Forgive

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Thou hast good reason to “hate evil”

Devotionals by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Ye that love the Lord hate evil.”
– Psa_97:10

Psa 97:10  O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Thou hast good reason to “hate evil,” for only consider what harm it has already wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief sin has brought into thy heart! Sin blinded thee so that thou couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made thee deaf so that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison into the very fountain of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Oh, what a creature thou wast when evil had done

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Was it so even in the beginning ?

Devotionals by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“The evening and the morning were the first day.”
– Gen_1:5

Was it so even in the beginning? Did light and darkness divide the realm of time in the first day? Then little wonder is it if I have also changes in my circumstances from the sunshine of prosperity to the midnight of adversity. It will not always be the blaze of noon even in my soul concerns, I must expect at seasons to mourn the absence of my former joys, and seek my Beloved in the night. Nor am I alone in this, for all the Lord’s beloved ones have had to sing the mingled song of judgment and of mercy, of trial and deliverance, of mourning and of delight. It is one of the arrangements of Divine providence that day and night shall not cease either in the spiritual or natural creation till we reach the land of which it is written, “there is no night there.” What our heavenly Father ordains is wise and good.

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Endurance: Look to The Future

John MacArthur – Strength for Today (Book)

 

“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:17

It is far easier to endure trials when we value the future over the present.

Afew years ago the popular Back to the Future movies dealt rather whimsically with the possibility of time travel, which always involved entering the future. The recurring theme was that with all the complications of tampering with the future, it was better to live in the present. Viewers could infer that, ultimately, it is not worth it to dwell a lot on the future. That is just the opposite of the apostle Paul’s attitude about the future. He dealt with the profound certainties of what awaits all believers in the life to come. For Paul, the value of the future was another important reason he could endure life’s sufferings and trials. The temporal pain for him and us is inconsequential compared to what awaits us in Heaven (Rom. 8:18).

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There Is No Wisdom in Sin

A W Tozer –  Man – the dwelling place of God

There Is No Wisdom in Sin

 

THE WORLD HAS DIVIDED MEN into two classes, the stupid good people and the clever wicked ones.

This false classification runs through much of the literature of the last centuries from the classics to the comic strip, from Shakespeare’s Polomus, who furnished his son with a set of good but dull moral platitudes, to Capp’s Li’l Abner, who would never knowingly do a wrong act but who would rather fall on his head than on his feet because there is more feeling in his feet than in his head.

In the Holy Scriptures things are quite the opposite. There righteousness is always associated with wisdom and evil with folly. Whatever other factors may be present in an act of wrongdoing, folly is one that is never absent. To do a wrong act a man must for the moment think wrong; he must exercise bad judgment.

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Here is a precious truth for thee Believer

Devotionals by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
– Rom_8:30

Here is a precious truth for thee, believer. Thou mayest be poor, or in suffering, or unknown, but for thine encouragement take a review of thy “calling” and the consequences that flow from it, and especially that blessed result here spoken of. As surely as thou art God’s child today, so surely shall all thy trials soon be at an end, and thou shalt be rich to all the intents of bliss. Wait awhile, and that weary head shall wear the crown of glory, and that hand of labour shall grasp the palm-branch of victory.

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Claimed from Oblivion

Grace Unlimited – Dr. Joshua Mack

Ephesians 2:11-12

Some people are excited to hear that there is an ancient source of information that is very hard to gain access to. Suppose it was said that all of the secrets to life were inscribed on an aged scroll. That scroll, however, was kept in a most remote place on earth. Even the journey to get there was arduous. But more than that, the scroll is housed in an impenetrable castle, guarded by an elite force of soldiers.
No-one has ever gained access to this document.
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How Trials Separate the True and False

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986, 196, 197. Luke 6:46-49

A person’s religion may look well for a season. An ignorant eye may detect no difference between the possessor of such a religion, and a true Christian. Both may worship in the same Church. Both may use the same ordinances. Both may profess the same faith. The

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Having the Head Affect the Heart

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 2, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987], 182. {John 9:26-41}

When knowledge only sticks in a man’s head, and has no influence over his heart and life, it becomes a most perilous possession. And when, in addition to this, its possessor is self-conceited and self-satisfied, and imagines he knows everything, the result is one of the worst states of soul into which man can fall. There is far more hope about him who says, “I am a poor blind sinner and want God to teach me,” than about him who is ever saying, “I know it, I know it, I am not ignorant,” and yet cleaves to his sins. The sin of that man “remains.”

