Faith and works

1. Righteousness, Judgment and Mercy: Present Works Decide DestinyNo. 7 · 1 July 1868 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Romans 2

   Taking Romans 2 as its subject, the exhortation says believers are called to righteousness, the doing of what God has commanded, and that the judgment will only disclose what each person’s daily life already is, so the present is what counts.

2. Peace with God Through Justification by FaithNo. 13 · 1 October 1869 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Romans 5

   On Romans 5, the speaker explains that those justified by faith in Christ have peace and favour with God, which no one has outside Christ.

3. Charity, Vain Jangling and Unfeigned FaithNo. 15 · 1 December 1869 · 34 min read aloud · Read: 1 Timothy 1

   On 1 Timothy 1, the speaker says Paul’s commission as apostle to the Gentiles still reaches later believers and brings a responsibility with it.

4. Prayer: Elijah, Brevity, and the Lord’s PrayerNo. 17 · 1 February 1870 · 33 min read aloud · Read: Philemon

   Starting from Paul’s references to prayer in Philemon, the speaker argues that acceptable prayer is brief, intelligent and reverent, citing Elijah’s short prayer at Mount Carmel against the long cries of the prophets of Baal.

5. Active Goodness, the Fruit of the TruthNo. 23 · 1 August 1870 · 18 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 2

   Taking 1 John 2 as its text, the exhortation says the aim of the gospel is that believers should not sin but walk as Jesus walked, and puts first the duty of living for the good of others.

6. Clod-Hoppers, Invisible Stock and Scriptural JustificationNo. 29 · 1 September 1871 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 4

   Opens by saying that life and all its goods end in the grave, yet men turn from the glory to be revealed and, like an agricultural labourer who distrusts commercial “stock”, despise the spiritual things they cannot see.

7. Law, Grace and Holiness After BaptismNo. 30 · 1 October 1871 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Romans 6

   Starting from Romans 6 and the principle ‘First pure, then peaceable’, argues that law is necessary and good, and that Paul’s saying that the law entered that sin might abound gave God occasion to show grace through Christ, who upheld the law by his death.

8. Receiving the Grace of God Not in VainNo. 38 · 1 July 1872 · 16 min read aloud · Read: Romans 6

   Takes the apostolic entreaty not to receive the grace of God in vain and says grace is favour offered with a purpose, which can be wasted, as Israel in the wilderness wasted it.

9. The Ephesian Ecclesia: Godly Edifying and First LoveNo. 41 · 1 February 1873 · 18 min read aloud

   Starting from 1 Timothy 1, Roberts explains that Timothy was left at Ephesus to check those whose teaching ministered questions rather than godly edifying, and warns against treating speculative points as matters affecting a believer’s standing.

10. Seek Things Above, Beware of CovetousnessNo. 43 · 1 April 1873 · 22 min read aloud

    Expounding Colossians 3, Roberts explains that believers baptised into Christ are risen with him and must set their affections on things above, which he distinguishes from the popular idea of going to heaven, since those things are to be brought to the saints at Christ’s coming.

11. Philemon: Brotherly Love and Christian CourtesyNo. 44 · 1 May 1873 · 21 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s letter to Philemon as a model, Roberts urges brethren to imitate apostolic warmth in their intercourse and letters: using genuine words of affection, invoking God’s blessing on one another, and thanking God for faithful fellow-labourers.

12. God’s Standard Versus the World’s RespectabilityNo. 67 · 1 July 1875 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 58, Luke 10

    Contrasts the judgment of natural men, who commend whoever does well for himself, with God’s standard, which puts duty to God first; on that standard the world, though outwardly pious and respectable, is wicked, and God will punish it when his time comes.

13. Solomon’s Proverbs as the Oracles of GodNo. 76 · 1 June 1876 · 28 min read aloud

    Taking Peter’s rule to speak “as the oracles of God”, the speaker argues that Solomon’s Proverbs carry apostolic authority and that they supply correctives against extremes: diligence against shiftless trust, warnings against haste to be rich, firmness towards fools and false brethren alongside kindness, and knowledge against the dangers of pride.

14. Going Forth Without the Camp: Truth and WorksNo. 79 · 1 December 1876 · 20 min read aloud · Read: Hebrews 13

    Taking Paul’s exhortation to go forth unto Christ without the camp, the speaker says that it meant excommunication for Jewish believers and, for the brethren, separation from the popular religious system, which does not uphold “the truth” as the pillar and ground of it.

15. The Wedding Garment: Personal Righteousness Required of GuestsNo. 83 · 1 April 1877 · 20 min read aloud

    Taking the parable of the marriage feast, the speaker shows that the Gentiles of the highways and hedges are invited through Paul’s word, but that being called is not enough: the guest without a wedding garment is cast out.

16. The Creator of the Heavens and the Gospel HopeNo. 94 · 1 April 1878 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 96

    Starting from Psalm 96:5, “the Lord made the heavens,” the speaker says the starry heavens impress on us the greatness of God, and that even scientists find things that appear “made” at the lowest depth of investigation.

