December 31

“With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:16)

I get a good deal of comfort out of that promise. I don’t think that meant a short life down here, seventy years, eighty years, ninety years, or one hundred years. Do you think that any man living would he satisfied if they could live to he one hundred years old and then have to die? Not by a good deal. Suppose Adam had lived until to-day and had to die to-night, would he be satisfied? Not a bit of it! Not if he had lived a million years, and then had to die.

You know we are all the time coming to the end of things here,—the end of the week, the end of the month, the end of the year, the end of school days. It is end, end, end all the time. But, thank God, He is going to satisfy us with long life; no end to it, an endless life.

Life is very sweet. I never liked death; I like life. It would be a pretty dark world if death was eternal, and when our loved ones die we are to be eternally separated from them. Thank God, it is not so; we shall be reunited. It is just moving out of this house into a better one; stepping up higher, and living on and on forever.

December 30

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9)

A man once said to me, “How do you know that God put that question to Adam?” The best answer I can give is, Because He has put it to me many a time. I doubt whether there ever has been a son or a daughter of Adam who has not heard that voice ringing through the soul many a time. Who am I? What am I? Where am I going? So let us put the question to ourselves personally, Where am I? Not in the sight of man—that is of very little account; but where am I in the sight of God?

December 29

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

Not some of them; He takes them all away.You may pile up your sins till they rise like a dark mountain, and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, and that mountain will melt away: “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from ALL sin.”

December 28

“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

(Revelation 5:11-12)

Yes, He is worthy of all this. Heaven cannot speak too well of Him. Oh that earth would take up the echo, and join with heaven in singing, “WORTHY to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing!”

December 27

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12)

The one glimpse the Bible gives us of thirty out of the thirty-three years of Christ's life on earth shows that He did not come to destroy the fifth commandment. The secret of all those silent years is embodied in that verse in Luke's Gospel—“And He went down with them and came also to Nazareth, and was subject to them.” Did He not set an example of true filial love and care when in the midst of the agonies of the cross He made provision for His mother?

December 26

(Mr. Moody’s Burial)

“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

I turn my back on death, and journey toward life from this time on, and away into the eternity beyond the grave I see LIFE.

December 25

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

The natural human heart is like that inn at Bethlehem—no room for Christ! Every true saint of God for four thousand years had been gazing out into the future, looking and listening that they might hear the footfall of the Coming One. Bible students think that when Eve brought forth her firstborn and said: “I have got a man from the Lord,” she thought he was the Promised One. And right on for four thousand years the mothers in Israel had been looking for that Child. And now the time has arrived. He appears on earth; and the first thing we read it that there in no room for Him!

He came on no secret mission. He tells us what He came for, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” He came to get His arm under the vilest sinner and lift him up to God; to bind up the broken-hearted, and to comfort those that mourn. And yet from time to time it was announced in Jerusalem that He had come, until He was put to death on the cross, the sword was not put back into in scabbard until it had pierced the very heart of the God-man.

December 24

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

There are no tears in heaven, and there would be few on earth if the will of God was only done.

December 23

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be converted so that he cannot tell when he crossed the line between death and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and be saved the next.

Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the will—“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”

December 22

 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51)

Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; gone out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body like unto His own glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in I856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.

December 21

“I will . . . honor Him.” (Psalm 91:15)

God’s honor is something worth seeking. Man's honor doesn’t amount to much. Suppose Moses had stopped down there in Egypt. He would have been loaded down with Egyptian titles, but they would never have reached us. Suppose he had been Chief Marshal of the whole Egyptian army, “General” Moses, “Commander” Moses; suppose he had reached the throne and become one of those Pharaohs, and his mummy had come down to our day. What is that compared with the honor God put upon him? How his name shines on the page of history!

The honor of this world doesn’t last, it is transient, it passes away; and I don’t believe any man or woman is fit for God's service that is looking for worldly preferment, worldly honors and worldly fame. Let us get it under our feet, let us rise above it, and seek the honor that comes down from above.

December 20

“Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” (John 13:1)

It is recorded of Jesus Christ, just when He was about to be departed from His disciples and led away to Calvary, that: “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” He knew that one of His disciples would betray Him, yet He loved Judas. He knew that another disciple would deny Him, and swear that he never knew Him, and yet He loved Peter.

It was the love which Christ had for Peter that bloke his heart, and brought him back in penitence to the feet of his Lord. For three years Jesus had been with the disciple: trying to teach them His love, not only by His life and words, but by His works. And on the night of His betrayal He takes a basin of water, girds Himself with a towel, and taking the place of a servant, washes their feet; He wants to convince them of His unchanging love.

December 19

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:5-6)

So faith is the golden key that unlocks the treasures of heaven. It was the shield that David took when he met Goliath on the field; he believed that God was going to deliver the Philistine into his hands. Some one has said that faith could lead Christ about anywhere; wherever He found it He honored it.

Unbelief sees something in God’s hand, and says, “I cannot get it.” Faith sees it, and says, “I will have it.”

