90. The Ultimate Commentary On Philippians

The Ultimate Commentary on Philippians: A Collective Wisdom of the Bible. Albert Barnes. John Calvin. Adam Clarke. Matthew Henry. Charles H. Spurgeon. John Wesley. 2016. 1040 pages. [Source: Bought]

I have spent the month of October reading the epistle Philippians for the Growing for Life Bible Reading project/group. I decided to go ahead and buy Philippians after LOVING the Ultimate Commentary on Romans which I read over the summer. 

There are SIX commentaries included. (The Romans' commentary had seven. I guess Alexander MacLaren didn't write one for Philippians? I don't know.) But readers are in for a big treat. Instead of a seventh commentary--all of Spurgeon's sermons preached from Philippians are included. These alone would have made it worth the $2. (For the record, I'm not sure that these are *all* the sermons he ever preached from Philippians. But every verse/paragraph is covered in the sermons included.) 

I decided to read this one cover to cover. 

• The soul of the believer is made happy at death. To be with Christ is synonymous with being in heaven - for Christ is in heaven, and is its glory. ~ Albert Barnes
• Our happiness is almost all centered in love. It is when we love a parent, a wife, a child, a sister, a neighbor, that we have the highest earthly enjoyment. It is in the love of God, of Christ, of Christians, of the souls of people, that the redeemed find their highest happiness. Hatred is a passion full of misery; love an emotion full of joy. ~ Albert Barnes
• If all could be taken out of human conduct which is performed merely from “strife,” or from “vain-glory,” how small a portion would be left! ~ Albert Barnes
• We should seek the welfare of all others in a spiritual sense. We should seek to arouse the sinner, and lead him to the Saviour. He is blind, and will not come himself; unconcerned, and will not seek salvation; filled with the love of this world, and will not seek a better; devoted to pursuits that will lead him to ruin, and he ought to be apprised of it. It is no more an improper interference in his concerns to apprise him of his condition, and to attempt to lead him to the Saviour, than it is to warn a man in a dark night, who walks on the verge of a precipice, of his peril; or to arouse one from sleep whose house is in flames. He does a man a favor who tells him that he has a Redeemer, and that there is a heaven to which he may rise; he does his neighbor the greatest possible kindness who apprises him that there is a world of infinite woe, and tells him of an easy way by which he may escape it. The world around is dependant on the church of Christ to be apprised of these truths. ~ Albert Barnes
• No one can designate one single moment of his life, and say, “I may safely lose that moment. I may safely spend it in the neglect of my soul.” ~ Albert Barnes
• Paul had one great aim and purpose of life. He did not attempt to mingle the world and religion, and to gain both. He did not seek to obtain wealth and salvation too; or honor here and the crown of glory hereafter, but he had one object, one aim, one great purpose of soul. To this singleness of purpose he owed his extraordinary attainments in piety, and his uncommon success as a minister. A man will accomplish little who allows his mind to be distracted by a multiplicity of objects. ~ Albert Barnes
• At every step of life, Christ is able to strengthen us, and can bring us triumphantly through. ~ Albert Barnes
• we are the work of his hands; therefore he will complete what he has begun in us. When I say that we are the work of his hands, I do not refer to mere creation, but to the calling by which we are adopted into the number of his sons. For it is a token to us of our election, that the Lord has called us effectually to himself by his Spirit. ~ John Calvin
• Let this be your strength and stability, to rejoice in the Lord, and that, too, not for a moment merely, but so that your joy in him may be perpetuated. ~ John Calvin
• “I can do all things, ” says he, “but it is in Christ, not by my own power, for it is Christ that supplies me with strength.” Hence we infer, that Christ will not be less strong and invincible in us also, if, conscious of our own weakness, we place reliance upon his power alone. When he says all things, he means merely those things which belong to his calling. ~ John Calvin
• Whether I live or die, Christ is gain to me. While I live I am Christ's property and servant, and Christ is my portion; if I die - if I be called to witness the truth at the expense of my life, this will be gain; I shall be saved from the remaining troubles and difficulties in life, and be put immediately in possession of my heavenly inheritance. ~ Adam Clarke
• God gives power to will, man wills through that power; God gives power to act, and man acts through that power. Without the power to will, man can will nothing; without the power to work, man can do nothing. God neither wills for man, nor works in man's stead, but he furnishes him with power to do both; he is therefore accountable to God for these powers. ~ Adam Clarke
• Be continually happy; but this happiness you can find only in the Lord. Genuine happiness is spiritual; as it can only come from God, so it infallibly tends to him. The apostle repeats the exhortation, to show, not only his earnestness, but also that it was God's will that it should be so, and that it was their duty as well as interest. ~ Adam Clarke
• A contented mind is a continual feast! What do we get by murmuring and complaining? ~ Adam Clarke
• Thanksgiving must have a part in every prayer and whatsoever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. What we have the comfort of, God must have the glory of. ~ Matthew Henry
• Wherever this good work is begun it is of God's beginning: He has begun a good work in you. We could not begin it ourselves, for we are by nature dead in trespasses and sins: and what can dead men do towards raising themselves to life or how can they begin to act till they are enlivened in the same respect in which they are said to be dead? It is God who quickens those who are thus dead, Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13. ~ Matthew Henry
