{"id":3308,"date":"2015-05-30T07:48:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T07:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3308"},"modified":"2015-05-30T07:48:54","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T07:48:54","slug":"the-alluring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3308","title":{"rendered":"The Alluring"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Alluring<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Smith, 1860
\nThe Lord having chosen his people for himself \u2014 will bring them to know him, confide in him, and love him. So, when they have backslidden and wandered from him \u2014 he will employ means, that his banished ones be not expelled from him. Thus he brought Israel out of Egypt, and consecrated them to himself; and thus he led them out of Babylon, and again set them apart for his praise. These things were types, and show unto us, how the Lord deals with his people now, both at their first conversion, and at their restoration afterwards. How striking are the words of the Lord by his servant Hosea, on this point, \u201cTherefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her;\u201d or as the margin reads, \u201cI will speak to her heart.\u201d\u00a0Hosea 2:14. What will the Lord do?<\/p>\n

\u201cI will allure her.\u201d The eye and the heart of God, are upon his people \u2014 before they know it, and when they little think of it. He loves them with an everlasting love \u2014 therefore, he will draw, or allure them. He will draw them from their . . .
\ncarnal pleasures, \u00a0vain pursuits, and wordily company.<\/p>\n

He will secretly persuade them . . .
\nby a divine operation upon their minds; or by disappointments, vexations, convictions, distress of soul, and bereavements; or by discoveries of his glorious grace, the blessedness of his people, or the felicity of Heaven
\n\u2014 to leave the pleasures and pursuits that are carnal \u2014 and seek for himself, and spiritual things. He will entice her, or draw her, by the revelation, and exhibition, of Jesus \u2014 in his glory, beauty, and exact adaptation to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will bring her into the wilderness.\u201d Not an uninhabited spot \u2014 but what is elsewhere called \u201cthe wilderness of the people.\u201d So, that though surrounded by society, the soul feels ALONE \u2014 it has an inward persuasion, that it is an isolated being. The allured soul feels that no one is like it \u2014 no one ever had such feelings, such fears, such corruptions, such temptations, such doubts. Therefore as Jeremiah says, \u201cLet him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust \u2014 there may yet be hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The believer, like a person in a wilderness, has a painful sense of BARRENNESS. Beneath, there is no green and pleasant verdure \u2014 but scorching sands; above, no shower bearing clouds \u2014 but a burning sky. All is barren, and tends to barrenness. So the soul finds it \u2014 the means of grace are barren; prayer, preaching, and conversation, all are barren. Even the Bible appears to be a barren book.<\/p>\n

So the man feels exposed to DANGER \u2014 danger from Satan, sin, the world, and death. Danger from the law, and danger even from Christian friends.<\/p>\n

There is also a painful sense of DESTITUTION, and the man becomes wearied, bewildered, and exhausted.<\/p>\n

This wilderness is a place of INSTRUCTION, here the soul learns many a painful \u2014 but important lesson. Here it learns dependence on God, the emptiness and insufficiency of the creature, and the need of a divine agency to carry on the work. It learns that there is no bread but from Heaven, and what comes down appears to be small and unusual; so that with Israel, as we gather and feed on it, we are ready to cry, \u201cManna,\u201d what is it? what is it?<\/p>\n

Here God works wonders, in preserving, supplying, correcting, restoring, and guiding. Here the bridegroom finds his bride, raises her to his side, allows her to lean upon him, holds secret, soul-sustaining communion with her, and conducts her to the promised land.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will speak to her heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

He speaks a divorce from all creatures \u2014 that we may enjoy union to, and find happiness in himself alone.<\/p>\n

He calls us away from centering in self \u2014 to fix our faith and affections on himself.<\/p>\n

He speaks, so as to prevail with us to leave all others, and give ourselves up . . .
\nto be ruled by his will,
\nto feed at his table, and
\nto be satisfied with his goodness.<\/p>\n

He speaks comfort, and speaks comfortably to us. By a Barnabas, or by the Comforter \u2014 he speaks, and, brings home a word of promise to the heart. This encourages faith, emboldens hope, and persuades the soul to close in with Christ. Or some sweet word flows into the mind, assuring us that he . . .
\nhas pardoned our sins,
\nwill take us as his own,
\nwill guide us by his counsel, and
\nafterwards receive us to glory.<\/p>\n

Reader, has the Lord ever allured you, and drawn you away into a wilderness, revealing himself to you? Has he ever spoken to your heart, words of peace and love? Jesus spoke to the heart of the poor woman, when he said, \u201cYour sins, which are many, are all forgiven,\u201d and to the poor man, when he said, \u201cYour faith has saved you, go in peace.\u201d Such pleasant words are as a honeycomb \u2014 sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Such good words will make the heart glad.<\/p>\n

We must be weaned from the world, from the creatures, and be brought into secret, heart-affecting, soul transforming communion with God. We must therefore find the world a wilderness, a desert, a land of drought. We must turn from man to God, and in God as revealed in Jesus, find a friend that loves at all times, and be able to say, with the apostle, \u201cTruly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Alluring James Smith, 1860 The Lord having chosen his people for himself \u2014 will bring them to know him, confide in him, and love him. So, when they have backslidden and wandered from him \u2014 he will employ means, that his banished ones be not expelled from him. Thus he brought Israel out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-james-smith","category-gods-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3309,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions\/3309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}