Don't Be Ensnared By The Flesh Or The Devil!

The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time...

If she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage...

And settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. 

The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory...

It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. 

Am I always to be mortified? 

Am I never to be indulged? 

Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare.

Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance... 

It will be the mark for all his arrows.

He will strive to hinder you in service: 

He will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. 

He will endeavor to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, “Curse God, and die.”

Or he will attack your steadfastness: “What is the good of being so zealous?

Be quiet like the rest...

Sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do.

Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: “Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? 

Sensible men are getting more liberal...

They are removing the old landmarks: 

Fall in with the times.

Wear your shield, Christian

Therefore, close upon your armor...

And cry mightily unto God, that by his Spirit you may endure to the end.

~Charles Spurgeon

Are You A Hypocrite?

Job 8:11  Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him.

It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence...

For this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution.

I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived...

Perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. 

The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root...

Let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. 

Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances...

A present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. 

Is this my case? 

Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? 

Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands?

If so I am a base hypocrite...

And like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys.

But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few...

And my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it...

I have still held fast my integrity?

Then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. 

The rush cannot grow without mire...

But plants of the Lord's right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. 

A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. 

He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas...

They who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil...

But they who attend Him out of love to Himself are His own beloved ones. 

Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this world's favor or gain.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Repentance Is...

Repentance is the hand releasing those filthy objects it had previously clung to so tenaciously.  
 
Faith is extending an empty hand to God to receive His gift of grace.   

Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin.  
 
Faith is receiving a sinner's Savior.   

Repentance is revulsion of the filth and pollution of sin.  
 
Faith is a seeking of cleansing therefrom.   

Repentance is the sinner covering his mouth and crying, "Unclean, unclean!"  
 
Faith is the leper coming to Christ and saying, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean."

~Arthur Pink~

I Am Not Alone For My Father Is With Me

John 16:32  Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

It is certainly unnecessary to say that turning conviction into action requires great sacrifice.

It may mean renouncing or separating ourselves from specific people or things, leaving us with a strange sense of deprivation and loneliness.

Therefore the person who will ultimately soar like an eagle to the heights of the cloudless day and live in the sunshine of God must be content to live a relatively lonely life.

There are no birds that live in as much solitude as eagles, for they never fly in flocks.

Rarely can even two eagles be seen together.
 
And a life that is dedicated to God knows divine fellowship, no matter how many human friendships have had to be forfeited along the way.

God seeks “eagle people,” for no one ever comes into the full realization of the best things of God in his spiritual life without learning to walk alone with Him.

We see Abraham alone “in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities...near Sodom” (Gen. 13:12).

Moses, although educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, had to spend forty years alone with God in the desert.
 
And Paul, who was filled with all the knowledge of the Greeks and who sat “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3 KJV),was required, after meeting Jesus, to go “immediately into Arabia” (Gal. 1:17) to learn of the desert life with God.

May we allow God to isolate us, but I do not mean the isolation of a monastery.

It is in the experience of isolation that the Lord develops an independence of life and of faith so that the soul no longer depends on the continual help, prayers, faith,and care of others.

The assistance and inspiration from others are necessary, and they have a place in a Christian’s development, but at times they can actually become a hindrance to a person’s faith and welfare.

God knows how to change our circumstances in order to isolate us.

And once we yield to Him and He takes us through an experience of isolation, we are no longer dependent upon those around us, although we still love them as much as before.

Then we realize that He has done a new work within us and that the wings of our soul have learned to soar in loftier air.

We must dare to be alone, in the way that Jacob had to be alone for the Angel of God to whisper in his ear,“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel” (Gen. 32:28)...

In the way that Daniel had to be left alone to see heavenly visions...

And in the way that John had to be banished to the Isle of Patmos to receive and record “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him” (Rev. 1:1).

He has “trodden the winepress alone” (Isa. 63:3) for us.

Therefore, are we prepared for a time of “glorious isolation” rather than to fail Him?

