May 29
John Berridge, a contemporary of Whitfield and the Wesleys, was ordained in 1745 but was unfit for the Lord’s service until in late 1756, as he was having a time of Bible study, the command, “Cease from thine own works, only believe,” was laid on his heart. At last he saw that striving to earn salvation was sheer vanity. With the joy of sins forgiven, he became known as the Gospel Pedlar and led hundreds to Christ. Here is his spiritual biography from his epitaph: “Here lie the remains of John Berridge, late vicar of Everton and an itinerant servant of Jesus Christ. Who loved his Master and...
Read MoreMay 28
“Warning every man, and teaching every man” (Col 1:28) was the Apostle’s practice when he preached Christ. “In humility correcting those who are in opposition” (2 Tim 2:25) was his instruction to Timothy. Denunciation is not of much value. It tends to stiffen resistance. Nor are wild threats of hell; all warnings must be reasonable and spoken with tenderness. Any representation of punishment that makes God sound harsh is a wrong course. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps 103:8). It is an awful crime to misrepresent God to men. Yet we are to...
Read MoreMay 27
Some of the most complimentary statements about the Lord Jesus came from His enemies. “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (Jn 7:46). “This Man receives sinners and eats with them” (Lk 15:2). “He saved others; Himself He cannot save” (Mk 15:31). In Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Faith, he recounts a visit with one-time evangelist and then outspoken agnostic Charles Templeton. When asked how he assessed Jesus, this was his response: “He was the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I’ve ever...
Read MoreMay 26
Grace is a word rich with biblical meaning. It is used to describe the condition of the heart of God moving in good will toward sinners; the practical extending of merciful kindness to such individuals as a result; and the benefits thus received as an unmerited gift from the gracious One. Grace is placed in contrast to “works” (Eph 2:8-9), “debt” (Rom. 4:4), “offence,” that is, trespass, or abounding “sin” (Rom 5:15, 17, 20), and the “law” (Gal 2:21; 5:4). It is the undeserved favor of God to sinners at the expense of Christ. We are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that...
Read MoreMay 25
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life” (Deut 30:19). Col. and Mrs. George Clarke began the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago in 1877, a “doorway to heaven.” Mrs. Clarke also regularly visited the jail. One of those visited was John Callahan. After escaping a reformatory in New York, he moved to Chicago where he joined a notorious westside gang. The law finally caught him, and he was visited by Mrs. Clarke. Butch Lyons, Callahan’s cell-mate, jumped on the top bunk with derisive laughter, not wanting the “angel of mercy” to deal with him. Callahan,...
Read MoreMay 24
Harold Urey (1893–1981) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934. Although he played a key part in developing the atom bomb, he is best known today for his contribution to theories on the development of organic life from non-living matter, giving his name to the renowned Miller-Urey experiment. The experiment is fatally flawed, both in its presuppositions about the early conditions on earth and in its results, only proving that there must be intelligence behind our living world. Urey confessed: “All of us who study the origin of life find that the more we look into it, the more we feel it is...
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