December 18

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Many of us think we know something of God's love, but centuries hence we shall admit we have never found out much about it. Columbus discovered America; but what did he know about its great lakes, rivers, forests, and the Mississippi valley? He died, without knowing much about what he had discovered. So, many of us have discovered something of the love of God, but there are heights, depths and lengths of it we do not know. That Love is a great ocean, and we require to plunge into it before we really know anything of it.

Among the many victims of the Paris Commune was a Catholic bishop. He was a man who knew something of the love of God in his own experience. In the little cell where he was confined, awaiting execution, was a small window in the shape of a cross. After his death there was found written above the cross “height”; below it, “depth” and at the end of each arm of the cross, “length" and “breadth.” He had learned that God’s love was unfailing in the hour of adversity and death.

December 17

“They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)

Whenever I hear a young man talking in a flippant way about sowing his wild oats, I don’t laugh. I feel more like crying, because I know he is going to make his grey-haired mother reap in tears ; he is going to make his wife reap in shame; he is going to make his old father and his innocent children reap with him. Only ten or fifteen or twenty years will pass before he will have to reap his wild oats; no man has ever sowed them without having to reap them. Sow the wind and you reap the whirlwind.

December 16

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10)

There is many a business man to-day who will tell you he has no time to pray: his business is so pressing that he cannot call his family around him, and ask God to bless them. He is so busy that he cannot ask God to keep him and them from the temptations of the present life-the temptations of every day. “Business is so pressing” I am reminded of the words of an old Methodist minister: “If you have so much business to attend to that you have no time to pray, depend upon it you have more business on hand than God ever intended you should have.”

But look at this man. He had the whole, or nearly the whole, of the king's business to attend to. He was Prime Minister, Secretary of State, and Secretary of the Treasury, all in one. He had to attend to all his own work, and to give an eye to the work of lots of other men. And yet he found time to pray: not just now and then, nor once in a way, not just when he happened to have a few moments to spare, but “three times a day.”

December 15

“Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.” (John 11:3)

The communion those sisters had with Jesus brought them so near to His heart that when the time of trouble came they knew where to go for comfort. A great many people do not learn that secret in prosperity, and so when the billows come rolling up against them, they don't know which way to turn. The darkest and most wretched place on the face of the earth, is a home where death has entered, and where Christ is unknown. No hope of a resurrection, no hope of a brighter day coming.

December 14

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13)

Life never came through the law. As some one has observed: “When the law was given, three thousand men lost life; but when grace and truth came at Pentecost, three thousand obtained life.” Under the law, if a man became a drunkard the magistrates would take him out and stone him to death. When the prodigal came home, grace met him and embraced him. Law said, Stone him!—grace said, Embrace him! Law said, Smite him!—grace said, Kiss him! Law went after him, and bound him; grace said, Loose him and let him go! Law tells me how crooked I am; grace comes and makes me straight.

December 13

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)

I thank God there is a height in the Bible I do not know anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read it as I can any other book and understand it at one reading, I should have lost faith in it years ago. It is one of the strongest proofs that it must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for fifty years have laid down their pens and said, “There is a depth we know nothing of.” “No Scripture,” said Spurgeon, “is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom, not only double, but sevenfold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.”

December 12

“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

I have an idea we will thank God in eternity for our reverses and trials more than for anything else. I believe John Bunyan thanked God for the Bedford Jail more than for anything that happened to him down here. I believe Paul thanked God for the rods and stripes more than for anything else that happened to him.

Are you passing through the waters? Don't get discouraged! You are an heir of glory; He is with you. He was with Joseph when he was cast into prison. I had rather he in prison with the Almighty than outside without Him. You needn't be afraid of prison, and, you needn't be afraid of the grave, you needn't be afraid of death. Cheer up, child of God; the time of our redemption draweth near! We may have to suffer a little while, but when you think of the eternal weight of glory, you can afford to suffer.

December 11

“As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Thank God, we are to gain by death! We are to have something that death cannot touch. When this earthly body is raised, all the present imperfection will be gone. Jacob will leave his lameness. Paul will have no thorn in the flesh. We shall enter a life that deserves the name of life, happy, glorious, everlasting—the body once more united to the soul, no longer mortal, subject to pain and disease and death, but glorified, incorruptible, “fashioned like unto His glorious body,” everything that hinders the spiritual life left behind. We are exiles now, but then we who are faithful shall stand before the throne of God, joint heirs with Christ, kings and priests, citizens of that heavenly country.

December 10

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)

People say: “I want to know what is the truth.”

Listen: “I am the Truth.” says Christ. (verse 5) If you want to know what the truth is, get acquainted with Christ. People also complain that they have not life. Many are trying to give themselves spiritual life. You may galvanize yourselves and put electricity into yourselves, so to speak; but the effect will not last very long. Christ alone is the author of life. If you would have real spiritual life, get to know Christ. Many try to stir up spiritual life by going to meetings. These may be well enough; but it will be of no use, unless they get into contact with the living Christ. Then spiritual life will not be a spasmodic thing, but will he perpetual; flowing on and on, and bringing forth fruit to God.

