First Pure Then Peaceable

James 3:17 - But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable....

"First pure, then peaceable; if only one is attainable, choose the former." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Notice it is FIRST pure, the priority. To maintain peaceable fellowship with others cannot cost your purity. First pure. When purity is at stake, peaceable is not always an option. This is the error of New Evangelicalism or a non-militant "fundamentalism." - VM

Be Not Many Masters

James 3:1 - My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

"Masters" = teachers, specifically teachers of the word of God in the church, such as pastors, preachers.  Important cross refs for the Greek word: I Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11; I Timothy 2:7; II Timothy 1:11.

A man must not go into the pulpit ministry unless he is absolutely convinced that God has chosen him out for it, I Corinthians 9:16.  Spurgeon would tell his ministry students that if they could be satisfied being anything other than a preacher, then leave right now and go do that thing, for the glory of God.

VM

Notes & Quotes in 27th Psalm

Psalm 27:5a - For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion

"The best of shelter in the worst of danger." - C. H. Spurgeon.

Psalm 27:5b - in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;

Compare: I Kings 1:50-53; I Kings 2:28-34.

Psalm 27:6 - And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

Sacrifice and singing!  Not parties in the palace.  Not feasts and festivals.  Not dancing in the streets or planning the next triumph.  But first and foremost, sacrifice and singing.  First to the house of God, the God of my salvation!

Important cross ref: Hebrews 13:15, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

Psalm 27:8 - When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Immediate obedience when the Spirit moves you to pray or draw close to God!

Psalm 27:10 - When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

Proven in Genesis 21:14-20; Exodus 2:1-10; II Timothy 4:16-17.

Important cross ref: Isaiah 49:15.

VM

Psalm 27:9b

Psalm 27:9b - ...leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

"If the Lord had meant to leave us, why did he begin with us?  Past help is but a waste of effort if the soul now be deserted." - Spurgeon

From "The Treasury of David" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exposition of Psalm 27.

Psalm 27:5

Psalm 27:5 - For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion....

"The best of shelter in the worst of danger." - Spurgeon

From "The Treasury of David" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exposition of Psalm 27.

Psalm 27:4b

Psalm 27:4b - ...to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

"We must not enter the assemblies of the saints in order to see and be seen, or merely to hear the minister; [but] intent upon the gracious object of learning more of the loving Father, more of the glorified Jesus, more of the mysterious Spirit, in order that we may the more lovingly admire, and the more reverently adore our glorious God." - Spurgeon

From "The Treasury of David" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exposition of Psalm 27.

Psalm 27:1

Psalm 27:1 - "The LORD is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?"

"Into the soul at the new birth divine light is poured....  Salvation finds us in the dark, but it does not leave us there." - Spurgeon

"Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that he 'is' light; nor that he gives salvation, but that he is salvation." - Spurgeon

"'Whom shall I fear?'  A question which is its own answer." - Spurgeon

From "The Treasury of David" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, exposition of Psalm 27.

I Corinthians 4:1-2

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 - Let a man so account of us [preachers]...

"The apostle was anxious to be rightly accounted of, and well he might be; for ministers are not often esteemed rightly: as a rule, they are either gloried in, or else despised." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Spurgeon's Expository Encyclopedia, Volume XI, p. 45, in the sermon "Stewards: A Sermon Delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, To the Annual Conference of the Pastors' College Association, 1887."  Baker Book House, 1988 reprint.