Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions August 31st

Morning, August 31

“On mine arm shall they trust.”

Isaiah 51:5

Charles Spurgeon

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

My Utmost for His Highest

August 31st

My joy … your joy

That My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 15:11

Oswald Chambers

What was the joy that Jesus had? It is an insult to use the word happiness in connection with Jesus Christ. The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. “I delight to do Thy will.” Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God’s work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God’s word. Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim Who Jesus is.

Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a centre for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ. The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it.

Evening, August 31

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light.”

John 1:7

Charles Spurgeon

As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which it set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;” and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light. 

Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 31, 2015

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)

Here lies the unfathomable hope that all Christians share alike: By the blood of Jesus Christ, we pass out of death and despair and into eternal life full of joy.

Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Three Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 August 30, 2015 Newsletter Number 531 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com

Our Prayer Request: All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry, Johnnie Stephens, Alecia Stephens, and children, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette and Her Family, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Doris Hammock, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, Beverly Lillo, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie and Sarah Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Velma Hammond, Charles, Don Hammond and Families, Archie & Barbara Griffin, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Donna Johnson, Mark Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, James, Diane & Brooke Thomas, Trent and Tiffanie Thomas, Brandy Sullivan, Gina Peel, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Megan Whitaker, Tammy Hairston and family, Manual Seymour, Sr ., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, Dewayne Sewell, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan and the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

A Thought From A Former Pastor: How To Be A Soul Winner. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30) This text is a great favorite with Arminian pastors. It appears as if many among them think it was written especially for them and they use it as a verbal goad to prod their dilatory people into action. We do not question action. Per se, action is commendable when motivated by proper ends, and directed by wisdom. But action, generated by ill motives, and regulated by ignorance is to be condemned and deplored. Arminianism is guilty on both counts, for they “do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” The text, as with the whole of Scripture, has been committed to Baptists for preservation and propagation, and the monopoly which Arminians think they have on this text, is but a figment of their warped imagination. Knowledge Of The Scriptures Is Essential To The Wining Of Souls The saints are shut up to the word of God for direction in all things pertaining to the exercise of their Christian profession, including their witness to lost mankind. The Scriptures were given “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:17). However, we should take advantage of every opportunity to cultivate our powers of reasoning and logic, but be it understood, the ultimate intellect can never supersede or countermand a single jot or tittle of the word of God. Yet, it is a sad fact the more progress the world makes in intellectualisim the more is the word of God pushed back into the Dark Ages. Modern, religious intellectuals mock the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures, saying, “That doctrine might have been acceptable in the Dark Ages, but this is the 20th century, the age of enlightenment, and the doctrine is plausible only to the illiterate.” Thus it is, King Reasoning has been enthroned in this age and sits in judgment on the word of God, and professing christendom is woefully critical of the Scriptures. It should be the other way around. Man should test his reasoning at the feet of Divine Truth, subjecting himself thereto, and be thankful for the Biblical criticism against his life. But alas, it is not so, and Paul prophetically points toward our present day blind leaders of the blind, saying, they are “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (II Timothy 3:7). Paul warns, “From such turn away” (II Timothy 3:5). Paul was an intellectual, an educated man, a man with grounds for boasting according to human standards. Paul said, “… if any other man thinketh that he hathwhereof he might trust in the flesh, I more” (Philippians 3:4). Paul was at the head of his seminary class, and was very near the day when he would receive his Doctorate of Mosiac Law, from the hand of the learned Gamaliel. But Paul’s education in the school of the Pharisee’s was abruptly interrupted by an encounter with Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul became the schools most famous dropout. Paul did not quit going to school. He just started all over in another school, the Holy Spirit’s school of grace. It took Paul almost thirty years to graduate from this school. The graduation ceremony was held in Rome, at the end of the Appian Way on Nero’s execution (chopping) block. Nero’s executioner swung the axe, severing Paul’s head from his body, but before his head rolled to the dirt his soul was already in angelic escorted flight to heaven. Whereupon arrival, Paul was immediately enrolled in the Holy Spirit’s Institution of Higher Learning, from which school he will never graduate, but will be learning about Jesus throughout the ceaseless ages to come. On the earth Paul studied at the feet of Gamailel, in heaven he is studying at the feet of Christ, Who never studied at the feet of any man. Paul thought at one time he was God’s instrument whereby Christianity would be stamped out, but instead of Paul stamping out Christianity, Christianity put its eternal stamp on Paul. “Search the Scriptures … they testify of Me.” (John 5:39) Our evangelistic responsibility is to point lost sheep to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We cannot measure to this responsibility without becoming intimately acquainted with the Shepherd, and we cannot know Jesus as we ought to know Him apart from a diligent study of His word. But the Hardshell Baptist with missionary church membership, objects, saying, “I do not know who the lost sheep are, how can I witness to them?” Well, neither did Paul know who they were, but this lack of identity did not deter him for a moment in his determination to publicly proclaim the whole counsel of God. “And when the Gentiles heard this (Paul’s witness of the word of God, vs. 44) they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:48) Paul did not know who in this company of Gentiles was foreordained of God to eternal life, but he did know, that God’s word would not return unto Him void. Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel indiscriminately. It is God’s responsibility to quicken those for whom Jesus died. To win souls one must know what the Scriptures teach. Mere ability to quote Scripture is not the only qualification a person needs to be a fisher of men. I once knew an Arminian who could quote chapters of the Bible, but knew absolutely nothing of what they taught. But worse yet is the Arminian who can quote a few verses of Scripture, and has a malformed notion of what they teach. It is in this last category most Arminians fit. Most are shut up to John 3:16, 5:24 and a few verses from Romans 3 and 10. Their exegesis of these texts would do more to cause John Wesley (if he were alive) to revamp his theology than all the efforts George Whitefield put forth to recover his friend from his God debasing Arminianism. Arminianism makes truth secondary to the Sunday School head count, and laboring under the perverted notion that the end justifies the means have filled their churches with those who are yet strangers to God’s grace. By Elder O. B. Mink from his article " How To Be A Soul Winner." the full article can be read online at: http://pbcofdecaturalabama.org/OBMink/soulwinr.htm

