Charles H. Spurgeon

Morning & Evening

December 31st

~Morning~

"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." — Jhn_7:37

Patience 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."

~Evening~

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." — Jer_8:20

Not 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."

Our Daily Walk

F.B. Meyer

December 31st

LIGHT IN DARKNESS

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in the light." — Mat_10:27.
CHRIST IS often speaking, in the secret of the heart; in the darkness of the night, "when deep sleep falleth upon men; there the Master tells us things in the darkness! To listen and obey will save us many a bitter hour.
We may question if it be His voice, but we are rarely wrong in detecting that Voice, when it reminds us of duties we have omitted, and calls on us to take up the cross which we have shunned.
There is music, tenderness, love-notes in these dark sayings, like those upon the harp, of which the Psalmist sings (Psa_49:4); the Voice that utters them is not harsh and strident, but tender and gentle. They are intended to teach us how to teach, to enable us to help others who could not understand these hidden things. We have to be taken into the dark, as sensitive paper, to receive impressions that will give pleasure and help to hundreds who could never pass through our experiences.

PRAYER
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children lost and lone. AMEN.

~~~~~~~~~~
~

The Bent-Knee Time

Samuel D. Gordon

December 31st

GOD WITH US—IMMANUEL

Jhn_1:1-5
In the beginning there was a Wondrous One. He was the mind of God thinking God’s thoughts out to man. He was the heart of God throbbing love out to man’s heart. He was the voice of God talking music into man’s ear. He was the face of God looking into man’s eyes, that we might be caught with the beauty of his face, and come running back home. He was God himself bearing a human name—Jesus. And he is with us.

~~~~~~~~~

Streams In the Desert

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

December 31st

"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1Sa_7:12).

The word "hitherto" seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past. Twenty years or seventy, and yet "hitherto hath the Lord helped us!" Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health; at home, abroad, on the land, on the sea; in honor, in dishonor, in perplexity, in joy, in trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation-- "hitherto hath the Lord helped!"
We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from one end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves. Even so look down the long aisles of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys.
Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Surely, there must be many, and they all sing of mercy received "hitherto."
But the word also points forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark, and writes "hitherto," he is not yet at the end; there are still distances to be traversed. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories; and then come sickness, old age, disease, death.
Is it over now? No! there is more yet-- awakening in Jesus likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white raiment the face of Jesus, the society of saints, the glory of God, the fullness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. Oh, be of good courage, believer, and with grateful confidence raise thy "Ebenezer," for,

"He who hath helped thee hitherto
Will help thee all thy journey through."
When read in Heaven’s light, how glorious and marvelous a prospect will thy "hitherto" unfold to thy grateful eye. -- C. H. Spurgeon
The Alpine shepherds have a beautiful custom of ending the day by singing to one another an evening farewell. The air is so crystalline that the song will carry long distances. As the dusk begins to fall, they gather their flocks and begin to lead them down the mountain paths, singing, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Let us praise His name!"
And at last with a sweet courtesy, they sing to one another the friendly farewell: "Goodnight! Goodnight!" The words are taken up by the echoes, and from side to side the song goes reverberating sweetly and softly until the music dies away in the distance.
So let us call out to one another through the darkness, till the gloom becomes vocal with many voices, encouraging the pilgrim host. Let the echoes gather till a very storm of Hallelujahs break in thundering waves around the sapphire throne, and then as the morning breaks we shall find ourselves at the margin of the sea of glass, crying, with the redeemed host, "Blessing and honor and glory be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever!"

"This my song through endless ages,
Jesus led me all the way."
"AND AGAIN THEY SAID HALLELUJAH!" (Rev_19:3 R.V.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Satan and demons are not fictitious beings. Though we find many caricatures of them, they are real characters in life—in our lives.

The biblical authors don’t blush when mentioning them, nor do they belittle their power. The Bible speaks with authority and frankness about both Satan and demons.

Three Ways to Think About Satan and Demons

So how should we think about Satan and demons?

The wrong answer would be “not at all”—for that would leave us naïve and vulnerable to their schemes. Another wrong answer to that question would be “all the time.”[1] They are not the main characters in your life, or in the story of the Bible.

Instead of denying their existence or obsessing over them, the Bible implicitly teaches us to think about Satan and demons seriously, soberly, and seldom.

