A Sword for the Lord - C H Spurgeon

"A Sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"  Judges 7:20

Gideon ordered his men to do two things: Covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he had them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine.

Then he had them blow the trumpet, crying, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

This is precisely what all Christians must do.

First, you must shine: Break the pitcher that conceals your light, throw aside the container that has been hiding your candle, and shine.

Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such that when men look at you, they will know that you have been with Jesus.

Then, there must be the sound, the blowing of the trumpet.

There must be active exertions for the gathering of sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified.

Take the Gospel to them.

Carry it to their door; put it in their path; do not allow them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears.

Remember that the true battle-cry for the Church is Gideon's watch word, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

God must do it; it is His own work.

But we are not to be idle; He uses instruments -- "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

If we only cry "A sword for the LORD" we will be guilty of idle presumption; and if we shout "A sword for Gideon!" alone, we shall display an idolatrous reliance on man: We must blend the two in perfect harmony: "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!"

We can do nothing in ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in His name, determine to go out personally and serve Him with our flaming torch of holy example and with our trumpet blast of sincere declaration and testimony, and God will be with us, and the enemy will be put to confusion, and the Lord of Hosts will reign forever and ever.

(A broken pitcher sheds more light!)

Sunrise/Sunset - From Spurgeon

For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler (bird catcher) Psalm 91:3

God delivers His people from the snare of the fowler in two senses: From and out of.

First, He delivers them from the snare--He does not let them enter it; and secondly, if they should be caught in it, He delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to some; the second is the best to others.

"He will deliver you from the snare" -- How? Trouble is often the means God uses to deliver us. God knows that our backsliding will soon end in our destruction, and He in mercy sends the rod. We say, "Lord, why is this?" not knowing that our trouble has been the means of delivering us from the greater evil. In this way many have been saved from ruin by their sorrows and their crosses.

At other times God keeps His people from the snare of the fowler by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are tempted to do evil they say, "How then can  I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

But what a blessed thing it is if the believer shall, in an evil hour, come into the net, yet God will bring him out of it!

O backslider, be cast down but do not despair. Wanderer though you have been, hear what your Redeemer says: "Return, backsliding children, I will have mercy upon you."

But you say you cannot return, for you are a captive.

Then listen to the promise--"For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler." You shall yet be brought out of all evil into which you have fallen, and though you shall never cease to repent of your ways, yet He who has loved you will not cast you away. He will receive you and give you joy and gladness, that the bones that He has broken may rejoice.

No bird of paradise shall die in the fowler's net.

                  --Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning, January 24.

Let Him Do It

Let Me help you get through this day....

     Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your
       wings.

       My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
                                  (Psalm 63:7-8)

Yes, please help me through this day...and the next,
and the next.....

C H Spurgeon - How much do we owe? (The divine magnet!)

For the love of Christ controls us.

2 Corinthians 5:14

How much do you owe to my Lord?

Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness?

Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established your goings?

Has He prepared heaven for you? Has He prepared you for heaven?

Has He written your name in His Book of Life?

Has He given you countless blessings?

Then do something for Jesus that is worthy of His love.

Do not give a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer.

How will you feel when your Master comes if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing out to the poor nor to His work? 

Be done with that kind of love!

What do men think of love that never shows itself in action?

Who will accept a love so weak that it does not stir you to a single act of self-denial, generosity, heroism, or zeal?

Consider how He has loved you and given Himself for you.

Do you know then power of that love?

Then let it be like a rushing, mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness and clear away the mists of sin.

For Christ's sake let this be the tongue of fire that sits upon you: For Christ's sake let this be the divine excitement, the heavenly empowerment to bear you up from earth, the divine spirit that will make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service.

Love should give wings to the feet of service and strength to the arms of industry.

Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, determined to honor Him with a zeal that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with a passion that doesn't waver, let us display the constraints of love for Jesus.

May the divine magnet draw us toward heaven itself.

 --  From Morning and Evening, by Charles H Spurgeon

Show me your faith without deeds,

and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 

James 2:18

C H Spurgeon - A Holy Calling

And those whom He predestined He also called.

Romans 8:30

In the second letter to Timothy, first chapter and ninth verse, we read these words: who saved us to a holy calling.

Now here is a touchstone by which we may test our calling. It is a "holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace."

This calling forbids all trust in our own doings and turns us to Christ alone for salvation, but it afterwards purges us from dead works to serve the living and true God.

As He who called you is holy, so you must be holy.

If you are living in sin, you are not called, but if you are truly Christ's, you can say, "Nothing pains me so much as sin; I desire to be rid of it. Lord, help me to be holy."

Is this the longing of your heart? Is this the substance of your life toward God and His divine will?

Again, in Philippians 3:13-14 we are told of the "upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

Is your calling an upward call? Has it refined your heart and focused it upon heavenly things? Has it elevated your hopes, your tastes, your desires? Has it raised the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend it with God and for God?

We find another test in Hebrews 3:1: "You who share in a heavenly calling."

"Heavenly calling" means a call from heaven.

If your call comes from man alone, you are uncalled.

Is your calling from God? Is it a call to heaven as well as from heaven?

Unless you are a stranger here, and heaven is your home, you have not been called with a heavenly calling, for those who have been called from heaven declare that they look for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and they find themselves strangers and pilgrims on earth.

