Jesus told them this parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into the pit?” Luke 6:39

See the great danger of listening to false religious teachers. Our Lord compares such teachers and their hearers, to the blind leading the blind; and asks the reasonable question, “Will they not both fall into the pit?”

The amount of evil which unsound religious teaching has brought on the Church in every age is incalculable! The man who hears such a false teacher runs a fearful risk himself of being lost eternally! “Will they not both fall into the pit?”

If we would escape the danger against which our Lord warns us, we must not neglect to prove the teaching that we hear, by the holy Scriptures. We must not believe things merely because ministers say them. We must not suppose, as a matter of course, that ministers can make no mistakes!
We must remember the advice of Paul and John “Test all things.” “Test the spirits, whether they are of God.” With the Bible in our hands, and the promise of guidance from the Holy Spirit to all who seek it — we shall be without excuse if our souls are led astray.

The blindness of ministers is no excuse for the darkness of the people! The man who from indolence, or superstition, or affected humility — refuses to test the teaching of the minister whom he finds set over him, however unsound it may be — will at length share his minister’s portion!

If people will trust blind guides — then they must not be surprised if they are led to the pit!

• J.C Ryle

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.   (2 Peter 3:18)

In the natural realm, the more we grow up — the more independent we become. When we were infants we depended on our parents to feed us, clothe us and change our soiled diapers.  But soon we were able to eat on our own, change our own clothes and clean ourselves without their help.  When we are come to full age we are then said to be self-dependent or self-reliant.  We work and provide for our own needs as well as for the needs of our children.

Now consider that the opposite is true concerning spiritual maturity.  The more we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, the more dependent upon God we become (Proverbs 3:5).  The more mature we become, the more we are able to see the vileness of our nature and the deceptive nature of our own heart.  We are made to feel and know our proneness to all sorts of sin and uncleanness (Isaiah 51:1; Romans 7:18-25; Philippians 3:8-11; Job 40:4).

Therefore, we are made to cling more tightly to Christ.  We are made to labor to enter into the rest of Christ’s one perfect offering for sin.  We are made to trust in God’s promises, power, and providence when all of life seems to be contrary to His word.  Spiritual maturity is not less dependence on Christ but more dependence upon the Salvation of God.  As believers spiritually grow up, our faith in Christ, our hope that is by Christ and our love for Christ also grow. And all the while, our confidence in — and dependence upon — the flesh decreases (Philippians 3:3).

• Fred Evans

The children of God live by faith. Thus they began and thus they are to end. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Their whole life is a life of faith. Their daily actions are all of faith. This forms one of the main elements of their character. It marks them out as a peculiar people. None live as they do. Their faith is to them “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
It is a sort of Substitute for sight and possession. It so brings them into contact with the unseen world that they feel as if they were already conversant with, and living among, the things unseen. It makes the future, the distant, the (untouchable), appear as the present, the near, the real.

Such is the power of faith. It throws back into the far distance the things of earth, the things that men call near and real; and it brings forward into vital contact with the soul the things which men call invisible and distant. It discloses to us the heavenly mansions, their passing splendor, their glorious purity, their blessed peace. It shows us the happy courts, the harmonious company, the adoring multitudes. It opens our ears also, so that when beholding these great sights we seem to hear the heavenly melody and to catch the very words of the new song they sing, “Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

(Faith), moreover, points our eye forward to what is yet to come: the coming of the Lord, the judgment of the great day, the restitution of all things, the kingdom that cannot be moved, the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is GOD. While thus it gives to things invisible a body and a form which before they possessed not in our eyes, on the other hand, it divests things visible of that semblance of excellence and reality with which they were formerly clothed. It strips the world of its false but bewildering glow, and enables us to penetrate the thin disguise that hides its poverty and meanness.
It not only sweeps away the cloud which hung above us, obstructing our view of heavenly excellence, but it places that cloud beneath us to counteract the (false) brightness and unreal beauty which the world has thrown over itself to mask its inward deformity. Thus it is that faith enables us to realize our true position of pilgrims and strangers upon earth, looking for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD.

• Horatius Bonar

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”  (2 Corinthians 13:5)

There is nothing on this earth more fearful than the carnal security of religion without Christ. Let us bring our faith to the Word of God and examine it. May it please God to search our hearts and let us see if we have the faith of God’s elect (2 Pet. 1:10; Ps. 139:23-24).

If our faith is the faith of God’s elect, if it is sound, if it is a God given faith, examination will only strengthen it, and cause us to cling more firmly to Christ. If our faith is false, examination may expose it. If we have built for ourselves a refuge of lies, in which we are trying to hide from God, may he graciously destroy our false refuge and hide us in Christ by his almighty grace.

• Don Fortner, Pastor, Grace Baptist Church of Danville, KY USA

“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”  (Revelation 10:10)

True religion is not a burdensome, painful, melancholy, wearisome, and toilsome task or employment as many think. It has indeed its trials, temptations, afflictions, cutting griefs, and depressing sorrows; but it has its sweetness, its peace, its delights, and its enjoyments. And it is the sweetness that we feel, the enjoyment that we have, and the delighting ourselves in the things of God, which hold our head up and encourage us still to persevere and travel on through the wilderness.

It is not all bondage, nor distress of mind, nor sorrow of heart, nor perplexity of soul which the heirs of promise feel. There are sips and tastes, drops and crumbs, and momentary enjoyments, if not long nor lasting, yet sweet when they come, sweet while they last, and sweet in the recollection when they are gone. The Lord gives that which encourages, strengthens, comforts, and delights, and enables us to see that there is that beauty, blessedness, and glory in him which we have tasted, felt, and handled, and which we would not part with for a thousand worlds.

