Devotionals of C.H.Spurgeon
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10) More than conquerors through Christ |
"Betrayest
thou the Son of Man with a kiss?"-Luke
The kisses of an enemy are
deceitful." Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face,
for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever
a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence for
it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer
to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me
be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young
man, void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange woman:
may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day, that "the much fair
speech" of the world may have no effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not,
a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin
as Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord
Jesus; I am a member of His visible Church; I sit at the communion table: all
these are so many kisses of my lips. AM I sincere in them? If not, I am a base
traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a
profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to
ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called.
Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me
that I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O
Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every
false way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love
Thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide
faithful even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring
professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my
Master with a kiss.
"Jesus said unto them, If
ye seek Me, let these go their way."-John 18:8
Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in
His hour of trial, towards the sheep of His hand! The ruling passion is strong
in death. He resigns Himself to the enemy, but He interposes a word of power to
set His disciples free. As to Himself, like a sheep before her shearers He is
dumb and opened not His mouth, but for His disciples' sake He speaks with
Almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting, faithful love. But
is there not far more here than is to be found upon the surface? Have we not
the very soul and spirit of the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd
lays down His life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free.
The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom He stands a
substitute should go their way. In the midst of
(3) Perfection through
sufferings
"Though He were a Son, yet
learned He obedience by the things which He
suffered."-Hebrews 5:8
We are told that the Captain
of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, therefore we who are
sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to
pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and shall
the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease? Must
Christ pass through seas of His own blood to win the crown, and are we to walk
to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our
Master's experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born
child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very
comforting thought in the fact of Christ's "being made perfect through
suffering"-it is, that He can have complete
sympathy with us. "He is not an high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." In this sympathy
of Christ we find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, "I
can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and He suffers in me now; He sympathizes
with me, and this makes me strong."
Believer, lay hold of this thought
in all times of agony. Let the thought of Jesus strengthen you as you follow in
His steps. Find a sweet support in His sympathy; and remember that, to suffer
is an honourable thing-to suffer for Christ is glory.
The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just so far as
the Lord shall give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with Christ, just
so far does He honour us.
The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings whom
God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us not turn aside from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us up. "If we
suffer, we shall also reign with Him."
"With His stripes we are
healed."-Isaiah 53:5
Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors
to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It
was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here
and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces
of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The
Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus
beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors
was probably the most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep
over His poor stricken body.
Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears,
as He stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the
lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As
we feel the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have wrought in us, does
not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord
Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.
"See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in His lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty's hands,
And spit in their Creator's
face.
With thorns His temples gor'd
and gash'd
Send streams of blood from
every part;
His back's with knotted scourges lash'd.
But sharper scourges tear His heart."
We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since
our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image
of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at
nightfall we will return to commune with Him, and sorrow that our sin should
have cost Him so dear.
"He answered him to never
a word."-Matthew 27:14
He had never been slow of speech when He could bless
the sons of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. "Never
man spake like this Man," and never man was
silent like Him. Was this singular silence the index of His perfect
self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the
slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us?
Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own
behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type
of the defenselessness of sin? Nothing can be said in palliation or excuse of
human guilt; and, therefore, He who bore its whole weight stood speechless
before His judge. Is not patient silence the best reply to a gainsaying world?
Calm endurance answers some questions infinitely more conclusively than the
loftiest eloquence.
The best apologists for
Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of
hammers by quietly bearing their blows. Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish
us with a grand example of wisdom? Where every word was occasion for new
blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the flame of sin. The
ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will ere long overthrow and
confute themselves, and therefore the true can afford to be quiet, and finds
silence to be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a
remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of
Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's
prediction. "He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His
mouth." By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of
God. As such we salute Him this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence
of our heart, let us hear the voice of Thy love.
"On Him they laid the cross, that He might bear it after Jesus."-Luke
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."
