Daily Bible Notes: April, 7th
The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:
- "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
- "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
- "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
- An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan
1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon
Morning
O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?
Psalm 4:2
An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded people of Israel awarded to their long-expected King. (1.) They gave Him a procession of honour , in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, men and women, took a part, He Himself bearing His cross. This is the triumph which the world awards to Him who comes to overthrow man’s direst foes. Derisive shouts are His only acclamations, and cruel taunts His only paeans of praise. (2.) They presented Him with the wine of honour . Instead of a golden cup of generous wine they offered Him the criminal’s stupefying death-draught, which He refused because He would preserve an uninjured taste wherewith to taste of death; and afterwards when He cried, "I thirst," they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall, thrust to His mouth upon a sponge. Oh! wretched, detestable inhospitality to the King’s Son. (3.) He was provided with a guard of honour , who showed their esteem of Him by gambling over His garments, which they had seized as their booty. Such was the body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of brutal gamblers. (4.) A throne of honour was found for Him upon the bloody tree; no easier place of rest would rebel men yield to their liege Lord. The cross was, in fact, the full expression of the world’s feeling towards Him; "There," they seemed to say, "Thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God Himself should be treated, could we reach Him." (5.) The title of honour was nominally "King of the Jews," but that the blinded nation distinctly repudiated, and really called Him "King of thieves," by preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus in the place of highest shame between two thieves. His glory was thus in all things turned into shame by the sons of men, but it shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without end.
Evening
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
Psalm 51:14
In this SOLEMN CONFESSION, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba; but still it was planned in David’s heart that Uriah should be slain, and he was before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character. Observe, that David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness of his sin. It is easy to use words, but it is difficult to feel their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm is the photograph of a contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of heart; for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not conscious of the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find forgiveness.
Our text has in it AN EARNEST PRAYER - it is addressed to the God of salvation . It is His prerogative to forgive; it is His very name and office to save those who seek His face. Better still, the text calls Him the God of my salvation. Yes, blessed be His name, while I am yet going to Him through Jesus’ blood, I can rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The psalmist ends with A COMMENDABLE VOW: if God will deliver him he will sing - nay, more, he will "sing aloud ." Who can sing in any other style of such a mercy as this! But note the subject of the song -"THY RIGHTEOUSNESS." We must sing of the finished work of a precious Saviour; and he who knows most of forgiving love will sing the loudest.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Corinthians 15:12-26
12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some amongst you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.
15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn't raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead aren't raised, neither has Christ been raised.
17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.
21 For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ's, at his coming.
24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
IF CHRIST WERE DEAD!
"If Christ be not risen!" That is the most appalling "if" which can be flung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all the fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been nipped by sharp frost! See how they fade!
"Your faith is vain." It has no more strength and permanency than Jonah's gourd. Nay, it has really never been a living thing! It has been a pathetic delusion, beautiful, but empty as a bubble, and collapsing at Joseph's tomb.
"Ye are yet in your sins." The hope of forgiveness and reconciliation is stricken, and there is nothing left but "a certain fearful looking-for of judgment." Nemesis has only been hiding behind a screen of decorated falsehoods, and she will pursue us to the bitter end.
"We are of all men the most miserable." Joy would fall and die like a fatally wounded lark. The song would cease from our souls. The holy place would become a tomb.
"But now is Christ risen from the dead!" Yes, let me finish on that word. That gives me morning, and melody, and holy merriment that knows no end.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
April 7th.
My Lord, teach me how to bear my cross without murmuring. I would not be a sour and grumbling disciple. I would learn the
secret of cheerful endurance even when I am carrying a heavy load.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deuteronomy 28:10
Then we can have no reason to be afraid of them. This would show a mean spirit, and be a token of unbelief rather than of faith. God can make us so like himself, that men shall be forced to see that we rightly bear his name, and truly belong to the Holy Jehovah. Oh, that we may obtain this grace, which the Lord waits to bestow!
Be assured that ungodly men have a fear of true saints. They hate them, but they also fear them. Haman trembled because of Mordecai, even when he sought the good man's destruction. In fact, their hate often arises out of a dread which they are too proud to confess. Let us pursue the path of truth and uprightness without the slightest tremor. Fear is not for us, but for those who do ill and fight against the Lord of hosts. If indeed the name of the Eternal God is named upon us, we are secure; for, as of old, a Roman had but to say Romanus sum, I am a Roman, and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire, so every one who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defence. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
James 4:15
One might, perchance, make a program for one's own life for a week, if one knew all that could possibly happen within that week. Seeing, however, that that knowledge does not extend to the next minute, the folly of a self-governed life becomes apparent.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Acts 7:55
This attitude of the Lord arrests us. The New Testament references to Him as having entered the heavenlies describe Him as having sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Here He was seen by Stephen standing. The two figures of speech remind us of two aspects of His work on behalf of man. When He had made the one offering which provided perfect and plenteous redemption, He sat down. This is the attitude which speaks of the completion of His redemptive work. But that work is being continued in its administration through all His witnesses who have fellowship with Him in the fullness of the Spirit. They are making up that which is behindhand in His afflictions. His having completed His work does not mean that He is in any sense separated from them, or that they endure the Cross in loneliness. He is with them in sympathy and in service. Thus Stephen, having completed the testimony of life and speech, and being about to consummate and crown that witness in agony and death, saw the Lord standing. It was to him the assurance of his Lord's co-operation and fellowship. The result is seen in that Stephen passed as his Lord had passed, commending his spirit to his Lord, and praying for his murderers. For the assurance of my soul as to its salvation, I see Him seated at the Father's right hand. For the assurance of my soul in its service and suffering, I see Him standing.
Note: To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that the above material, all published before 1926 and freely available elsewhere on the internet in various formats, is in the public domain.