Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening" Devotional: August 29th

 Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening" Devotional: August 29th

Morning

“The tree is known by its fruit.”

Matthew 12:22-37

Matthew 12:22

It would seem that the devil had special licence to do his worst among men during the days of our Lord’s sojourn upon earth. Thus was he the more gloriously defeated by the Son of God in many pitched battles between the two champions.

Matthew 12:23

They spoke honestly, but their leaders were prejudiced, and refused to see what was clear enough to the most ordinary understandings. It is a dreadful thing to be so warped by. education as to refuse to admit what is plain to all.

Matthew 12:27-29

For some of the sons of the Pharisees pretended to be able to heal possessed persons.

Matthew 12:30

Let this always be remembered, and let each one ask himself, “Am I with Christ?” If not, remember you are against him. Can you bear this?

Matthew 12:31 , Matthew 12:32

A terrible doom which fell upon these Pharisees and destroyed them. How careful we ought to be to render all reverence and obedience to the Holy Spirit, lest by grieving him away we should be left to final perdition! While the Spirit of God still continues to strive with us we have not committed this deadly sin.

Matthew 12:33

Nothing will suffice but a change of nature. The very root and sap of the soul must be renewed by grace.

Matthew 12:35

That which is in comes out. The stream declares the character of the fountain.

Matthew 12:36 , Matthew 12:37

This makes common talk a solemn matter. Who among us can bear such a test? Let us fly to the blood of Jesus for cleansing from sins of the tongue, and to the Spirit of God to bridle that unruly member.

Sovereign of heaven! thine empire spreads

O’er all the world on high,

And at thy frown the infernal powers

In wild confusion fly.

Like lightning, from his glittering throne

The great arch-traitor fell,

Driven with enormous ruin down

To infamy and hell.

Permitted now to range at large,

And traverse earth and air,

O’er captive human souls he reigns,

And boasts his kingdom there.

Yet thence thy grace can drive him our,

With one almighty word;

O send thy potent sceptre forth,

And reign victorious, Lord!

Evening

“He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

Luke 8:1-3

Luke 8:1-3

So that our Lord was supported by the voluntary offerings of his followers. He did no more work at the carpenter’s bench, when he began to preach the gospel: his ministry required all his time and strength. It is noble in men, like Paul, to labour at their trade while preaching, but if believers were as generous as they should be, such drudgery would not long be necessary.

Matthew 12:38-40 , Matthew 12:43-50

Matthew 12:43

The evil spirit cannot rest. He is so malicious that unless he is doing mischief he cannot bear himself.

Matthew 12:44

The devil is represented as going out of the man of his own will, and, therefore, when he wills he returns. He calls it “my house” because he had not been expelled from it by divine grace, neither had Jesus taken possession. So men who become moralised and improved entirely of their own accord, and in their own strength, return to their old sins. When grace comes and turns out the devil by force of divine love, he never returns, but unrenewed nature soon welcomes back the tempter.

Matthew 12:44

Many men’s lives are swept from the fouler vices, and garnished with pretty human virtues; but they are not inhabited by the Spirit of God, and hence evil soon gets the upper hand, and the soul becomes worse than before.

Matthew 12:45

Idolatry left the Jewish nation after the captivity in Babylon, but formalism, superstition, and self-righteousness ruled over them, and made them harder to deal with than their idolatrous fathers.

Matthew 12:47

His nightly watches and daily labours were wearing him out, and his relations, conceiving the idea that he must be out of his mind, planned to seize him, and withdraw him from public work. The kindest of men cannot comprehend the zeal of a real fervent heart; they call it enthusiasm, and speak of the possibility of “going too far,” and being too earnest: so are the best men least understood. Our Lord’s mother seems to have had some hand in this mistaken project: blessed as she was she was, not infallible.

Matthew 12:48-50

The spiritual relationship outweighs the natural one. Believers are the true “Holy Family.”

Lord, what are we and what our race,

That thou dost us for brethren own,

Crown’d thus with dignity and grace

To brightest cherubim unknown?

What can we do to make return,

Or half our gratitude express?

To thee our souls’ affections turn,

With all our hearts thy name we bless.

Study FurtherRelated passages, insights, and questions for personal reflection.

Take today’s devotional further. Explore related Scriptures and open any verse in the Study Desk for deeper study.

    Luke 6:45: "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
    Good and evil treasure of heart produces corresponding speech.
    ↳ What does your daily speech reveal about your heart's true treasure?
    James 3:6: And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body's parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
    The tongue's fire demands cleansing and divine bridling.
    ↳ Where do you need God to bridle and cleanse your tongue?
    Hebrews 2:11: For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
    Christ not ashamed to call sanctified ones brethren.
    ↳ How does Christ's unashamed embrace shape how you see yourself?
    2 Peter 2:20: For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
    Reformed then relapsed; last state worse than first.
    ↳ What old entanglement threatens to pull you back after escaping it?
    Ezekiel 36:26: "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
    New heart illustrates the required renewal of nature.
    ↳ Which stony part of your heart still needs God's renewing touch?

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This resource was produced before 1923 and therefore is considered in the "Public Domain".