26 OCTOBER (UNDATED—PROBABLY 26 OCTOBER 1876)
A family sermon
‘And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark … And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.’ Genesis 7:1, 7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Colossians 3:11–17
From the time of Noah’s entrance he is to find all his pleasure in the ark. There are no outdoor amusements for him or his family; he cannot even find pleasure in the scenery, for that is blotted out by the deluges of rain; the valleys have vanished and even the hills have disappeared as the deluge has increased. If he is to find any pleasure, he must find it inside the ark. It was a melancholy prospect indeed, if he could look out from the window, but his joy and delight lay within the chambers of the ark, for there was he saved and there he dwelt with God. All his food also to supply his necessities he must find inside the ark. He had no barn nor warehouse to look to, and there was no port at which he could take in cargo.
Whatever need might arise must be met by the stores within the ark, for there was nothing outside but death. All his work was inside the ark too.
He had nothing to do now except within that vessel, no fields to plough, no shops to keep, nothing to do but what was inside the ark. Now, when a soul comes to Christ, it commits itself to him for everything: Christ must feed it; you must no longer eat for your soul anything but the bread of heaven; Jesus must become meat and drink to you for his ‘flesh is meat indeed’ and his ‘blood is drink indeed’. Now you are to find your pleasure in him, your choicest delights, your sweetest joys, all in Christ Jesus, who is our hope, crown, delight and heaven. Henceforth your service must be to him only. ‘Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price’, and all that you have to do in this world now lies within the circumference of Christ’s will. The commonest duties of life are now to be brought within the sacred circle. You have nothing to do outside in the waters of sin, self and Satan. You need neither fish in the waters of sin, nor go boating upon the waves of worldliness; you are in danger if you do.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.489 v.1—Isaac Watts, 1709)
‘In vain we lavish out our lives to gather empty wind,
The choicest blessings earth can yield will starve a hungry mind.’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 310.
26 OCTOBER (UNDATED—PROBABLY 26 OCTOBER 1876)
A family sermon
‘And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark … And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.’ Genesis 7:1, 7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Colossians 3:11–17
From the time of Noah’s entrance he is to find all his pleasure in the ark. There are no outdoor amusements for him or his family; he cannot even find pleasure in the scenery, for that is blotted out by the deluges of rain; the valleys have vanished and even the hills have disappeared as the deluge has increased. If he is to find any pleasure, he must find it inside the ark. It was a melancholy prospect indeed, if he could look out from the window, but his joy and delight lay within the chambers of the ark, for there was he saved and there he dwelt with God. All his food also to supply his necessities he must find inside the ark. He had no barn nor warehouse to look to, and there was no port at which he could take in cargo.
Whatever need might arise must be met by the stores within the ark, for there was nothing outside but death. All his work was inside the ark too.
He had nothing to do now except within that vessel, no fields to plough, no shops to keep, nothing to do but what was inside the ark. Now, when a soul comes to Christ, it commits itself to him for everything: Christ must feed it; you must no longer eat for your soul anything but the bread of heaven; Jesus must become meat and drink to you for his ‘flesh is meat indeed’ and his ‘blood is drink indeed’. Now you are to find your pleasure in him, your choicest delights, your sweetest joys, all in Christ Jesus, who is our hope, crown, delight and heaven. Henceforth your service must be to him only. ‘Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price’, and all that you have to do in this world now lies within the circumference of Christ’s will. The commonest duties of life are now to be brought within the sacred circle. You have nothing to do outside in the waters of sin, self and Satan. You need neither fish in the waters of sin, nor go boating upon the waves of worldliness; you are in danger if you do.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.489 v.1—Isaac Watts, 1709)
‘In vain we lavish out our lives to gather empty wind,
The choicest blessings earth can yield will starve a hungry mind.’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 310.