God Is Our Ally

The LORD Christ in the midst of His people is to be acknowledged and obeyed. 

He is the vice-regent of God and speaks in the Father's name, and it is ours implicitly and immediately to do as He commands. 

We shall lose the promise if we disregard the precept. 

To full obedience how large the blessing! 

The LORD enters into a league with His people, offensive and defensive. 

He will bless those who bless us and curse those who curse us. 

God will go heart and soul with His people and enter in deepest sympathy into their position. 

What a protection this affords us! 

We need not concern ourselves about our adversaries when we are assured that they have become the adversaries of God. 

If Jehovah has taken up our quarrel, we may leave the foemen in His hands. 

So far as our own interest is concerned we have no enemies; but for the cause of truth and righteousness we take up arms and go forth to conflict. 

In this sacred war we are allied with the eternal God, and if we carefully obey the law of our LORD Jesus, He is engaged to put forth all His power on our behalf. 

Wherefore we fear no man. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Anchor Of Calvary

There was an evil hour once when I released the anchor of my faith...

I cut the cable of my belief; I no longer moored myself tight to the coasts of the Revelation of God...

I allowed my vessel to drift with the wind...

I said to reason, "You be my captain;"...

I said to my own brain, "You be my rudder;" and I started on my mad voyage. 

Thank God, it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history.

It was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free thought. 

I went on, and as I went, the skies began to darken; but to make up for that deficiency, the waters were brilliant with the glitter of brilliancy. 

I saw sparks flying upward that pleased me, and I thought, "If this is free thought, it is a good thing." 

My thoughts seemed like gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands...

But before long, instead of these flashes of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, come up from the waters...

And as I rushed on, they gnashed their teeth, and grinned at me...

They seized the bow of my ship and dragged me on, while I, in part, was impressed at the swiftness of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed the old landmarks of my faith. 

As I hurried forward with a dreadful speed, I began to doubt my very existence...

I doubted if there were a world, I doubted if there were such a thing, as myself. 

I went to the very verge of the dreamy realms of unbelief...

I went to the very bottom of the sea of Unbelief. 

I doubted everything. 

But here the devil foiled himself...for the very extravagance of the doubt, proved its absurdity.

Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, there came a voice which said, "And can this doubt be true?" 

At this very thought I awoke. 

I started from that death-dream, which, God knows, might have damned my Soul, and ruined my body, if I had not awoke. 

When I arose, faith took the helm; from that moment I no longer doubted. 

Faith steered me back; faith cried, "Away, away!"

I cast my anchor on Calvary;  I lifted my eye to God; and here I am, "alive, and out of hell."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Limitless Riches

Paul's God is Our God and Will supply All our need.

Paul felt Sure of this in reference to the Philippians, and we feel Sure of it as to ourselves. 

God will do it, for it is like Him...

He Loves us, He Delights to Bless us, and it will Glorify Him to do so. 

His Pity, His Power, His Love, His Faithfulness, all work together that We Be Not Famished. 

What a measure doth the LORD go by: "According to His Riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

The Riches of His grace are Large, but what shall we say of the riches of His glory? 

His "Riches Of Glory By Christ Jesus"-who shall form an estimate of this?

According to this Immeasurable Measure Will God Fill Up the immense abyss Of Our Necessities. 

He makes the LORD Jesus the receptacle and the channel of His fullness, and then He imparts to us His wealth of love in its highest form. Hallelujah!

The writer knows what it is to be tried in the work of the LORD.

Fidelity has been recompensed with anger, and liberal givers have stopped their subscriptions...

But he whom they sought to oppress has not been one penny the ~ nay, rather He Has Been The Richer; for this promise has been true, "My God Shall Supply All Your Need." 

God's Supplies Are Surer Than Any Bank.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Bible Is No Lazy Man's Book!

Pro 2:4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

Pro 2:5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

The Bible is no lazy man's book!