December 9

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

When we wish to know the love of God we should go to Calvary. Can we look upon that scene, and say God did not love us? That cross speaks of the love of God. Greater love never has been taught than that which the cross teaches. What prompted God to give up Christ—what prompted Christ to die—if it were not love? “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Christ laid down His life for His enemies; Christ laid down His life for His murderers; Christ laid down His life for them that hated Him; and the spirit of the cross, the spirit of Calvary, is love. When they were mocking Him and deriding Him, what did He say? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is love. He did not call down fire from heaven to consume them; there was nothing but love in His heart.

December 8

“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Tim 1:12)

Notice the confidence that breathes through Paul’s last words to Timothy. It is not a matter of doubt, but of knowledge: “I know,” “I am persuaded."

The word “Hope” is not used in the Scripture to express doubt. It is used in regard to the second coming of Christ, or to the resurrection of the body. We should not say that we “hope” we are Christians. I do not say that I “hope” I am an American, or that I “hope” I am a married man. These are settled things. I may say that I “hope” to go hack to my home, or that I hope to attend such a meeting. If we are born of God we know it; He will not leave us in darkness if we search the Scriptures.

December 7

“And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.” (Matt 25:25)

I read of a man who had a thousand dollars. He hid it away, thinking he would in that way take care of it, and that when he was an old man he would have something to fall back upon. After keeping the deposit receipt for twenty years he took it to a bank and got just one thousand dollars for it. If he had put the money at interest in the usual way, he might have had three times the amount.

He made the mistake that a great many people are making to-day throughout Christendom, of not trading with his talents. My experience has been as I have gone about in the world and mingled with professing Christians, that those who find most fault with others are those who themselves do nothing. If a person is busy improving the talents that God has given him he will have too much to do to find fault and complain about others.

December 6

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1 Cor 6:19,20)

I think it is clearly taught in the Scripture that every believer has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, that there is a divine resident in every child of God. He may be quenching the Spirit of God, and he may not glorify God as he should, but if he is a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells in him.

But I want to call attention to another fact. I believe to-day that though Christian men and women have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, He is not dwelling within them in power; in other words, God has a great many sons and daughters without power.


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December 5

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

If an angel came straight from the throne of God, and proclaimed that God has sent him to offer us any one thing we might ask—that each one should have his own petition granted—what would be your cry? There would be but one response, and the cry would make heaven ring: “Eternal life! Eternal life!” Everything else would float away into nothingness.

It is life men want, and value most. Let a man worth a million dollars be on a wrecked vessel, and if he could save his life for six months by giving that million, he would give it in an instant. But the gospel is a six months’ gift; “The gift of God is eternal life.” And is it not one of the greatest marvels that men have to stand and plead and pray and beseech their fellow-men to take this precious gift of God


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December 4

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22:17)

How many men fold their arms and say: “If I am one of the elect, I will be saved, and if I am not, I won't. No use bothering

about it.”

I have an idea that the Lord Jesus saw how men were going to stumble over this doctrine of election, so after He had been thirty or forty years in heaven He came down and spoke to John. One Lord’s day in Patmos, He said to him:

“Write these things to the churches.”

John kept on writing. His pen flew very fast. And then the Lord, when it was nearly finished, said,

“John, before you close the book, put in one more invitation. ‘The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that it athirst, come. And Whosoever Will, let him take the water of life freely.’”


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December 3

“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1)

DID you ever ask yourselves which is the worse—the leprosy of sin, or the leprosy of the body? For my own part, I would a thousand times sooner have the leprosy of the body eating into my eyes, and feet, and arms!

I would rather be loathsome in the sight of my fellow-men than die with the leprosy of sin in my soul, and be banished from God forever! The leprosy of the body is bad, but the leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse. It has cast angels out of heaven. It has ruined the best and strongest men that ever lived in the world. Oh, how it has pulled men down!


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December 2

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” (1 Cor 15:3)

You ask me what my hope is. It is that Christ died for my sins, in my stead, in my place, and therefore I can enter into life eternal. You ask Paul what his hope was. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.” This is the hope in which died all the glorious martyrs of old, in which all who have entered heaven’s gate have found their only comfort. Take that doctrine of substitution out of the Bible, and my hope is lost.

With the law, without Christ, we are all undone. The law we have broken, and it can only hang over our head the sharp sword of justice. Even if we could keep it from this moment, there remains the unforgiven past. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”


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December 1

“And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” (Gen 19:14)

The Saviour tells us they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building; all went on as usual. Sodom was never more prosperous than now. There is no sign of a coming judgment; no sign that Sodom is going to be burnt up.

The sun shone as brightly the day before its destruction as it had shone for years. The stars perhaps were glittering in the heavens as brightly as ever, and the moon threw her light down

upon the city; but Lot’s sons-in-law mocked him, be couldn't get them out. I see him going through the streets with his head bowed down, and great tears trickling down his cheeks. Ask him now about his life, and he will tell you it has been a total failure. He goes back to his home; and early in the morning the angels have to take him almost by force, and hasten him out of the city. He could not bear the thought of leaving his loved ones there to perish, while God dealt in judgment with that city.

