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Morning Bible Reading - Psalms 78

  1 <> Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.  2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:  3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  4 We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.  5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:  6 That the generation to come might know [them, even] the children [which] should be born; [who] should arise and declare [them] to their children:  7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:  8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation [that] set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.  9 The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.  10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;  11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.  12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, [in] the field of Zoan.  13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.  14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.  15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as [out of] the great depths.  16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.  17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.  18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.  19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?  20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?  21 Therefore the LORD heard [this], and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;  22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:  23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,  24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.  25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.  26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.  27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:  28 And he let [it] fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.  29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;  30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat [was] yet in their mouths,  31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen [men] of Israel.  32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.  33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.  34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.  35 And they remembered that God [was] their rock, and the high God their redeemer.  36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.  37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.  38 But he, [being] full of compassion, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.  39 For he remembered that they [were but] flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.  40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, [and] grieve him in the desert!  41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.  42 They remembered not his hand, [nor] the day when he delivered them from the enemy.  43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:  44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.  45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.  46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.  47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.  48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.  49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels [among them].  50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;  51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of [their] strength in the tabernacles of Ham:  52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.  53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.  54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, [even to] this mountain, [which] his right hand had purchased.  55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.  56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:  57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.  58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.  59 When God heard [this], he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:  60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent [which] he placed among men;  61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.  62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.  63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.  64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.  65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, [and] like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.  66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.  67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:  68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.  69 And he built his sanctuary like high [palaces], like the earth which he hath established for ever.  70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:  71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.  72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   0-999 Chapter Outline Attention called for. (1-8) The history of Israel. (9-39) Their settlement in Canaan. (40-55) The mercies of God to Israel contrasted with their ingratitude. (56-72)

Matthew Henry Commentary:   1-8 These are called dark and deep sayings, because they are carefully to be looked into. The law of God was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children, that the church may abide for ever. Also, that the providences of God, both in mercy and in judgment, might encourage them to conform to the will of God. The works of God much strengthen our resolution to keep his commandments. Hypocrisy is the high road to apostacy; those that do not set their hearts right, will not be stedfast with God. Many parents, by negligence and wickedness, become murderers of their children. But young persons, though they are bound to submit in all things lawful, must not obey sinful orders, or copy sinful examples.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   9-39 Sin dispirits men, and takes away the heart. Forgetfulness of God|s works is the cause of disobedience to his laws. This narrative relates a struggle between God|s goodness and man|s badness. The Lord hears all our murmurings and distrusts, and is much displeased. Those that will not believe the power of God|s mercy, shall feel the fire of his indignation. Those cannot be said to trust in God|s salvation as their happiness at last, who can not trust his providence in the way to it. To all that by faith and prayer, ask, seek, and knock, these doors of heaven shall at any time be opened; and our distrust of God is a great aggravation of our sins. He expressed his resentment of their provocation; not in denying what they sinfully lusted after, but in granting it to them. Lust is contented with nothing. Those that indulge their lust, will never be estranged from it. Those hearts are hard indeed, that will neither be melted by the mercies of the Lord, nor broken by his judgments. Those that sin still, must expect to be in trouble still. And the reason why we live with so little comfort, and to so little purpose, is, because we do not live by faith. Under these rebukes they professed repentance, but they were not sincere, for they were not constant. In Israel|s history we have a picture of our own hearts and lives. God|s patience, and warnings, and mercies, imbolden them to harden their hearts against his word. And the history of kingdoms is much the same. Judgments and mercies have been little attended to, until the measure of their sins has been full. And higher advantages have not kept churches from declining from the commandments of God. Even true believers recollect, that for many a year they abused the kindness of Providence. When they come to heaven, how will they admire the Lord|s patience and mercy in bringing them to his kingdom!