Much of its treasure, like the valuable minerals stored in the bowels of the earth, only yield up themselves to the diligent seeker.

~Arthur Pink~

Do not be satisfied with a superficial survey of Scripture, as many Christians are.

These are not the days of contemplation as the old Puritan times were-We are too apt to be superficial...

But do remember that while there are nuggets of gold upon the very surface of Scripture, yet the most valuable mines of gold are far down!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Truth lies deep, and must be dug for.

~William Gurnall~

Strive to penetrate to the bottom of Divine truths, and never be content with a superficial knowledge.

~David Brainerd~

Dig for the truth like a man digging for Australian gold!

~J.C. Ryle~

Pro 4:7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Immortal Till Work Done

                                                      
A fair assurance this! 

It was no doubt based upon a promise, inwardly whispered in the psalmist's heart, which he seized upon and enjoyed. 

Is my case like that of David? 

Am I depressed because the enemy affronts me?

Are there multitudes against me and few on my side?

Does unbelief bid me lie down and die in despair-a defeated, dishonored man?

Do my enemies begin to dig my grave?

What then?

Shall I yield to the whisper of fear, and give up the battle, and with it give up all hope?

Far from it. 

There is life in me yet: "I shall not die." 

Vigor will return and remove my weakness: "I shall live."

The LORD lives, and I shall live also. 

My mouth shall again be opened: "I shall declare the works of Jehovah." 

Yes, and I shall speak of the present trouble as another instance of the wonder-working faithfulness and love of the LORD my God. 

Those who would gladly measure me for my coffin had better wait a bit, for "the LORD hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death."

Glory be to His name forever! 

I am immortal till my work is done. 

Till the LORD wills it, no vault can close upon me. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Maintain The Difference

Exodus 8:23  And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

Pharaoh has a people, and the LORD has a people. 

These may dwell together and seem to fare alike, but there is a division between them, and the LORD will make it apparent. 

Not forever shall one event happen alike to all, but there shall be great difference between the men of the world and the people of Jehovah's choice. 

This may happen in the time of judgments, when the LORD becomes the sanctuary of His saints. 

It is very conspicuous in the conversion of believers when their sin is put away, while unbelievers remain under condemnation. 

From that moment they become a distinct race, come under a new discipline, and enjoy new blessings. 

Their homes, henceforth, are free from the grievous swarms of evils which defile and torment the Egyptians. 

They are kept from the pollution of lust, the bite of care, the corruption of falsehood, and the cruel torment of hatred, which devour many families. 

Rest assured, tried believer, that though you have your troubles you are saved from swarms of worse ones, which infest the homes and hearts of the servants of the world's prince. 

The LORD has put a division; see to it that you keep up the division in Spirit, aim, character, and company.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Need Of Solitude With GOD

Mat 14:23  And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
 
Christ Jesus, in His humanity, felt the need of complete solitude...to be entirely by Himself, alone with Himself. 

Each of us knows how draining constant interchange with others can be and how it exhausts our energy. 

As part of humankind, Jesus knew this and felt the need to be by Himself in order to regain His strength. 

Solitude was also important to Him in order to fully realize His high calling, His human weakness, and His total dependence on His Father.
 
As a child of God, how much more do we need times of complete solitude...

Times to deal with the spiritual realities of life and to be alone with God the Father. 

If there was ever anyone who could dispense with special times of solitude and fellowship, it was
our Lord. 

Yet even He could not maintain His full strength and power for His work and His fellowship with the Father without His quiet time. 

God desires that every servant of His would understand and perform this blessed practice...

That His church would know how to train its children to recognize this high and holy privilege...

And that every believer would realize the importance of making time for God alone.
 
Oh, the thought of having God all alone to myself and knowing that God has me all alone to Himself! 

~Andrew Murray~

Lamartine, the first of the French Romantic poets and a writer of the nineteenth century, in one of his books wrote of how his mother had a secluded spot in the garden where she spent the same hour of each day. 