• J.C Philpot

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  (2 Timothy 1:12)

All who are called of the Holy Spirit to life and faith in Christ have this testimony. We gladly suffer the afflictions of the gospel, for He has saved us and called us. We who have believed on Christ are not ashamed of this gospel we preach; the gospel of God’s Free Salvation in Christ and the gospel of God’s Sovereign election, the gospel of Jesus’s perfect successful redemption; the gospel of the irresistible calling of the Holy Spirit, who also keeps us in the faith to the end. We declare this gospel even though it is hated by the world and despised by this religious generation of work mongers. And even though the great whore of free-will works religion seems to over shadow us, we will not fear for God, who purposed our salvation has also purposed their destruction.

Therefore we are not ashamed. For we know whom we have believed. This religious generation is trusting in what they believe, as though truth is subject to man’s opinion, or based on the circumstances, and the whims of man’s thoughts or feelings. So then the gospel we believe is not what you know but Whom you know. We know whom we have believe. That is, we know Jesus Christ, even because the Spirit of God has revealed Him (John 15:26). We know that He is the Eternal Son of God made flesh (John 1:1-3). We know Him who alone has fulfilled all the law of God and obtained eternal righteousness for all of God’s elect (Hebrews 9:12). We know Him who died upon the cross as God made Him to be sin for us. We know Him who did no sin nor knew no sin even when our sins were imputed to Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). We know Him who rose from the dead and who is seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3;Romans 4:25). We know Him who alone was victorious over our sin, death and Satan (Hebrews 10:14; Romans 6:9; Revelation 20:1-3). And Jesus is now actively engaged in moving all things in time and providence to save His people through the means of preaching the gospel (Romans 8:28-30; 1 Corinthians 1:21).

And because He has called us to life and faith, we know that we are the sons of God; and if sons, then heirs of God and joint heir with Christ (Romans 8:16-17). And even though in this body we suffer all kinds of afflictions, griefs and sorrows, Christ is sovereign and rules all things for our good (Romans 8:28). Even though we still have this old fleshly nature and are prone to any sin, yet we know Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us and that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Romans 7:18:24-25; Hebrews 13:5).

Do you know whom you have believed or are you trusting in what you have believed? Forsake all your thoughts and works and look by faith to Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal.

– Fred Evans

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?  And one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”  (Matt. 10:29-31)

If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19b)

If God’s preachers are called by Christ to preach the gospel then we must be faithful to our work.  We must be vigilant and bold witnesses of God no matter the generation in which we live.  Paul charged Timothy as well as everyone that God calls to this vocation:  Preach the Word!  Be instant in season and out of season; reprove rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering (2 Timothy 4:2).  This matter of preaching the word of God is no light thing, for all who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ are as the mouth of God to all that hear us.  And as such our gospel is always successful, because it always accomplishes the purpose of God, either to save sinners or to further harden the wicked hearts of men (2 Corinthians 2:14-16; Isaiah 55:11; Romans 9:17).

Therefore, we who are called to preach, being the mouth of God to this generation, must execute our work correctly and follow God’s ordained method: Preach the Word! Not debate it, not suggest the word but to simply declare it!   When God spoke to Jeremiah in that pit of despair He said “If thou separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.”  This is what it is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to separate the precious from the vile.  Those things that are precious are rare and valuable.  While those things vile are common and filthy. So then, we must in our preaching separate the precious gospel from the vile gospel.  We must proclaim that precious gospel of God’s Sovereign election (Ephesians 1:3-5).  We must preach the total depravity of man.  That no man can by work or will every merit God’s salvation (Romans 3:10-20; Galatians 2:16; John 6:44).  We must declare that the precious blood of Christ has obtained eternal redemption for all those the Father had given to Him (John 6:37-40; Hebrews 9:12; 10:14).  We must preach that precious gospel of
regeneration by which the Holy Spirit quickens the dead sinner to life.  We must separate that precious doctrine of the Holy Spirit that keeps us in the faith until the end (John 3:7-8; John 17:2; Galatians 4:6; 1 Peter 1:5).

So then, when we declare the precious gospel of God, we are then calling all other gospels that oppose it to be vile and worthless to the souls of men.  Paul says that there is one gospel and all others are accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).
Therefore, we oppose that vile doctrine of conditional election, in which the false god of this generation chooses men based on what he saw that they would do (Ezekiel 36:22-23; Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Romans 9:11-16; 11; 5-6).  We condemn any doctrine that says man is capable by his free will to choose or reject the Salvation of God (John 6:44; Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Colossians 2:13).   We cast off that vile doctrine of universal atonement because his blood actually redeemed no one except men allow it (Matthew 1:21; Daniel 9:24).  We must oppose that vile doctrine of the resistible call of the Holy Spirit.  That vile message that says the Holy Spirit is trying to save men but must submit to their will (John 1:12-13; Romans 9:18-21).

So then all who preach the Total Depravity of man, The Sovereign Free Grace of God in Election, The successful Redemption of Jesus Christ to Save His people from their Sins; the irresistible Calling of the Holy Spirit in quickening dead sinners to life, then we are separating the precious from the vile.  And all who oppose us and our message oppose the Mouth of God!  This precious gospel is what sinners greatly need and will freely believe.

– Fred Evans