Is not that a fair picture of hundreds and thousands at the present time? Have you been trying to accumulate wealth even to the neglect of your children, so that to-day they are lifting up their voices against your God, and against your Bible, and against you? They do not care for your feelings; are they not trampling them under their feet? Perhaps many of the parents have gone to their graves, and the children are now squandering what their parents gathered. What an example we have in the case of Lot, and how it ought to open the eyes of many a business man, and cause him to see that his life is going to be a total wreck if he takes his children into Sodom’s judgment when the judgment comes.


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November 30

“Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22)

I am so thankful that I have a joy that the world cannot rob me of; I have a treasure that the world cannot take from me; I have something that it is not in the power of man or devil to deprive me of, the joy of the Lord. “No man taketh it from you.”

November 29

“There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.” (Luke 22:24)

To me, one of the saddest things in all the life of Jesus Christ was the fact that just before His crucifixion, His disciples should have been striving to see who should be the greatest. It was His last night on earth, and they never saw Him so sorrowful before. He knew Judas was going to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver. He knew that Peter would deny Him. And yet, in addition to this, when going into the very shadow of the cross, there arose this strife as to who should be the greatest.

He took a towel and girded Himself like a slave, and He took a basin of water and stooped and washed their feet. That was another object lesson of humility. He said, “Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well.” If you want to be great in My Kingdom, be servant of all. If you serve, you shall be great.

November 28

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” (1Timothy 6:9)

The Bible speaks of the deceitfulness of two things—“the deceitfulness of sin” and “the deceitfulness of riches.” Riches are like a mirage in the desert, which has all the appearance of satisfying, and lures on the traveler with the promise of water and shade; but he only wastes his strength in the effort to reach it. So riches never satisfy: the pursuit of them always turns out a snare.

November 27

“And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.” (Nehemiah 2:5)

It meant a good deal for Nehemiah to give up the palace of Shushan and his high office, and identify himself with the despised and captive Jews. He was among the highest in the whole realm. Not only that, but he was a man of wealth, lived in ease and luxury, and had great influence at court. For him to go to Jerusalem and lose caste was like Moses turning his back on the palace of Pharaoh and identifying himself with the Hebrew slaves. Yet we might never have heard of either of them if they had not done this.

They stooped to conquer; and when you get ready to stoop God will bless you. Plato, Socrates, and other Greek philosophers lived in the same century as Nehemiah. How few have heard of them and read their words compared with the hundreds of thousands who have heard and read of Nehemiah during the last two thousand years!

November 26

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; If they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:19, 20)

Now mark you, no man can be true for God, and live for Him, without at some time or other being unpopular in this world. Those men who are trying to live for both worlds make a wreck of it; for at some time or other the collision is sure to come.

November 25

“And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” (John 1:46)

So we say to you, “Come and see!” I thought, when I was converted, that my friends had been very unfaithful to me, because they had not told me about Christ. I thought I would have all my friends converted inside of twenty-four hours, and I was quite disappointed when they did not at once see Christ to be the Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon, and the Bright and Morning Star. I wondered why it was. But we need to learn that God alone can do that.

November 24

“Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.” (Psalm 78:1)

Man lost spiritual life and communion with his Maker by listening to the voice of the tempter, instead of the voice of God. We get life again by listening to the voice of God. The Word of God gives life. “The words that I speak unto you,” says Christ, “they are spirit, and they are life.” So, what people need is—to incline their ear, and HEAR.

It is a great thing when the preacher gets the ear of a congregation—I mean the inner ear, for a man has not only two ears in his head; he has what we may call the outer ear and the inner ear—the ear of the soul. You may speak to the outward ear, and not reach the ear of the soul at all. Many in these days are like the “foolish people” to whom the prophet Jeremiah spoke: “Which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.” “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

November 23

“Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:3)

Do you want to know the reason why, every now and then, the church is scandalized by the exposure of some leading church member or Sabbath-school super-intendent? It is not his Christianity, but his lack of it. Some secret sin has been eating at the heart of the tree, and in a critical moment it is blown down and its rottenness revealed.

November 22

“And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom He should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.” (Luke 7:4-5)

The Jews could not understand grace, so they thought Christ would grant the request of this man, because he was worthy. “Why,” they said, “he hath built us a synagogue!” It is the same old story that we hear today. Let a man give a few thousand dollars to build a church and he must have the best pew;  “he is worthy.” Perhaps he made his money by selling or making strong drink; but he has put the church under an obligation by this gift of money, and he is considered “worthy.” This same spirit was at work in the days of Christ.

November 21

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11)

I had rather be in the heart of the eighth of Romans than Adam in the heart of Paradise. Adam might have stayed in Paradise ten thousand years, and the devil could have come in then and snatched his life away from him, but I challenge the devil himself to get my life away from me, because it is hid with Christ in God, and Christ conquered Satan. “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” Christ conquered him, and oh, how safe the believer is!

When the sinner is hid in Christ, hid in God, how is Satan going to get at him? He must go by the Almighty and by Christ before he can get at that sinner. It is a great thing to be an heir of glory. It is a great thing to have your life guarded by the Son of God, and to have the angels of God encamping round about you.

