Another word from Spurgeon..

...“The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”


Concerning such a sentence I will venture to say every single syllable in the verse is worth more than whole volumes about heaven might have been, though the Spirit of God might have inspired them - worth more for present and practical purpose to us who are yet among the sons of men. Are there any dear brethren who understand the Book of Revelation, the Book of Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel? I am pleased to hear it. But if the Lord will help me to understand Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I shall be perfectly satisfied to go on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, for I think I shall get up to them by and by in their knowledge of prophecy and mystery, when I come into clearer light and see the Master face to face.

Meanwhile, there are sinners to be saved. We must go about doing this soul-saving business in his name, with the simple means put before us in the gospels and epistles, which we are enabled to understand by the Spirit of God through our own personal experience of the truth revealed.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Royal Homage

From the pen of CH Spurgeon

The Lord shuts us up to hopelessness and helplessness in order that he may come, as a God of grace, and display his abounding mercy. All our hope lies in him, and all other hopes are delusions. The great work in conversion is not to make people better, so that they may come to God on a good footing, it is to strip them completely and lay them low, so that God may come to them when they are on a bad footing, or rather on no footing at all, but down in the dust at his feet. The Son of man is come to seek and to cave that which is lost, but it wants* God himself to convince men that they are lost; and the Spirit’s work of soul-humbling is just this - to get man to feel so diseased that he will accept the physician; to get him to feel so poor that he will accept the charity of heaven; to get him to know that he is so stripped, that he will no longer be proud of his fig leaves, but will be willing to take the robe of righteousness which Christ has wrought out.



Conviction is sent to kill the man, to break him in pieces, to bury him, to let him know his own corruption; and all this as a preliminary to his quickening and restoration. We must see the bones in the valley to be dead and dry, or we shall not hear the voice out of the excellent glory, saying, “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Ye dry bones live!’” May God in his mercy teach us what all this means, and may we all experience an old-fashioned conversion.




* - that is, it requires


From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "An Old-Fashioned Conversation," delivered March 16, 1873

A Visit to the Harvest Field~ CH Spurgeon

The pure motive of any man who serves his generation well is generally misrepresented. As a rule the lounger looks on at the laborer not to praise but to blame him: not to cheer him but to chide him. The less he does, the less he will be open to rebuke, and the more he does oftentimes, and the more vigorously, the more he shall be upbraided.



Look not for your reward here. Suppose men praise you, what is their praise worth? It would not fill your nostrils if you were about to die. The approbation of those who have neither skill nor taste — what pleasure can it afford the artist? Should one stoop for it, or, having it, lift his head the higher? Our reward is the approbation of God, which he will give of his abundant grace. He first gives us good works, as one observes, and then rewards us for those good works, as if they were altogether our own. He gives rewards though they are not a debt, but altogether of grace.


Look for the reward hereafter. Wait a bit, man, wait a bit; your reward is not yet. Wait till the week is over, and then shall come the wage. Wait until the sun is gone down, and then there will be the penny for every laborer in the vineyard. Not yet, not yet, not yet. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth. This is what we wait for.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Visit to the Harvest Field

What's your thorn?

God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away. To live with your "thorn" uncomplainingly- that is, sweet , patient, and free in heart to love and help others, even though every day you feel weak- is true sanctification. It is true healing for the spirit. It is a supreme victory of grace. The healing of your sinful person thus goes forward, even though the healing of your mortal body does not.
-J.I. Packer

Spurgeon

“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
This is the only beauty which he cares for in our public services, and it is one for which no other can compensate.
Beauty of architecture and apparel he does not regard;
moral and spiritual beauty is that in which his soul delighteth. Worship must not be rendered to God in a slovenly, sinful, superficial manner;
we must be reverent, sincere, earnest, and pure in heart both in our prayers and praises.
Purity is the white linen of the Lord's choristers, righteousness is the comely garment of his priests, holiness is the royal apparel of his servitors.
“Fear before him, all the earth.” “Tremble” is the word in the original, and it expresses the profoundest awe, just as the word “worship” does, which would be more accurately translated by “bow down.”
Even the bodily frame would be moved to trembling and prostration if men were thoroughly conscious of the power and glory of Jehovah.
Men of the world ridiculed “the Quakers” for trembling when under the power of the Holy Spirit;
had they been able to discern the majesty of the Eternal they would have quaked also.
There is a sacred trembling which is quite consistent with joy, the heart may even quiver with an awful excess of delight.
The sight of the King in his beauty caused no alarm to John in Patmos, and yet it made him fall at his feet as dead.
Oh, to behold him and worship him with prostrate awe and sacred fear!
From The Treasury of David, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exposition of Psalm 96:9

How Has God Revealed Himself in You?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NLT

The Master Creator

Genesis 1:1 and the entire creation story reveals God's creativity.
He is the Master Creator who delights in diversity and variety.
Creativity is a gift God gives to people by the power of his Holy Spirit. Exodus 31:1-4 described a person who used his artistic skills and craftsmanship to make beautiful things for God's glory.