Is your calling holy, high, heavenly?

Then, beloved, you have been called of God, for such is the calling by which God calls His people.

Re-thinking Reincarnation

I ran into an old friend. She now believes in reincarnation. Her world view changes as quickly as a weather vane, yielding easily to the gusts of popular opinion.

I can't think of a philosophy that resists social progress toward goodness and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for all of us as much as -- reincarnation.

So much of the world's population - Hinduism and Buddhism, and other eastern religions, sink and drown in despair because of this absurd notion that a man's actions in this life dictate the type of life he will be awarded, or punished with, in his next earthly life.

So if I, a believer in reincarnation, pass a homeless beggar, maybe a
cripple, or a leper, on the streets of Bombay, will I be prompted to help him?  No! He is getting what he deserved. In his former life he must have been so evil and cruel that now he is destined to spend this life in helpless degradation. He must not be helped! He must pay! It's the will of the gods...They have established and determined his position in society. Maybe he can be elevated in his next life......maybe not.....But it is not my job to help him here and now!

[Eastern religions do have a notion of alms or charity -- but these are ways of showing respect for the monks or nuns, or "spiritually developed persons". It is not charity as we think of it. The gifts are given to the religions leaders and they show a symbolic connection to the spiritual realm. They are to demonstrate humbleness and respect for religion in a secular society. The giving of alms assists in connecting the human to the monk or nun and what he or she represents. They are not designed to bring people out of poverty.]


On the other hand, the city governor, or the wealthy merchant, must
have been a truly good man in his previous life, and now he is being rewarded with a high position in society. So I must honor him! He is getting what he deserves as a good and honest man in his former life. I must not question him nor challenge his actions. He is not accountable to me.  The gods have elevated him because he was honest in an earlier (not current) life.

Do people today who throw around the word "reincarnation" with its aura of mystery, really think it through? [Like the phrase, "Thank my lucky stars..." What exactly does that mean?]

The poor beggar is likely not harming anybody, except for being an annoyance and irritation.  And the nobleman might be a serial killer.

What kind of society would we have here if we were believers in reincarnation?

Not a democracy, because reincarnation reinforces the power of the wealthy and elite over the poor and powerless, and does not do anything to alleviate the problems of the poor. It is a societal "strait jacket."

The seeds of democracy will not flourish in the poor soil of reincarnation.

And certainly there would be no space for equality nor protection of the law-- just a society where the rich and powerful always rule without restrictions and the poor are left in their misery.


FATALISM

Another word I hear often today -- fatalism. "I am a fatalist," my friend might say.

Fatalism is the teaching that there is a blind, impersonal force that directs all of human history and activity. Back of that force is no divine purpose, and no one, not even God, has any control over that force. We are simply swept long by its blind power -- as helpless
as someone swept in a raging torrent out to sea. There is no stopping it.

It is disturbing. When a great river overflows seasonally and destroys villages and thousands of lives, a fatalist will say (and we have all heard them say it), "It must have been the will of God!"

Year after year - the rains come down and the floods come up - and thousands suffer and die.

No, it is not God's will -- it is God's will that they learn to build a dam, move their homes, do what it takes to protect themselves and their families -- that is God's will, according to our Judea-Christian heritage.

Our own tradition is so different - our spiritual and historical ancestors (Abraham, Moses, David, Job, and the prophets, to list some) argued with God -- they confronted Him -- they demanded answers -- they thrust their fists in the air and challenged Him --

AND HE HEARD THEM! He did not turn His back. He treated them with dignity and respect, because we, His humble creatures, bear His image!

What we believe matters - not just to each of us - but to society as a whole. I am so thankful for my heritage as a Christian, and also for my heritage as an American.

We are the "home of the brave," largely because we are the "land of the free." 

We can fight back -- we can demand change -- even if it is to confront and challenge our God!

Yes, what we believe really matters -- the future of our country depends upon what we believe about God.

Fight On! from Charles Spurgeon

Charles H. Spurgeon says:

In every believer's heart there is a constant struggle between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very active and loses no opportunity of employing all the weapons in its deadly arsenal against newborn grace; while, on the other hand, the new nature is always on the lookout to resist and destroy its enemy.

Grace within us will employ prayer and faith and hope and love to cast out the evil; it takes to itself "the whole armor of God" and wrestles vigorously.

These two opposing natures will never stop struggling as long as we are in this world.

Bunyon's Christian fought Apollyon in a battle lasting 3 hours, but the battle of Christian with himself lasted all the way from the entry Gate to the River Jordan.

The enemy is so securely entrenched within us that he can never be completely driven out while we are in this body: But although we are closely followed, and often in fierce conflict, we have an Almighty helper, Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who is always with us and assures us that we will eventually be "more than conquerors" through Him.

With such assistance the newborn nature is more than a match for its enemies.

Are you fighting with the adversary today? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh all against you?

Do not be discouraged nor dismayed. Fight on! For God Himself is with you. Jehovah Nissi is your banner, and Jehovah Rophi is the healer of your wounds. Do not fear; you will overcome, for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on, looking to Jesus, and although the conflict is long and tough, the victory will be sweet, and the promised reward will be glorious.