He related that nobody ever dreamed of intruding upon her for even a moment of that hour.
 
It was the holy garden of the Lord to her.
 
Pity those people who have no such Beulah land! (See Isa. 62:4.) 

Jesus said,“Go into your room, close the door and pray” (Matt. 6:6), 

For it is in quiet solitude that we catch the deep and mysterious truths that flow from the soul of the things God allows to enter our lives.
 
A Meditation...

My soul, practice being alone with Christ! 

The Scripture says, “When he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything” (Mark 4:34).

Do not wonder about the truth of this verse, for it can be true of your life as well. 

If you desire to have understanding, then dismiss the crowd, just as Jesus did. (See Matt. 14:22.) 

Let them “go away one at a time until only Jesus [is] left” (John 8:9) with you. 

Have you ever pictured yourself s the last remaining person on earth, or the only person left in the entire universe?
 
If you were the only person remaining in the universe, your every thought would be,“God and I...! God and I...!”

And yet He is already as close to you as that. 

He is as near as if no heart but His and yours ever beat throughout the boundlessness of space.
 
O my soul, practice that solitude! 

Practice dismissing the crowd! 

Practice the stillness of your heart! 

Practice the majestic song “God and I! God and I!”

Let no one come between you and your wrestling angel! 

You will receive conviction yet pardon, when you meet Jesus alone! 

~George Matheson~

All Comes From The Hand Of Him Who Is Too Wise To Err And Too Loving To Be Unkind!

Faith endures as seeing Him who is invisible. 

Faith endures the disappointments, the hardships and the heartaches of life-by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.

So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart nor peace for the mind. 

But when we receive all that enters our lives as from His hand-then, no matter what may be our circumstances or surroundings; whether in a hovel, or prison-dungeon, or at a martyr's stake-we shall be enabled to say, "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places" (Psalm 16:6). 

But that is the language of faith, not of sight nor of sense.

Faith may swim-where reason cannot wade! Thomas Watson

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

~Arthur Pink~

A SATANIC MASTER-STROKE

 

Perhaps one of the most SIGNIFICANT things to any who are “not ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices” is that there never has been a specially spiritual movement of God in the earth, calculated to serve Him in a particularly useful way, but what Satan’s animosity thereto has been manifested along the line of division, schism, discord, separation, and a breaking down of fellowship. 

And how often has the real sting and stigma been modified by a feigning love unbroken and preserved, when the divided parties should have no association with each other in the things of God. 

Love, let us again say emphatically, is incumbent upon the Lord’s people toward “all men”, whether of the “household” or otherwise (Gal. 6:10), but fellowship is something more. 

It is the most spiritual things which suffer the greatest shocks in this matter, and again we say this carries its own Satanic significance.

The methods of the enemy are numberless, the “wiles” unfathomable by human wit.

A suggestion of suspicion, if it finds lodgment, is enough to completely paralyze the work of God and spiritual progress. 

Have a doubt and you are done. 

There never was a time when positive spiritual work was more jeopardized by suspicion than now.

It would seem that hell is largely employed in issuing forth smoke, clouds, vapours, mists of suspicion, question, reservation, in order to infect with uncertainty, mystification, prejudice, fear, discrediting, distrust, aloofness.

It is in the “heavenlies” that this is most registered; that is, the higher ranges of spiritual things.

It is an ATMOSPHERE, and it is everywhere. 

You sense it wherever you go.

In some places it is stifling - there is no clear breath of the Spirit, and a word of life is almost choked back.

Of course, this is no new thing, although now so intensified.

The New Testament is full of it.

The Lord Jesus met it - not in spiritual people, only in religious people. 

John met it.

Paul met it in every direction.

It was made to circle round his person, his methods, his character, and his message.

Even some members of the mother assembly at Jerusalem showed suspicion and lack of cordiality toward him.