"Let us go forth therefore
unto Him without the camp."-Hebrews
Jesus, bearing His cross, went forth to suffer without
the gate. The Christian's reason for leaving the camp of the world's sin and
religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and
the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was "not of the world:"
His life and His testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the
world. Never was such overflowing affection for men as you find in Him; but
still He was separate from sinners.
In like manner Christ's people
must "go forth unto Him." They must take their position "without
the camp," as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to
tread the straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like
hearts, loving Christ first, and His truth next, and Christ and His truth
beyond all the world. Jesus would have His people
"go forth without the camp" for their own sanctification.
You cannot grow in grace to any
high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be
a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated
life may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy
life after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals
Himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels
more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in
their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is
thus we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace
faithfully to follow Christ "without the camp." The crown of glory
will follow the cross of separation. A moment's shame will be well recompensed
by eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing
will seem nothing when we are "for ever with the Lord."
"My heart is like wax; it
is melted in the midst of my bowels."-Psalm
Our blessed Lord experienced a
terrible sinking and melting of soul. "The spirit of a man will sustain
his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Deep depression of
spirit is the most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing. Well
might the suffering Saviour cry to His God, "Be
not far from me," for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his
heart is melted within him because of heaviness.
Believer, come near the cross this
morning, and humbly adore the King of glory as having once been brought far lower,
in mental distress and inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark His
fitness to become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of
our infirmities. Especially let those of us whose sadness springs directly from
the withdrawal of a present sense of our Father's love, enter into near and
intimate communion with Jesus.
Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark room the Master has passed before us. Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest. Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His griefs; but how high ought our love to rise! Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet for ever.
"Who is even at the right
hand of God."-Romans
He who was once despised and rejected of men, now
occupies the honourable position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right hand of God is the place of majesty
and favour. Our Lord Jesus is His people's
representative. When He died for them they had rest; He rose again for them,
they had liberty; when He sat down at His Father's right hand, they had favour, and honour, and dignity.
The raising and elevation of Christ is the elevation, the acceptance, and
enshrinement, the glorifying of all His people, for He is their head and
representative. This sitting at the right hand of God, then, is to be viewed as
the acceptance of the person of the Surety, the reception of the
Representative, and therefore, the acceptance of our souls. O saint, see in
this thy sure freedom from condemnation. "Who is he that condemneth?" Who shall condemn the men who are in
Jesus at the right hand of God?
The right hand is the place of power. Christ at the
right hand of God hath all power in heaven and in earth. Who shall fight
against the people who have such power vested in their Captain? O my soul, what
can destroy thee if Omnipotence be thy helper? If the aegis
of the Almighty cover thee, what sword can smite thee? Rest thou secure.
If Jesus is thine all-prevailing King, and hath
trodden thine enemies beneath His feet; if sin,
death, and hell are all vanquished by Him, and thou art represented in Him, by
no possibility canst thou be destroyed.
"Jesu's tremendous name
Puts all our foes to flight:
Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
A Lion is in fight.
"By all hell's host withstood;
We all hell's host o'erthrow;
And conquering them, through Jesu's
blood
We still to conquer go."
(10) More than
conquerors through Christ
"Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."-Romans
We go to Christ for forgiveness, and then too
often look to the law for power to fight our sins. Paul thus rebukes us,
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the
truth? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith? are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh?" Take your sins to Christ's cross, for the old man
can only be crucified there: we are crucified with Him. The only weapon to
fight sin with is the spear which pierced the side of Jesus. To give an
illustration-you want to overcome an angry temper, how do you go to work? It is
very possible you have never tried the right way of going to Jesus with it.
How did I get salvation? I came to
Jesus just as I was, and I trusted Him to save me. I must kill my angry temper
in the same way? It is the only way in which I can ever kill it. I must go to
the cross with it, and say to Jesus, "Lord, I trust Thee to deliver me
from it." This is the only way to give it a death-blow.
