Let No Evil Remain

Deu 13:17  And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

Israel must conquer idolatrous cities and destroy all the spoil, regarding all that had been polluted by idolatry as an accursed thing to be burned with fire. 

Now, sin of all sorts must be treated by Christians in the same manner. 

We must not allow a single evil habit to remain. 

It is now war to the knife with sins of all sorts and sizes, whether of the body, the mind, or the spirit. 

We do not look upon this giving up of evil as deserving mercy, but we regard it as a fruit of the grace of God, which we would on no account miss.

When God causes us to have no mercy on our sins, then He has great mercy on us. 

When we are angry with evil, God is no more angry with us. 

When we multiply our efforts against iniquity, the LORD multiplies our blessings. 

The way of peace, of growth, of safety, of joy in Christ Jesus will be found by following out these words: "There shall nought of the cursed thing cleave to thine hand.

LORD, purify me this day. 

Compassion, prosperity, increase, and joy will surely be given to those who put away sin with solemn resolution. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Forget And Forgive

Be not in haste. Let anger cool down. 

Say nothing and do nothing to avenge yourself. 

You will be sure to act unwisely if you take up the cudgels and fight your own battles...

And, certainly, you will not show the spirit of the LORD Jesus.

It is nobler to forgive and let the offense pass. 

To let an injury rankle in your bosom and to meditate revenge is to keep old wounds open and to make new ones. 

Better forget and forgive.

Peradventure, you say that you must do something or be a great loser...

Then do what this morning's promise advises: "Wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee."

This advice will not cost you money but is worth far more...

Be calm and quiet. 

Wait upon the LORD...

Tell Him your grievance; spread Rabshakeh's letter before the LORD, and this of itself will be an ease to your burdened mind. 

Besides, there is the promise "He shall save thee."

God will find a way of deliverance for you. 

How He will do it neither you nor I can guess, but do it He will...

If the LORD saves you, this will be a deal better than getting into petty quarrels and covering yourself with filth by wrestling with the unclean.

Be no more angry. Leave your suit with the Judge of all.

~Charles Spurgeon~

CERTAINTY

The people of God are Robbed of their Fighting Power when the enemy has got them to Doubt and Question their standing in Christ.

God must build His city in Certainty, and we must Stand in the full assurance of faith.

To be Established in the faith with Full Assurance enables us to strike a blow at Principalities and Powers...

But the devil and his hosts have Much Power where there is uncertainty, doubt, question.

When the believer knows the power of the personal "I know" because of full assurance in the Word of God, then that very knowledge is a Weapon of defense against the enemy...

Hence the devil desires to prevent assurance by inserting doubt whenever he gets a chance.

Stand on God's Facts and not on the Quicksands of your Own Feelings. 

Some are doubting simply because of feelings!

Salvation is not a matter of feeling, it is God's fact "It is written" - God hath said.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Blessed Is He That Is Not Offended In Me

Mat 11:6  And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

The Word of God does take account of the possibility of our being offended with Him. 

It does not say anywhere that that possibility should never arise and will never arise. 

The Lord has no where said that we shall never have any occasion for being offended with Him. 

He HAS indicated that there will be PLENTY of opportunity for so stumbling at Him, falling over Him, coming down because of Him – if you like: crashing because of Him. 

There will be plenty of occasion or opportunity for doing so. 

He has never said that it will never be so. 

It is as well for us to recognize that.

The Lord sent no word of rebuke to poor John the Baptist in the prison when he was perilously near to being offended with the Lord because of his situation. 

The Lord was not hard on John because of his question. He might, had He been another, have said, “But John, did you not point Me out as the Lamb of God?"...

Did you not proclaim Me as the One, the Messiah?...

Haven’t you preached about Me to multitudes?...

Have you not made the strongest declarations and affirmations as to what you believed about Me?...

And here you’re asking a fundamental question about Me...

John, what’s gone wrong with you?...

No, nothing like that. 

The Lord knows our frame, that we are dust. 

And the Lord, I’m saying, takes account of this ever present possibility, in our weakness, of being offended with Him. 

But He does attach to this matter a particular blessedness if we don’t crash over the Stumbling Block of His ways with us...  

AND blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.

~T. Austin Sparks~

He Never Fails

Joshua 1:5  There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 

This word to Joshua is often quoted; it is the basis of that New Testament word "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Beloved, a life of warfare is before us, but the LORD of Hosts is with us. 

Are we called to lead a great but fickle people? 

This promise guarantees us all the wisdom and prudence that we shall need. 

Have we to contend with cunning and powerful enemies? 

Here is strength and valor, prowess and victory. 

Have we a vast heritage to win? 

By this sign we shall achieve our purpose; the LORD Himself is with us.

It would be woe to us indeed if Jehovah could fail us...

But, as this can never be, the winds of disquietude are laid to sleep in the caverns of divine faithfulness. 

On no one occasion will the LORD desert us. 

Happen what may, He will be at our side. 

Friends drop from us, their help is but an April shower...

But God is faithful, Jesus is the same forever, and the Holy Spirit abideth in us.

Come, my heart, be calm and hopeful today. 

Clouds may gather, but the LORD can blow them away. 

Since God will not fail me, my faith shall not fail...

And as He will not forsake me, neither will I forsake Him. 

Oh, for a restful faith! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Preserved To Work's End

Act 23:11  And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. 

Are you a witness for the LORD, and are you just now in danger?

Then remember that you are immortal till your work is done. 

If the LORD has more witness for you to bear, you will live to bear it.

Who is he that can break the vessel which the LORD intends again to use?

If there is no more work for you to do for your Master, it cannot distress you that He is about to take you home...

And put you where you will be beyond the reach of adversaries. 

Your witness-bearing for Jesus is your chief concern, and you cannot be stopped in it till it is finished...

Therefore, be at peace. 

Cruel slander, wicked misrepresentation...

Desertion of friends, betrayal by the most trusted one...

And whatever else may come cannot hinder the LORD's purpose concerning you. 

The LORD stands by you in the night of your sorrow, and He says, "Thou must yet bear witness for me."

Be calm; be filled with joy in the LORD.

If you do not need this promise just now, you may very soon. 

Treasure it up. 

Remember also to pray for missionaries and all persecuted ones, that the LORD would preserve them even to the completion of their lifework. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

God's Hornets

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 

What the hornets were we need not consider. 

They were God's own army which He sent before His people to sting their enemies and render Israel's conquest easy. 

Our God by His own chosen means will fight for His people and gall their foes before they come into the actual battle. 

Often He confounds the adversaries of truth by methods in which reformers themselves have no hand 

The air is full of mysterious influences which harass Israel's foes. 

We read in the Apocalypse that "the earth helped the woman."

Let us never fear. 

The stars in their courses fight against the enemies of our souls. 

Oftentimes when we march to the conflict we find no host to contend with. 

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

God's hornets can do more than our weapons. 

We could never dream of the victory being won by such means as Jehovah will use. 

We must obey our marching orders and go forth to the conquest of the nations for Jesus...

And we shall find that the LORD has gone before us and prepared the way...

So that in the end we will joyfully confess, "His own right hand and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory." 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The King's Highway

Isa 35:8  And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

The way of holiness is so straight and plain that the simplest minds cannot go astray if they constantly follow it. 

The worldly wise have many twists and turns, and yet they make terrible blunders and generally miss their end.

Worldly policy is a poor, shortsighted thing...

And when men choose it as their road, it leads them over dark mountains. 

Gracious minds know no better than to do as the LORD bids them...

But this keeps them in the King's highway and under royal protection.

Let the reader never for a moment attempt to help himself out of a difficulty by a falsehood or by a questionable act...

But let him keep in the middle of the high road of truth and integrity, and he will be following the best possible course.

In our lives we must never practice circular sailing nor dream of shuffling. 

Be just and fear not, Follow Jesus and heed no evil consequences.

If the worst of ills could be avoided by wrongdoing, we should, in the very attempt, have fallen into an evil worse than any other ill could be.

God's way must be the very best way...

Follow it though men think you a fool, and you will be truly wise.

LORD, lead Thy servants in a plain path because of their enemies.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Spirit's Work A Hidden One

We must remember that the work that the Lord is doing, this testimony concerning His Son, this manifestation of the greatness, fulness and sufficiency of Christ is all spiritual.

Zerubbabel thought in his difficulty, if only there were more temporal forces to count upon and natural resources to draw upon...

If only he could see things happening and see God coming out and doing things before his eye...

If only it were in that realm of natural, sentient appreciation and apprehension, how much easier it would be.

But the Lord says, "by My Spirit".

We are not going to see God coming out in mighty manifestations of His power as we might see things done by a great army, temporal forces.

It is going to be hidden, secret, quiet, without demonstration.

