On This Last Day of the Year

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink."—John 7:37.

ATIENCE had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast He pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year He pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of His Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of His voice, but the tenderness of His tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo His children to His bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year's last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as He cries to each of us,

"IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK."  

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."—Jeremiah 8:20.

OT saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful seasons have come and gone—your summer and your harvest have past—and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. 

 

       Let me ask you—will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with you—the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection—what more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death for ever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!

 
Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. A brother's voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year's midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, NOW, NOW believe, and live.

"ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE;
LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE,
NEITHER STAY THOU
IN ALL THE PLAIN;
ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN,
LEST THOU BE CONSUMED."  
--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins

 "Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins." Psalm 25:18

It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins--when, being under God's hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God.  It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for he counts the hairs of your head; and your great sorrows you may commit to him, for he holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. Go to him, whatever your present trouble may be, and you shall find him able and willing to relieve you. But we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their defiling power. The special lesson of the text is this:--that we are to go to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right spirit. Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, "Look upon mine affliction and my pain;" but the next petition is vastly more express, definite, decided, plain--"Forgive all my sins." Many sufferers would have put it, "Remove my affliction and my pain, and look at my sins." But David does not say so; he cries, "Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to your wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to you, I should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as you will; but as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have them forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment." A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale than sin; he can bear that his troubles should continue, but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.

--C.H. Spurgeon

Be ye separate

"Be ye separate."
2 Corinthians 6:17

The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life. To him, "to live," should be "Christ." Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does, he should do all to God's glory.

You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break not through nor steal.

You may strive to be rich; but be it your ambition to be "rich in faith," and good works.

You may have pleasure; but when you are merry, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord.

In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always conscious of his presence, delighting in communion with him, and seeking to know his will, you will prove that you are of heavenly race.

And you should be separate from the world in your actions.

If a thing be right, though you lose by it, it must be done;

if it be wrong, though you would gain by it, you must scorn the sin for your Master's sake.

You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity. Remember, O Christian, that thou art a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep thyself unspotted from the world. Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these eyes become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King in his beauty--let not those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to walk the golden streets--let not those hearts be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy.

Then rise my soul! and soar away,

Above the thoughtless crowd;

Above the pleasures of the gay,

And splendours of the proud;

Up where eternal beauties bloom,

And pleasures all divine;

Where wealth, that never can consume,

And endless glories shine.

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening)

Oh that I were as in months past.

"Oh that I were as in months past."

Job 29:2

Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but regard the present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the days which they have passed in communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the best they have ever known, but as to the present, it is clad in a sable garb of gloom and dreariness. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have wandered from him, and they say, "O that I were as in months past!" They complain that they have lost their evidences, or that they have not present peace of mind, or that they have no enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God's glory. The causes of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected closet is the beginning of all spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The heart has been occupied with something else, more than with God; the affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; he must be loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of his presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found in self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in the heart, and self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot of the cross. Christian, if you are not now as you "were in months past," do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and tell him your sad state. Ask his grace and strength to help you to walk more closely with him; humble yourself before him, and he will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy the light of his countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a certainty of recovery for the worst cases.

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening)

Whoever comes to me I will never cast out

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

John 6:37

No limit is set to the duration of this promise. The promise does not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads, "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out." The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not to the last.

But suppose the believer sins after coming to Christ for the first time?

     "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

But suppose that believers backslide?

     "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." 

But believers may fall under temptation?

     "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

But the believer may fall into sin as David did!

     Yes, but he will "Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I cleanse them."

"Once in Christ, in Christ forever,

Nothing from his love can sever."

"I give unto my sheep," says he, "eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." What do you say to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is this not a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, you do not come to One who will treat you well for a little while, and then send you about your business, but he will receive you and make you his bride, and you shall be his forever?

Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby you shall cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: "I will in no wise cast out."

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening)

Looking unto Jesus

Looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

 

It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that "Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument--it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.

"My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening)

That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death

"That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death."
Hebrews 2:14

O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour.

Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell.

The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home--a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm?

Listen to the answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, "Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road.

Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

In Affliction Look to Jesus

God's family is a sorrowing family. "I have chosen you," He says, "in the furnace of affliction." The history of the church finds its fittest emblem in the burning, yet unconsumed bush, which Moses saw. Man is "born to sorrow;" but the believer is "appointed thereunto."
 