Church News: Please remember our Bible Conference is only three weeks away. September 18 - 19 please come and join us. Pastor Jerry Dodson called this week and informed me that his beloved wife Sister Jean has worsened and due to that they will not be able to make it. Please continue to pray for this Pastor and his wife. We will miss them. Our four remaining speakers will be; Pastor Ronnie Miller - Pastor of the Divide Baptist Church in Sulphur Springs, Texas - Pastor David O'Neal - Pastor of the Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK - Pastor Larry Wilson - Pastor of the Northside Baptist Church in Oakdale, La. - Pastor Jimmy Nelson - Pastor of the Landmark Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Tx.

A special privilege and comfort of old-age

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(Richard Steele, "A Discourse Concerning Old-age, Tending to the Instruction, Caution and Comfort of Aged People" 1688)

"The silver-haired head is a crown of glory--IF it is found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31

Now the older a man grows--the wiser should he grow. And the wiser he grows--the less likely he is to chose evil. The more divine strokes and judgments he has seen upon evil-doers--the more he should be afraid of tampering with it.

A special privilege and comfort of old-age is that it is richer in experience than any other age. The aged believer can tell experimentally . . .
of the wisdom and justice of God's providence,
of the truth of His promises and threatenings,
of the devices of Satan,
of the deceitfulness of riches,
of the wisdom of integrity,
of the vanity of all carnal delights,
of the wickedness of his own heart.
Old-age is rich in the experience of these things, whereby they are able to govern themselves, and to advise others. Their . . .
judgments are more refined,
passions are more sedate,
graces are more strong,
actions are more consistent,
and their spiritual stature is taller.

Trace some godly aged men from morning to night, you shall still find them . . .
so discreet in their charity,
so grave in their counsels,
so savory in their discourse,
so constant in their piety,
so considerate in their resolutions,
so faithful in their reproofs,
so poised in their temper,
so charitable in their censures, and
so uniform and useful in their lives--
that their practice may be a perpetual sermon--and an example to teach others their duty to God and man.

By long experience, aged believers are taught to avoid many dangers, which others fall into. Their manifold experience of the deceitfulness of the flesh, of the world, and of the devil--has enabled them to counter and somewhat conquer them. And their experience renders them able to give the most prudent counsels, and to forewarn others of those consequences which they easily foresee--IF they have treasured up wisdom according to their years.

"The silver-haired head is a crown of glory--IF it is found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 30, 2015

Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

Your hunger shall be filled. Your thirst shall be quenched. Ever shall the child of righteousness be sated for the Lamb is his food and his drink. Christ is the living manna and the living water. The Christian feasts upon His body, broken for us, and His blood, shed for our sake. So go, O believer, in the power of the cross! Go forth and proclaim His life to all the nations until He comes again, that they too might taste the fullness of righteousness!

Now am I one day nearer Heaven than I ever was!

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(Richard Steele, "A Discourse Concerning Old-age, Tending to the Instruction, Caution and Comfort of Aged People" 1688)

Though it is possible for the young to die soon--yet it is impossible for the aged to live long. Their manifest decays are a certain forecast of their approaching dissolution. No medicine has yet been found to cure old-age. The graves are ready for them, and the worms wait for their meal upon them! The moth of mortality, which is bred in our nature, will still be fretting the garment of our bodies, until they are consumed. Death is already got into the aged person's eye and ear--and in a short time will bring him unto the dust.

Now though death is an unwelcome messenger to those who live for this poor world--yet to a holy old man and woman, it is a blessed privilege. For as looking backward they see a tempting troublesome world--so looking forward they see a state of perfect holiness and happiness prepared for them. The end of their fight--is the beginning of their victory. As they part from their earthly labors--they take possession of their heavenly honors.

The aged Christian sees a woeful wilderness behind him--and the blessed land of promise before him. It is therefore no wonder that, with Moses, he longs to be in it! For where should the spouse desire to be, but with her husband? And upon this account, that holy Lady Falkland would usually say when she was going to bed, "Now am I one day nearer Heaven than I ever was!"

"I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 29, 2015

God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

God is ever worthy of our trust. He is unchanging and uncompromising. His promises will always be kept and He shall always stand true to His word. Every promise shall find fulfilment in you who are Christ's workmanship. Rejoice therefore in Him and be filled!

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions August 28th

Morning, August 28

“Oil for the light.”

Exodus 25:6

Charles Spurgeon

My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not long continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and become an offence if light be gone, and gone it will be if oil be absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, “My lamp is gone out.” Even the consecrated lamps could not give light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great. Under the most happy circumstances thou canst not give light for another hour unless fresh oil of grace be given thee.

It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord’s service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane, and draws his supplies from him who was crushed therein. The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour’s golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost.

My Utmost for His Highest

August 28th

What’s the good of prayer?

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

Oswald Chambers

It is not part of the life of a natural man to pray. We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life if he does not pray; I question it. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished, not by food, but by prayer. When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

“Ask and ye shall receive.” We grouse before God, we are apologetic or apathetic, but we ask very few things. Yet what a splendid audacity a childlike child has! Our Lord says—“Except ye become as little children.” Ask, and God will do. Give Jesus Christ a chance, give Him elbow room, and no man will ever do this unless he is at his wits’ end. When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get into touch with Reality. Be yourself before God and present your problems, the things you know you have come to your wits’ end over. As long as you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

It is not so true that “prayer changes things” as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition.

Evening, August 28

“Sing, O barren.”

Isaiah 54:1

Charles Spurgeon

Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have a joyful hope that we are “plants of his own right hand planting,” yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. “Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud.” But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love wherewith he loved his people when he came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for his fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of his everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell him that I am still his child, and in confidence in his faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for now that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loath to be without fruit he will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord’s visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in him is our fruit found. 

Two things always go together in the experience of a genuine believer

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(Arthur Pink, "The Doctrine of Sanctification" 1937)

Two things always go together in the experience of a genuine believer:
a growing discovery of the vileness of self, and
a deepening appreciation of the preciousness of Christ.

"Behold, I am vile!"Job 40:4
"O wretched man that I am!" Romans 7:24

"Yes, He is altogether lovely!" Song of Songs 5:16
"To you who believe, He is precious!"1 Peter 2:7

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 28, 2015

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

Behold! For Christ comes a new! His promised return is the final hope for His church. In spite of the suffering we are bound to experience through these tumultuous last days, we share in a hope promised since long ago-as Christ ascended to heaven, He will certainly return. He will return in glory to lead the church victorious over the forces of darkness. We shall all be changed! No more shall the church suffer in Christ's name! Rather she shall glory in victory in Christ's name!

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions August 26th

Morning, August 26

“He hath commanded his covenant for ever.”

Psalms 111:9

Charles Spurgeon

The Lord’s people delight in the covenant itself. It is an unfailing source of consolation to them so often as the Holy Spirit leads them into its banqueting house and waves its banner of love. They delight to contemplate the antiquity of that covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew its place, or planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were made secure in Christ Jesus. It is peculiarly pleasing to them to remember the sureness of the covenant, while meditating upon “the sure mercies of David.” They delight to celebrate it as “signed, and sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.” It often makes their hearts dilate with joy to think of its immutability, as a covenant which neither time nor eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate—a covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of ages. They rejoice also to feast upon the fulness of this covenant, for they see in it all things provided for them. God is their portion, Christ their companion, the Spirit their Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their home. They see in it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul possessing an interest in its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes sparkled when they saw it as a treasure-trove in the Bible; but oh! how their souls were gladdened when they saw in the last will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was bequeathed to them! More especially it is the pleasure of God’s people to contemplate the graciousness of this covenant. They see that the law was made void because it was a covenant of works and depended upon merit, but this they perceive to be enduring because grace is the basis, grace the condition, grace the strain, grace the bulwark, grace the foundation, grace the topstone. The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy.

My Utmost for His Highest

August 26th

Are you ever disturbed?

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. John 14:27

Oswald Chambers

There are times when our peace is based upon ignorance, but when we awaken to the facts of life, inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When Our Lord speaks peace, He makes peace, His words are ever “spirit and life.” Have I ever received what Jesus speaks? “My peace I give unto you”—it is a peace which comes from looking into His face and realizing His undisturbedness.

Are you painfully disturbed just now, distracted by the waves and billows of God’s providential permission, and having, as it were, turned over the boulders of your belief, are you still finding no well of peace or joy or comfort; is all barren? Then look up and receive the undisturbedness of the Lord Jesus. Reflected peace is the proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. If you allow anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you, you are either disturbed or you have a false security.

Are you looking unto Jesus now, in the immediate matter that is pressing, and receiving from Him peace? If so, He will be a gracious benediction of peace in and through you: But if you try to worry it out, you obliterate Him and deserve all you get. We get disturbed because we have not been considering Him. When one confers with Jesus Christ the perplexity goes, because He has no perplexity, and our only concern is to abide in Him. Lay it all out before Him and in the face of difficulty, bereavement and sorrow, hear Him say—“Let not your heart be troubled.”

Evening, August 26

“The people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.”

Mark 9:15

Charles Spurgeon

How great the difference between Moses and Jesus! When the prophet of Horeb had been forty days upon the mountain, he underwent a kind of transfiguration, so that his countenance shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over his face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory. Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater glory than that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the people were blinded by the blaze of his countenance, but rather they were amazed, and running to him they saluted him. The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with his purity there is so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to him amazed at his goodness, fascinated by his love; they salute him, become his disciples, and take him to be their Lord and Master. Reader, it may be that just now you are blinded by the dazzling brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you find fault with the law, on the contrary, it commands your profoundest esteem, still you are in nowise drawn by it to God; you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging towards desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with milder glories. Behold his flowing wounds and thorn-crowned head! He is the Son of God, and therein he is greater than Moses, but he is the Lord of love, and therein more tender than the lawgiver. He bore the wrath of God, and in his death revealed more of God’s justice than Sinai on a blaze, but that justice is now vindicated, and henceforth it is the guardian of believers in Jesus. Look, sinner, to the bleeding Saviour, and as thou feelest the attraction of his love, fly to his arms, and thou shalt be saved.

The Devil's riff-raffs!

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(Arthur Pink, "The Doctrine of Sanctification" 1937)

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.
Not many of you were wise by human standards;
not many were influential;
not many were of noble birth.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things . . ." 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

In His determination to magnify His sovereign grace, God has selected many of the very worst of Adam's fallen race to be the everlasting monuments of His fathomless mercy--those whom Luther was accustomed to designate, "The Devil's riff-raffs." This is very evident too from, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." (Luke 14:21)--the most unlikely ones as guests for a royal feast--the waifs and strays of society!

