Daily Devotionals
Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening"
Devotional: November 20th

Morning

“Let no man glory in men.”

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:1

Being more carnal than spiritual because so weak in grace.

1 Corinthians 3:2

The deeper doctrines cannot be received by the weak, and it is wise to teach such the simpler truths only.

1 Corinthians 3:3 , 1 Corinthians 3:4

Every one thinks his party has the kernel, and others only the shell; whereas they all are apt to let the kernel alone and dispute about the shell, as if that were the kernel.

1 Corinthians 3:7

We must not rest in the best of men, or make idols of them; they are instruments in God’s hand, and nothing more. Let us look above the servants to their Master.

1 Corinthians 3:12 , 1 Corinthians 3:13

Whatever work we do will be tested, by present opposition, by the lapse of time, by the advance of light, and especially by the judgment of the last great day.

1 Corinthians 3:15

Being a good man he shall be saved, but having wasted his life in mistaken work he will lose the fruit of his pains; and having unwittingly caused injury to others, he will himself barely escape.

1 Corinthians 3:16 , 1 Corinthians 3:17

The doctrine of the indwelling of the Spirit is very wonderful, and also very solemn. What condescension on his part to dwell in us! How reverently should we entertain such a guest!

1 Corinthians 3:18

A sense of folly is the doorstep of wisdom. It is needful to leave the world’s wisdom if we would know the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 3:21 , 1 Corinthians 3:22

True Christian teachers, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, Luther or Calvin, Wesley or Whitfield, belong to the whole church, and every member of the church derives benefit from their teachings. Thus the mind is expanded beyond party limits into a true catholicity.

How vast the treasure we possess!

How rich Thy bounty, King of grace!

This world is ours, and worlds to come:

Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home.

All things are ours; the gift of God,

The purchase of a Saviour’s blood;

While the good Spirit shows us how

To use and to improve them too.

Evening

“Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.”

1 Corinthians 10:12-33

In this tenth chapter of his epistle Paul mentions the sins and chastisement of ancient Israel, and then adds 1 Corinthians 10:12-33.

1 Corinthians 10:13

If our temptations were such as none else had ever endured, and there were no way out of them, we might give up in despair; but it is not so. The Lord will not try us too much, too long, or too often. Grace will bear us through.

1 Corinthians 10:14 , 1 Corinthians 10:15

Idolatry in every form is to be avoided by us, and in these days especially we must avoid all participation in the Popish ritualistic idolatry which is becoming so common. All bowing before the cross or the wafer, and all attendance upon such idolatrous worship must be abhorred by the faithful.

1 Corinthians 10:19 , 1 Corinthians 10:20

As both among Christians and Jews the partaking of holy feasts involved fellowship, so if we join with idolaters we have fellowship with them and shall be sharers in their sin.

1 Corinthians 10:22

Communion with the unholy is a challenge to Christ, an open defiance to his kingship.

1 Corinthians 10:27

There could be no harm in the meat itself, and the believer was free to eat what was set before him so far as he himself was concerned, but there were times when it would be better not to eat it, lest in the judgment of others the Christian should seem to have communed in an idolatrous sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 10:28-31

This is the rule at the table; let us always observe it. Much evil may come out of eating and drinking: it was by eating that man first fell from innocence, The table must be watched lest it become a snare unto us.

1 Corinthians 10:32 , 1 Corinthians 10:33

What we may do lawfully it will frequently be better not to do lest we injure others: for their sakes we must deny ourselves, for selfishness in a Christian is a grievous vice.

Gracious Lord, implant in me

Pure celestial charity;

Let my every word and deed

From a loving heart proceed.

Let the touch of love divine

Make my meanest actions shine;

That in all things I may be

Full of love, and like to Thee.