• All those to whom to live is Christ to them to die will be gain: it is great gain, a present gain, everlasting gain. Death is a great loss to a carnal worldly man for he loses all his comforts and all his hopes: but to a good Christian it is gain, for it is the end of all his weakness and misery and the perfection of his comforts and accomplishment of his hopes it delivers him from all the evils of life, and brings him to the possession of the chief good. ~ Matthew Henry
• Sin is the sinner's shame, especially when it is gloried in. ~ Matthew Henry
• The worst enemies that the cross of Christ has are the enemies inside the professing church of Christ. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. What a gracious attainment! There is no boasting in this declaration; Paul only spoke what was literally the truth. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Whatever happens to the true servant of the Lord will turn out for the furtherance of the Gospel. Therefore will we rejoice in tribulations and accept God’s will, whatever it may be. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Oh, we have not seen Him yet! Our views of Him are too dim to be worth calling sights. The eyes of faith have looked through a telescope and seen Him at a distance and it has been a ravishing vision. But when the eyes of the soul shall really see Him–Him, and not another–Him for ourselves, and not another for us, oh, the sight! ~ Charles Spurgeon
• It is impossible to preach the Gospel without preaching the Person, the work, the offices, the Character of Christ. If Christ is preached, the Gospel is promulgated and if Christ is put in the background, then there is no Gospel declared. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Consolation is the dropping of a gentle dew from Heaven on desert hearts beneath. True consolation, such as can reach the heart, must be one of the choicest gifts of Divine mercy. And surely we are not erring from sacred Scripture when we avow that in its full meaning, consolation can be found nowhere except in Christ who has come down from Heaven and who has again ascended to Heaven to provide strong and everlasting consolation for those whom He has bought with His blood. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• You ought to seek the spread of the Truth of God, but you must first know the Truth yourself, and you must daily seek to understand it better. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Oh, it is not Hell hereafter which is the only thing a sinner has to fear–it is the wrath of God which rests upon him now! To be unreconciled to God, now, is an awful thing–to have God’s arrow pointed at you as it is at this moment, even though it flies not from the string as yet–is a terrible thing! It is enough to make you tremble from head to foot when you learn that you are the target of Jehovah’s wrath–“He has bent His bow, and made it ready.” Christ Jesus bore the wrath of God that we might never bear it. He has made a full Atonement to the justice of God for the sins of all Believers. Against him that believes there remains no record of guilt. His transgressions are blotted out, for Christ Jesus has finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• I will not give a rusty nail for your religion if you can be quiet about it. I do not believe you have any. That which is nearest to the heart is generally most on the tongue. You must be constantly bearing your witness by the words of your mouth for Christ, seeking to teach the ignorant, to warn the careless, to reclaim the backsliding and to bring the wanderers to the Cross. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Beware of studying doctrine, precept, or experiences apart from the Lord Jesus, who is the soul of all. Doctrine without Christ will be nothing better than His empty tomb. Doctrine with Christ is a glorious high throne–with the King sitting on it. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life. The cure for care is joy in the Lord! ~ Charles Spurgeon
• I count it one of the wisest things that, by rejoicing in the Lord, we commence our Heaven here below. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• True joy, when it is joy in the Lord, must speak–it cannot hold its tongue–it must praise the name of the Lord! ~ Charles Spurgeon
• Mind that you seek no joy which is not joy in the Lord. If you go after the poisonous sweets of this world, woe be to you! Never rejoice in that which is sinful, for all such rejoicing is evil. Flee from it–it can do you no good. That joy which you cannot share with God is not a right joy for you. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• All other things are but for a season, but God is forever and ever. Make Him your joy, the whole of your joy, and then let this joy absorb your every thought! Be baptized into this joy! Plunge into the deeps of this unutterable bliss of joy in God! ~ Charles Spurgeon
• While we are here on earth we should never attempt to make such a distinction between prayer and praise that we should either praise without prayer or pray without praise–but with every prayer and supplication we should mingle thanksgiving and thus make known our requests unto God. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• What is the peace of God? I would describe it, first, by saying it is, of course, peace with God. It is peace of conscience, actual peace with the Most High through the atoning Sacrifice. Reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration to favor there must be–and the soul must be aware of it–there can be no peace of God apart from justification through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith. A man conscious of being guilty can never know the peace of God till he becomes equally conscious of being forgiven. ~ Charles Spurgeon
• You cannot always rejoice in your circumstances, for they greatly vary, but the Lord never changes. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” If you have rejoicing in earthly things you must indulge it moderately. But rejoicing in the Lord may be used without the possibility of excess, for the Apostle adds, “Again I say, Rejoice”–rejoice and rejoice again! Delight yourselves in the Lord. Who has such a God as you have? “Their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges.” Who has such a Friend, such a Father, such a Savior, such a Comforter as you have in the Lord your God? To think of God as our exceeding Joy is to find “the peace of God which passes all understanding.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible