Truth for Life - March 25, 2017
March 25
Have I Betrayed Him?
Would you betray the son of man with a kiss? - Luke 22:48
The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence for it. Let me beware of sleek-faced hypocrisy, which is assistant to heresy and infidelity.
Knowing how easily the unrighteous are deceived, let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man, devoid of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange woman: May my soul be so graciously instructed today that the seductive tones of the world may have no effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
But what if I should be guilty of the same dreadful sin as Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of His visible church; I sit at the Communion table: All these are so many kisses of my lips. Am I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I am exposing my faith to ridicule and leading men to speak evil of the very name Christian. Surely if I act inconsistently, I am a Judas, and it were better for me if I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am innocent in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way. Never let me betray my Savior. I do love You, Lord Jesus, and though I often grieve You, I still desire to remain faithful even unto death.
O God, forbid that I should be a high-sounding professor and then fall at last into the lake of fire because I betrayed my Master with a kiss.
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Proverbs 12
verse 2 Ephesians 5
The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume 1
Arguably the most significant spiritual and biblical theology ever penned from the English Puritan era, the presentation of William Gurnall's (1616-1679) The Christian in Complete Armour in an accessible, single volume is certainly a landmark, and much welcomed, event. According to the Apostle Paul, the world is at war. Not a "hot war" but a war in the realm of the spirit. This war, Paul warns, requires special armament, and he explains that armament in Ephesians 6. Anglican cleric Gurnall began to explore Paul's exhortation in sermons and lectures, which he published under the title The Christian in Complete Armor. A perennial best-seller in Gurnall's own lifetime, these teachings became his legacy, influencing well over three centuries of Christians and eliciting praise from the likes of Richard Baxter, John Flavel, John Newton, Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards and have been abridged and modernized using more easily understood language.
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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