Matthew Henry Commentary:   40-55 Let not those that receive mercy from God, be thereby made bold to sin, for the mercies they receive will hasten its punishment; yet let not those who are under Divine rebukes for sin, be discouraged from repentance. The Holy One of Israel will do what is most for his own glory, and what is most for their good. Their forgetting former favours, led them to limit God for the future. God made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock, with all care and tenderness. Thus the true Joshua, even Jesus, brings his church out of the wilderness; but no earthly Canaan, no worldly advantages, should make us forget that the church is in the wilderness while in this world, and that there remaineth a far more glorious rest for the people of God.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   56-72 After the Israelites were settled in Canaan, the children were like their fathers. God gave them his testimonies, but they turned back. Presumptuous sins render even Israelites hateful to God|s holiness, and exposed to his justice. Those whom the Lord forsakes become an easy prey to the destroyer. And sooner or later, God will disgrace his enemies. He set a good government over his people; a monarch after his own heart. With good reason does the psalmist make this finishing, crowning instance of God|s favour to Israel; for David was a type of Christ, the great and good Shepherd, who was humbled first, and then exalted; and of whom it was foretold, that he should be filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. On the uprightness of his heart, and the skilfulness of his hands, all his subjects may rely; and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Every trial of human nature hitherto, confirms the testimony of Scripture, that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and nothing but being created anew by the Holy Ghost can cure the ungodliness of any.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Psalms 78:1-999 

Evening Bible Reading - Romans 7

  1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?  2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband.  3 So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.  4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.  5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.  6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.  7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.  8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.  9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.  10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.  11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].  12 Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.  13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.  14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.  15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.  17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.  19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   0-999 Chapter Outline Believers are united to Christ, that they may bring forth fruit unto God. (1-6) The use and excellence of the law. (7-13) The spiritual conflicts between corruption and grace in a believer. (14-25)