1. Think About Satan and Demons Seriously

First, we need to consider Satan and demons seriously. Satan is a real living, working actor in Scripture and in our world, with a host of evil agents in his train.

The Bible doesn’t care to introduce Satan to us in plain terms. He’s included in narratives but not given the spotlight. We hear of him at the very beginning of the Bible, complicit in the evil that plagues our world. Aside from that, there are two debated passages, one in Ezekiel 28 and the other in Isaiah 14, that seem to recount his own sin and fall from his position in heaven. We read about him in the book of Job and briefly in Zechariah. Most importantly, we hear about his final judgment in Revelation. The Scriptures unabashedly mention Satan and his work often, but they tell us very little about him in the grand scheme of the story.

Where the Scriptures are mum, we would do well to curb our curiosity. God has a reason for not giving us Satan’s full biography. Rather, we can accept in humility and faith what God has told us. “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3). God has promised that he has already given us all that we need to know in order to live a godly life, and this does not include all the details we might desire about Satan.

However, the biblical authors in both the Old and New Testaments speak about Satan and demons candidly. If we are to align our worldviews with what the Bible teaches, we must acknowledge them as true characters in the story of reality, true actors in our own lives.

Satan and demons are real. To be wise in our faith and warfare, we must seriously consider their activity in the world and in our lives. We must have a category for their presence and work, just like the Bible does.

2. Think About Satan and Demons Soberly

Second, we need to think about Satan soberly. People derive thrills from haunted houses filled with demonic characters, or horror movies where evil spirits wreak havoc on people. If we truly understood the nature of these beings—that their goal is only to steal, to kill, and to destroy—we would not be so easily entertained by them. Those who have genuinely encountered demonic activity are not entertained, but oppressed and tormented.

Jesus describes Satan as a “strong man” (Mark 3:27), and the stories of how he or one of his angels may overcome a person will chill you to the bone (Mark 5:3-5). Satan is powerful, more powerful than humans, and described as cunning (2 Corinthians 11:3). He’s liable to “outwit” us, the Scriptures say (2 Corinthians 2:11). Scripture even warns us against mocking Satan, saying that not even the archangel Michael does so (Jude 1:9).

Satan is not a four-inch angel on your shoulder. He’s the mastermind behind things like genocide, gang rape, suicide, and the like. As Jesus is the hero to which all our fairytales point, so Satan is the frightening beast in all our stories who we hope is destroyed in the end. He is the dragon, the serpent, the seducer, the accuser, the betrayer, the destroyer, the tyrant, the murderer, the liar. He ravages and pillages lives, and he seeks to destroy souls.

We do well to not just take his existence seriously but think of him soberly. When the Bible mentions him, pay attention. Where Scripture warns about him, take heed. Where God’s Word describes him, align your perspective with its portrait of him.

3. Think About Satan and Demons Seldom

Let’s take Satan and demons seriously and think about them with sober minds. But let’s not give them the honor of too much attention. We must think of them, but think of them seldom. For, as previously mentioned, the Bible doesn’t give them the spotlight.

There are at least two ways we may erroneously give them the spotlight.

Don’t Forget that Kind Jesus Reigns

First, in hyper-focusing on their pervasiveness, power, and plans, we might elevate them to a position that’s too high. Satan is not Jesus’ rival—not if we mean his equal.[2] Satan is a mere created angelic being. Hebrews 1:4 clarifies for us that Jesus is altogether higher than the angels, for he is God’s Son, who is uncreated, and has existed as a Person of the Godhead eternally. Demons are subject to the power and authority of King Jesus.

If we begin to diminish our estimation of Jesus’ power in light of our emphasis on Satan and demons, we’ve drifted from the truth. If the thought or study of Satan and demons leaves us regularly frightened, we’ve lost sight of King Jesus. He must fill our vision. When Jesus does fill our vision, the fear of his enemies will drain out of our hearts.

Don’t Forget that Human Beings Do Evil Too

Second, we may overthink satanic activity in a way that diminishes our estimation of our own participation in evil, and of the wickedness of the human heart. Demons are not the only cause of evil—we cannot blame them for our sin saying, “the devil made me do it.” The Bible describes the human heart as “deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV) and says that “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21 ESV). Frighteningly, the wickedness that pervades our world flows not primarily from the fangs of demons, but from the wellsprings of the human heart.

