Sermons & Devotionals by Andrew Bonar
Andrew Bonar
The Trial of Faith.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jes... Read More
Andrew Bonar
The Word brought nigh to the sorrowful
(From The Visitor's Book of Texts. Chapter 4 from Part 3 " The Word brought nigh to the sorrowful") (In a few cases the wording of the Bible text will be found to differ from the Authorised Version. This is how it was printed originally, and is presumably intentional.) Introduction Our errand being ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Time With God
"The fruit of the Spirit is. . .joy. . ." (Gal. 5:22). Preached with little freedom. Weariness of body is against me; but still more want of much prayer through the previous week. God will not let me preach with power when I am not much with Him. More than ever do I feel that I should be as much an ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
What gives assurance.
[This was originally a sermon preached at Ferryden, during the awakening in the end of 1859. It was thought to be useful in disentangling the perplexities of some anxious souls; and this gave rise to the request for its publication. (This address was published by Messrs. Chas. Glass and Co., Glasgow... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Winning Christ.
'..and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.' Philipp. 3:8 For a man to have 'won Christ,' in the scriptural sense of the term, would be the same th... Read More
Andrew Bonar
'The Value of a Thought'
The value of a 'thought' may be very great. Everybody knows this. It may be the seed of a great harvest. But it is not the thought merely in itself, but the thought carried out and used. It is like what in the mechanical department has been found to be the value of a small piece of metal, if turned ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
A friend in Blairgowrie
GLASGOW, 2nd Sept. 1859. DEAR FOLLOWER OF THE LAMB, -- He that believeth shall not make haste. Go on quietly resting in the grace of Jesus, for His grace is like a full well which you may draw from and yet no way exhaust. Sit beside this well, and when your soul is sad because of sin in you, drink o... Read More
Andrew Bonar
A friend in the country
MY DEAR SIR, --I have been too long in replying to your welcome letter. Do you think letters ever passed between the families of Moses and Jethro? Would not Moses or his son Gershom write occasionally to their friends in Midian, and tell of the wilderness journey? Suppose the following letter from G... Read More
Andrew Bonar
A schoolboy in London
GLASGOW, 20 INDIA STREET, 21st October 1873. MY DEAR WALTER, --I wonder how your soul prospers? You know we can go on busily with work, and all the more busily, when enjoying the sunshine round us--it makes all so cheerful. It is even thus with us in our souls when realising the presence of God in C... Read More
Andrew Bonar
A Sermon to Children
'There were also with Him other little ships' Mark 4: 36 Some of the little things we do in our meetings with you are imitations of Christ's ways. When you are going away from a meeting we sometimes give you a tract ; so Jesus in sending the people away gave each of them a blessing. It was evening, ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
A servant in his congregation
CRAIGNURE, ISLE OF MULL, 6th August 1884. DEAR MARGARET, -- I was greatly surprised on receiving your letter. But I suppose you were yourself taken altogether unawares. This comfort, however, you have, sure and full, viz., that E. has only gone to 'the mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense' for... Read More
Andrew Bonar
All Spiritual Blessings
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 There are many wonderful things in this epistle. Sometimes we are told to look up to the 'heavenly places;' sometimes to look back, past eternity; and ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Christ's Silence, Part 1
'A time to keep silence and a time to speak' Eccles. 3:7 We can draw a great deal of instruction from Christ's silence. 'Let Christ's word and silence too Dwell in thy heart,' a Moravian hymn says. Silence as to things we would like to know about Christ is a different thing from Christ Himself keepi... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Christ's Silence, Part 2
'Have I not held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? Isaiah 57:11 IT is, as we would say, an old custom of God's to keep silence when we would have expected Him to speak. Of old God's silence was meant to lead men to fear. We need not wonder that when Christ came He acted in the same way.... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Christ's Silence, Part 3
Matthew 11:1-11 JOHN the Baptist lay in prison unnoticed, and we may say uncared for, for nearly a year. How mysterious! No wonder he sent to ask the Master if there was any explanation of this. 'Art Thou He that should come? Is this like the Messiah?' Christ's answer to the disciples of John was, '... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Closing Address On Communion Sabbath January 27, 1889
'When He is come, He will tell us all things' John 4:25 You must have noticed some great and memorable sayings in the New Testament which were spoken unwittingly. 'This man receiveth sinners' (Luke 15:2); 'It is expedient that one man should die for the people' (John 11:50); 'He saved others, Himsel... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Coming to Christ
The natural man is exceedingly perverse, and Satan knows how to wield this perversity of the heart. We, in our day, are ready to excuse ourselves for slowness to believe in the Lord Jesus by saying, 'How much easier it would have been, had we seen Him in the flesh, and been with Him when he wrought ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
Epaphras
'Always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God' Col. 4:12. Epaphras was a citizen of Colosse. Hence his deep interest in the Colossians. The Lord does not ask His people to give up their patriotism when they turn to Him. Epaphras had a p... Read More
Andrew Bonar
His niece in school at Kelso
GLASGOW, 14th December 1874. MY DEAR NIECE EMILY, --It was very good in you to write me so nice a letter. It was well written every way, and makes me think you are already greatly the better of being away from home, breathing your native air. Your great-grandfather never saw Kelso, but I am sure he ... Read More
Andrew Bonar
His son James
GLASGOW, 14th Feby. 1873. MY DEAR JAMES, --I have this week been lighting upon some passages in the poets that seemed to me to illustrate, or, rather, to put in a good setting, some truths that are usually stated in Bible language. Reading a little of Carey's 'Dante' (which is not always free from o... Read More
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Andrew Bonar (1810 - 1892)
He was a well-known pastor in Scotland with the Free Church. His brother Horatius was another well-known minister who was contemporary with Robert Murray Mchyene and others in those days. They saw a move of revival in their churches where the Spirit brought many immediate conversations in a short period of time.He is best known for his work on compiling the life of the prophet of Dundee: Robert Murray Mchyene: "Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray McCheyne." One cannot read this volume and feel the sobriety of eternity and the fear of the Lord. He also wrote a wonderful volume on Leviticus.
Andrew Alexander Bonar was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and the youngest brother of Horatius Bonar.
He studied at Edinburgh; was minister at Collace, Perthshire, 1838 - 1856 (both in the Church of Scotland and the Free Church); and of Finnieston Free Church, Glasgow, 1856 till his death.
He was identified with evangelical and revival movements and adhered to the doctrine of premillennialism. With Robert Murray McCheyne he visited Palestine in 1839 to inquire into the condition of the Jews there. During the visit of Dwight L. Moody to Britain in 1874 and 1875, Moody was warmly welcomed by Bonar, despite the latter receiving considerable criticism from other Calvinist ministers in the Free Church.
Andrew Bonar preached from the whole Bible, the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. When one of his friends remarked on his originality in finding subjects for preaching, and wondered where he got all his texts, he just lifted up his Bible. He did not ignore any part of it, but explained it all. He did not shy away from any passages that might be seen as unpopular or unpleasant. Even the first chapters of Chronicles became 'God calling the roll of mankind.' He made it come alive as a history of men and women, living in their time, as we live in ours, accountable to God.
Christ and Him crucified was at the centre of all his preaching, in all parts of the Bible. He declared 'the whole counsel of God', and was deeply aware of his responsibility as a man of God. He spent hours every day in prayer and meditation of the Scriptures, and asking for the Holy Spirit to show the truth to him, so that he might pass it on to his flock. He wrote in a letter: "Persevering prayerfulness is harder for the flesh than preaching."
Above all, he was aware that his personal holiness would be of crucial importance to his preaching, as his remark shows: "Sins of teachers are teachers of sins."