DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
O Lord Jesus, our souls fly to you. You are the only refuge of our heart. Our confidence is fixed upon your blood and righteousness, and we believe that these will never fail us. We are persuaded that if we build upon this Rock of ages, the floods may come, and the winds may beat upon that house, but it shall not fall because it is built upon the rock.
Renew the faith of your people. Let its former simplicity come back. May we each of us come to Jesus as we did at first, weary, and over-worn, and sad, and sinful, and find in him all that our largest want can possibly demand. Oh for grace today to take a bleeding Savior at his word, and to believe him to be the propitiation for our sins.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24–25)
Hearing is not enough; we must do these sayings. There must be practical godliness, or nothing is right within us. The doing hearer has built a house with a stable foundation: the wisest and safest, but the most expensive and toilsome thing to do. Trials come to him. His sincerity and truthfulness do not prevent his being tested. From above, and from beneath, and from all sides, the trials come: rain, floods, and winds. The tests become so severe that nothing can save the building unless it be the strength of its foundation. Because the chief support is so immovable, the entire erection survives.
Let the Rock of Ages be praised if, after terrible tribulation, it can be said of our faith, “it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Hearing and Doing the Word of God
I was encouraged to come to this passage in Spurgeon’s prayers and to find his reference to Matthew 7. I recently finished a sermon series through the Sermon on the Mount and just preached this text a few weeks ago.
Christianity is not primarily about a decision you make, so saying the right things will never be enough.
Christianity is not primarily about a work you do, so doing the right things will never be enough.
What is it that really separates a Christian from a non-Christian? It’s being known by the God of all grace.
Listen to this sermon, “Kingdom Salvation” right here. I hope it encourages you.