Paul’s setting aside of the Law, for instance, seemed to them to go beyond even the Lord Himself, who had not openly abrogated it.

Then Paul appealed to “visions and revelations” (2 Cor. 12:1), but they asserted that these were dubious, or at best they could only serve to ratify his own personal convictions. 

Again, both Paul and his opponents appealed to the Old Testament, but the letter of the Old Testament seemed undoubtedly to favor the literalists, and his ‘attempt to read new meanings’ into the old revelation seemed to them mere cleverness.

They looked on it as barefaced denial of the Divine Word.

To them it looked as though he did not believe the Bible.

They regarded his innovations as morally dangerous.

Of course, this in SUBSTANCE ought to have no parallel today, but it has in spirit. 

There is nothing added by revelation to the Scriptures since the New Testament was closed, but there is much to be RECOGNIZED in them by the enlightenment of the Spirit. 

There is no new meaning, but there is much new RECOGNITION of the meaning.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Deliverance From Dust And Chaff

                                                                                 
The sifting process is going on still. 

Wherever we go, we are still being winnowed and sifted. 

In all countries God's people are being tried "like as corn is sifted in a sieve." 

Sometimes the devil holds the sieve and tosses us up and down at a great rate, with the earnest desire to get rid of us forever.

Unbelief is not slow to agitate our heart and mind with its restless fears. 

The world lends a willing hand at the same process and shakes us to the right and to the left with great vigor. 

Worst of all, the church, so largely apostate as it is, comes in to give a more furious force to the sifting process. 

Well, well! Let it go on. 

Thus is the chaff severed from the wheat. 

Thus is the wheat delivered from dust and chaff.

And how great is the mercy which comes to us in the text, "Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth"! 

All shall be preserved that is good, true, gracious.

Not one of the least of believers lose anything worth calling a loss. 

We shall be so kept in the sifting that it shall be a real gain to us through Christ Jesus.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Pray Our Beloved To Print The Image Of His Bleeding Self Upon The Tablets Of Our Hearts!

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
 
Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
 
Pilate delivered our Lord to the Roman lictors to be scourged. 

The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. 

It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were intertwined among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down, these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration and tore off the flesh from the bone. 

The Savior was, no doubt, bound to the whipping post and thus beaten. 

He had been beaten before; but this flagellation of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of His scourgings.

My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body! 

Believer, can you gaze upon Him without tears as He stands before you, the mirror of agonizing love? 

He is at once as white as the lily for innocence, and as red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood.

As we feel the sure and blessed healing that His stripes have wrought in us-does not our heart melt at once with love and grief?

If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

We would be compelled to go to our chambers and weep, but our business calls us away. 

So we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day...

And at nightfall we will return to commune with Him and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dearly!

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Mark Which Is Always Set Upon Christ's Sheep, And Never Set Upon Any Others!

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

There are some graces which in their vigor are not absolutely essential to the bare existence of spiritual life, though they are very important for its healthy growth. 

But True Love for God must be in the heart-or else there is no grace there whatever. 

If a man does not love God, then he is not a renewed man. 

Love for God is a mark which is always set upon Christ's sheep, and never set upon any others.

I have no right, therefore, to believe that I am a regenerated person-unless my heart Truly and Sincerely Loves God. 

If I have been regenerated, I will not be perfect, but this one thing I can say: "Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You!"

When by believing we receive the privilege to become sons of God-we also receive the nature of sons, and with filial love we cry, "Abba, Father!"

There is no exception to this rule! 

If a man does not sincerely love God-then he is not born of God. 

As the sun must give forth its light-so must a soul that has been created anew by divine grace, display its nature by earnest affection toward God. 

You are not born again, unless you love God. 

Sincere love to God is indispensable!

1Co 16:22  If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Wrath To GOD"S Glory

Wicked men will be wrathful. 

Their anger we must endure as the badge of our calling, the token of our separation from them:

If we were of the world, the world would love its own. 

