Daily Bible Notes: October, 10th
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
Faultless before the presence of His glory.
Jude 24
Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, faultless !" We are far off from it now; but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love, we shall reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep His people to the Lend, will also present them at last to Himself, as "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." All the jewels in the Saviour’s crown are of the first water and without a single flaw. All the maids of honour who attend the Lamb’s wife are pure virgins without spot or stain. But how will Jesus make us faultless? He will wash us from our sins in His own blood until we are white and fair as God’s purest angel; and we shall be clothed in His righteousness, that righteousness which makes the saint who wears it positively faultless; yea, perfect in the sight of God. We shall be unblameable and unreproveable even in His eyes. His law will not only have no charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the work of the Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete. He will make us so perfectly holy, that we shall have no lingering tendency to sin.
Judgment, memory, will - every power and passion shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil. We shall be holy even as God is holy, and in His presence we shall dwell for ever. Saints will not be out of place in heaven, their beauty will be as great as that of the place prepared for them. Oh the rapture of that hour when the everlasting doors shall be lifted up, and we, being made meet for the inheritance, shall dwell with the saints in light. Sin gone, Satan shut out, temptation past for ever, and ourselves "faultless" before God, this will be heaven indeed! Let us be joyful now as we rehearse the song of eternal praise so soon to roll forth in full chorus from all the blood-washed host; let us copy David’s exultings before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the throne.
Evening
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Jeremiah 15:21
Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah Himself interposes to deliver and redeem His people. He pledges Himself personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that He may have the glory. Here is not a word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into the account, but the lone I , like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficience. Why then do we calculate our forces, and consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding? Jehovah has power enough without borrowing from our puny arm. Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still, and know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint concerning secondary means and causes. The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers: He undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of human arms to aid Him. Vain are all our lookings around to companions and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them - often unwilling when able, and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be well to wait only upon Him; and when we do so, our expectation never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The Lord will utterly consume them; they are to be pitied rather than feared. As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our integrity, the rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good. When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel which he could not digest; and when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again. In all times of fiery trial, in patience let us possess our souls.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we won't be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
3 though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
5 God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
6 The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice and the earth melted.
7 The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, see the LORD's works, what desolations he has made in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted amongst the nations. I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH
"God is our refuge and strength." And in the varied conflicts and perils of life we need both these resources. We need the "refuge." There are times when our mightiest warfare is to lie passive, to shelter quietly in the strong defences of our God. Our finest strategy is sometimes to "rest in the Lord and wait." We can slay some of our enemies by leaving them alone. We can "starve them out." They can be weakened and beaten by sheer neglect. We feed their strength, and give them favoured chances, if we go out and face them actively, "marching as to war." The best way is to hide, and keep quiet; and "God is our refuge."
But we also need the "strength." This is positive equipment for active service. The defensive is changed to the offensive, and in the "strength" of the Lord we advance against the foe. We "ride abroad, redressing human wrongs." We "tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon we trample under foot." We meet our enemy on the open field, and we slay him in his pride!
And so our God is our resource in the double warfare of active and passive crusade. In Him we can take refuge, and the enemy withers. In Him we can find fighting strength, and the enemy is overthrown.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October l0th.
My Father, may I be helped to strengthen the ties of brotherhood among men today! May my life tend to enrich human
fellowships! May my speech be a bond of union! May my behaviour knit society into a closer communion!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.
Revelation 3:8
Saints who remain faithful to the truth of God have an open door before them. My soul, thou hast resolved to live and die by that which the Lord has revealed in his Word, and therefore before thee stands this open door.
I will enter in by the open door of communion with God. Who shall say me nay? Jesus has removed my sin, and given me his righteousness, therefore I may freely enter. Lord, I do so by thy grace.
I have also before me an open door into the mysteries of the Word. I may enter into the deep things of God. Election, Union to Christ, the Second Advent - all these are before me, and I may enjoy them. No promise and no doctrine are now locked up against me.
An open door of access is before me in private, and an open door of usefulness in public. God will hear me; God will use me. A door is opened for my onward march to the church above, and for my daily fellowship with saints below. Some may try to shut me up or shut me out, but all in vain.
Soon shall I see an open door into heaven: the pearl gate will be my way of entrance, and then I shall go in unto my Lord and King, and be with God eternally shut in.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Then so the Son quickeneth whom He will.
John 5:21
In controversy with His foes He made this sublime assertion of His power to give life to those who are dead, an assertion He could only make in view of His victory over death through the Cross and resurrection.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
How? ... How ? ... How? ... How?
Romans 10:14, 15
This sequence of inquiries follows a declaration, which is a quotation from Joel: "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Whatever its value in that prophecy, or in Peter's quotation thereof on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:21), Paul here evidently employed it in reference to man's responsibility concerning the salvation provided in Christ Jesus. That whole responsibility is revealed in the one word "call." Salvation comes to a man when he calls on the Name of the Lord. The inquiries reveal the place and nature of the call. The call follows belief. The belief follows hearing. The hearing follows preaching. The preaching follows sending. Thus the Apostle traces the movement back to its origin. Let us state it in the other order that we may apprehend the nature of man's calling on the Name of the Lord. God has a message of salvation, and this He sends preachers to proclaim. The preachers proclaim that message. Men hear the preachers' message, and believe it. Observe that they are not saved by that belief. So far it is merely intellectual; it is conviction that the message is true. That does not bring men into salvation. They must now "call upon the Name of the Lord." At once we see that the element of volitional surrender to the message believed, is necessary in order to salvation. Everything begins with God, but the final responsibility is with man.
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.