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TEXT:
SUBJECT: Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry is a name well-known to Christian readers. His commentary--published about 250 years ago--has sold more copies than any other in English. It has also been translated into foreign tongues, and proved a blessing to the Lord's people worldwide.
Few men have read as much or as well as Charles Spurgeon. This is what he thought of it: "First among the mighty for general usefulness we are bound to mention the man whose name is a household word, Matthew Henry...It is suitable to everybody, instructive to all..."
Even fewer have been as active and useful as George Whitefield. For thirty years he preached nearly every day--as often as ten times a day--yet never grew stale, never ran out of material, never repeated himself. Surely, this man read widely? No, he didn't. He read but three books: the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek New Testament, and the Commentaries of Matthew Henry.
Henry was not a great exegete. If you read his commentaries, you'll find him taking verses out of context and expounding them topically. What he writes is usually true, but often has nothing to do with the text he is commenting upon. This can be maddening to the desperate preacher who turns to Henry for last-minute help!
Henry's theology was also mistaken at points. In my opinion, he badly misunderstood the relationship between the Old and New Covenants. Rather than one superseding the other, the two were fused in Henry's mind. This led to further mistakes on the doctrine of the law, of the church, of baptism, and so on. His commentary, therefore, is not the most reliable guide to theology.
The commentary is dated, of course. Matthew Henry died in 1714; consequently, his books lack the technical knowledge that modern expositors take for granted.
The faults are real. Yet his commentary remains unmatched for spiritual power. How can we explain this? Henry himself tells us. Commenting on one of the preachers in the Bible, he observes,
"A holy minister is an awful weapon
in the hands of the Almighty".
Matthew Henry's greatness as a commentator, a preacher, and a pastor, lay in his holiness as a man.
Holiness is not the product of any set of rules--be they 10 Commandments, 7 promises, or 12 steps--but the fruit of fellowship with God.
Matthew Henry knew fellowship with God as few men have. We should "note" such a man as he was because the Lord has given him to us "as an example".
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In 1712, Matthew Henry preached three sermons on the subject of fellowship with God. Although he was too modest to mention himself, there is good reason to believe he was recommending to others what he himself had long practiced and enjoyed. The titles speak for themselves: (1) How to begin every day with God; (2) How to spend the day with God; and (3) How to close the day with God.
Henry, of course, was a Puritan. With all the good that implies. And all the bad--including extreme long-windedness in his preaching. My talk will barely scratch the surface. For much more profit, read the sermons for yourself.
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HOW TO BEGIN EVERY DAY WITH GOD
Henry opens his sermon with "the doctrine" he intends to develop: It is our wisdom and duty to begin every day with God.
By "beginning every day with God, he means praying--and more--praying with our whole hearts". This is a general duty, of course:
Dictated by the light and law of nature, which plainly and loudly speaks, `Should not a people seek unto their God?'.
But more than nature, the Gospel places a special obligation on us to begin every day with God.
It tells us what we must pray for--in whose name we must pray, and by whose assistance--and invites us to `Come boldly to the throne of grace', and to `Enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus'. This work, we are not to do in the morning only, but at all times. We read of preaching the Word out of season, but we do not read of praying out of season, for that is never out of season. The throne of grace is always open, and humble supplicants are always welcome, and cannot come unseasonably.
Why should we pray? Henry offers two reasons:
1.He expects and requires it. Though He has no need of us or of our services, nor can be benefitted by them, yet He has obliged us to offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise to Him continually.
Why does God require it of us? Henry adds:
1.Thus He will keep up His authority over us, and keep us continually in mind of our subjection to Him, which we are apt to forget...
2.Thus He will testify His love and compassion towards us. To show His complacency in us, as a father doth his affection to his child, when he is sending him abroad, He gives us this charge: `Let Me hear from you, every day, by every post, though you have no particular business'. This shows that the prayer of the upright is His delight, it is music in His ears.
