Works (Vol 1) - Sibbes - XXIII - Church's visitation Sermons IV & V

Required reading
The Works Volume 1 by Richard Sibbes (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue the discourse entitled 'The church's visitation' by reading sermons IV and V.

My summary
Today we conclude the treatise on 1 Peter 4:17-19: ' 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.'

Having dealt with verses 17 and 18 in previous sermons, we now read the last two sermons which are concentrated on verse 19.

Chapter 4 is concerned with what is taught about suffering in verse 19.  The Christian:
(i) is to suffer;
(ii) is to suffer according to the will of God;
(iii) is to commit his soul to God in well doing.

Then Chapter 5 looks at the teaching of the end of verse 19: '...as unto a faithful creator'.  We see that the saints hiding place is in God as a faithful creator.  This is because God is faithful in his:
(i) nature;
(ii) word;
(iii) works.

The chapter then closes with:
(i) directions on how to commit your soul to God;
(ii) answers to objections;
(iii) trials to see whether you are truly committed to God.

What grabbed me
I liked the encouragement today to commit to God in deed and not in pretence: 'A true Christian hath his eye always heavenward, and thinks nothing too good for God. Lord, saith he, of thee I have received this life, this estate, this credit and reputation in the world. I have what I have, and am what I am of thee, and therefore I yield all to thee back again. If thou wilt serve thyself of my wealth, of myself, of my strength, thou shalt have it. If thou wilt serve thyself of my credit and reputation, I will adventure it for thee. If thou wilt have my life, of thee I had it, to thee I will restore it, I will not limit thy majesty ; come of it what will, I leave it to thy wisdom ; use me and mine as thou wilt ; only be gracious to my soul, that it may go well with that, and I care not. Thus we should wholly resign ourselves to the Lord's disposal, and thereby we shall exceedingly honour his majesty, and cause him to honour us, and to shew his presence to us for our good, which he will assuredly do if we absolutely yield up ourselves to him. But if a man will have two strings to his bow, and trust him so far but not so far, so he may be kept from this danger or that trouble, &c., this is not to deal with God as an omnipotent Creator; for he that doth a thing truly in obedience to God, will do it generally to all his commands. So far as the reason of his obedience reaches, his trust extends. He that commits anything to God will commit all to him. He chooseth not his objects. But upon the same ground that he commits his soul to God when he dies, he commits his estate, liberty, and all he hath while he lives. He can never rely on God for greater matters, that distrusts him in lesser. '

If you're going to commit to God, you must commit your all to him.

Next week's reading
Start Works Volume 4 by Richard Sibbes (Available from Amazon or free here) - Begin 'A Christian's portion' by reading up to the paragraph commencing 'Use 1. Now to make some use of this point, 'all things are ours.'

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.