Daily Bible Notes: June, 16th
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
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
John 10:28
The Christian should never think or speak lightly of unbelief. For a child of God to mistrust His love, His truth, His faithfulness, must be greatly displeasing to Him. How can we ever grieve Him by doubting His upholding grace? Christian! it is contrary to every promise of God’s precious Word that thou shouldst ever be forgotten or left to perish. If it could be so, how could He be true who has said, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I never forget thee." What were the value of that promise -"The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Where were the truth of Christ’s words -"I give unto My sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand." Where were the doctrines of grace? They would be all disproved if one child of God should perish. Where were the veracity of God, His honour, His power, His grace, His covenant, His oath, if any of those for whom Christ has died, and who have put their trust in Him, should nevertheless be cast away? Banish those unbelieving fears which so dishonour God. Arise, shake thyself from the dust, and put on thy beautiful garments. Remember it is sinful to doubt His Word wherein He has promised thee that thou shalt never perish. Let the eternal life within thee express itself in confident rejoicing. "The gospel bears my spirit up:
A faithful and unchanging God Lays the foundation for my hope, In oaths, and promises, and blood."
Evening
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1
"The Lord is my light and my salvation ." Here is personal interest, "my light ," "my salvation"; the soul is assured of it, and therefore declares it boldly. Into the soul at the new birth divine light is poured as the precursor of salvation; where there is not enough light to reveal our own darkness and to make us long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of salvation. After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light: He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us. Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation; he, then, who by faith has laid hold upon God, has all covenant blessings in his possession. This being made sure as a fact, the argument drawn from it is put in the form of a question, "Whom shall I fear ?" A question which is its own answer. The powers of darkness are not to be feared, for the Lord, our light, destroys them; and the damnation of hell is not to be dreaded by us, for the Lord is our salvation. This is a very different challenge from that of boastful Goliath, for it rests, not upon the conceited vigour of an arm of flesh, but upon the real power of the omnipotent I AM. "The Lord is the strength of my life ." Here is a third glowing epithet, to show that the writer’s hope was fastened with a threefold cord which could not be broken. We may well accumulate terms of praise where the Lord lavishes deeds of grace. Our life derives all its strength from God; and if He deigns to make us strong, we cannot be weakened by all the machinations of the adversary. "Of whom shall I be afraid ?" The bold question looks into the future as well as the present. "If God be for us," who can be against us, either now or in time to come?
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Hebrews 12:18-28
18 For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burnt with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
19 the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,
20 for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned".
21 So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, "I am terrified and trembling."
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,
23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
25 See that you don't refuse him who speaks. For if they didn't escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
26 whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."
27 This phrase, "Yet once more" signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can't be shaken, let's have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,
SINAI AND CALVARY
We need not live at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is like living at the foot of Mount Pelee, the home of awful eruption, and therefore the realm of gloom and uncertainty and fear. We are not saved by law, neither indeed can we be. Neither can law heal us after our transgressions and defeats. The law has nothing for prodigal men but "blackness, and darkness, and tempest." It has no sound but dreaded decree, no message but menace, no look but a frown. Who will build his house at the foot of Mount Sinai?
"But ye are come unto Mount Zion." Our true home is not at Sinai, but at Calvary. There is no place for the sinner at the first mount; at the second mount there is a place for no one else. At Calvary we may find our way back to the holiness we lost at Sinai. Through grace we may drop the burden of our sin and begin to wear the garments of salvation. The way back to heaven is by "the green hill, without a city wall." It is a mount that can be reached by the most exhausted pilgrim; and the one who has "spent all" will assuredly find a full restoration of life at the gate of his Saviour's death. "Ye are come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June l6th.
My Father, help me to believe in the nearness of the spiritual world. When the transient seems terribly real, and the
unseen world appears unreal, reveal Thyself to me in special power. May I know that Thou art, and may I rest in holy quietude and trust!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.
Matthew 13:12
When the Lord has given to a man much grace he will give him more. A little faith is a nest egg; more faith will come to it. But then it must not be seeming faith, but real and true. What a necessity is laid upon us to make sure work in religion, and not to profess much, and possess nothing! for one of these days the very profession will be taken from us, if that be all we have. The threatening is as true as the promise.
Blessed be the Lord, it is his way when he has once made a beginning to go on bestowing the graces of his Spirit, till he who had but little, and yet truly had that little, is made to have abundance. Oh, for that abundance! Abundance of grace is a thing to be coveted. It would be well to know much, but better to love much. It would be delightful to have abundance of skill to serve God, but better still to have abundance of faith to trust in the Lord for skill and everything.
Lord, since thou hast given me a sense of sin, deepen my hatred of evil. Since thou hast caused me to trust Jesus, raise my faith to full assurance. Since thou hast made me to love thee, cause me to be carried away with vehement affection for thee!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
John 21:22
Follow thou me. God is absolute Monarch wherever He is King at all ... He never permits us to make compromises with Him for a single moment. He speaks the word of authority ... Our only relationship to that government is that of implicit, unquestioning, immediate obedience.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises.
Psalms 57:7
Fixity of heart is the secret of songs. The idea of this word, fixed, is that of being erect; that is, of being stable. It is well to remember that the thought is not that of someone clinging in desperation to someone else who is stronger. There are times when that is exactly what we do. Here, however, the conception is that of a soul strong and courageously facing all the calamities of life because related to the ultimate things of life. The whole Psalm falls distinctly into two parts. In the first, the soul is seen as to its hiding-place in the day of calamity. In the second, the exulting song resulting from its position is heard. Observe the two environments of the singer as they are revealed in the first part of the song. The first is described in the first verse: "My soul taketh refuge in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I take refuge." The second is described in verse four: "My soul is among lions; I lie among them that are set on fire." Under the shadow of the wings of God the heart is fixed, erect, stable, notwithstanding the fiery fierceness of the foes who are exerting all their strength to bring about the destruction of the soul. In such fixity is the inspiration of glad and exulting praise. Here the deepest thing in the life of fellowship with God is manifested.
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.