The other reason we're to pray is this:
2.We have something to say to God every day. As to a friend we love and have freedom with; such a friend we cannot go by without calling on, and never lack something to say to, though we have no particular business with him.
As to a master we serve, and have business with. Think how numerous and important the concerns are that lie between us and God, and you will readily acknowledge that you have a great deal to say to Him.
How do we pray? Henry offers three suggestions:
1.Give Him His titles, as you do when you address a person of honor; address yourself to Him as the great JEHOVAH, God over all, blessed for evermore; the King of kings, and Lord of lords; as the LORD GOD gracious and merciful.
[The very words tend to excite adoration and devotion, do they not?]
2.Take notice of your relation to Him as His children. Christ has taught us to address God as `Our Father'; and the Spirit of adoption teacheth us to cry `Abba Father'. A son, though a prodigal, when he returns and repents may go to his father...and although no more worthy to be called a son, yet is bold to call him "Father". When Ephraim bemoans himself as `A bullock unaccustomed to the yoke', God bemoans him as a `dear son', a `pleasant child'. If God is not ashamed, let us not be afraid to own the relation.
3.Leave it with the Lord Jesus, the only Mediator between God and men. It will certainly miscarry, if it be not put into His hand...Leave it with Him and He will deliver it with care and speed, and will make our service acceptable.
What to do after we begin our day with God? Quoting from Psalm 5:3, we're to "Direct [our] prayers to God and to look up". Henry explains. We're to look up...
1. In humility. As those that speak to one above us, infinitely above us, the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity...
2.In good cheer. Looking up is a sign of cheerfulness, as a down-look is of melancholy. We must look up in entire confidence of His goodness and wisdom, patiently expecting the issue.
3.In hope. With an eye of observation, what returns God makes to our prayers, expecting that God will give us an answer of peace.
He closes with some applications, rather close applications.
1.Make conscience of your secret worship, keep it up because it is a duty for which you have a received commandment from the Lord. Keep up stated times for it and be true to them. Let those who have hitherto lived in neglect of it as the most needful part of their daily business and the most delightful part of their daily comfort.
2.Let no one plead you have not time for prayer in the morning. I dare say, you can find time for other things that are less needful; you had better take time from sleep, than lack time for prayer; and how can you spend time better and more to your satisfaction and advantage. All the business of the day will prosper the better, for your beginning it thus with God.
3.Take heed lest it degenerate into a formality. Go about the duty solemnly. Be inward with God in it. It is not enough to say your prayers, but you must pray your prayers, must `pray in praying'.
He closes with these words:
When yo have prayed, look upon yourself as engaged and encouraged both to serve God, and to trust Him; that the comfort and benefit of your morning devotions may not be as the morning cloud that passeth away, but as the morning light that shines more and more.
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HOW TO SPEND THE DAY WITH GOD
Henry's text is Psalm 25:5: "On Thee do I wait all the day long". He begins by defining his terms. To "wait on God", Henry avers, is to:
1.Live a life of desire towards Him; to wait on Him as the beggar waits on his benefactor, with earnest desire to receive supplies from Him. We wait on God when our souls pant after Him and His favor; when we thirst for God, for the living God; `O that I might behold the beauty of the LORD! O that I might taste His goodness! O that I might bear His image! Thus upon wings of holy desire, should our souls be still soaring upwards towards God...
2.Live a life of delight in God, as the lover waits on his beloved. We must be wishing for more of God, yet we must never wish for more than God.
3.Live a life of dependence on God, as a child on his father.
4.Live a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master, ready to observe his will and do his work, and in everything to consult his honor and interests.
5.To wait on God is to make His will our rule. To make His will of precept the rule of your practice; to make the will of His providence the rule of our patience.
This is what Henry means by "waiting on God". He goes on to describe the man who is waiting on God. He is--in brief:
1.Casting [his] daily cares on Him.
2.Managing [his] daily business for Him, with an eye to His providence and His precept and His blessing. This sanctifies our common actions to God, and sweetens them, and makes them pleasant to ourselves.
3.Receiving [his] daily comforts from Him. Every bite we eat, every drop we drink, is His mercy--every breath we draw and every step we take--is His mercy. This will keep us continually waiting on Him and will put a double sweetness into all our enjoyments.
4.Resisting [his] daily temptations and doing [his] daily duties.
5.Bearing [his] daily afflictions with submission to God's will.
6.Expecting the tidings and events of every day with a cheerful and entire resignation to the Divine providence.
Henry brings his sermon to a close with a long application, only a tiny part of which I can mention. He deals with the "nuts and bolts" of life. How to spend the day with God in practical terms.
At work. Open shop with this thought, `I am now in the way of my duty, and I depend upon God to bless me in it'. When you are waiting for customers, wait on God to find you something to do in that calling to which He hath called you. Say `The Lord my God has brought it to me'. See God's eye upon you, whether you are honest and just in your dealings, and do no wrong to those you deal with, and let your eye then be up to Him for that discretion [He giveth].
While watching the six o'clock news. Ask, What news? Not as the Athenians, only to satisfy a vain curiosity, and to pass away an idle hour or two, but that you may know how to direct your prayers and praises.
To help us to live more closely to God, Henry recalls:
1.The eye of God is always upon you.
2.The God to whom you are to wait on is the God with whom you have to do.
3.The God we are to wait upon is always doing us good.
4.If we attend upon God, his holy angels shall have a charge to attend upon us.
5.This life of communion with God, and constant attendance upon Him, is a very heaven upon earth.
In closing, Henry quotes Hosea 12:6: "Turn thou to thy God' keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually".
Do your business in the fear of God; you will be freed from that care which attends much serving, will have your minds raised above the little things of sense and time, will be serving God when you are busiest in the world, and will have God in your hearts, when your hands are full of the world.
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HOW TO CLOSE THE DAY WITH GOD
Starting with Psalm 4:8, Henry reminds us that sleep is a great blessing, and proves the goodness of God: What a good Master do we serve that allows us time for sleep, and furnisheth us with conveniences for it, and makes it refreshing and reviving to us!
Because sleep is Divine gift, we're to not abuse it with the pursuit of the world and the wealth of it or in the indulgence of our pleasures.
Rather, our last waking moments should be spent in gratitude to God. For what? Henry list four favors:
1.For the many mercies of the day past. `Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with all benefits'.
2.For the drawing of the curtains of the night about us, in favor of our repose".
3.For the quiet habitation to lie down in--that we are not driven out from among men as Nebuchadnezzar, to lie down with the beasts of the field. That we have not, as Jacob, the cold ground for our bed, and a stone for our pillow.
4.That we are not forced to sit up. Many go to bed, but cannot lie down there, by reason of painful and languishing sicknesses. Our bodies are of the same mold, and it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not so afflicted. Many are kept up by sickness in their families...Many are kept up by fear of enemies, of soldiers, of thieves. Even `The Son of Man hath no place to put His head'.
Bedtime is also a good time to review the events of the day and to repent of our sins. Let us every night search and try our ways, our thoughts, words, and actions--compare them with the rule of the Word--look our faces in that glass, that we may see our spots, and may be particular in the acknowledgment of them.
Self-examination, of course, is no end in itself, but a means. Henry adds: We must apply ourselves to the throne of grace for peace and pardon--`God be merciful to me, a sinner!'.
Through confession and repentance, Henry urges us to Lie down in peace with God, lie down in peace with all men, and lie down in peace with ourselves.
At the end of this sermon, Henry summarizes his series and offers an encouraging word to all Christians: It is certain, all that will go to heaven hereafter, begin their heaven now, and have their hearts there; if we thus enter into a spiritual rest ever night, that will be a pledge of our blessed repose in the embraces of divine love, in that world wherein day and night come to an end, and we shall not rest day or night from praising Him who is and will be our eternal rest.
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