November 20

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.—Romans 8:33

That word “justifieth” seems too good to be true. No wonder that Martin Luther shook all Germany when that truth dawned upon him, “the just shall live by faith.” Do you know what “justified means? I will tell you. It is to stand before God without spot or wrinkle, without I sin. It is to be put back beyond Eden. God looks over His ledger, and says:

“Moody, I have no account against you. Your debt has all been wiped out by another.”

November 19

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”  (Exodus 20:16)

You don't like to have anyone bear false witness against you, or help to ruin your character or reputation; then why should you do it to others? How public men are slandered in this country! None escape, whether good or bad. Judgment is passed upon them, their family, their character, by the press and by individuals who know little or nothing about them.

If one-tenth that in said and written about our public men was true, half of them should be hung. Slander has been called “tongue murder.” Slanderers are compared to flies that always settle on sores, but do not touch a man’s healthy parts.

If the archangel Gabriel should come down to earth and mix in human affairs, I believe his character would be assailed inside of forty-eight hours. Slander called Christ a gluttonous man and a winebibber. He claimed to be the Truth, but instead of worshipping Him, men took Him and crucified Him.

November 18

“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” (1 Corinthians 3:2)

You know it is always regarded a great event in the family. When a child can feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses the spoon upside down, but by and by it all right, and mother, or perhaps sister, claps her hands and says:

“Just see, baby’s feeding himself”

What we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture!

November 17

For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.—Mark 6:18

If your minister comes to you frankly, tells you of your sin, and warns you faithfully, thank God for him. He is your best friend; he is a heaven-sent man. But if your minister speaks smooth, oily words to you, tells you it is all right, when you know, and he knows, that it is all wrong, and that you are living in sin, you may be sure that he is a devil-sent man. I want to say I have a contempt for a preacher that will tone his message down to suit some one in his audience; some senator, or big man whom he sees present. If the devil can get possession of such a minister and speak through him, he will do the work better than the devil himself. All the priests and ministers of all the churches cannot save one soul that will not part with sin.

November 16

By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.—Ephesians 5:8, 9

BEFORE my conversion, I worked toward the cross, but since then I have worked from the cross. Then I worked to be saved; now I work because I am saved.

November 15

“Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” (Acts 3:24)

It has always been a mystery to me when every disciple of Jesus Christ who was anywhere near Jerusalem, was not at the sepulcher on the morning of the third day after the crucifixion. Over and over again He told them that He would arise. One of the last things He said to them, as they were on their way to the Mount of Olives, was—“After that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.” But there is not one solitary passage that tells us that they had any expectation of His resurrection. It seems as if His enemies had better memories than His friends. When His body was laid away in the tomb, the Jews went to Pilate, and wanted him to make it secure; because, they said, “We remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.” 

November 14

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

The cross of Christ divides all mankind. There are only two sides, those for Christ, and those against Him. Think of the two thieves; from the side of Christ one went down to death cursing God, and the other went to glory.

What a contrast! In the morning he is led out, a condemned criminal; in the evening he is saved from his sins. In the morning he is cursing—Matthew and Mark both tell us that those two thieves came out cursing, in the evening he is singing hallelujahs with a choir of angels. In the morning he is condemned by men as not fit to live on earth; in the evening he is reckoned good enough for heaven. In the morning nailed to the cross; in the evening in the Paradise of God, crowned with a crown he should wear through all the ages. In the morning not an eye to pity; in the evening washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb. In the morning in the society of thieves and out-casts; in the evening Christ is not ashamed to walk arm-in-arm with him down the golden pavements of the eternal city.

November 13

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

If there is one word above another that will swing open the eternal gates, it is the name of Jesus. There are a great many passwords and bywords down here, but that will be the countersign up above. Jesus Christ is the “Open Sesame” to heaven. Any one who tries to climb up some other way, is a thief and a robber. And when we get in, what a joy above every other joy we can think of, will it be to see Jesus Himself, and to be with Him continually!

November 12

“When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin . . . because they believe not on Me.” (John 16:8,9)

Some men seem to think it is a great misfortune that they do not have faith. They seem to look upon it as a kind of infirmity, and they think they ought to be sympathized with and pitied. Bear in mind it is not a misfortune; it is the most damning sin of the world. The greatest enemy God and man have got is unbelief. Christ found it on both sides of the cross. It was the very thing that put Him to death.


The Jews did not believe Him. They did not believe God had sent Him. They took Him to Calvary and murdered Him. And the first thing we find after He rose from the grave was unbelief again. Thomas, one of His own disciples, did not believe He had risen. He said, “Thomas, feel these wounds;” and Thomas believed, and said, “My Lord and my God.”

November 11

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” (Matthew 5:14)

God has left us down here to shine. We are not here to buy and sell and get gain, to accumulate wealth, to acquire worldly position. This earth, if we are Christians, is not our home; it is yonder. God has sent us into the world to shine for Him—to light up this dark world. Christ came to be the Light of the world, but men put out that light. They took it to Calvary, and blew it out. Before Christ went up on high, He said to His disciples: “Ye are the light of the world. Ye are My witnesses. Go forth and carry the gospel to the perishing nations of the earth.”

