SPURGEONICS.

EVOLUTION.......I have heard a great deal about the evolution and the development of man. But I am afraid that if any of us were to be developed to our utmost, apart from the grace of God, we should come out worse than when the development began.

SERMONS.......Some sermons which I have heard, though faultlessly orthodox, have contained nothing that could convert anybody-for there has been nothing to touch the heart or the conscience. Others, though very clever and profound, have had no possible bearing on the needs of the hearers and so it was little wonder that they were without result.

SLANDER.......It is a fine thing, when you are slandered, not to hear it. And it is a better thing to never reply to it. I try to possess one deaf ear and one blind eye, and I believe the deaf ear is the better one, and the blind eye the more useful one. Do not remember the injury that was done to you, forget it, and pass it over. Do not go around the world determined to grasp every red-hot poker that any fool hands to you. Let it alone, that will be for your own good and for God's glory, be patient under the slander of the wicked.

SELF WORSHIP.......The Egyptians have been reckoned the most degraded people in the world in their worship. They worshipped onions, until Juvenal remarked to them, "oh blessed people, who grow their gods in their own gardens!" But I do not think they were quite as degraded as the man who worships himself. If I could bring my soul to worship an onion, yet I could never degrade myself low enough to worship myself. A man who makes himself to be his own god is mad.

PRAYER.......should be the natural outflow of the soul, you should pray because you must pray, not because the set time for prayer has arrived, but because your heart must cry unto The Lord.

GRACE AND FREE-WILL.......You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences, "salvation is all of the grace of God."-"damnation is all of the free-will of man."

FORGIVENESS.......There is the same power with God to forgive sin as there has always been, for the blood of Jesus is as powerful to cleanse as it ever was. Note also that there is the same power of The Holy Spirit to change your nature as there ever was. He who turned Saul of Tarsus from being an enemy into an apostle, can do just the same for you.

THE OIL OF GLADNESS.

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness,

therefore God, thy God, hath anointed Thee

with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.ps45v7

We know that the anointing recieved by our Lord Jesus Christ was the resting of The Holy Spirit upon Him without measure. We are not left to any guesswork about this, for in Isaiah 61 we are told, "The Spirit of The Lord God is upon Me, because The Lord hath anointed Me." Our Lord appropriated these very words to Himself when He went into the synagogue at Nazereth and opened the book at the place wherein these words are written, and said ," this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." The apostle Peter also, in act.10:38. speaks of " how God anointed Jesus of Nazereth withThe Holy Ghost and with power," so we know both on old testament and new testament authority that the anointing that rested upon The Lord Jesus Christ was the unction of The Holy Spirit. Therefore, by the "oil of gladness " which we have before us in the text is intended The Holy Spirit Himself, or one of the gracious results of His sacred presence. The divine Spirit has many attributes, and His benign influences operates in divers ways bestowing upon us benefits of various kinds, too numerous for us to attempt to catalogue them. Amongst these is His comforting and cheering influence, " the fruit of The Spirit is joy." In acts13:52 we read, " the disciples were filled with joy and with The Holy Ghost." Wherever He comes as an anointing, whether upon The Lord or upon His people, upon The Christ or the christians, upon the anointed or upon those whom He anoints, in every case the ultimate result is joy and peace. On the head of our great High Priest He is joy, and this oil of gladness flows down to the skirts of His garments. To the Comforter therefore, we ascribe " the oil of gladness."

FATHER FORGIVE THEM.

And when they were come to the place, which is

called calvary, there they crucified Him,

and the malefactors, one on the right hand,

and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.

And the people stood beholding. Luke 23vs33-35.

They gave Jesus the place of dishonour. Reckoning Him to be the worst criminal of the three, they put Him between the other two. They heaped upon Him the utmost scorn which they could give to a malefactor, and in so doing they unconsciously honoured Him. Jesus always deserves the chief place wherever He is. In all things He must have the pre-eminence. He is King of sufferers as well as King of saints.

How startled they must have been to hear such words from one who was about to be put to death for a supposed crime! The men that drove the nails, the men that lifted up the tree, must have started back in amazement when they heard Jesus talk to God as His Father, and pray for them, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Did ever Roman legionary hear such words before? I should say not. They were so distinctly and diametrically opposed to the whole spirit of Rome. There it was blow for blow, only in the case of Jesus they gave blows where none had been recieved. The crushing cruelty of the Roman must have been startled indeed at such words as these, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The gambling soldiers little dreamed that they were fulfilling the scriptures while they were raffling for the raiment of the illustrious Sufferer on the cross, yet it was so. In the 22nd psalm, which so fully sets forth our Saviour's suffering while He hung on the tree, David wrote, " they parted My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture."

"And the people stood beholding," gazing, looking on at the cruel spectacle. You and I would not have done that, there is a public sentiment that has trained us to hate the sight of cruelty, especially deadly cruelty to one of our own race, but these people thought that they did no harm when they "stood beholding." They also were thus fulfilling the scriptures, for the 17th verse of the 22nd psalm says, " they look and stare upon me."