If he is a "chosen vessel" — it is in the "furnace of affliction."
If he is an adopted child of God — "chastening" is the mark.
If he is journeying to the heavenly kingdom — his path lies through "much tribulation." 

But if his sufferings abound, much more so do His consolations. To be comforted by God, may well reconcile us to any sorrow with which it may please our heavenly Father to visit us with.

In each season of affliction, to whom can we more appropriately look — than to Jesus? He was preeminently the man of sorrows — and acquainted with grief.

If you would tell your grief to one who knew grief as none ever knew it;
if you would weep upon the bosom of one who wept as none ever wept;
if you would disclose your sorrow to one who sorrowed as none ever sorrowed;
if you would bare your wound to one who was wounded as none ever was wounded
 — then, in your affliction, turn from all creature sympathy and succor, and look to Jesus! You could not take . . .
  your trial,
  your affliction,
  and your sorrow . . .
    to a kinder nature,
    to a tenderer bosom,
    to a deeper love,
    to a more powerful arm,
    to a more sympathizing friend!
Go and breathe your sorrows into His heart — and He will comfort you!

Blessed sorrow if, in the time of your bereavement, your grief, and your solitude — you are led to Jesus, making Him your Savior, your Friend, your Counselor and your Shield.

Blessed loss, if it is compensated by a knowledge of God, if you find in Him a Father now, to whom you will transfer your ardent affections, upon whom you will repose your bleeding heart, and in whom you will trust.

[Octavius Winslow] 

Born with a Tear in His Eye

The life of our adorable Lord was a life of
continuous trial. From the moment He entered
our world He became leagued with suffering.
He identified Himself with it in its almost
endless forms. He seemed to have been born
with a tear in His eye, with a shadow of sadness
on His brow. He was prophesied as "a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief." And, from
the moment He touched the horizon of our earth,
from that moment His sufferings commenced.
He did not come to indulge in a life of tranquility
and repose. He did not come to quaff the cup of
earthly sweets.

He came to suffer!
He came to bear the curse!
He came to drain the deep cup of wrath!
He came to weep!
He came to bleed!
He came to die!

Our Savior was a cross bearing Savior.
Our Lord was a suffering Lord.
He turned His back upon . . .
  the pleasures,
  the riches,
  the luxuries, and even
  the common comforts of this world;
preferring a life of . . .
  obscurity,
  penury, and
  suffering.

Jesus . . .
  hungered,
  thirsted,
  labored,
  sorrowed,
  wept,
  suffered,
  bled,
  died!

He . . .
  was scourged,
  was bruised,
  was mocked,
  was smitten,
  was spit upon,
  was nailed to the tree,
  was pierced,
  was slain!

[Octavius Winslow, "Evening Thoughts"]

Lost unregenerate men know nothing of this struggle!

"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you cannot do the things that you would." Galatians 5:17

In this one verse the apostle Paul describes the thing that continually plagues every Christian.
We, as the people of God, desire more than anything to love God perfectly, but can't.
We long to cease from sin and ungodliness, but can't.
We strive to worship our God with our entire being, but can't.
We try to do good and honor God in all things, but can't.

Why do we continually do, say, feel, and think things that are evil?
Why are we so hard-hearted, unforgiving, and ignorant?
Why can't we do what we desire most?

It's because we have two natures called . . .
  flesh and spirit,
  sin and righteousness,
  Adam and Christ.

We do indeed believe our God, but not as we would.
We do love our Savior, but not as we would.
We do live for His honor and glory, but not as we would.

Our flesh won't allow us. It always interferes. It keeps us from doing the things that we would. When we would do good--then evil is present with us.
Our most fervent faith, is mixed with unbelief.
Our most selfless sacrifices, are mixed with selfishness.
Our most ardent prayers and supplications, are marred by our infirmities.
Our most spiritual moments, are contaminated by our sickening carnality.
Our meekest hours of submission and dependence on God, are corrupted by our self-will and pride.
Every mountain top experience of spiritual pleasure, is tinged with shameful wanderings within.
Our clearest views of Christ are darkened by error, misconceptions, and preconceived notions.
Even when our hearts seem to be most fixed on God's glory, they are torn between this world and the next.