November 10

“What if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Romans 3:3)

I am so tired of the Christianity that is made up of negations, what people don’t believe. I met a man some time ago, and he said, “I don't believe this.” I talked with him a little, and made another statement; he didn't believe that. Finally, I said, “Man, will you tell me what you do believe?” and I found he didn't believe anything except that he didn't believe.

November 9

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

There cannot be true peace where there is fear. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” How wretched a wife would be if she doubted her husband! and how miserable a mother would feel if after her boy had gone away from home she had reason, from his neglect, to question that son’s devotion! True love never has a doubt.

November 8

"Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly." (Hebrews 13:18)

Is not conscience a safe guide? No, is not. Some people don't seem to have any conscience, and don't know what it means. Their education has a good deal to do with conscience. There are persons who will say that their conscience did not tell them that they had done wrong until after the wrong was done. What we want, is something to tell us a thing is wrong before we do it.

November 7

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13)

No man or woman is ever used by God to build up His kingdom who has lost hope. Wherever I have found a worker in God's vineyard who has lost hope, I have found a man or woman not very useful. It is very important to have hope in the church; and it is the work of the Holy Ghost to impart hope. Let Him come into some of the churches where there have not been any conversions for a few years, and let Him convert a score of people, and see how hopeful the church becomes at once. He imparts hope. A man filled with the Spirit of God will be very hopeful. He will be looking out into the future, and he knows that it is all bright, because the God of all grace is able to do great things.

November 6

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”—2 Corinthians 5:10

SOME people say that you never can tell till you are before the throne of Judgment whether you an saved or not. Why, if our life is hid with Christ in God, we are not coming into judgment for our sins. We may come into judgment for reward. This is clearly taught where the lord reckoned with the servant to whom five talents had been given, and who brought other five talents. His lord said unto him, “Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matt. 25:20, 21.) We shall be judged for our stewardship—that is one thing; but salvation—eternal life—is quite another thing.

November 5

“But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” — 2 Timothy 2:23

There are two kinds of skeptics—one class with honest difficulties, and another class who delight only in discussion. I used to think that this latter class would always be a thorn in my flesh, but they do not prick me now. I expect to find them right along the journey. Men of this stamp used to hang around Christ to entangle Him in His talk.

Many young converts make a woeful mistake. They think they are to defend the whole Bible. I knew very little of the Bible when I was first

converted, and I thought that I had to defend it from beginning to end against all comers. A Boston infidel got hold of me, floored all my arguments at once, and discouraged me. But I have got over that now. There are many things in the Word of God that I do not profess to understand.

November 4

"Be not faithless, but believing." John 20:27

PEOPLE say, “If I could only get rid of these doubts and fears, I think I would be ready to work.” 

Go to work, and these doubts will disappear. There is work to be done. Life is short at the longest, so let us be about our Master’s business. While you are engaged in His work, these doubts will not assail you so much. I believe any Christian would have doubts in less than six months if he did nothing.

November 3

“His divine power hath given unto as all thing: that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue." — 2 Peter 1:3

There is Glory for the time to come. A great many people seem to forget that the best is before us. Dr. Bonar once said that everything before the true believer is “glorious.” This thought tool: hold on my soul, and I began to look the matter up, and see what I could find in Scripture that was glorious hereafter. I found that the kingdom we are going to inherit is glorious; our crown is to be a “crown of glory”; the city we are going to inhabit is the city of the glorified; the songs we are to sing are the songs of the glorified; we are to wear garments of “glory and beauty”; our society will be the society of the glorified; our rest is to be “glorious”; the country to which we are going is to be full of “the glory of God and of the Lamb.”

There are many who are always looking on the backward path, and mourning over the troubles through which they have passed; they keep lugging up the cares and anxieties they have been called on to bear, and are forever looking at them. Why should we go reeling and staggering under the burdens and cares of life when we have such glorious prospects before us? 

November 2

Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)


Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word “ALL.” Some men make Him to be “a root out of a dry ground,” “ without form or comeliness.” He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty.

November 1

"And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me." Romans 7:10-11

A friend in England was telling me that an acquaintance of his, a minister, was once called upon to officiate at a funeral, in the place of the chaplain of one of Her Majesty's prison, who was absent. He noticed that only one solitary man followed the body of the criminal to the grave. When the grave had been covered, this man told the minister that he was an officer of the law whose duty it was to watch the body of the culprit until it was buried out of sight; that was "the end" of the British law.

And that is what the law of God does to the sinner; it brings him right to death, and leaves him there. I pity deep down in my heart those who are trying to save themselves by the law. It never has, it never will, and it never can save the soul.

October 31

"And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage." Acts 28:15

If you are not able to go and invite the people to hear the Gospel, you can give a word of cheer to others, and wish them Godspeed. Many a time when I have come down from the pulpit, some old man, trembling on the verge of another world, living perhaps on borrowed time, has caught hold of my hand, and in a quavering voice said,

"God bless you!"

How the words have cheered and helped me! You can speak a word of encouragement to younger friends, if you are too feeble to work yourselves.

October 30

" And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:8

A rule I have had for years is to treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal friend. It is not a creed, a mere empty doctrine, but it is Christ Himself we have. The moment we receive Christ we should receive Him as a friend. When I go away from home I bid my wife and children good-bye; I bid my friends and acquaintances good-bye; but I never heard of a poor backslider going down on his knees and saying:

"I have been near You for ten years. Your service has become tedious and monotonous. I have come to bid You farewell. Good-bye, Lord Jesus Christ!"

I never heard of one doing this. I will tell you how they go away; they just run away.

October 29

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Revelation 14:13

Think of Paul up yonder. People are going up every day and every hour, men and women who have been brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a thousand years. I can imagine men going up to him saying, "Paul, I thank you for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in that." "Paul, I thank you for writing that epistle to the Corinthians." "Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians." "I thank you, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians; I found Christ in that."

When Paul was put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness! No, he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the ages and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of Christ crucified.

October 28

"Jesus answered him and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

If the words of this text are true they embody one of the most solemn questions. We can afford to be deceived about many things rather than about this one thing. Christ makes it very plain. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." –much less inherit it.

This doctrine of the new birth is therefore the foundation of all our hopes for the world to come. It is really the A B C of the Christian religion. My experience has been this–that if a man is unsound on this doctrine he will be unsound on almost every other fundamental doctrine in the Bible. A true understanding of this subject will help a man to solve a thousand difficulties that he may meet in the Word of God. Things that before seemed very dark and mysterious will become very plain.

October 27

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." John 7:37

How this world is thirsting for something that will satisfy! What fills the places of amusement, the dance houses, the music halls, and the theaters, night after night? Men and women are thirsting for something they have not got. The moment a man turns his back upon God, he begins to thirst; and that thirst will never be quenched until he returns to "the fountain of living waters."

As the prophet Jeremiah tells us, we have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. There is a thirst this world can never quench: the more we drink of its pleasures, the thirstier we become. We cry out for more and more, and we are all the while being dragged down lower and lower. But there is a fountain opened to the House of David for sin and for uncleanness. Let us press up to it, and drink and live.

October 26

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

I find that many Christians are in trouble about the future; they think they will not have grace enough to die by. It is much more important that we should have grace enough to live by. It seems to me that death is of very little importance in the meantime. When the dying hour comes there will be dying grace; but you do not require dying grace to live by. If I am going to live for fifteen or twenty years, what do I want with dying grace? I am far more anxious about having grace enough for my present work.

I have sometimes been asked if I had grace enough to enable me to go to the stake and die as a martyr. No; what do I want with martyrs' grace? I do not like suffering; but if God should call me to die a martyrs' death, He will give me martyrs' grace. If I have to pass through some great affliction, I know God will give me grace when the time comes; but I do not want it till it comes.

October 25

"O Lord, I beseech thee, let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant, and to the prayer of Thy servants, who delight to fear Thy name; and prosper, I pray Thee, Thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." Nehemiah 1:11 (ASV)

When Nehemiah began to pray I have no idea that he thought he himself was to be the instrument in God's hand of building the walls of Jerusalem. But when a man gets into sympathy and harmony with God, then God prepares him for the work He has for him. No doubt he thought the Persian king might send one of his great warriors and accomplish the work with a great army of men; but after he had been praying for months, it may be, the thought flashed into his mind:

"Why should not I go to Jerusalem myself and build those walls?"

Prayer for the work will soon arouse your own sympathy and effort.


American Standard Version (ASV) Copyright © 1901 Public Domain

October 24

"Be clothed with humility" 1 Peter 5:5

Some years ago I saw what is called a sensitive plant. I happened to breathe on it, and suddenly it drooped its head; I touched it, and it withered away. Humility is as sensitive as that; it cannot safely be brought out on exhibition. A man who is flattering himself that he is humble and is walking close to the Master, is self-deceived. Humility consists not in thinking meanly of ourselves, but in not thinking of ourselves at all. Moses wist not that his face shone. If humility speaks of itself, it is gone.

October 23

"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." Proverbs 11:30

If we have known Jesus Christ for years, and have not been able to introduce an anxious soul to Him, there has been something wrong somewhere. If we were full of grace, we should be ready for any call that comes to us. Paul said, when he had that famous interview with Christ on the way to Damascus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Isaiah said, "Here am I, send me." No man can tell what he can do until he moves forward. If we do that in the name of God, instead of there being few scores or hundreds converted, there will be thousands flocking into the Kingdom of God. Remember that we honor God when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think that we are satisfied with very small results.

October 22

"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10

The ten commandments are not ten different laws; they are one law. If I am being held up in the air by a chain with ten links and I break one of them, down I come, just as surely as if I break the whole ten. If I am forbidden to go out of an enclosure, it makes no difference at what point I break through the fence. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." "The golden chain of obedience is broken if one link is missing."

October 21

"And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and  saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:13-14

I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic sea the wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the seashore at night and singing the first verse of some beautiful hymn. After they have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the wind across the sea the second verse sung by their brave husbands - and both are happy.

