and a mountain of gems. He is altogether lovely, but, alas! this blind world seeth not his beauty. The painted harlotries of that which, Madam Bubble, the world can see, and all men wonder after her. This life, its joy, its lust, its gains, its honours,—these have beauty in the eye of the unregenerate man, but in Christ he sees nothing which he can admire. He hears his name as a common word, and looks upon his cross as a thing in which he has no interest, neglects his gospel, despises his Word, and, perhaps, vents fierce spite upon his people. But not so the believer. The man who has been brought to know that Christ is the only foundation upon which the soul can build its eternal home, he who has been taught that Jesus Christ is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the author and the finisher of faith, thinks not lightly of Christ. He calls him all his salvation and all his desire; the only glorious and lovely one.
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any will come after Me let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” – Matthew 16:24
Before developing the theme of this verse let us comment on its terms. “If any”: the duty enjoined is for all who would join Christ’s followers and enlist under His banner. “If any will”: the Greek is very emphatic, signifying not only the consent of the will, but full purpose of heart, a determined resolution. “Come after Me”: as a servant subject to his Master, a scholar his Teacher, a soldier his Captain. “Deny”: the Greek means, “deny utterly.” Deny himself: his sinful and corrupt nature. “And take up”: not passively bear or endure, but voluntarily assume, actively adopt. “His cross”: which is scorned by the world, hated by the flesh, but is the distinguishing mark of a real Christian. “And follow Me”: live as Christ lived—to the glory of God.
The immediate context is most solemn and striking. The Lord Jesus has just announced to His apostles, for the first time, His approaching death of humiliation (v 21). Peter was staggered, and said, “Pity Thyself, Lord” (v 22 mar.). That expressed the policy of the carnal mind. The way of the world is self-seeking and self-shielding. “Spare thyself” is the sum of its philosophy. But the doctrine of Christ is not “save thyself” but sacrifice thyself. Christ discerned in Peter’s counsel a temptation from Satan (v 23), and at once flung it from Him. Then turning to Peter, He said: Not only “must” Jesus go up to Jerusalem and die, but everyone who would be a follower of His must take up his cross (v 24). The “must” is as imperative in the one case as in the other. Mediatorially the cross of Christ stands alone, but experimentally it is shared by all who enter into life.
Holly D. Dye is the founding contributor and General Editor of Refocusing Our Eyes.
O Sovereign Lord ~ Thou which hast made the changing of the seasons, will also direct and watch over mine.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecc 3:1)
The great English commentator and Presbyterian minister, Matthew Henry said, “Those things which to us seem most casual and contingent are, in the counsel and foreknowledge of God, punctually determined, and the very hour of them is fixed, and can neither be anticipated nor adjourned a moment.”
Finding myself in such a troubling and agonizing season of my life, I resigned to spend several hours seeking God’s wisdom on this Lord’s Day. His answer came in quite an unexpected way, as my attention was drawn to His creation.
A few weeks ago there was an event here at Dodgers Stadium with Joel Osteen – 35,000 people at Dodgers Stadium – something like that. He is now the largest “church”, and I’m using the word loosely, in America, down in Houston.
You need to understand that he is a pagan religionist, in every sense. He’s a quasi-Pantheist. Jesus is a footnote that satisfies his critics and deceives his followers.
I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But I’ve come to realize that ” the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths, but more like the hub in a wheel of truth.” In other words, once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t to steer them beyond the gospel, but to move them more deeply into it. All good theology, in fact, is an exposition of the gospel.
In his letter to the Christians of Colossae, the apostle Paul portrays the gospel as the instrument of all continued growth and spiritual progress, even after a believer’s conversion.
“All over the world,” he writes, “this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Col. 1:6). He means that the gospel is not only growing wider in the world but it’s also growing deeper in Christians.
“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.”—1 Peter 2:7. 
