GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 8

We are using Charles Spurgeon book, “The Risen King.”  It’s a collection of well chosen excerpts from Spurgeon’s  “Easter” sermons in devotional form, put together by Jeff Medders.   Pastor Spurgeon lived from 1834 to 1892  in London, England, and had a unique gift of understanding and showing the depth of our faith.  Thus, his reverential title as the Prince of Preachers.   Even though we’re not in or near that season, every day is a good day to focus on Christ’s sacrifice and victory for us!

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Luke 14:28-30 and 33

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it —  lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,  saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?… So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

 Yet, for all that, if anyone will be Christ’s disciple, it will cost them something.  There are costs to count:  when my own pleasure or my own gain  or my own reputation or even my own life shall come in the way of Christ’s glory, “I shall count all things as rubbish and loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Philippians 3:8).

If we see anything in ourselves opposed to Jesus, we must do away with it.  We must kill the flesh with its affections and lusts, denying anything and everything which would grieve the Savior or would prevent our becoming conformed to Him.  We must make an unreserved surrender of all to Jesus.  Listen to these words:

“Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.”  Luke 14:33.

No one has truly given himself or herself to the Lord Jesus Christ unless they have also said, “my Lord, I give to you this day my body, my soul, my powers, my talents, my goods, my house, my children, and all that I have.  I have surrendered all to you.”

You cannot be Christ’s disciple at any less expense than this:  If you possess a penny that is your own and not your Master’s, Christ is not your Master.  It must all be His, every single jot, or you cannot be His.  If you must give up any pleasure, it is because it is not a fitting pleasure for you – it is poisonous sugar of lead (an archaic sweetener derived from lead) and not true sweetness.  Christ will give you greater enjoyments by  far.  Are you willing?  Then the Spirit of God will help you.  You shall give up the world and the flesh without a sigh.  You shall fight against your lusts, and you shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb.  The tower shall be built, and the Lord shall inhabit it.  Cast yourselves on Jesus by a simple faith;  rest in His power and from day to day believe in His strength, and He will bear you safely through.

Remember that our Redeemer does not ask us to do what He has not done Himself.  That thought pierces me to the quick – I hope it will affect you also.  “Lord, do You bid me to leave my Father’s house, if it must be, for Your sake?”  Didn’t He leave His Father’s house, if it must be, for your sake?  Didn’t He leave the glorious mansions of heaven?  “What if I am called to bear reproach?”  They called our Master “Beelzebub.”  “What if I get cast out by others?”  They also cast out Jesus.  When we think of the scourging, the shame, and the spitting which our Lord endured, what are the griefs?  And if, for His sake, we should even be condemned to death, we know how He hung on the cross, stripped of His all, that He might save us from the wrath to come.  Oh believer, can you follow your Lord wherever He goes?  Soldiers of the cross, can you follow Him?  There He is in the center of the battle, where the attacks fall fastest – will you follow Him?  Dare you follow Him, or do you long for the tents of ease and the soft couches of the cowards who are shrinking back and deserting to the enemy?  Count the cost, remember the price, and go forward with Him!

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Luke 9:62

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:23

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

1 John 1:6-7

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 1 John 2:3-6

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.  He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Revelation 3:16

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

1 Peter 2:20-21

For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.   For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

Matthew 7:20-23

Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

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