The reality is, that as long as we live in this world--we will be at war within ourselves! The flesh will not submit to the Spirit--and the Spirit will not submit to the flesh. We will be . . .
  pulled this way one moment--and that way the next;
  believing one moment--and doubting the next;
  praising God in the morning--then murmuring at night;
  seeking God's will today--and our will tomorrow.
As long as we live in this body of flesh there will be a constant struggle within us--a struggle between flesh and Spirit.

Lost unregenerate men know nothing of this struggle! This internal warfare is peculiar to believers. Unbelieving, unregenerate, impenitent, rebellious, lost sinners know nothing of this fight with SELF. They don't loathe themselves as all believers do; they love themselves. They have but one nature--and that is sin, which rules in their hearts supremely. Lost men do not have grace within, to oppose the works and motions of the flesh. All they have is a nature that is dead in trespasses and sin, that walks according to the course of this world.

The struggle doesn't begin within a man, until that man is born of God's Spirit and given the gift of life and faith in Christ.

This war between our flesh and Spirit is best for us. If it were not so, then God would not allow it. God is control of this fight, and has ordained it for us in His infinite wisdom and grace. This constant battle within our hearts is good for us, because it keeps us looking to Christ--ever seeking Him, His grace, His help, His power. This lifelong fight will make the prize that much sweeter--when Jesus will present us "to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless!" Ephesians 5:27

[Frank Hall]

I sought him, but I found him not

"I sought him, but I found him not."
Song of Solomon 3:1

Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. 

Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer?

     Then it is there you must seek and find him.

Did you lose Christ by sin?

     You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell.

Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures?

     You must find Christ in the Scriptures.

It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ where you lost him, for he has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever traveled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to him. But how is it you have lost him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch him every moment for fear of losing sight of him? Yet, since you have let him go, what a mercy that you are seeking him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek him, and he will be found of thee: only give yourself thoroughly up to the search, and surely, you shall yet discover him to your joy and gladness.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Praise the Lord

"O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men."
Psalm 107:8

If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies--common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise him, in fact, for everything which we receive from his bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts towards his chosen are forever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ--our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye inheritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." Let the new month begin with new songs.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Happiness Hunters!

(Cornelius Tyree, "The Moral Power of a Pious Life")

A higher degree of personal piety, will promote
a higher degree of personal happiness.

"Sin and sorrow are bound together by
adamantine chains." Hence man increases
in misery—as he increases in sin. It is upon this
principle that the devil is the most miserable
being in the universe—because he is the most
depraved.

So, on the other hand, there is an inseparable
connection between holiness and happiness. God
is the most happy being in the universe—because
He is the most holy. And the happiness of His
people is just in proportion as they resemble
Him in righteousness and true holiness.

Heaven is a world of supreme happiness,
because it is a world of supreme holiness.

Hell is a world of supreme misery,
because sin is there fully developed.

God has so ordered it, that our comfort and happiness
in this world can only be found in a pious life. For the
last six thousand years mankind have been happiness
hunters. In all ages and lands the eager query has been,
"Who will show us any good?" But every device has been
a failure! The recorded and unrecorded experience of all
has been, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" We can
no more expect to find happiness in the pursuits and
objects of this world—than we may expect to find
luscious grapes growing at the icy North Pole.

But in the likeness and service of Christ, is found
a happiness which is pure, elevating, perennial,
inexhaustible—a happiness that will go with us
in all conditions, all lands, and all worlds!

The great cause of all the sadness and depression
in the followers of Christ, is the small degree of their
piety. The only reason why they are disconsolate,
is because they "follow the Lord afar off." One single
uncrucified, unbemoaned sin—will not only destroy
all pious enjoyment—but open the soul to the devil,
with his whole black train of guilt and misery. It
matters not what this sin is. Any one sin habitually
indulged in, whether it is pride, malice, backbiting,
covetousness, filling the mind with unholy images,
or murmuring under adverse providences—will
exclude from the soul all pious enjoyment.

After all, the great secret of being happy, is
to be holy. He who grows in practical piety has
opened a thousand sources of true bliss.

The "golden fruit of happiness" grows only on the
"tree of holiness". If happiness is sought in any
other way than by being holy—it is sought in vain.

He shall choose our inheritance for us

"He shall choose our inheritance for us."
Psalm 47:4

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you.

Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer wo

uld be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep channel."

So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows."

Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

"Trials must and will befall--

But with humble faith to see

Love inscribed upon them all;

This is happiness to me."

--C.H. Spurgeon

The Mercy of God

"The mercy of God."
Psalm 52:8

Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord. It is tender mercy. With gentle, loving touch, he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He is as gracious in the manner of his mercy as in the matter of it. It is great mercy. There is nothing little in God; his mercy is like himself--it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God.

It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner's part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly merited the doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself. It is rich mercy. Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this mercy is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bandage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart. It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies. It is abounding mercy. Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted; it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever. It is unfailing mercy. It will never leave thee. If mercy be thy friend, mercy will be with thee in temptation to keep thee from yielding; with thee in trouble to prevent thee from sinking; with thee living to be the light and life of thy countenance; and with thee dying to be the joy of thy soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, August 17

The Perfection of Bliss

"The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it."
Revelation 21:23

Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent of all creature comforts. They have no need of raiment;
   their white robes never wear out, neither shall they ever be defiled.
They need no medicine to heal diseases,
   "for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick."
They need no sleep to recruit their frames
   --they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise Him in his temple.
They need no social relationship to minister comfort, and whatever happiness they may derive from association with their fellows is not essential to their bliss,
   for their Lord's society is enough for their largest desires.
They need no teachers there;
   they doubtless commune with one another concerning the things of God, but they do not require this by way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord.
   Ours are the alms at the king's gate,
   but they feast at the table itself.
Here we lean upon the friendly arm,
   but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon Him alone.
Here we must have the help of our companions,
   but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus.
Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth,
   but there they find everything in God.
We use the bucket to fetch us water from the well,
   but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to the living water.
Here the angels bring us blessings,
   but we shall want no messengers from heaven then.
They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God,
   for there they shall see Him face to face.

Oh! what a blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures; the Lord, and not His works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, August 9

I Will Never, Never Cast Out

"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37

No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads, "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out." The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not to the last.

But suppose the believer sins after coming?

     "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

But suppose that believers backslide?

     "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." 

But believers may fall under temptation!

      "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

But the believer may fall into sin as David did!

     Yes, but He will "Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I cleanse them."

"Once in Christ, in Christ forever,

Nothing from his love can sever."

 "I give unto my sheep," saith He, "eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee about thy business, but he will receive thee and make thee his bride, and thou shalt be his forever? Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: "I will in no wise cast out."

[C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, July 30]

The Precious Blood of Christ

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood.

It is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy.

By it, the sins of Christ's people are atoned for;
   they are redeemed from under the law;
      they are reconciled to God, made one with him.

Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power;

it "cleanseth from all sin."
   "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God.

The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power.  We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.

The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus.

And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat.

The blood of Jesus!
  sin dies at its presence,
    death ceases to be death:
      heaven's gates are opened.

The blood of Jesus!
  we shall march on,
    conquering and to conquer,
      so long as we can trust its power!

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, Morning, April 16)

Prayer: Not Asking for Anything

I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.—Psalm 116:1-2

I think that some of the greatest prayer is prayer where you don't say one single word or ask for anything. Now God does answer and He does give us what we ask for. That's plain; nobody can deny that unless he denies the Scriptures. But that's only one aspect of prayer, and it's not even the important aspect. Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if you never answer another prayer while I live on this earth I will still worship you as long as I live and in the ages to come for what you have done already." God's already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn't pay Him for what He's done for me.

We go to God as we send a boy to a grocery store with a long written list, "God, give me this, give me this, and give me this," and our gracious God often does give us what we want. But I think God is disappointed because we make Him to be no more than a source of what we want. Even our Lord Jesus is presented too often much as "Someone who will meet your need." That's the throbbing heart of modern evangelism. You're in need and Jesus will meet your need. He's the Need-meeter. Well, He is that indeed; but, ah, He's infinitely more than that. Worship: The Missing Jewel, pp. 24-25

"Father, forgive me for so often just coming to You with my grocery list. You've been so faithful; You've given me so much; You've blessed so richly. It's time I just come, realizing my incredible debt to You, and simply worship at Your feet. Amen."

Bearing the cross for and with Jesus

"On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."
Luke 23:26

We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.

But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him.

Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.

And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

(C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, Morning, April 5)