There are thousands of moral, upright, amiable people who are never effectually called by the Spirit; whereas moral perverts, thieves, and heinous ones are regenerated!

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 26, 2015

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:6)

God promises mercy to those who keep His holy commands, yet what man could ever see this promised mercy? Only one. Only One. Only Christ. And by His love for us, we too see God's mercy. Christ's infinitely valuable obedience bought mercy for all those who would seek it. Praise our Lord and Saviour for our bountiful access to His saving mercy!

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions August 25th

Morning, August 25

“His fruit was sweet to my taste.”

Song of Solomon 2:3

Faith, in the Scripture, is spoken of under the emblem of all the senses. It is sight: “Look unto me and be ye saved.” It is hearing: “Hear, and your soul shall live.” Faith is smelling: “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia”; “thy name is as ointment poured forth.” Faith is spiritual touch. By this faith the woman came behind and touched the hem of Christ’s garment, and by this we handle the things of the good word of life. Faith is equally the spirit’s taste. “How sweet are thy words to my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my lips.” “Except a man eat my flesh,” saith Christ, “and drink my blood, there is no life in him.”

This “taste” is faith in one of its highest operations. One of the first performances of faith is hearing. We hear the voice of God, not with the outward ear alone, but with the inward ear; we hear it as God’s Word, and we believe it to be so; that is the “hearing” of faith. Then our mind looketh upon the truth as it is presented to us; that is to say, we understand it, we perceive its meaning; that is the “seeing” of faith. Next we discover its preciousness; we begin to admire it, and find how fragrant it is; that is faith in its “smell.” Then we appropriate the mercies which are prepared for us in Christ; that is faith in its “touch.” Hence follow the enjoyments, peace, delight, communion; which are faith in its “taste.” Any one of these acts of faith is saving. To hear Christ’s voice as the sure voice of God in the soul will save us; but that which gives true enjoyment is the aspect of faith wherein Christ, by holy taste, is received into us, and made, by inward and spiritual apprehension of his sweetness and preciousness, to be the food of our souls. It is then we sit “under his shadow with great delight,” and find his fruit sweet to our taste.

My Utmost for His Highest

August 25th

The fruitfulness of friendship

I have called you friends. John 15:15

Oswald Chambers

We never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we abandon in every particular. Self-surrender is the most difficult thing—‘I will if …!’ ‘Oh well, I suppose I must devote my life to God.’ There is none of the joy of self-sacrifice in that.

As soon as we do abandon, the Holy Ghost gives us an intimation of the joy of Jesus. The final aim of self-sacrifice is laying down our lives for our Friend. When the Holy Ghost comes in, the great desire is to lay down the life for Jesus; the thought of sacrifice never touches us because sacrifice is the love passion of the Holy Ghost.

Our Lord is our example in the life of self-sacrifice—“I delight to do Thy will, O My God.” He went on with His sacrifice with exuberant joy. Have I ever yielded in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If Jesus Christ is not the lodestar, there is no benefit in the sacrifice; but when the sacrifice is made with the eyes on Him, slowly and surely the moulding influence begins to tell.

Beware of letting natural affinities hinder your walk in love. One of the most cruel ways of killing natural love is by disdain built on natural affinities. The affinity of the saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not sentimental; to love as God loves is the most practical thing for the saint.

“I have called you friends.” It is a friendship based on the new life created in us, which has no affinity with our old life, but only with the life of God. It is unutterably humble, unsulliedly pure, and absolutely devoted to God.

Evening, August 25

“If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.”

