My Victorian Year #31

I'm sharing quotes from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening AND J.C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Matthew this week.

From Expository Thoughts on Matthew, chapters 8 and 9

Matthew 8:1-15

• It was fitting that the greatest sermon ever preached should be immediately followed by mighty proof, that the preacher was the Son of God. A leper is healed with a touch. A palsied person is made well by a word. A woman sick with a fever is restored in a moment to health and strength. 
• Let us learn, for one thing, how great is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. To heal a person of the PALSY without even seeing him, by only speaking a word, is to do that which our minds cannot even conceive. Yet Jesus commands, and at once it is done.
• Let us trust him, and not be afraid. The world is full of snares. Our hearts are weak. But with Jesus nothing is impossible.
• Let us learn, for another thing, the mercifulness and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Let us learn, in the last place, what a precious thing is the grace of faith.
• To believe Christ's power and willingness to help, and to make a practical use of our belief, is a rare and precious gift. Let us be ever thankful if we have it. To be willing to come to Jesus as helpless, lost sinners, and commit our souls into His hands is a mighty privilege.

Matthew 8:16-27

• Let us keep back nothing from young professors and inquirers after Christ. Let us not enlist them on false pretenses. Let us tell them plainly that there is a crown of glory at the end. But let us tell them no less plainly, that there is a daily cross in the way.
• Let the prayer "Lord, increase our faith," always form part of our daily petitions. We never perhaps know the weakness of our faith, until we are placed in the furnace of trial and anxiety.

Matthew 8:28-34

• Let us settle it firmly in our minds, that there is such a being as the devil. It is an dreadful truth, and one too much overlooked. There is an unseen spirit ever near us, of mighty power, and full of endless malice against our souls.
• Let us, in the next place, settle it firmly in our minds, that the power of the devil is limited. Mighty as he is, there is one mightier still.
• Let us, in the next place, settle it in our minds, that our Lord Jesus Christ is man's great deliverer from the power of the devil.
• Let us beware of loving the world more than Christ. Let us beware of hindering the salvation of others, because we fear the increase of true religion may diminish our gains, or give us trouble.

Matthew 9:1-13

• Nothing can be concealed from Christ. What do we think of, in private, when no man sees us? What do we think of, in church, when we seem so grave and serious?
• Jesus knows. Jesus sees. Jesus records. Jesus will one day call us to give account. It is written that "God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ." (Rom. 2:16.) Surely
• We ought to thank God daily that the blood of Christ can cleanse from all sin. We ought often to cry, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight." (Psalm 19:14.)
• Let it be a fixed principle in our religion, that with Christ nothing is impossible. He can take a tax collector, and make him an apostle. He can change any heart, and make all things new.
• Let us never despair of any one's salvation. Let us pray on, and speak on, and work on to do good to souls, even to the souls of the worst. "The voice of the Lord is powerful." (Psalm. 29:4.)
• "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Let us make sure that we thoroughly understand the doctrine that these words contain.
• Finally, if by the grace of God we really understand the glorious truth that sinners are those whom Christ came to call, let us take heed that we never forget it.

Matthew 9:14-26

• Let us mark in this passage, the gracious name by which the Lord Jesus speaks of Himself. He calls Himself "the bridegroom." What the bridegroom is to the bride, the Lord Jesus is to the souls of all who believe in Him.
• Our courage may be small. Our grasp of the Gospel, and its promises, may be weak and trembling. But, after all, the grand question is, do we really trust in Christ alone?
• Weak faith is less comfortable than strong faith. Weak faith will carry us to heaven with far less joy than full assurance. But weak faith gives an interest in Christ as surely as strong faith.
• This is the kind of truth we never can know too well. The more clearly we see Christ's power, the more likely we are to realize Gospel peace.
• Greater is He that is for us, than all those who are against us. Our Savior can raise the dead. Our Savior is almighty.

Matthew 9:27-38

• Let us mark, in the first place, that strong faith in Christ may sometimes be found where it might least have been expected.
• Grace is stronger than circumstances.
• Let us mark, in the next place, that our Lord Jesus Christ has had great experience of disease and sickness. He "went about all the cities and villages" doing good.
• But let us arm ourselves betimes with the precious thought that Jesus is specially fitted to be the sick man's friend.
• Let us mark, in the next place, our Lord's tender concern for neglected souls. "He saw multitudes" of people when He was on earth, scattered about "like sheep having no shepherd," and He was moved with compassion.
• Let us mark, in the last place, that there is a solemn duty incumbent on all Christians, who would do good to the unconverted part of the world. They are to pray for more men to be raised up to work for the conversion of souls. It seems as if it was to be a daily part of our prayers. "Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into his harvest."
• Let us settle it in our minds, that it is one of the surest ways of doing good, and stemming evil. Personal working for souls is good. Giving money is good. But praying is best of all.

From Morning and Evening:

• What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower—such is Jesus Christ to us.
• What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a weary land—such is Jesus Christ to us.
• They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh—but Jesus is a greater Savior than you think Him to be—when your thoughts are at the greatest.
• My Lord is more ready to pardon—than you to sin; more able to forgive—than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your needs—than you are to ask for them!
• Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on His head, you will only crown Him with silver when He deserves gold.
• Faith must be strong—or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet. Faith is the lily’s root—and love is the lily’s bloom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart’s love—unless you have a firm hold of Him by your heart’s faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love Him. If your love is cold—you can be sure that your faith is drooping!
• Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things do not remain as they would have been, had He never passed that way.
• Do you dread sin? He has nailed it to His cross! Do you fear death? He has been the death of death! Are you afraid of hell? He has barred it against the entrance of any of His children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition!
• Whatever foes may be before the Christian—they are all overcome!
• Faith, in the Scripture, is spoken of under the emblem of all the senses. It is sight, “Look unto me—and be saved.” It is hearing, “Hear—and your soul shall live.”
• Faith is smelling, “All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.” “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; Your Name is like perfume poured out.”
• Faith is spiritual touch. By faith, the woman came behind and touched the hem of Christ’s garment. By faith—we handle the things of the good Word of life.
• Faith is equally the soul’s taste. “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my lips!” “Except a man eats My flesh,” says Christ, “and drinks My blood, there is no life in him.” This spiritual “taste” is faith in one of its highest operations.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible