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Charles H. Spurgeon April 16th

“The precious blood of Christ.” — 1Peter 1:19

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is “precious” because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ’s people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one with him. Christ’s blood is also “precious” in its cleansing power; it “cleanseth from all sin.” “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Through Jesus’ blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is likewise “precious” in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God’s seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God’s eye is still the same. The blood of Christ is “precious” also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And “precious,” unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, “They overcame through the blood of the Lamb.” How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven’s gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!

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Daily Memory Verse April 16th

Luke 9:24  “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. ” 

Write this verse down on a 3×5 card and carry it with you. Throughout the day, pull the card out and try to memorize it. Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

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Charles H. Spurgeon April 15th

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” — Psalms 22:1

We here behold the Saviour in the depth of his sorrows. No other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which his cry rends the air-“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” At this moment physical weakness was united with acute mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which he had to pass; and to make his grief culminate with emphasis, he suffered spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting from the departure of his Father’s presence. This was the black midnight of his horror; then it was that he descended the abyss of suffering. No man can enter into the full meaning of these words. Some of us think at times that we could cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There are seasons when the brightness of our Father’s smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ’s case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father’s love; but the real turning away of God’s face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused him?

In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in his case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face, but art now in darkness, remember that he has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when he shines forth in all the lustre of his grace; but since even the thought that he has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

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Daily Memory Verse April 15th

Luke 9:23  “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” 

Write this verse down on a 3×5 card and carry it with you. Throughout the day, pull the card out and try to memorize it. Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

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Charles H. Spurgeon April 14th

“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.” — Psalms 22:7

Mockery was a great ingredient in our Lord’s woe. Judas mocked him in the garden; the chief priests and scribes laughed him to scorn; Herod set him at nought; the servants and the soldiers jeered at him, and brutally insulted him; Pilate and his guards ridiculed his royalty; and on the tree all sorts of horrid jests and hideous taunts were hurled at him. Ridicule is always hard to bear, but when we are in intense pain it is so heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick. Imagine the Saviour crucified, racked with anguish far beyond all mortal guess, and then picture that motley multitude, all wagging their heads or thrusting out the lip in bitterest contempt of one poor suffering victim! Surely there must have been something more in the crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and mingled crowd would not unanimously have honoured him with such contempt. Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more than mock at that victorious goodness which was then reigning on the cross? O Jesus, “despised and rejected of men,” how couldst thou die for men who treated thee so ill? Herein is love amazing, love divine, yea, love beyond degree. We, too, have despised thee in the days of our unregeneracy, and even since our new birth we have set the world on high in our hearts, and yet thou bleedest to heal our wounds, and diest to give us life. O that we could set thee on a glorious high throne in all men’s hearts! We would ring out thy praises over land and sea till men should as universally adore as once they did unanimously reject.

"Thy creatures wrong thee, O thou sovereign Good!
Thou art not loved, because not understood:
This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile 
Ungrateful men, regardless of thy smile."
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Daily Memory Verse April 14th

1Peter 2:24  “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 

Write this verse down on a 3×5 card and carry it with you. Throughout the day, pull the card out and try to memorize it. Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

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Charles H. Spurgeon April 13th

A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me.” Song of Solomon 1:13

Myrrh may well be chosen as the type of Jesus on account of its preciousness, it’s perfume, it’s pleasantness, it’s healing, preserving, disinfecting qualities, and its connection with sacrifice. But why is He compared to “a bundle of myrrh”? First, for plenty. He is not a drop of it; He is a casket. He is not a sprig or flower of it, but a whole bundle. There is enough in Christ for all my necessities; let me not be slow to avail myself of Him. Our well-beloved is compared to a” bundle” again, for variety: for there is in Christ not only the one thing needful but in “him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” everything needful is in Him. Take Jesus in his different characters, and you will see a marvelous variety prophet, priest, king, husband, friend, Shepherd. Consider Him in His life, death, resurrection, ascension, second advent; view Him in his virtue, gentleness, courage, self-denial, love, faithfulness, truth, righteousness everywhere He is a bundle of preciousness. He is a “bundle of myrrh” for preservation not loose myrrh to be dropped on the floor or trodden on, but myrrh tied up, myrrh to be stored in a casket. We must value him as our best treasure; We must praise His words and His ordinances; and we must keep our thoughts of Him and knowledge of Him as under lock and key, lest the devil should steal anything from us. Moreover, Jesus is a “bundle of myrrh” for specialty. The emblem of suggests the idea of distinguishing, discriminating grace. From before the foundation of the world, He was set apart for his people; and He gives forth His perfume only to those who understand how to enter into communion with Him, to have close dealings with Him. Oh! blessed people whom the Lord has admitted into his secrets, and for whom he set Himself apart. Oh! choice and happy who are thus made to say, “a bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me.”

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Daily Memory Verse April 13th

Romans 5:6-8  “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Write this verse down on a 3×5 card and carry it with you. Throughout the day, pull the card out and try to memorize it. Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

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Charles H. Spurgeon April 10th

“The place which is called Calvary.” Luke 23:33

The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is built with the wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly blessing is founded upon the riven rock- riven by the spear which pierced his side. No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul like Calvary’s tragedy.

“Is it not strange, the darkest hour

that ever dawned on sinful earth,

should touch the heart with softer power,  for comfort, then an angel’s Mirth? That to the Cross the mourner’s eye should turn, sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?”

Light springs from the midday- midnight of Golgotha and every herb of the field blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of the once accursed tree. In that place of thirst, grace hath dug a fountain which ever gushes with waters pure as crystal, each drop capable of alleviating the woes of humankind. You who have had your seasons of conflict will confess that it was not at Olivet that you ever found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai, nor on Tabor, but Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha Have been a means of comfort to you. The bitter herbs of Gethsemane have often taken away the bitters of your life; the scourged of Gabbatha has often scourged away your cares, and the groans of Calvary yields us comfort rare and rich. We should never have known Christ’s love in all its heights and depths if he had not died, nor could we guess the Father’s deep affection if he had not given His Son to die. The common mercies we enjoy all sing of love, just as the sea-shell when we put it to our ears, whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we desire to hear the ocean itself, we must not look at everyday blessings, but at the transactions of the crucifixion. He Who would know love, let him retire to Calvary, and see the Man of sorrows die.