We are not going to see much at all in that realm, but the most tremendous, the most terrific thing that is happening in this universe will be going on.

That is why that little phrase, that little question, is put in - "Who hath despised the day of small things?"

By my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts, before whom the great mountain comes down and is like a plain.

That tremendous thing, that mountain-removing, leveling power, is done in a day of small things, a remnant despised, laughed at.

You know how they laughed at them when Nehemiah started to build the wall.

They laughed, scoffed, made jokes. "If a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall"! - that sort of thing.

Little, despised people, and yet this infinite power of God working through that despised people, and the result was that it was more than a match for all the powers that be.

That is the history of anything that God has done.

It may not seem like that, and this word is to recall us, perhaps rebuke us, but also to enhearten us and to encourage.

The Lord is set upon something.

Are we sure about it?

What is He set upon?

If what I am saying now is not true, we had better quit.

God's concern is Jesus Christ - to have Him established in this universe as Lord of all.

Now, is that true?

But there is another thing which goes with it - is God bent upon having that through us, through a people?

Are we bound up with that?

Have we been called for that very purpose - to be the means, the instrument, the channel, of establishing the testimony of Jesus, that is, the Lordship of Christ and the sovereignty of Christ?

If we are not in it, let us quit, I say.

This is either true or not true.

Then, if it is true, what about the difficulties, difficulties in ourselves, difficulties outside, a mighty enemy, all set against it?

How are we going to meet this great mountain?

"By My Spirit".

We also are sons of oil.

The whole point upon which this turns for us is this: He is the fulness and we are partakers of His fulness.

The same thing is said of us as of Jesus Christ; the difference is in measure - He is the fulness and we are partakers of His fulness.

We are not Christ personally, we are not God's Son in that essential sense, but the same thing is said about us.

"Sons of oil"; that is, joined to the Lord like those branches to the stem, one with the centre, joined to Him in organic union.

The same Spirit as was in Him, flowed through Him, worked through Him and triumphed through Him, is in us.

We are sons in that sense, we have the Spirit of Christ.

The same Spirit that has triumphed through Him is working and going to work out His triumph through us.

"Not by might".

What might are you looking for, what power? "By My Spirit" there is nothing that can match that.

The difficulty is we always want to feel and see, and the Lord works so quietly.

See what man's workings are like, trying to blast a way with terrific force, a way to power, to pre-eminence.

How long will it last if they get it?

See what man does to get his dominion; the crash, and noise, and thunder of it all, the power demonstrated; to nature it is awful, a shattering thing.

That is man's way of getting pre-eminence.

Go out into the garden.

See what that little buried seed has to contend with, maybe tons of soil, surrounded by stones and rock and the forces of death working upon it.

Slowly it comes up; the tons of soil give way, even the rock has to yield.

It comes up: you hear no sound, you will not hear splitting and rending rocks, but up it comes.

Eventually it will be a mighty tree.

You heard nothing, there was no demonstration, no shouting.

It was just the power of life quietly at work, but it has done the thing, it is there, it is triumphant.

That is what we have to be satisfied with, and it is so difficult for these souls of ours to be satisfied with that.

We must have display, we must have something that speaks of power, position, so that we are somebody.

The Lord says, "No, none of that; My way is the quiet way of the Spirit".

The greatest power in this universe is that quiet working of the Spirit; the end will be with that.

The Lord give us grace to accept this as His own word to us.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Best Man

It seems to me that the best and most tender duty that Christians do for their Lord Jesus, is... 

That which is touched with the bloodmark...

Which bears the stamp of the cross.
 
The best preaching is, "We preach Christ crucified!"

The best living is, "We are crucified with Christ!"

The best man, is a crucified man!

The more we live beholding our Lord's unutterable griefs...

And understanding how He has fully put away our sin...

The more holiness we shall produce.

The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard...

Where we can view Heaven, and earth, and Hell, all moved by His wondrous suffering...

The nobler will our lives become.

Nothing puts life into men, like a dying Savior!

Come, let us slay sin-for Christ was slain.

Come, let us bury all our pride-for Christ was buried.

Come, let us rise to newness of life-for Christ has risen.

Let us be united with our crucified Lord in His one great objective. 

Let us live and die with Him...

And then every action of our lives will be very beautiful. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

This Is Just The Difference Between The Christian And The Worldling

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

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

This is just the difference between the Christian and the worldling:

The worldling blesses God while He gives him plenty...
 
But the Christian blesses Him when He smites him!

He believes God to be too wise to err-and too good to be unkind.