The Lord also said to Moses, "Look, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. He is able to create beautiful objects from gold, silver, and bronze.

Hebrews 11:3 proclaims God as the ultimate source of all creativity.
By faith we understood that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
from Living Water For Those Who Thirst Tyndale House Publishers (2000), pp 37-8

The heavens tell God's glory

When was the last time you really looked deep into the night sky?

The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.
Psalm 19:1 NLT


The story is told of a remarkable rabbi named Abraham Heschel.
Several years before his death he suffered a massive heart attack, and he was sure he would die.
His best friend sat by his side.
Rabbi Heschel whispered to his friend, "Sam, I feel only gratitude for my life, for every moment I have lived.
I am ready to go. I have seen so many miracles during my lifetime."
Exhausted, the old rabbi leaned back in his bed to catch his breath.
After a long pause, he said, "Sam, never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me."
Everything about God and creation screams out thoughts of wonder and amazement.
Any person who can stand before it and yawn is either dead and buried or might as well be.
With God, boredom is not an option.
King David cried out to God in song, "I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have set in place…the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!" (Psalm 8:3; 8-9)
I'm one who believes there are no atheists in the world, only stubborn insubordinates.
God's creation is his greatest evangelist.
How sad that we so seldom stop to acknowledge its wonder.
adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin,, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), p 37

temptation

Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful.
He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

How can a young person stay pure?
By obeying your word and following its rules.
Psalm 119:9 NLT

As we shall resemble the angels in beauty, so no doubt we shall also equal them in strength:
“Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength.”
Thus saith the apostle, “It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.”
What kind of power that will be we may guess.
There will be an enlarged mental capacity, a far more extensive spiritual range.
So far as the new body is concerned, there will be an amount of power in it of which we have no conception.
What we shall be, beloved, in the matter of strength, we cannot tell, but this we know, that we shall not need so constantly to stretch our weary frames upon the bed of rest, and to lie half our time in unconsciousness, for we shall serve him day and night in his temple; and this indicates a degree of unweariedness and physical endurance to which we are total strangers now. We shall in this also be as the angels of God.Just then for a minute let your thoughts foresee that blessed personality which shall be yours when this present age is past.
You suffer today, you are today despised and rejected; but as from yonder creeping caterpillar, or from this dried up chrysalis, there will arise a lovely creature with wings coloured like the rainbow, so from your poor groaning humanity there shall come forth a fair and lovely being; while your spirit also shall cast off the slough of its natural depravity, be rid of all the foulness and damage of its sojourn here below, and your whole man shall be restored a goodly fabric - a temple glorious to look upon, in which God shall dwell with you, and in which you shall dwell with God.

From a sermon entitled "The Angelic Life," delivered November 22, 1868. Image by John Talbot under Creative Commons License.

What Do You Do When Hope Fades?
Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck.
Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire;
I can't find a foothold to stand on.
I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.
I am exhausted from crying for help;
my throat is parched and dry.
My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me…
But I keep right on praying to you, Lord, hoping this is the time you will show me favor.
Psalm 69:1-3, 13 NLT

Praying when hope seems dim

David's prayer recorded in this psalm essentially amounts to a simple, "Save me, I'm sinking."
It's the cry of a desperate man who can't even think of helping himself.
But at least David knew whom he needed to ask for help.
Although he was exhausted from crying to the Lord in prayer, he kept on shouting to his God, the only one who could save him.
When waves of adversity threaten to drown you in despair, pray to God. Remember David's persistence, and keep on asking God for help.

Prayer for today:

Dear Lord, I am exhausted from crying for help, but I will keep on praying to you.

from The One Year Book of Bible Prayers edited by Bruce Barton, Tyndale House Publishers (2000), entry for February 9

Joy

[Jesus said,] "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so you will be filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!"
John 15:9-11

Why should joy flow from obedience?

