They looked unto Him and were Lightened
"Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no
money: come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price."
-Isaiah
55:1 [KJV]
How
many a poor sensible sinner has, upon the strength of these words,
looked unto Jesus and been lightened (Psalm 34:5), come to Him
and met with a kind reception. By the power which attends such
invitations the heart is opened, as was the heart of Lydia, to attend
unto the things spoken in the gospel. It is not put away as too holy
for a poor polluted sinner to touch, nor is the Lord Jesus viewed as
an angry judge; but in these invitations His
clemency, tenderness, and compassion are seen and felt, and beams and
rays of His
mercy and grace both enlighten the understanding and soften and melt
the heart.
Thence
spring confession of sin, self-loathing, renunciation of one's own
righteousness, earnest desires and breathings after the Lord, and an
embracing of the love of the truth so far as made known. And as all
these effects, so different from the old dead pharisaic religion, are
produced by the power of the word upon the heart, the Bible becomes a
new book, and is read and studied with attention and delight. The
ears, too, being unstopped, as well as the eyes opened, if there be
the opportunity of hearing the preached gospel, with what eagerness
is it embraced, and what a sweetness there is found in it. All who
have passed through these things will agree with us that there are no
such hearing days as what Job calls "the
days of my
youth, when the secret of God was
upon my
tabernacle" (Job 29:4).
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802 – 1869 A.D.)
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