Daily Bible Notes: September, 29th
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
Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague.
Leviticus 13:13
Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This morning it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We, too, are lepers, and may read the law of leper as applicable to ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and no part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he clean through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God.
Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy, but when sin is seen and felt it has received its death blow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but sin," for no confession short of this will be the whole truth, and if the Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment - it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does the text afford to those under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned and confessed, however black and foul, shall never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus. Whosoever cometh unto Him, He will in no wise cast out. Though dishonest as the thief, though unchaste as the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal, the great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to have no soundness in him, and will pronounce him clean, when he trusts in Jesus crucified. Come to Him, then, poor heavy-laden sinner, Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare; You can’t come too filthy - come just as you are.
Evening
I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go.
Song of Solomon 3:4
Does Christ receive us when we come to Him, notwithstanding all our past sinfulness? Does He never chide us for having tried all other refuges first?
And is there none on earth like Him? Is He the best of all the good, the fairest of all the fair? Oh, then let us praise Him! Daughters of Jerusalem, extol Him with timbrel and harp! Down with your idols, up with the Lord Jesus. Now let the standards of pomp and pride be trampled under foot, but let the cross of Jesus, which the world frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for our King Solomon! let Him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit at His footstool, and kiss His feet, and wash them with my tears. Oh, how precious is Christ! How can it be that I have thought so little of Him? How is it I can go abroad for joy or comfort when He is so full, so rich, so satisfying. Fellow believer, make a covenant with thine heart that thou wilt never depart from Him, and ask thy Lord to ratify it. Bid Him set thee as a signet upon His finger, and as a bracelet upon His arm. Ask Him to bind thee about Him, as the bride decketh herself with ornaments, and as the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I would live in Christ’s heart; in the clefts of that rock my soul would eternally abide. The sparrow hath made a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God; and so too would I make my nest, my home, in Thee, and never from Thee may the soul of Thy turtle dove go forth again, but may I nestle close to Thee, O Jesus, my true and only rest. "When my precious Lord I find, All my ardent passions glow; Him with cords of love I bind, Hold and will not let Him go."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 John 5:9-21
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son.
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
11 The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
14 This is the boldness which we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.
15 And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don't say that he should make a request concerning this.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
18 We know that whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn't touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
THE FOUNTAIN
My Lord is "the fountain of life." "This life is in His Son." The springs are nowhere else - not in elaborate theologies, or in ethical ideals, or in literary masterpieces, or in music or art. "In Him was life." It is so easy to forget the medicinal spring amid the distractions of the fashionable spa. There are some healing waters at Scarborough, but they have been almost "crowded out" by bands and entertainments. It is possible that the secondary ministries of the Church may crowd out the Church's Lord. I do not object to the entertainment if only it opens out on to the Spring!
To have the Son is to have life. Nothing else is needed. "Thou, O Christ, art all I want." Ritualisms, and ecclesiasticisms, and formal theologies are not requisite. We can be saved without an academic knowledge of "the plan of salvation." Many a gamekeeper's little child knows all the roads on the estate, although she would be quite "at sea" in explaining "the plan of the estate" which hangs in the house of the steward. "This is life eternal, to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 29th.
Father of mercies, wilt Thou gather up the fragments of the past month? Gather up my broken vows and help me to renew them.
Look upon my failures and graciously forgive them. Breathe upon me in new inspiration.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 16:14
The Holy Ghost himself cannot better glorify the Lord Jesus than by showing to us Christ's own things. Jesus is his own best commendation. There is no adorning him except with his own gold.
The Comforter shows us that which he has received of our Lord Jesus. We never see anything aright till he reveals it. He has a way of opening our minds, and of opening the Scriptures, and by this double process he sets forth our Lord to us. There is much art in setting forth a matter, and that art belongs in the highest degree to the Spirit of truth. He shows us the things themselves. This is a great privilege, as those know who have enjoyed the hallowed vision.
Let us seek the illumination of the Spirit; not to gratify our curiosity, nor even to bring us personal comfort, so much as to glorify the Lord Jesus. Oh to have worthy ideas of him! Grovelling notions dishonour our precious Lord. Oh to have such vivid impressions of his person, and work, and glory, that we may with heart and soul cry out to his praise! Where there is a heart enriched by the Holy Ghost's teaching there will be a Saviour glorified beyond expression. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly light, and show us Jesus our Lord.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Be not therefore anxious ... Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need.
Matthew 6:31,32, R.V.
God is so interested, that He takes us one by one, and thinks of, and arranges for, every detail of our life. To Him there are no little things. What we call great things are but the perfect union of the small ones, and every small one has the element which makes the greatness of the great ones.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
Titus 2:10
Here are two ideas which flash with a surprising brilliance. The first is that the doctrine of God our Saviour can be adorned; and the second is that those who are spoken of as able to do it are slaves. Perhaps we shall understand the first better, if we begin with the second. The word servants here is distinctly the word for slaves, and it may well be conceived that the conditions of slaves in Crete, where Titus was labouring, were of the worst. Paul had already said that the testimony of one of their own prophets was true that the Cretans were liars, evil beasts, gluttons. Slavery in a society of such must have been a terrible thing. Among these slaves there were some who were saints, and these were declared able in the very life of slavery, to "adorn the doctrine." Moreover, the Apostle had declared how they would do it. It would be done by subjection to their masters; by seeking to be well-pleasing, by not gainsaying; by honesty, by faithfulness; in short, by such action in difficult circumstances as to win from their very masters a recognition of their goodness. Thus we see how "the doctrine of God our Saviour" may "be adorned." It is adorned when its effects on life and character are expressed in conduct. To be true and gentle and faithful in circumstances that are hard and unfair, and even unjust, is only possible in the power of some great spiritual conviction; and the value of such spiritual conviction is revealed in such conduct.
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.