He trusts God's heart-where he cannot trace God's hand.
 
He looks up to Him in the darkest hour-and believes that all is well.

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.

~Charles Spurgeon~

He Remains

There are always lone hearth-fires; so many! 

And those who sit beside them, with the empty chair, cannot restrain the tears that will come. 

One sits alone so much. 

There is some One unseen, just here within reach. 

But somehow we don't realize His presence. 

Realizing is blessed, but-rare. 

It belongs to the mood, to the feelings. 

It is dependent on weather conditions and bodily conditions. 

The rain, the heavy fog outside, the poor sleep, the twinging pain, these make one's mood so much, they seem to blur out the realizing. 

But there is something a little higher up than realizing.

It is yet more blessed. 

It is independent of these outer conditions, it is something that abides. 

It is this: recognizing that Presence unseen, so wondrous and quieting, so soothing and calming and warming. 

Recognize His presence-the Master's own. 

He is here, close by; His presence is real. 

Recognizing will help realizing, too, but it never depends on it. 

Aye, more, immensely more, the Truth is a Presence, not a thing, a fact, a statement. 

Some One is present, a warm-hearted Friend, an all-powerful Lord. 

And this is the joyful truth for weeping hearts everywhere...

Whatever be the hand that has drawn the tears...

By whatever stream it be that your weeping willow is planted. 

~S. D. Gordon~

When from my life the old-time joys have vanished, Treasures once mine, I may no longer claim...
 
This truth may feed my hungry heart, and famished:

Lord, THOU REMAINEST THOU art still the same!

When streams have dried, those streams of glad refreshing...
 
Friendships so blest, so rich, so free...

When sun-kissed skies give place to clouds depressing...

Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Still my heart hath THEE...

When strength hath failed, and feet, now worn and weary...

On gladsome errands may no longer go...
 
Why should I sigh, or let the days be dreary?

Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Could'st Thou more bestow?

Thus through life's days-whoe'er or what may fail me...

Friends, friendships, joys, in small or great degree...
 
Songs may be mine, no sadness need assail me...
 
Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Still my heart hath THEE.

~J. D. Smith~

Home Blessings

He fears the LORD, and therefore he comes under the divine protection even as to the roof which covers himself and his family.

His home is an abode of love, a school of holy training, and a place of heavenly light.

In it there is a family altar where the name of the LORD is daily had in reverence.

Therefore the LORD blesses his habitation.

It may be a humble cottage or a lordly mansion; but the LORD's blessing comes because of the character of the inhabitant and not because of the size of the dwelling.

That house is most blest in which the master and mistress are Godfearing people; but a son or daughter or even a servant may bring a blessing on a whole household.

The LORD often preserves, prospers, and provides for a family for the sake of one or two in it, who are "just" persons in His esteem, because His grace has made them so.

Beloved, let us have Jesus for our constant guest even as the sisters of Bethany had, and then we shall be blessed indeed.

Let us look to it that in all things we are just -- in our trade, in our judgment of others, in our treatment of neighbors, and in our own personal character.

A just God cannot bless unjust transactions.

~Charles Spurgeon~

No Trial Comes Sooner, Or Falls Heavier, Or Lasts Longer!

Job 5:6  Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; 

Psalm 39:9  I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

I trust that your sickness will work for good-because the Lord has sent it.

We are sure that He does not afflict His children without a need be. 

He does all things well.

He weighs the mountains in the scales, and the hills in a balance. 

He likewise weighs, measures, and proportions our trials to our strength and our malady-with greater accuracy than the most skillful earthly physician can prescribe his medicines.

No trial comes sooner, or falls heavier, or lasts longer-than the necessity of the case requires. 

He knows our frame, and remembers that we are but dust. 

He will lay no more upon us than He will enable us to bear.

Like as a father pities his children-so the Lord pities His redeemed children.

His love is perfect, and He will not withhold whatever He sees is necessary to promote our best welfare-however painful and displeasing it may be to the flesh. 

Earthly parents often, through a weak and mistaken tenderness-spare their children, to their hurt. 

But as God supplies His children with food-so they must take His medicines, however distasteful, when He sees they would not be so well without them.

My good friend, be willing that the Lord should carry on His work in His own way-and do not prescribe to Him how He shall deal with you.

All shall work together for good.
 
Everything is needful that He sends.
 
Nothing can be needful-that He withholds.

Psalm 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Psalm 119:17  Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

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

Psalm 119:75  I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

~John Newton~