Our comfort is that the wrath of man shall be made to redound to the glory of God. 

When in their wrath the wicked crucified the Son of God they were unwittingly fulfilling the divine purpose, and in a thousand cases the willfulness of the ungodly is doing the same. 

They think themselves free, but like convicts in chains they are unconsciously working out the decrees of the Almighty. 

The devices of the wicked are overruled for their defeat. 

They act in a suicidal way and baffle their own plottings. 

Nothing will come of their wrath which can do us real harm. 

When they burned the martyrs, the smoke which blew from the stake sickened men of popery more than anything else. 

Meanwhile, the LORD has a muzzle and a chain for bears. 

He restrains the more furious wrath of the enemy.

He is like a miller who holds back the mass of the water in the stream, and what He does allow to flow He uses for the turning of His wheel. 

Let us not sigh, but sing. 

All is well, however hard the wind blows.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Who Has The Majority?

2Ki 6:16  And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

Horses and chariots and a great host shut up the prophet in Dothan. 

His young servant was alarmed. 

How could they escape from such a body of armed men? 

But the prophet had eyes which his servant had not, and he could see a greater host with far superior weapons guarding him from all harm. 

Horses of fire are mightier than horses of flesh, and chariots of fire are far preferable to chariots of iron. 

Even so is it at this hour. 

The adversaries of truth are many, influential, learned, and crafty; and truth fares ill at their hands; and yet the man of God has no cause for trepidation. 

Agencies, seen and unseen, of the most potent kind, are on the side of righteousness. 

God has armies in ambush which will reveal themselves in the hour of need. 

The forces which are on the side of the good and the true far outweigh the powers of evil. 

Therefore, let us keep our spirits up, and walk with the gait of men who possess a cheering secret, which has lifted them above all fear. 

We are on the winning side. 

The battle may be sharp, but we know how it will end. 

Faith, having God with her, is in a clear majority: "They that be with us are more than they that be with them."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sick Bed Vows

Psa 78:34  When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

Psa 78:35  And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
                                                      
Psa 78:36  Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

Psa 78:37  For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

Psa 78:38  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

Psa 78:39  For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Psa 78:40  How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

Psa 78:41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

Psa 78:42  They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

This Psalm is about the people of Israel.

It sets forth God's dealings with them and the return which they made...

It declares, on the one hand, the wonderful things which He did for them:

His kindness and long-suffering, His chastisements and His forgiveness...

And, on the other hand, their many backslidings, their repeated ingratitude and rebellion.

In this particular part of the Psalm we see how the people turned to God when He laid His hand upon them in affliction, but forgot Him again when His hand was removed.

This happened again and again.

Many a time did they seem to repent, and yet they again returned to their sins.

Many a time did God forgive their backslidings.

How often may this be seen still! "When He slew them...then would seek Him."

When a man feels the hand of God upon him in sickness or trouble, then he seeks God.

His pride is brought down, he is careless no longer; for his strength is gone from him, and outward comforts are fled, and perhaps death itself seems near.

Now he seems in earnest.

He shows much zeal in inquiring after God, and pays attention to reading and prayer.

His thoughts go back to the past.

He remembers God's dealings with him...

He thinks over his life, counts up the mercies he has received, considers how he has been borne with in his carelessness, and how the means of grace have not been withheld from him, though he has made so poor an use of them.

He sees now the vanity of the world.

He remembers that God is his Rock, and the most high God is his Redeemer.

He will be a different man for the future.

He will never again live as he has lived.

If it pleases God to raise him up, he will never more forget Him, but will strive to serve Him truly all his days.

These are his thoughts and purposes.

Suppose it please God to restore that man to health and prosperity...does he still remain in the same mind?

Does he really lead a new life and care for his soul and serve God?

Alas, not in every case.

Often the sick-bed vow is broken and the sick-bed thoughts are forgotten.

With returning health, old thoughts come back, and old ways are followed.