Matthew Henry Commentary:   1-6 So long as a man continues under the law as a covenant, and seeks justification by his own obedience, he continues the slave of sin in some form. Nothing but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, can make any sinner free from the law of sin and death. Believers are delivered from that power of the law, which condemns for the sins committed by them. And they are delivered from that power of the law which stirs up and provokes the sin that dwells in them. Understand this not of the law as a rule, but as a covenant of works. In profession and privilege, we are under a covenant of grace, and not under a covenant of works; under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses. The difference is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a new husband. The second marriage is to Christ. By death we are freed from obligation to the law as a covenant, as the wife is from her vows to her husband. In our believing powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the law, and have no more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his master, has to do with his master|s yoke. The day of our believing, is the day of being united to the Lord Jesus. We enter upon a life of dependence on him, and duty to him. Good works are from union with Christ; as the fruitfulness of the vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is no fruit to God, till we are united to Christ. The law, and the greatest efforts of one under the law, still in the flesh, under the power of corrupt principles, cannot set the heart right with regard to the love of God, overcome worldly lusts, or give truth and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that comes by the special sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more than a formal obedience to the outward letter of any precept, can be performed by us, without the renewing, new-creating grace of the new covenant.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   7-13 There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which is necessary to repentance, and therefore to peace and pardon, but by trying our hearts and lives by the law. In his own case the apostle would not have known the sinfulness of his thoughts, motives, and actions, but by the law. That perfect standard showed how wrong his heart and life were, proving his sins to be more numerous than he had before thought, but it did not contain any provision of mercy or grace for his relief. He is ignorant of human nature and the perverseness of his own heart, who does not perceive in himself a readiness to fancy there is something desirable in what is out of reach. We may perceive this in our children, though self-love makes us blind to it in ourselves. The more humble and spiritual any Christian is, the more clearly will he perceive that the apostle describes the true believer, from his first convictions of sin to his greatest progress in grace, during this present imperfect state. St. Paul was once a Pharisee, ignorant of the spirituality of the law, having some correctness of character, without knowing his inward depravity. When the commandment came to his conscience by the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and he saw what it demanded, he found his sinful mind rise against it. He felt at the same time the evil of sin, his own sinful state, that he was unable to fulfil the law, and was like a criminal when condemned. But though the evil principle in the human heart produces sinful motions, and the more by taking occasion of the commandment; yet the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. It is not favourable to sin, which it pursues into the heart, and discovers and reproves in the inward motions thereof. Nothing is so good but a corrupt and vicious nature will pervert it. The same heat that softens wax, hardens clay. Food or medicine when taken wrong, may cause death, though its nature is to nourish or to heal. The law may cause death through man|s depravity, but sin is the poison that brings death. Not the law, but sin discovered by the law, was made death to the apostle. The ruinous nature of sin, and the sinfulness of the human heart, are here clearly shown.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   14-17 Compared with the holy rule of conduct in the law of God, the apostle found himself so very far short of perfection, that he seemed to be carnal; like a man who is sold against his will to a hated master, from whom he cannot set himself at liberty. A real Christian unwillingly serves this hated master, yet cannot shake off the galling chain, till his powerful and gracious Friend above, rescues him. The remaining evil of his heart is a real and humbling hinderance to his serving God as angels do and the spirits of just made perfect. This strong language was the result of St. Paul|s great advance in holiness, and the depth of his self-abasement and hatred of sin. If we do not understand this language, it is because we are so far beneath him in holiness, knowledge of the spirituality of God|s law, and the evil of our own hearts, and hatred of moral evil. And many believers have adopted the apostle|s language, showing that it is suitable to their deep feelings of abhorrence of sin, and self-abasement. The apostle enlarges on the conflict he daily maintained with the remainder of his original depravity. He was frequently led into tempers, words, or actions, which he did not approve or allow in his renewed judgement and affections. By distinguishing his real self, his spiritual part, from the self, or flesh, in which sin dwelt, and by observing that the evil actions were done, not by him, but by sin dwelling in him, the apostle did not mean that men are not accountable for their sins, but he teaches the evil of their sins, by showing that they are all done against reason and conscience. Sin dwelling in a man, does not prove its ruling, or having dominion over him. If a man dwells in a city, or in a country, still he may not rule there.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   18-22 The more pure and holy the heart is, it will have the more quick feeling as to the sin that remains in it. The believer sees more of the beauty of holiness and the excellence of the law. His earnest desires to obey, increase as he grows in grace. But the whole good on which his will is fully bent, he does not do; sin ever springing up in him, through remaining corruption, he often does evil, though against the fixed determination of his will. The motions of sin within grieved the apostle. If by the striving of the flesh against the Spirit, was meant that he could not do or perform as the Spirit suggested, so also, by the effectual opposition of the Spirit, he could not do what the flesh prompted him to do. How different this case from that of those who make themselves easy with regard to the inward motions of the flesh prompting them to evil; who, against the light and warning of conscience, go on, even in outward practice, to do evil, and thus, with forethought, go on in the road to perdition! For as the believer is under grace, and his will is for the way of holiness, he sincerely delights in the law of God, and in the holiness which it demands, according to his inward man; that new man in him, which after God is created in true holiness.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   23-25 This passage does not represent the apostle as one that walked after the flesh, but as one that had it greatly at heart, not to walk so. And if there are those who abuse this passage, as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction, yet serious Christians find cause to bless God for having thus provided for their support and comfort. We are not, because of the abuse of such as are blinded by their own lusts, to find fault with the scripture, or any just and well warranted interpretation of it. And no man who is not engaged in this conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of these words, or rightly judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the apostle to bemoan himself as a wretched man, constrained to what he abhorred. He could not deliver himself; and this made him the more fervently thank God for the way of salvation revealed through Jesus Christ, which promised him, in the end, deliverance from this enemy. So then, says he, I myself, with my mind, my prevailing judgement, affections, and purposes, as a regenerate man, by Divine grace, serve and obey the law of God; but with the flesh, the carnal nature, the remains of depravity, I serve the law of sin, which wars against the law of my mind. Not serving it so as to live in it, or to allow it, but as unable to free himself from it, even in his very best state, and needing to look for help and deliverance out of himself. It is evident that he thanks God for Christ, as our deliverer, as our atonement and righteousness in himself, and not because of any holiness wrought in us. He knew of no such salvation, and disowned any such title to it. He was willing to act in all points agreeable to the law, in his mind and conscience, but was hindered by indwelling sin, and never attained the perfection the law requires. What can be deliverance for a man always sinful, but the free grace of God, as offered in Christ Jesus? The power of Divine grace, and of the Holy Spirit, could root out sin from our hearts even in this life, if Divine wisdom had not otherwise thought fit. But it is suffered, that Christians might constantly feel, and understand thoroughly, the wretched state from which Divine grace saves them; might be kept from trusting in themselves; and might ever hold all their consolation and hope, from the rich and free grace of God in Christ.

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