Acts 8:37

Charles Spurgeon

These words may answer your scruples, devout reader, concerning the ordinances. Perhaps you say, “I should be afraid to be baptized; it is such a solemn thing to avow myself to be dead with Christ, and buried with him. I should not feel at liberty to come to the Master’s table; I should be afraid of eating and drinking damnation unto myself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” Ah! poor trembler, Jesus has given you liberty, be not afraid. If a stranger came to your house, he would stand at the door, or wait in the hall; he would not dream of intruding unbidden into your parlour—he is not at home: but your child makes himself very free about the house; and so is it with the child of God. A stranger may not intrude where a child may venture. When the Holy Ghost has given you to feel the spirit of adoption, you may come to Christian ordinances without fear. The same rule holds good of the Christian’s inward privileges. You think, poor seeker, that you are not allowed to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; if you are permitted to get inside Christ’s door, or sit at the bottom of his table, you will be well content. Ah! but you shall not have less privileges than the very greatest. God makes no difference in his love to his children. A child is a child to him; he will not make him a hired servant; but he shall feast upon the fatted calf, and shall have the music and the dancing as much as if he had never gone astray. When Jesus comes into the heart, he issues a general licence to be glad in the Lord. No chains are worn in the court of King Jesus. Our admission into full privileges may be gradual, but it is sure. Perhaps our reader is saying, “I wish I could enjoy the promises, and walk at liberty in my Lord’s commands.” “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Loose the chains of thy neck, O captive daughter, for Jesus makes thee free. 

Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 25, 2015

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)

The end is near! The time of our final victory in Christ is upon us! He is coming soon and with His coming, the doom of sin, the doom of evil, and the doom of death itself! Praise be! Praise be! Praise be!

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions August 24th

Morning, August 24

“The breaker is come up before them.”

Micah 2:13

Charles Spurgeon

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

“Proclaim aloud the Saviour’s fame,

Who bears the Breaker’s wond’rous name;

Sweet name; and it becomes him well,

Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell.”

My Utmost for His Highest

August 24th

The spiritual index

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Matthew 7:9

Oswald Chambers

The illustration of prayer that Our Lord uses here is that of a good child asking for a good thing. We talk about prayer as if God heard us irrespective of the fact of our relationship to Him (cf. Matthew 5:45.) Never say it is not God’s will to give you what you ask, don’t sit down and faint, but find out the reason, turn up the index. Are you rightly related to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to your fellow-students—are you a ‘good child’ there? ‘Oh, Lord, I have been irritable and cross, but I do want spiritual blessing.’ You cannot have it, you will have to do without until you come into the attitude of a good child.

We mistake defiance for devotion; arguing with God for abandonment. We will not look at the index. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want when there is something I have not paid for? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? I have not forgiven someone his trespasses; I have not been kind to him; I have not been living as God’s child among my relatives and friends (see v. 12).

I am a child of God only by regeneration, and as a child of God I am good only as I walk in the light. Prayer with most of us is turned into pious platitude, it is a matter of emotion, mystical communion with God. Spiritually we are all good at producing fogs. If we turn up the index, we will see very clearly what is wrong—that friendship, that debt, that temper of mind. It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says—“Everyone that asketh receiveth.”

Evening, August 24

“If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.”

Exodus 22:6

Charles Spurgeon

But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men’s souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.

The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church. Where converts were multiplied, and God was glorified, jealousy and envy do the devil’s work most effectually. Where the golden grain was being housed, to reward the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity comes in and leaves little else but smoke and a heap of blackness. Woe unto those by whom offences come. May they never come through us, for although we cannot make restitution, we shall certainly be the chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the fire deserve just censure, but he who first kindles it is most to blame. Discord usually takes first hold upon the thorns; it is nurtured among the hypocrites and base professors in the church, and away it goes among the righteous, blown by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it may end. O thou Lord and giver of peace, make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and abet the men of strife, or even unintentionally cause the least division among thy people. 

Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 24, 2015

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)

No circumstance is too demanding or trivial for God. As believers, we have the ability to gain wisdom from the Creator of the universe as we continue through this life. If at any time we need direction or guidance we can ask God and He will lead us in the ways of righteousness.

If My people

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(Daniel Webster, 1872-1852)

If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together--no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity!

"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways--then I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
August 23, 2015

In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)

Right now, Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven! And someday He will come to take us to that place. How glorious will that day be when we behold with open face the beautiful majesty of our Lord!

Psalm 115

Psa 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
Psa 115:2  Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
Psa 115:3  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psa 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
Psa 115:7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
Psa 115:8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
Psa 115:9  O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:10  O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:11  Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:12  The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
Psa 115:13  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
Psa 115:14  The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
Psa 115:15  Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.
Psa 115:16  The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
Psa 115:17  The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Psa 115:18  But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.