Perhaps, if we would listen, we too might hear in this storm-tossed world of ours, some sound, some whisper, borne from afar to tell us there is a heaven which is our home; and when we sing our hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who are pilgrims and strangers along the way.

October 20

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1

I pity those people who are all the time looking to see what they will have to give up. God wants to bestow His marvelous grace on His people; and there is not a soul who has believed on Jesus, for whom God has not abundance of grace in store.

What would you say of a man dying of thirst on the banks of a beautiful river, with the stream flowing past his feet? You would think he was mad! The river of God's grace flows on without ceasing; why should we not partake of it, and go on our way rejoicing?

October 19

"My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Look at these words carefully. It does not say He will supply our wants. There are many things we want that God has not promised to give. It is our need, and all our need.

My children often want many things they do not get; but I supply all they need, if it is in my power to do it. I do not supply all their wants by any means. And so, though God may withhold from us many things that we desire, He will supply all our need. There can come upon us no trouble or trial in this life, but God has grace enough to carry us right through it, if we will only go to Him and get it. But we must ask for it day by day. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

October 18

"Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." Matthew 3:5-6

Think of the whole population going out to hear this wonderful open-air preacher, to be "baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins!" John was a preacher of repentance. Perhaps no one ever rang out the word "Repent!" like John the Baptist. Day after day, as he came out of the desert and stood on the banks of that famous river, you could hear his voice, "Repent! for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We can almost hear the echoes of his voice as they floated up and down the Jordan.

Many wonderful scenes had been witnessed at that stream. Naaman had washed away his leprosy there. Elijah and Elisha had crossed it dryshod. Joshua had led through its channel the mighty host of the redeemed on their journey from Egypt into the promised land. But it had never seen anything like this: men, women, and children, mothers with babes in their arms, scribes, Pharisees, publicans and soldiers, flocked from Judea, Samaria and Galilee, to hear this lonely wilderness prophet.

October 17

"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" 2 Peter 3:18

Although you may be born again, it will require time to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous, but sanctification is a life-work. We are to grow in wisdom. We are to add grace to grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth, but it has not attained its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of God, but not a matured Christian.

October 16

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

The psalm might have been written by Moses after some terrible calamity had come upon the children of Israel. It might have been after that terrible night of death in Egypt, when the firstborn from the palace to the to the hovel were slain; or after that terrible plague of fiery serpents in the wilderness, when the people were full of fear and in a nervous state. Perhaps Moses called Aaron and Miriam, and Joshua and Caleb, and a few others into his tent and read this psalm to them first. How sweet it must have sounded, and how strange!

I can imagine Moses asking, "Do you think that will help them? Will that quiet them?" and they all thought it would. And then, (it may be), on one of those hilltops of Sinai, at twilight, this psalm was read. How it must have helped them, how it must have strengthened them!

October 15

"Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie ...?" Acts 5:3

"Mr. Moody," you say, "how can I check myself? how can I overcome the habit of lying and gossip?" A lady once said to me that she had got so into the habit of exaggerating that her friends said they could never understand her.

The cure is simple, but not very pleasant. Treat it as a sin, and confess it to God and the person whom you have wronged. As soon as you catch yourself lying, go straight to that person and confess you have lied. Let your confession be as wide as your transgression. If you have slandered or lied about any one in public, let your confession be public. Many a person says some mean, false thing about another in the presence of others, and then tries to patch it up by going to that person, if it is in my power to do so; He will not hear me.

October 14

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Luke 22: 31,32

There is no one beyond the reach of the tempter. Keep that in mind. Life may run smoothly for a while, but the testing time is coming.

October 13

"Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Ephesians 6:23

Disobedience and disrespect for parents are often the first steps in the downward track. Many a criminal has testified that these are the points where he first went astray. I have lived over sixty years, and I have learned one thing if I have learned nothing else - that no man or woman who dishonors father or mother ever prospers, in the long run.

October 12

"I will show him My salvation." Psalm 91:16

I believe we don't learn the fringe of the subject of salvation down here. When our Master was on earth, He said He had many more things to say, but He could not reveal them to His disciples because they were not ready to receive them. But when we go yonder, where these mortal bodies have put on immortality, when our spiritual faculties are loosed from the thralldom of the flesh, I believe we shall be able to take more in. God will lead us from glory to glory, and show us the fullness of our salvation. Don't you think Moses knew more at the Mount of Transfiguration than he did at Pisgah? Didn't Christ talk with him then about the death He was to accomplish at Jerusalem? He couldn't have received this truth before, any more than the disciples, but when he had received his glorified body, Christ could show him everything.

October 11

"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." Matthew 3:8

A friend had come to Christ and wished to consecrate himself and his wealth to God. He had formerly had transactions with the government, and had taken advantage of them. This thing came up when he was converted, and his conscience troubled him. He said,

"I want to consecrate my wealth, but it seems as if God will not take it."

He had a terrible struggle; his conscience kept rising up and smiting him. At last he drew a check for fifteen hundred dollars and sent it to the United States Treasury. He told me he received such a blessing when he had done it!

That was bringing forth "fruits meet for repentance." I believe a great many men are crying to God for light, and they are not getting it because they are not honest with themselves.