When we over-attend to the powers of darkness, we risk undermining the authority of our Lord and shifting blame from humanity to demons. Surely they are at play in our sin and in all the darkest corners of society. But God holds us responsible for our sin.

If you are encountering demonic activity or this topic is by necessity prominent in your life right now, ask God for the wisdom to keep the thoughts of Satan and demons bound and limited by the confines of his Word and to keep them from running rogue in ways that would distort a proper estimation of them.

Don’t Fear Satan and His Demons

Satan and demons are real and active in our world and in your life. Take them seriously. Satan and demons are powerful forces of evil scheming severe destruction in individuals, communities, and nations. Consider them with sober mind. But Satan and demons are created beings destined for destruction when King Jesus returns, and they are not the only ones responsible for the evil we see. Don’t let them take center stage in your thoughts or life. Focus on their Judge, the Lord Jesus.

For in the same chapter where we are introduced to Satan, we hear also of his final judgment in a prophetic word. The prophecy comes as part of God’s curse on Satan for the way he rebelled against God and deceived humanity. God says to Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15 NIV). When Jesus, the offspring of the woman born to rescue humanity, died a sacrificial death on a cross, Satan “struck his heel.”

Yet, Jesus rose again from the dead, for death had no power over him (Acts 2:24). He secured victory over sin and death and all the powers of darkness; he won the decisive victory over Satan. When Jesus returns to rescue all who belong to his kingdom and judge the world, Satan’s head will be crushed. This is God’s promise for his children in the meantime: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20 NIV).

If you do not belong to Jesus, we plead with you to seek him now and ask him for the salvation he freely gives, that you might be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13-14). If you do belong to Jesus, fear not the powers of darkness. Take them seriously, and be sober minded and watchful, but remember that your God reigns.

. . .

Sources

[1] “There are two equal and opposite extremes into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” (The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis, p. 9).

[2] “For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.”
(Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)

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Bibles.net Editor

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What’s the Outcome of Genuine Faith in Jesus?

by Bibles.net

“May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”
(Philippians 1:11 NLT)

What is the outcome of genuine Christian faith?

If you are a follower of Jesus, or would like to be one, what do you think is the outcome of your relationship with him?

You have been saved from your sin by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, in his sacrificial death and resurrection, trusting him to make you right with God. You’ve been adopted as a child of God on account of believing in Jesus (John 1:12). So what then? What is the “fruit” of this salvation?

What Do You Expect to Be the Outcome of Your Faith in Jesus?

Before we consider what the Bible says, I want to know how you would answer that question. What do you expect to be the outcome of your genuine faith in Jesus?

Maybe you would answer one of the following.

I expect that I will have more success in my work and family because God is on my side. I expect that I’ll have more impact as a person in the lives of others and in the world than I would’ve had had I not known God. Or maybe you more negatively, I expect to be persecuted and maybe killed for my faith—but most definitely, constantly facing opposition from others.

What expectations do you have? Fill in the blank: I expect ____ because I have been saved by Jesus.

What God Says the Outcome of My Faith Will Be

God answers the question for us in the Bible, specifically in the first chapter of Philippians. We can expect that Jesus will produce his own righteous character in our lives because we have been saved by him (Philippians 1:11).

We can expect Jesus to be at work in us. What a relief! Our growth in our relationship with God does not depend on us alone. Jesus tends to our relationship with him.

And what is his aim? To produce righteous character in us. God is more interested in who we are than what we do. What we do will flow out of who we are. To be the “hands and feet” of Jesus, we must first have the heart of Jesus. And it will bring God great glory when those who profess to know his Son, resemble his Son.

Asking God to Bring About the Outcome of Our Faith

If we get the aim of our lives wrong, all our efforts will be misdirected. The Bible refocuses us, that we might align our own aims with the aim of Jesus. Jesus is at work in you, Christian, to produce his righteous character in you. Jesus is working to make you more like him. The outcome of our genuine faith in Jesus is that we look increasingly like Jesus, so that Jesus may not only be known through his Word, but through the living testimony of our lives.

The book of Romans echoes this truth: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29 NIV).

Philippians 1:11, where we learn about the outcome of our faith, is posed as a prayer—“May you…” That’s instructive. We can make that our prayer today.

God, fill me with the fruit of my salvation. Jesus, produce in me your own righteous character, so that I might bring glory and praise to God.