From: Suzianty Herawati
"Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" --Luke 22:48
The kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Let me be on my guard when the world
puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master,
with a kiss. Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes
very great reverence for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which
is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the deceivableness of
unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of
the enemy. The young man, void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of
the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day, that
"the much fair speech" of the world may have no effect upon
me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son
of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a
member of His visible Church; I sit at the communion table: all these are so
many kisses of my lips. Am I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I
live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of
being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to ridicule, and lead
men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called. Surely if I act thus
inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been
born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O
Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way. Never let me
betray my Saviour. I do love Thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve Thee, yet I
would desire to abide faithful even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be
a high-soaring professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because
I betrayed my Master with a kiss.
CH Spurgeon
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From: Suzianty Herawati
"And the evening and the morning were the first day."
--Genesis 1:5
The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and yet the two
together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is
somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In
every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a
sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he
possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to
those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God
while there is so m! uch darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not
your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the
word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are
called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named
after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day
be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first.
Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first
in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God
be merciful to me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when
grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, "That which is
last, lasts for ever."
That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but noth! ing comes
after the
last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in
the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy sun shall no more go down." The
first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we
shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred,
high, eternal noon.
CH Spurgeon
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From: Suzianty Herawati
"And God divided the light from the darkness."
--Genesis 1:4
A believer has two principles at work within him. In his natural estate he
was subject to one principle only, which was darkness; now light has entered,
and the two principles
disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter of Romans: "I
find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members."
How is this state of things occasion! ed? "The Lord divided the light from the
darkness."
Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord sends in
light, there is a conflict, for the one is in opposition to the other: a
conflict which will never cease till
the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a division within the
individual Christian, there is certain to be a division without. So soon as the
Lord gives to any man light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness
around; he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial, for
nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him, and he withdraws
himself from worldly society and frivolous
amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for "We know we have passed
from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What God has divided,
let us never try to unite, but as Christ went without the camp, bearing His
reproach, so let us come out from the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as He was, so we are to
be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and distinguished from
the rest of mankind by our likeness to our Master.
CH Spurgeon
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From: Suzianty Herawati [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He was numbered with the transgressors." --Isaiah 53:12
Why did Jesus suffer Himself to be enrolled amongst sinners?
This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful reasons. In such a
character He could the better become their advocate. In some trials there is an
identification ! of the counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon
in the
eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner is brought to
the bar, Jesus appears there Himself. He stands to answer the accusation. He
points to His side, His hands, His feet, and challenges Justice to bring
anything against the sinners whom He represents; He pleads His blood, and
pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with them,
that the Judge proclaims, "Let them go their way; deliver them from going down
into the pit, for He hath found a ransom."
Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors in order that they might
feel their hearts drawn towards Him. Who can be afraid of one who is written in
the same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to Him, and confess our guilt.
He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was He not put down in the
transgressor's list that we might be written in the red ! roll of the saints?
He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the
guilty; He transfers His name from yonder list to this black indictment, and
our names are taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance,
for there is a complete transfer made between Jesus and His people. All our
estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken; and all that Jesus has comes to us.
His righteousness, His blood, and everything that He hath He gives us as our
dowry. Rejoice, believer, in your union to Him who was numbered among the
transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by being manifestly numbered
with those who are new creatures in Him.