17. Guided by God’s Counsel in the ScripturesNo. 96 · 1 June 1878 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking ‘Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory,’ the speaker says believers are guided now by the written word, which makes the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

18. Gentile Fellow-Heirship and Walking Worthy of the CallingNo. 101 · 1 November 1878 · 29 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s words in Ephesians about the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, the speaker argues that orthodox believers in the immortality of the soul cannot understand it, since before Paul’s mission the Gentiles were without hope and were admitted only through the gospel.

19. Paul as the Appointed Pattern for BelieversNo. 102 · 1 December 1878 · 27 min read aloud

    Starting from the proverb that he who walks with wise men shall be wise, the speaker says that society dismisses Paul as obsolete, whereas Christ chose him and he repeatedly told believers to follow his example.

20. Mortality, Obedience and the Day of JudgmentNo. 113 · 1 November 1879 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 17, Luke 13

    Starts from the four figures in the Ezekiel 17 reading (Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, the king of Judah and the prophet), all long dead, to show that the present life is brief yet decides the future.

21. Not All Israel: Children of the PromiseNo. 123 · 1 September 1880 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9

    Takes up Paul’s sorrow in Romans 9 over Israel’s estrangement from Christ, and compares the lot of believers among a nominally Christian community that disregards the truth, urging patience and separation.

22. Election by Moral Fitness: Romans 9 ConcludedNo. 124 · 1 October 1880 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9

    Returns to Romans 9 and argues that God’s family is not developed on mere descent but on faith and docility like Abraham’s, so that heirs must do the works of Abraham.

23. Godliness: God Chooses Those Who Fear HimNo. 131 · 1 July 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Starting from the unshaken foundation on which believers stand, the speaker asks whether Christ will accept those who have accepted him, and finds the answer in the Spirit’s declaration that the Lord has chosen ‘him that is godly.’ Godliness is held to be devotion to God himself, as shown in the Mosaic and Christian systems and in Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus, rather than the mere ‘manliness’ of popular Christianity.

24. The Truth, the Hope of Israel, and ComfortNo. 132 · 1 August 1881 · 23 min read aloud · Read: 2 John, 3 John, Isaiah 43

    Asked what is meant by ‘the truth,’ the speaker shows from John’s epistles and Paul’s words that it is the truth of the gospel, which is the hope of Israel, so linking John to the Isaiah chapter read that morning.

25. Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians: Knowledge and FruitfulnessNo. 136 · 1 January 1882 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Colossians 1

    Taking the first chapter of Colossians, the exhortation says Paul gave thanks for the brethren because of their love to all the saints on account of the hope laid up for them, and that this is the love believers should have, not an attachment to personal qualities.

26. Doing God’s Will: Mercy, Works and ForgivenessNo. 142 · 1 August 1882 · 29 min read aloud

    Starting from the frequency of ‘the will of God’ in the apostolic writings, the speaker takes the reading in Isaiah, where a ceremonially religious Israel is reproved for lacking mercy and kindness to others.

27. Putting On the Whole Armour of GodNo. 143 · 1 October 1882 · 30 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s exhortation to put on the whole armour of God, the exhortation says believers are in a life-and-death battle against the inherited sentence of death, the carnal mind, unbelief, ignorance, and the love of the world.

28. Paul’s Faith in the Storm: ‘I Believe God’No. 153 · 1 February 1884 · 21 min read aloud

    Returning to Paul’s shipwreck, the speaker notes that an angel stood by Paul in the storm, and that Paul told the ship’s company that he believed God, that it would be as it was told him.

29. Ezekiel’s Coming Glory and Abiding in ChristNo. 156 · 1 May 1884 · 24 min read aloud · Read: John 15

    Joins the morning’s two readings: Ezekiel’s vision of the restored land, temple and city, which is the ‘heavenly country’ and ‘city having foundations’ Abraham looked for, and Christ’s discourse in John about the vine and the branches.

30. Three Windows: Israel’s Camp, Proverbs, ZaccheusNo. 178 · 1 May 1887 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Luke 19

    Beginning from the refreshing sameness of the things of God and the commanded means of preparation (breaking of bread, prayer, reading), the speaker treats the day’s three readings as windows on the divine work.

31. Philemon’s Clues: Paul, Prisoner of Jesus ChristNo. 180 · 1 July 1887 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Philemon

    Using the picture of a scrap of paper from which a finder could infer a paper mill, a pen and a living writer, the exhortation reasons from the opening words of Philemon (“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ”) to the facts behind them.

32. Isaiah 40: Comfort for God’s PeopleNo. 181 · 1 August 1887 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 40

    Taking the morning’s reading of Isaiah 40, the exhortation argues that the comfort addressed to Jerusalem is for believers, who as Gentiles taken out for his name are now God’s people through believing and obeying the gospel.

33. Learning From Jehoram, Daniel, and AnaniasNo. 260 · 1 December 1894 · 24 min read aloud

    The speaker urges reading the apostolic narratives in the settled conviction that they are true, and then draws a lesson from each of the three portions read.

34. David’s Humble Origin, Trial and CovenantNo. 305 · 1 February 1899 · 22 min read aloud Printed after his death

    The exhortation says the meeting helps us see beyond our present surroundings, backward and forward, and that the Scriptures supply the material for this.

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