There is little change.

The words come true, " But then they would flatter Him with their mouths, lying to Him with their tongues."

Not that they did not mean what they said.

The people of Israel were sincere perhaps at the moment; but "their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant."

There was no depth in their repentance, no steadfastness in their purposes...

And so, as soon as God's afflicting hand was removed, they provoked Him afresh.

In like manner, the man who forgets his sick-bed vows was no hypocrite perhaps when he made them.

He did not say one thing and mean another.

He meant to keep to what he said, and thought that he would.

But he did not know his own heart, his weakness, his proneness to forget God, his need of grace.

He did not know that the Holy Spirit alone could work a real change in him and make his heart right with God and lead him to be steadfast in His covenant.

Had he but known this, and sought the Spirit accordingly...how different would his after-life have been!

Affliction, pain, and sickness do not in themselves work a change of heart.

They are often used as instruments by God, but they are only instruments...the power is His.

It is only sanctified affliction which leaves a blessing behind it.

We should pray therefore, when we are sick or in trouble, that the Holy Spirit may be given to us, and that our affliction may be sanctified and turned to the good of our souls.

Prayer is the way by which afflictions may be turned into blessings.

Prayer will give us cause to say with David, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted!" (Psalm 119:71). 

Psa 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

God is full of compassion and mercy.

Though Israel so often sinned again yet God repeatedly forgave them.

He is still the same...the same to us, as He was to them.

He looks in mercy upon our shortcomings and backslidings, our broken vows and forgotten resolutions.

He remembers that we are but flesh...poor, weak, sinful creatures.

The precious blood of Christ has been shed for us, and "He ever lives to make intercession for us".
 
Heb 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

For His sake, God is still ready to receive us; and, notwithstanding all that is past, He will forgive and save all who seek Him through Jesus Christ.

Thus He is indeed their Rock and their Redeemer.

Happy are all who seek Him and know Him thus!

But let none presume on God's compassion and mercy and think that because He bears long and forgives often...they may go on in their sins and yet escape.
 
It cannot be.

There is every encouragement to turn to God in Christ now.

No one shall now be refused; no one shall now find the door of mercy shut.

But the time will come when that door will be closed forever...

And when those who have slighted God's warnings and turned a deaf ear to His invitations will find too late that they have let the day of salvation slip by.

Now is the time to profit by God's chastisements, to turn to Him and to seek Him.

Even while His hand is upon us and we hear His gracious voice calling us in His Word...

Let us turn unto Him who smites us; let us seek the Lord Almighty!

~Francis Bourdillon~

He Blesses And Keeps

This first clause of the high priest's benediction is substantially a promise. 

That blessing which our great High Priest pronounces upon us is sure to come, for He speaks the mind of God.

What a joy to abide under the divine blessing!

This puts a gracious flavor into all things. 

If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses and even our disappointments are blessed. 

God's blessing is deep, emphatic, effectual.

A man's blessing may begin and end in words, but the blessing of the LORD makes rich and sanctifies. 

The best wish we can have for our dearest friend is not "may prosperity attend thee," but "the LORD bless thee."

It is equally a delightful thing to be kept of God; kept by Him, kept near Him, kept in Him. 

They are kept indeed whom God keeps; they are preserved from evil; they are reserved unto boundless happiness. 

God's keeping goes with His blessing, to establish it and cause it to endure.

The author of this little book desires that the rich blessing and sure keeping here pronounced may come upon every reader who may at this moment be looking at these lines. 

Please breathe the text to God as a prayer for His servants. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Poison Of False Teaching

There have been many, Destroyed by Poisons, given to lull them to sleep...                                                  

Many have been ruined by the cry of "peace, peace," when there is no peace...

Hearing gentle things, when they ought to be hearing things that convict their hearts. 

Cleopatra's asp was brought in a basket of flowers...

And men's ruin often lurks in fair and sweet speeches. 