ALL THINGS WORKING FOR GOOD.

Christ is the arbiter of all events, in everything His sway is supreme, and He exercises His power for the good of His church. He spins the thread of events and acts from the distaff of destiny and does not suffer those threads to be woven otherwise than to the pattern of His loving wisdom. He will not allow the mysterious wheel to revolve in any way which shall not bring good unto His chosen. He makes their worse things blessings to them, and their best things He sanctifies. In times of plenty, He blesses their increase, in times of famine, He supplies all their needs.
As all things are working for His glory, so all things are working for their good.

GOD'S TENDER CARE

How careful God is of His people, how anxious He is concerning them, not only for their life, but for their comfort. Does He say, " strengthen ye, strengthen ye My people,"? does He say to the angel, " protect My people,"? does He not say to the heavens, " drop down manna to feed My people."? All that, and more also, His tender regard secures to them. But to show us that He is not only regardful of our interests, but also our superfluities, He says, " comfort ye, comfort ye My people." He would have us not only His living people and His preserved people, but He would have us His happy people too.
He likes His people to be fed, but what is more, He likes to give them " wine on the lees well refined," to make glad their hearts. He will not only give them " bread," but He will give them " honey " too, He will not simply give them " milk " but He will give them " wine and milk." "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people." It is The Fathers yearning heart, careful even for the little things of His people. "Comfort ye " that one with the tearful eye, "comfort ye " yon child of Mine with an aching heart. "Comfort ye My people, saith your God. "

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wildrness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it,he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours saying unto them, rejoice with me, forI have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner who repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. luke.15v4-7 .

I call attention to this observation. The one subject of thought to the man who had lost his sheep. This sets forth to us the one thought of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, when He sees a man lost to holiness and happiness by wandering into sin.The shepherd, on looking over his little flock of 100, can only count 99. He counts them again, and notices that a certain one has gone, it may be a white faced sheep with a black mark on it's foot, he knows all about it, for " The Lord knoweth them that are His." The shepherd has a photograph of the wanderer in his mind's eye, and now he thinks but little of the 99 who are feeding in the pastures of the wilderness, but his mind is in a ferment about the one lost sheep. This one idea possesses him, "a sheep is lost." It masters his every faculty. He cannot eat bread, he cannot return to his home, he cannot rest while one sheep is lost.To a tender heart a lost sheep is a painful subject of thought. It is a sheep, and therefore utterly defenceless now that it has left it's defender. If the wolf should spy it out, or the lion or the bear should come across it's track, it would be torn to pieces in an instant. Thus the shepherd asks his heart the question, " what will become of my sheep? perhaps at this very moment a lion may be ready to spring upon it, and if so, it cannot help itself!" A sheep is not prepared for fight, and even for flight it has not the swiftness of it's enemy. That makes it's compassionate owner the more sad as he thinks again, " a sheep is lost, it is in danger of a cruel death." A sheep is of all creatures the most senseless. If we have lost a dog, it may find it's way back home again, possibly a horse might return to it's master's stable, but a sheep will wander on and on, in endless mazes, lost. It is too foolish a thing to think of returning to the place of safety. A lost sheep is lost indeed in countries where lands lie unenclosed and the plains are boundless. That fact still seems to ring in the man's soul, " A sheep is lost, and it will not return, for it is a foolish thing. Where may it not have gone by this time? Weary and worn, it may be fainting, it may be far away from green pastures and ready to perish with hunger among the bare rocks or upon the arid sands." A sheep is shiftless, it knows nothing about providing for itself. The camel can scent water from afar, and a vulture can espy it's food from an enormous distance, but the sheep can find nothing for itself. Of all wretched creatures a lost sheep is one of the worst.If anybody had stepped up to the shepherd just then, and said " Good sir what aileth thee? you seem to be in great concern," he would have replied, "and well I may be, for a sheep is lost." " It is only one sir, and I see you have 99 left," "do you call it nothing to lose one? You are no shepherd yourself, or you would not trifle so. Why I have quite forgotten the 99 that are all safe, and my mind only remembers that one which is lost."

A GRACIOUS VISITATION.

I am full of delight at what The Lord is doing among you in saving souls. But will any of you be missed by the gracious visitation? will the sacred rain leave some of you as dry as the mountains of Gilboa? is Jesus passing by and will you not cry out to Him? Is His grace felt by your brother, your sister and your mother, and not by you? Unhappy soul, which shall manage to elude the blessed influences of The Holy Spirit and desparately resolve to perish. What reason can be urged for such a course, what excuse for such suicide. Let those who are saved pray much for others who are hardened.
I am rejoiced that those of you who have found Jesus, are not ashamed to own Him. Why should you be? only make sure you are truly converted, do not be content with a sham conversion, seek the real thing, lay hold, not on a temporary hope, but on eternal life.
True faith always has repentance for it's twin brother, love for it's child, and holiness for it's crown.
If you have looked to Jesus for life be sure that you next look to Him for the pattern of life. So that you may walk as He walked.