Are you covetous? Do you feel the
world entangle you? You may struggle against this evil so long as you please,
but if it be your besetting sin, you will never be delivered from it in any way
but by the blood of Jesus. Take it to Christ. Tell Him, "Lord, I have
trusted Thee, and Thy name is Jesus, for Thou dost save Thy people from their
sins; Lord, this is one of my sins; save me from it!"
Ordinances are nothing without
Christ as a means of mortification. Your prayers, and your repentances, and
your tears-the whole of them put together-are worth nothing apart from Him.
"None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good;" or helpless saints
either. You must be conquerors through Him who hath loved you, if conquerors at
all. Our laurels must grow among His olives in
"This do
in remembrance of Me."-1 Corinthians
It seems then, that Christians
may forget Christ! There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there
were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous. Nor
is this a bare supposition: it is, alas! too well
confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It
appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the
dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God,
should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if
startling to the ear, it is, alas! too apparent to the
eye to allow us to deny the crime.
Forget Him who never forgot us!
Forget Him who poured His blood forth for our sins! Forget Him who loved us
even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but
conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we
suffer Him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we should
make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The cross
where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness
would be an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does
not your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful
of Jesus?
Some creature steals away your
heart, and you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be set.
Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye
steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant
attraction of earthly things which takes away the soul from Christ. While
memory too well preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth
the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly
forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we let
slip, let us hold fast to Him.
(12) Do we appropriate the riches
of God?
"God,
even our own God."-Psalm
67:6
It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual
blessings which God gives us, but it is stranger still how little use we make
of God Himself. Though He is "our own God," we apply ourselves but
little to Him, and ask but little of Him. How seldom do we ask counsel at the
hands of the Lord! How often do we go about our business, without seeking His
guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we strive to bear our burdens
ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord, that He may sustain us! This
is not because we may not, for the Lord seems to say, "I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst freely come to my store, and the oftener the more
welcome."
It is our own fault if we make not
free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast such a friend, and He
invites thee, draw from Him daily. Never want whilst thou hast a God to go to;
never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help thee; go to thy treasure and
take whatever thou needest-there is
all that thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making
God all things to thee. He can supply thee with all, or, better still, He can
be to thee instead of all. Let me urge thee, then, to make use of thy God. Make
use of Him in prayer. Go to Him often, because He is thy God. O, wilt thou fail
to use so great a privilege? Fly to Him, tell Him all thy wants. Use Him
constantly by faith at all times. If some dark providence has beclouded thee,
use thy God as a "sun;" if some strong enemy has beset thee, find in
Jehovah a "shield," for He is a sun and shield to His people. If thou
hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use Him as a "guide," for He
will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and wherever thou art, remember God is
just what thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and that He can do all thou wantest.
"Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope."
Psalm 119:49
Whatever your especial need may be, you may readily find some promise in the Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is rough and you are weary? Here is the promise-"He giveth power to the faint." When you read such a promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask Him to fulfil His own word.
Are you seeking after Christ, and thirsting for closer communion with Him? This promise shines like a star upon you-"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Take that promise to the throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over again with this-"Lord, Thou hast said it, do as Thou hast said."
Are you distressed because of sin, and burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to these words-"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will no more remember thy sins." You have no merit of your own to plead why He should pardon you, but plead His written engagements and He will perform them.
Are you afraid lest you should not be able to hold on to the end, lest, after having thought yourself a child of God, you should prove a castaway? If that is your state, take this word of grace to the throne and plead it: "The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but the covenant of My love shall not depart from thee."
If you have lost the sweet sense of the Saviour's presence, and are seeking Him with a sorrowful heart, remember the promises: "Return unto Me, and I will return unto you;" "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee." Banquet your faith upon God's own word, and whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank of Faith with your Father's note of hand, saying, "Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope."
(14) Not always bright with
sunshine!
"Thou art my hope in the
day of evil."-Jeremiah
The path of the Christian is not always bright with
sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in
God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man
happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the
course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth
more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed.
At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.