Because of the "never say die" misconception in some quarters that the Christian life is, at best, a dreary existence and at worst, a grim process of spiritual survival.

No! Jesus wants our lives to be rich and full (John 10:10).

The Bible demonstrates repeatedly that joy can be our companion—even during life's worst moments.

William Vander Hoven has noted: "Life need not be easy to be joyful.
Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ."

We've all known believers who understood that truth.

Despite hard times they were filled to overflowing with joy.

Tell the truth—is anything more eye-catching or more attractive than that?

Whatever your current difficulty, the more you are convinced of Christ's unconditional love for you, and the more you are committed to loving him in return by obeying all that he commands, the more you will know the supernatural joy of Jesus.

You want me to know your love, Lord.

I demonstrate love and experience love as I obey you.

Rekindle my desire to live as you command.

You want me to overflow with joy.

Make my eyes dance with joy.

Despite my troubles, put a supernatural spring in my step.

Fill my soul with delight as I seek you and obey you and taste your goodness.

Make me attractive to those trapped in joyless lives.

adapted from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Woods,, Tyndale House Publishers (2002), pp 152-3

O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning.… Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 5:1-3 NLT

Waiting expectantly

In World War I, Field Marshal Foch, the Allied commander in chief, could not be found when a military conference was about to start.
An officer friend said, "I think I know where he might be."
Foch was found praying nearby at a bombed-out chapel.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I would be the greatest fool on earth if I did not realize that I could never satisfy the demands of the high office without the help of One who is greater and stronger than I am."

David realized this truth too. Although he was a powerful king, he daily acknowledged his dependence on someone far greater and stronger than he was.
Not only did David begin each day depending on the Lord, but he waited expectantly throughout the day to see how God would work on his behalf. When you live each day looking upward, God often sends delightful surprises.

When we don't pray, we quit the fight.
Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright.
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
WILLIAM COWPER

adapted from The One Year Book of Psalms by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen,, Tyndale House Publishers (1999), entry for February 7

In need of renewal

Are you in need of renewal?
For the Lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you, and no one has yet been able to defeat him.
Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised.
So be careful to love the Lord your God.
Joshua 23:9-11 NLT

When strength fails and we grow weary, we need someone to come alongside us, show understanding, cheer us up, and inspire us to have the strength and commitment to move on.

When bills pile up and money runs short, we need an encourager.

When we become single parents and the world seems against us, we need an encourager.

When friends and family turn against us, we need an encourager.

Our strength and resolve weaken.

Oh, for someone to come beside us and lift us up and comfort us.

Encouragers help us stir renewed commitment, renewed resolve.

They inspire us with courage and hope.

Encouragers bring a beautiful gift, often a spiritual gift, when they bring renewal through encouragement.

adapted from The TouchPoint Bible with devotional commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers, Tyndale House Publishers (1996), p 1188

Clothed in kindness

Reflecting Christ
"…you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
Colossians 3:12 NLT

Clothed in kindness
"A doctor once stepped into a taxicab and discovered an unusually friendly driver.…he asked the man why he was so cheerful.
"It all started," he said, "when I heard about a taxi driver who was so kind to a passenger that the man remembered him in his will, leaving him $65,000. I thought I would try it, and maybe somebody might leave me something. But after I tried it, I found it was so much fun being good that I decided I would do it for the fun of it, reward or no reward."
The world would certainly be a more cheerful place if we all had such good dispositions.
Imagine walking down the street and seeing nothing but smiling faces.…Life is not a bed of roses, and most people are too happy to let you know that.
That's what we tell ourselves when we want to appease our guilt on those dark and dreary days.
I'm not the only one who's had a bad day, we think.
People are just going to have to understand.
Maybe they do, but how does Jesus feel about it?
Kindness should flow out of the life of a Christian.
The world has an excuse to be angry, but we don't.
Redeemed people should act like they're happy to be redeemed.
This is what separates believers from those who haven't discovered the goodness of Christ.
We have a reason to rejoice.
We have a standard to uphold.
We have a Savior to pattern our life after.

from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale) p 86

What Thanksgiving should be

What Thanksgiving should be

"How wonderful it is, how pleasant when brothers live together in harmony!"
Psalm 133:1 NLT

