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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Saturday, September 29, 2007
MORNING:
"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall
pronounce him clean that hath the plague."
-- Leviticus 13:13
Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom in it, for
the throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound.
This morning it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of so
singular a rule. We, too, are lepers, and may read the law of the leper
as applicable to ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether
lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and no
part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his
own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he clean through the
blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed
iniquity is the true leprosy, but when sin is seen and felt it has
received its death blow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the
soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness,
or more hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing
else but sin," for no confession short of this will be the whole truth,
and if the Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin, there
will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment-it will
spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does the text afford
to those under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned and confessed, however
black and foul, shall never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus.
Whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out. Though
dishonest as the thief, though unchaste as the woman who was a sinner,
though fierce as Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though
rebellious as the prodigal, the great heart of love will look upon the
man who feels himself to have no soundness in him, and will pronounce
him clean, when he trusts in Jesus crucified. Come to him, then, poor
heavy-laden sinner,
Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;
You can't come too filthy-come just as you are.
EVENING:
"I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not
let him go."
-- Song of Solomon 3:4
Does Christ receive us when we come to him, notwithstanding all our
past sinfulness? Does he never chide us for having tried all other
refuges first? And is there none on earth like him? Is he the best of
all the good, the fairest of all the fair? Oh, then let us praise him!
Daughters of Jerusalem, extol him with timbrel and harp! Down with your
idols, up with the Lord Jesus. Now let the standards of pomp and pride
be trampled under foot, but let the cross of Jesus, which the world
frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for
our King Solomon! Let him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit
at his footstool, and kiss his feet, and wash them with my tears. Oh,
how precious is Christ! How can it be that I have thought so little of
him? How is it I can go abroad for joy or comfort when he is so full,
so rich, so satisfying. Fellow believer, make a covenant with thine
heart that thou wilt never depart from him, and ask thy Lord to ratify
it. Bid him set thee as a signet upon his finger, and as a bracelet
upon his arm. Ask him to bind thee about him, as the bride decketh
herself with ornaments, and as the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I
would live in Christ's heart; in the clefts of that rock my soul would
eternally abide. The sparrow hath made a house, and the swallow a nest
for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of
hosts, my King and my God; and so too would I make my nest, my home, in
thee, and never from thee may the soul of thy turtle dove go forth
again, but may I nestle close to thee, O Jesus, my true and only rest.
"When my precious Lord I find,
All my ardent passions glow;
Him with cords of love I bind,
Hold and will not let him go."
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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