But the Holy Spirit's comfort is safe, and you may rest on it. 

Let him speak the word, and there is a reality about it...

Let him give the cup of consolation, and you may drink it to the bottom...

For in its depths there are no residue, nothing to intoxicate or ruin; it is all safe.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Ask Him Now How He Likes His Bargain!

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin is a mere cheat. While it pretends to please us, it beguiles us!

Sin does as Jael did. First she brought the milk and butter to Sisera, then she pounded the tent peg through his head!

Judges 5:25  He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Judges 5:26  She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

Sin first courts, and then kills!

It is first a fox and then a lion.

Whoever sin betrays...it kills!

Those locusts in Revelation are fit emblems of sin...

They had gold crowns on their heads...

They had tails that stung like scorpions, with power to torture people.(Revelation 9:7-10).

Judas pleased himself with the thirty pieces of silver...but they proved deceitful riches.

Ask him now how he likes his bargain!

~Thomas Watson~

"I KNOW" By The Revelation Of Jesus Christ

Gal 1:12  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

For strength to overcome and press on, only a revelation by the Holy Spirit in us can suffice – but it can! 

A revelation that is within one's spirit and not a mental appreciation of truth, even though it is truth about God. 

Oh, the power to be able to say "I KNOW," not "I have heard or read," but "I KNOW." 

It is an experience nothing can rob us of.

It is absolutely essential to have this revelation by the Holy Spirit because we have to meet forces of evil against which nothing can stand save that which is of God. 

In pressure Thou hast enlarged me.

How? 

Because of the constant uprising of the Life within. 

Trouble, trial, sorrow...we are subject to these things, they are common to all men, but we rise above them through the "strength of His might" within. 

We are strong because of the Light given in the knowledge of God. 

Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

This is a growing revelation. 

Paul is writing to the Ephesian saints, and what a wonderful history these had! 

See Paul's words to them in parting (Acts 20:17-38). 

To such he says, "That ye may be strengthened to apprehend," showing the necessity for the mighty power of God in bringing through revelation. 

The enemy mightily withstands revelation; to mar or hinder that, he'll stop at nothing!

Light and Strength go together; endurance is by revelation, "I know." 

Establishment in the truth by revelation of the truth, this brings an impact on Satan and his hosts; light leading to might. 

When the Lord opens eyes you see what happens, "the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that ye may know" this is the result of opened eyes.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

~T. Austin Sparks~

It Was Sin Which Wove The Crown Of Thorns

Surely that man must be in an Unhealthy state of soul, who can think of all that Jesus suffered...and yet Love those sins for which that Suffering was undergone!  

It was sin which Wove the crown of thorns!

It was sin which Pierced our Lord’s hands and feet and side!  

It was sin which Brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave!  

Cold must our hearts be, if we do not Hate sin and labor to get rid of it–though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it!”

~J.C. Ryle~

He Hides The Hook!

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Satan has his several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men. 

Satan has...snares for the wise, and snares for the simple; snares for hypocrites, and snares for the upright; snares for brave, and snares for the timorous; snares for the rich, and snares for the poor; snares for the aged, and snares for youth.

Happy are those souls which are not captured and held in the snares that he has laid!

Satan's first device to draw the soul into sin is, to present the bait and hide the hook...

To present the golden cup and hide the poison... 

To present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin...

And to hide from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin!

By this device he deceived our first parents, "And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die...for God knows, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and you shall be as gods."

Your eyes shall he opened, and you shall be as gods!

Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit...

Oh...but he hides the hook...the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow!

So Satan cheats them...giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise!

Satan with ease pawns falsehoods upon us, by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool's paradise. 

He promises the soul honor, pleasure, profit...but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be!

Alas! Many have fallen forever by this vile strumpet...

The world, who, by showing forth her two fair breasts of PROFIT and PLEASURE, has wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition! 

She has, by the glistening of her pomp and preferment, slain millions!

~Thomas Brooks~