Fighting historical vandalism
"In an article in Focus on the Family's Citizen magazine, Douglas Phillips describes how he took his family to Plymouth, Massachusetts, a few years ago and was shocked at what he found.
Atop Cole's Hill, the burial ground for Pilgrims who died that first hard winter, Phillips was startled to see a city truck pull up and men pile out carrying shovels.
They told Phillips the city was placing a new monument."Most revolutions are staged at night," Phillips wrote, so he wasn't surprised the next day to find stone markers all over Plymouth designating Thanksgiving as a day of mourning — a day to recall how the Pilgrims murdered and stole from their Indian neighbors.
That afternoon, demonstrators — mostly white college kids — celebrated their victory by defacing the traditional monuments.
Plymouth had transformed a tale of religious freedom into a story of genocide.
The historical reality is totally different.
While it's true that later settlers abused the Native Americans, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians lived together in peace for 50 years.
They signed covenants, bought and sold property, and fought against mutual enemies.
The modern obsession with group identity and victimhood encourages us to see those assigned to other groups as our enemies.
When we interact with them, we ought to recall the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians and model not hostility and hatred but brotherly love.
As the psalmist notes, a willingness to get along with others makes for a pleasant and peaceful life.

adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 631-32

Handling distress

"But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and cried out humbly to the God of his ancestors."
2 Chronicles 33:12 NLT

"And I am sure that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."
Philippians 1:6 NLT

Let this encourage God's holy people to endure persecution patiently and remain firm to the end, obeying his commands and trusting in Jesus.
Revelation 14:12 NLT

God's promise to continue working in our lives requires perseverance on our part.

Whether you are an athlete undergoing grueling physical conditioning, an employee struggling under a mountain of work, or a Christian suffering persecution, the key to perseverance is a clear vision of the goal.

While the goal of an athlete is to win the race and goal of the employee is a job well done, the goal of the believer is nothing less than eternity in the presence of the Lord.

The writer of Revelation encourages Christians to keep their eyes on Jesus, who will reward the faithful, and to obey his Word to the end.

When you feel like giving up, remember the glory that awaits you as a child of God.

from the TouchPoint Bible with commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 1136

Doing away with death

"In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!"
Isaiah 25:7-8 NLT

There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.
John 14:2 NLT

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again."
John 11:25 NLT

"There are two kinds of death—the cessation of life here on earth, and the missed opportunity to live in heaven with God forever.

To die physically is to leave our earthly body and our place in the earthly community.

To die spiritually, eternally, is to miss eternal residence in heaven with God and his people, to be separated from God forever.

When we die physically, we can be even more alive as we take up residence in God's eternal home with him and his people.

It is not pleasant to think of dying physically.

But it is devastating to think of missing heaven forever."

from the Touchpoint Bible with commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 1180

"Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good."
Psalm 127:1 NLT

Unless the Lord builds the house

"Benjamin Franklin is best known for his inventions (lightning rod) and his aphorisms ("early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise").
But he was also a key figure when the thirteen colonies were giving birth to a new nation.
At the age of 81, Franklin was the oldest representative at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
Weeks after the convention began, representatives were still haggling about the relative voting power of large states and small states.
Then Franklin stood up and said,
"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection.
Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.…
Have we now forgotten this powerful Friend?
Do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?
I have lived a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.…
We have been assured, sir, that 'except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it,' and without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel."

The verse from Psalm 127 had its effect.
A compromise was soon worked out, and a Constitution ratified by the states the following year.

adapted from The One Year Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for October 27

"I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the one who does these things."
Isaiah 45:7 NLT

Extinguishing Protestantism in France

"The Wars of Religion began in France in 1562 between the Roman Catholics and the French Protestants called Huguenots.

Though he had to convert to Catholicism to ascend to the throne, Henry IV did not forget his Huguenot roots, and in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which gave the Huguenots freedom of religion, civil equality, and fair administration of justice—the first time freedom was granted to two religions to coexist in a nation.

Louis XIV shared none of his grandfather's empathy for the Huguenots, and on October 18, 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes.

All Huguenot worship and education were forbidden, and all Huguenot churches were either destroyed or turned into Catholic churches.

Mounted soldiers were housed in the homes of Huguenots.

The troops were given license to do anything they pleased, short of murder, leading to horrendous acts of torture and humiliation.

Of the 1.5 million Huguenots living in France in 1660, over the next decades 400,000 risked their lives by escaping across the guarded borders into countries across Europe.

Many also fled to the American colonies.

At the height of the Reformation nearly half of the population of France was Huguenot.

But as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the intense persecution that followed, today less than one percent of the French share the faith of the Huguenots, making France a mission field for the gospel."

adapted from The One Year Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale) pp 584-5