Spurgeon: June AM
* 06/23/AM
"Ephraim is a cake not turned."
--Hosea 7:8
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side ; and so Ephraim
was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there
was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left.
My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou
thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very
centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in
all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be
sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and
prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee
anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action;
there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and
reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not
turned.
A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the
fire , and although no man can have too much religion, there are
some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of
truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with
a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious
performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of
superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all
vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He
deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is
burned on one side, is dough on the other.
If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me ! Turn my unsanctified
nature to the fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow,
and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own
weakness and want of heat when I am removed from Thy heavenly
flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely
under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know
if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the
subject of Thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid
everlasting burnings.