We would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
(Charles Spurgeon)
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:19
There would be much more persecution than there is--if there were more real Christians. But we have become so like the world, that the world does not hate us as it once did. If we would be more holy, more true, more Christ-like, more godly--we would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with all their might against us!
Remember, my brethren, whoever you may be, that if there is no distinction between you and the world around you--then you may be certain that you are of the world. For, there must always be some marks in the children of God to distinguish them from the ungodly. There is a something in them which is not to be found in the best worldling--something which is not to be discovered in the most admirable carnal man. A something in their character which can be readily perceived and which marks them as belonging to another and higher race, the twice-born, the elect of God, eternally chosen by Him--and, therefore, made to be choice ones through the effectual working of His grace.
"I have given them Your word and the world has hated them--for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." John 17:14
_____________________________
It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home!
(Charles Spurgeon)
There is a great importance in the way in which a man lives in his house. It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home! There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet at a prayer meeting--but they are dreadfully sour to their wives and children. This will never do!
Every genuine believer should say, and mean it, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." It is in the home, that we get the truest proof of godliness.
"What sort of a man is he?" said one to George Whitefield--and Whitefield answered, "I cannot say, for I never lived with him."
That is the way to test a man--to live with him.
_________________________
I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world!
(Charles Spurgeon)
Do you ask, "To whom shall I confess my sins?" Do not come to me with your confession. Oh no, no, no! I could not stand that!
I can never understand how a "Catholic priest" can ask people to confess their sins to him. I would not make my ear into a common sewer, for all the wealth in the world! What foulness must there be on the soul of him who has heard the sins that others have committed, and who knows what sin he has himself committed!
Sin, when we see what it really is, whether in ourselves or in others, horrifies us!
There is an old proverb about a thing being "as filthy as a priest's ear!" I cannot imagine anything dirtier than that, and I have no wish to be a partaker in the filthiness.
Go to God and confess your sin to Him--pour out your heart's sad story in the ear of Him against whom you have offended! Say with David, "Against You, You only, have I sinned--and done this evil in Your sight!"
_________________________________
Mr. Hill, I am pleased to see you--I am one of your converts!
A man picked himself up from the gutter and brushed up against Rowland Hill one night as he went home, and he said, "Mr. Hill, I am pleased to see you--I am one of your converts!"
Rowland said, "I thought it was very likely that you were. You are certainly not one of God's converts, or else you would not be drunk."
There is a great lesson in that answer. Rowland Hill's converts could get drunk, but not the converts of the Spirit of God--those are really renewed in the spirit of their mind, by a supernatural operation!
Our converts are no good.
If our preaching does not turn men . . .
from drunkenness--to sobriety,
from thieving--to honesty,
from unchastity--to purity,
then our Gospel is not worth a button!
from drunkenness--to sobriety,
from thieving--to honesty,
from unchastity--to purity,
then our Gospel is not worth a button!
But if it does all this, then this is the evidence that it comes from God--seeing that in the world so sorely diseased by sin, it works the wondrous miracle of curing men of these deadly evils!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! Old things have passed away--behold, all things have become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.