Daily Bible Notes: October, 15th
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
But who may abide the day of his coming?
Malachi 3:2
His first coming was without external pomp or show of power, and yet in truth there were few who could abide its testing might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for Him, showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan, which tried the great heap of religious profession, and few enough could abide the process. But what will His second advent be? What sinner can endure to think of it? "He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked."
When in His humiliation He did but say to the soldiers, "I am He," they fell backward; what will be the terror of His enemies when He shall more fully reveal Himself as the "I am ?" His death shook earth and darkened heaven, what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, He shall summon the quick and dead before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest He be angry! Though a lamb, He is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces; and though He breaks not the bruised reed, yet will He break His enemies with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. None of His foes shall bear up before the tempest of His wrath, or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of His indignation; but His beloved bloodwashed people look for His appearing with joy, and hope to abide it without fear: to them He sits as a refiner even now, and when He has tried them they shall come forth as gold. Let us search ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and to be found of Him sincere and without rebuke in the day of His appearing.
Evening
But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck.
Exodus 34:20
Every firstborn creature must be the Lord’s, but since the ass was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means. God admits of no exceptions.
The ass is His due, but He will not accept it; He will not abate the claim, but yet He cannot be pleased with the victim. No way of escape remained but redemption - the creature must be saved by the substitution of a lamb in its place; or if not redeemed, it must die. My soul, here is a lesson for thee. That unclean animal is thyself; thou art justly the property of the Lord who made thee and preserves thee, but thou art so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept thee; and it has come to this, the Lamb of God must stand in thy stead, or thou must die eternally. Let all the world know of thy gratitude to that spotless Lamb who has already bled for thee, and so redeemed thee from the fatal curse of the law. Must it not sometimes have been a question with the Israelite which should die, the ass or the lamb? Would not the good man pause to estimate and compare? Assuredly there was no comparison between the value of the soul of man and the life of the Lord Jesus, and yet the Lamb dies, and man the ass is spared. My soul, admire the boundless love of God to thee and others of the human race. Worms are bought with the blood of the Son of the Highest! Dust and ashes redeemed with a price far above silver and gold! What a doom had been mine had not plenteous redemption been found! The breaking of the neck of the ass was but a momentary penalty, but who shall measure the wrath to come to which no limit can be imagined? Inestimably dear is the glorious Lamb who has redeemed us from such a doom.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Luke 5:27-32
27 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me!"
28 He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"
31 Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
THE CALL AND THE EQUIPMENT
Matthew was very weary, and the all-seeing Lord read the signs of his spiritual dissatisfaction and unrest. As Jesus "passed by" nothing escaped His watchful eye. He saw a look in Matthew's eye as of some caged creature longing for freedom. Matthew's office, the contempt of his fellows, and perhaps his own self-contempt held him in imprisoning disquietude. The Lord knew it all, and one word from Him and the iron gate was open, and the prisoner was free! "Follow Me! And he left all, rose up, and followed Him." With the Lord's command was conveyed the ability to obey, and Matthew stepped into "the glorious liberty of the children of God."
And this is the Master's way. His calls are always equipments. Every received commandment is also the vehicle of requisite grace. God's decrees are also promises, nay, they are immediate endowments. If we reverently open one of His callings we shall find it a store-house of needed strength.
And therefore we need not fear the calls of the Lord. They are not the harsh commandments of a tyrant, they are the loving invitations of a friend. If we obey them we shall taste the grace of them, and "His statutes will become our songs."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October 15th.
Gracious Lord, I myself would gracious be. Teach me to see the grace of everything that is pure and tender and true.
Help me to hold communion with the flowers. May my spirit bow in reverent awe before the wonders of the night-sky! May I move in homage!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
John 6:57
We live by virtue of our union with the Son of God. As God-man Mediator, the Lord Jesus lives by the self-existent Father who has sent him, and in the same manner we live by the Saviour who has quickened us. He who is the source of our life is also the sustenance of it. Living is sustained by feeding. We must support the spiritual life by spiritual food, and that spiritual food is the Lord Jesus. Not his life, or death, or offices, or work, or word alone, but himself, as including all these. On Jesus, himself, we feed.
This is set forth to us in the Lord's Supper, but it is actually enjoyed by us when we meditate upon our Lord, believe in him with appropriating faith, take him into ourselves by love, and assimilate him by the power of the inner life. We know what it is to feed on Jesus, but we cannot speak it or write it. Our wisest course is to practise it, and to do so more and more. We are entreated to eat abundantly, and it will be to our infinite profit to do so when Jesus is our meat and our drink.
Lord, I thank thee that this, which is a necessity of my new life, is also its greatest delight. So, I do at this hour feed on thee.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
Revelation 4:8
Bear me on Thy rapid wing,
Everlasting Spirit!
Where bright choirs of angels sing,
And Thy saints inherit;
Waiting round the Eternal throne,
Joys immortal are their own:
This the cry of every one -
"Glory to the Incarnate Son!"
Four and twenty elders rise
From their princely station,
Shout His glorious victories -
Sing His great salvation,
Cast their crowns before the throne,
Cry, in reverential tone,
"Holy, Holy Holy One,
Glory be to God alone!"
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The offering up of the Gentiles.
Romans 15:16
In this phrase an idea is included which is very beautiful, and which we are in danger of forgetting. It is that of the priestly nature of all ministerial work. Paul was a chosen vessel of God to the Gentiles. He was sent to preach the Gospel to them, and to build them up in their faith. As we saw in the Acts of the Apostles, he was diligent in carrying out both these things. Here he described that whole work by a phrase which shows its deepest value. All those who were won by the preaching of the Gospel, and perfected as he exhorted and admonished, were sacrifices laid upon the Altar, offerings verily made by fire unto the Lord. Thus in the doing of all this work Paul was exercising the priesthood of worship. What a radiant light this sheds upon all our evangelistic and pastoral effort! Every soul won by the preaching of the. Gospel is not only brought into a place of safety and blessing; it is an offering to God, a gift which gives Him satisfaction, the very offering He is ever seeking. Every soul carefully and patiently instructed in the things of Christ, and so made conformable to His likeness, is a soul in whom the Father takes pleasure. Thus we labour, not only for the saving of men, but for the satisfying of the heart of God. This is the most powerful motive. There may be times when we are tempted to think of men as not worthy of our sacrifice. We always feel that He is worthy to receive.
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.