Morning & Evening – June 26 | Spurgeon Devotional

Morning

Scripture

> All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ > > — Isaiah 14:10 (ESV)

Devotional

What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, “Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from me: I also have banished thee forever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee.” What will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. “There he is,” says one, “will he preach the gospel in hell?” “There he is,” says another, “he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!” “Aha!” says another, “here comes a psalm-singing Methodist—one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!” No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors! “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

Reflection

Spurgeon paints a terrifying picture of the final exposure and shame of the apostate professor. The very sinners he once rebuked will mock him in hell. The one who boasted of assurance will be revealed as a hypocrite. Bunyan’s imagery of the “back-way to hell” underscores how those who profess the way to heaven but turn aside are dragged by devils into destruction. The call is urgent: examine yourself whether you are in the faith. Be rigorous with your own soul, for if the foundation is not rock, the fall will be great. What we might miss is how easily self-deception creeps in. We must not give ourselves the lenient verdict we might give others.

Goad

Are you building on the rock of true faith in Christ, or have you settled for a profession that could one day be exposed as hollow? What would it look like to examine yourself rigorously today, asking the Lord for sincerity, constancy, and firmness?

Evening

Scripture

> By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. > > — 2 Peter 1:4 (ESV)

Devotional

Vanish forever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power of your risen Lord. It were ill that a man who is alive in Christ should dwell in the corruption of sin. “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” said the angel to Magdalene. Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should divine life be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be indeed the chosen of God, and beloved by him, do not suffer all the lavish treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the Christian’s crown and glory. An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell’s laughter, heaven’s abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God’s priest: act as such. You are God’s king: reign over your lusts. You are God’s chosen: do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be holiness in the life. “Lord, I desire to live as one Who bears a blood-bought name, As one who fears but grieving thee, And knows no other shame.”

Reflection

Spurgeon calls the believer to live consistently with the divine nature received through the promises. Having escaped the corruption of the world through lust, it is unthinkable that one alive in Christ should continue to indulge the flesh. The living must not dwell among the dead. The question is whether we have escaped not only open sins but the more secret lusts—pride, slothfulness, carnal security, worldliness, and avarice. Holiness is the Christian’s crown and glory; an unholy church is an abomination. What we might miss is that true faith always produces holiness in the life. There cannot be faith in the heart without corresponding holiness. The treasure of grace must not be wasted.

Goad

Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, are you still secretly entertaining the more subtle sins of pride, sloth, or carnal security, or are you daily seeking to live above them as one who has been made a partaker of the divine nature? What would it look like to reign as a king over your lusts and live as a heavenly spirit in your present circumstances?

Tie-In

The morning warns against the back-way to hell through hypocrisy and partial profession. The evening calls us to the positive pursuit of holiness as the evidence and outworking of the life we have received in Christ. Both are concerned with consistency: the one exposes the danger of appearing holy while being inwardly corrupt; the other urges us to let the divine nature we have received shape the whole of our conduct. The same grace that rescues us from the corruption of the world calls us to live as those who belong to heaven.

Closing

Spurgeon’s classic text with AI-assisted reflection and formatting to maintain daily consistency and reach. If these words have stirred something in your heart today, we invite you to sit with it. Share how God met you in the comments or reach out to us. As we build out the deeper tables of Milk, Solid Food, and Meat for every stage of the journey, know that you are welcome here. NewGrapes Ministries Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.