Spurgeon: March AM
* 03/25/AM
"Betrayest thou 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 the sleek-faced hypocrisy
which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the
deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent
to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man,
void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange
woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day,
that "the much fair speech" 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 accursed 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 must expose religion to
ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I
am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and
it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope
that I am clear 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 Saviour. I do love Thee, Jesus, and
though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful
even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring
professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because
I betrayed my Master with a kiss.