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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Sunday, November 25, 2007
MORNING:
"To preach deliverance to the captives."
-- Luke 4:18
None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty cometh
from him only. It is a liberty righteously bestowed; for the Son, who
is Heir of all things, has a right to make men free. The saints honour
the justice of God, which now secures their salvation. It is a liberty
which has been dearly purchased. Christ speaks it by his power, but he
bought it by his blood. He makes thee free, but it is by his own bonds.
Thou goest clear, because he bare thy burden for thee: thou art set at
liberty, because he has suffered in thy stead. But, though dearly
purchased, he freely gives it. Jesus asks nothing of us as a
preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and
ashes, and bids us put on the beautiful array of freedom; he saves us
just as we are, and all without our help or merit. When Jesus sets
free, the liberty is perpetually entailed; no chains can bind again.
Let the Master say to me, "Captive, I have delivered thee," and it is
done for ever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord be on our
side, whom shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to
ensnare us, but mightier is he who is for us than all they who be
against us. The machinations of our own deceitful hearts may harass and
annoy us, but he who hath begun the good work in us will carry it on
and perfect it to the end. The foes of God and the enemies of man may
gather their hosts together, and come with concentrated fury against
us, but if God acquitteth, who is he that condemneth? Not more free is
the eagle which mounts to his rocky eyrie, and afterwards outsoars the
clouds, than the soul which Christ hath delivered. If we are no more
under the law, but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically
exhibited in our serving God with gratitude and delight. "I am thy
servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds."
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
EVENING:
"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion."
-- Romans 9:15
In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the right to give
or to withhold his mercy according to his own sovereign will. As the
prerogative of life and death is vested in the monarch, so the Judge of
all the earth has a right to spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem
best in his sight. Men by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God;
they deserve to perish for their sins-and if they all do so, they have
no ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, he may do so
if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if he judges it best to
leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence, none may arraign
him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all those discourses about
the rights of men to be all placed on the same footing; ignorant, if
not worse, are those contentions against discriminating grace, which
are but the rebellions of proud human nature against the crown and
sceptre of Jehovah. When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and
ill desert, and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no
longer cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do
not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing us an
injury, but feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it will be his own
free act of undeserved goodness, for which we shall for ever bless his
name.
How shall those who are the subjects of divine election sufficiently
adore the grace of God? They have no room for boasting, for sovereignty
most effectually excludes it. The Lord's will alone is glorified, and
the very notion of human merit is cast out to everlasting contempt.
There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election,
none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more
sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly
rejoice in it.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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