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Fearless Preparation for Trials

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“God has not given us a spirit of timidity [fear], but of power and love and discipline.”
– 2 Timothy 1:7

The true follower of Christ has no reason to fear potential sufferings and trials.

Concerning frustration and fear at the 1992 Winter Olympics, speed skater Dan Jansen said, “What happened was I skated a race that I can only describe as tentative. I looked good. I didn’t slip. Yet something kept me from going flat out.” The favored Jansen, haunted by well-publicized failures to win medals in 1988 or 1992, finally overcame his fear and triumphed in 1994 in the 1,000-meter speed-skating event.

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The Valour and Victories of Faith


—Ralph Erskine

By faith I unseen Being see,
Forth lower beings call,
And say to nothing, Let it be;
And nothing hatches all.

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God’s Strong Delusion (2 Thessalonians 2 )

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11–12)

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Love of The Truth Brings Hatred

John MacArthur – Grace to You

All these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”
– John 15:21

The world, in its general hatred of the truth and ignorance of God, will also hate believers.

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Pray Without Ceasing . . . Really?

John MacArthur – Grace to you – Bible Q & A

Pray without ceasing; (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Joyful believers will also be prayerful believers. Those who live their Christian lives in joyful dependency on God will continually recognize their own insufficiency and therefore constantly be in an attitude of prayer. Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing is thus a divine mandate to all believers. Pray is from proseuchomai, the most common New Testament word for prayer (e.g., Matt. 6:5–6; Mark 11:24; Luke 5:16; 11:1–2; Acts 10:9; Rom. 8:26; 1 Cor. 14:13–15; Eph. 6:18; Col. 1:9; 2 Thess. 3:1; James 5:13–14, 16). It encompasses all the aspects of prayer: submission, confession, petition, intercession, praise, and thanksgiving. Without ceasing means “constant” and defines prayer not as some perpetual activity of kneeling and interceding but as a way of life marked by a continual attitude of prayer.

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4 Marks of a Hell-Bound Man

John MacArthur – Grace to You

John 8:21-30

As I have been traveling across America this past week and ministering in a number of cities and encountering a number of people, I have been reminded again of the tragic reality that there is a world dying in sin. And as I was thinking about our brief meditation time this morning in preparation for the Lord’s table, my heart was drawn to John chapter 8. Would you open your Bible for a moment and look with me at one of the most tragic portions of Scripture reflecting the ministry of our Lord?

In John 8 Jesus says these tragic words in verse 21, “I go away and you shall seek Me and shall die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.” Then again in verse 24, “I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.” Three times Jesus makes that tragic condemnation…You shall die in your sin…you shall die in your sins…once in the singular, twice in the plural.

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By Faith Not Feeling

C H Spurgeon – Devotional
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)

I shall not die, I can, I do, believe in the Lord my God, and this faith will keep me alive. I would be numbered among those who in their lives are just; but even if I were perfect I would not try to live by my righteousness; I would cling to the work of the Lord Jesus and still live by faith in Him and by nothing else. If I were able to give my body to be burned for my Lord Jesus, yet I would not trust in my own courage and constancy, but still would live by faith.

Were I a martyr at the stake

I’d plead my Saviour’s name;

Intreat a pardon for His sake,

And urge no other claim.

To live by faith is a far surer and happier thing than to live by feelings or by works, The branch, by living in the vine, lives a better life than it would live by itself, even if it were possible for it to live at all apart from the stem. To live by clinging to Jesus, by deriving all from Him, is a sweet and sacred thing. If even the most just must live in this fashion, how much more must I who am a poor sinner! Lord, I believe. I must trust Thee wholly. What else can I do? Trusting Thee is my life….

Source : http://www.spurgeongems.org/fcb4.htm