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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Sunday, December 16, 2007
MORNING:
"Come unto me."
-- Matthew 11:28
The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come." The
Jewish law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to the path
in which thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt
perish; keep them, and thou shalt live." The law was a dispensation of
terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the gospel draws
with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd going before his sheep,
bidding them follow him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet
word, "Come." The law repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the
distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that
awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it.
From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into
glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto me." As
a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by
saying, "Come," even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you,
bidding you follow him as the soldier follows his captain. He will
always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you
shall hear his animating voice calling you after him all through life;
while in the solemn hour of death, his sweet words with which he shall
usher you into the heavenly world shall be-"Come, ye blessed of my
Father."
Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a
believer, this is your cry to Christ-"Come! come!" You will be longing
for his second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come
Lord Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with
him. As his voice to you is "Come," your response to him will be,
"Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my
heart; reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to thy
service."
EVENING:
"Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that
time that thine ear was not opened."
-- Isaiah 48:8
It is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this accusation
may be laid at the door of believers, who too often are in a measure
spiritually insensible. We may well bewail ourselves that we do not
hear the voice of God as we ought, "Yea, thou heardest not." There are
gentle motions of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us:
there are whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are
alike unobserved by our leaden intellects. Alas! we have been
carelessly ignorant-"Yea, thou knewest not." There are matters within
which we ought to have seen, corruptions which have made headway
unnoticed; sweet affections which are being blighted like flowers in
the frost, untended by us; glimpses of the divine face which might be
perceived if we did not wall up the windows of our soul. But we "have
not known." As we think of it we are humbled in the deepest
self-abasement. How must we adore the grace of God as we learn from the
context that all this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown
by God, and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, he yet has been
pleased to deal with us in a way of mercy! Admire the marvellous
sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the sight of all this!
Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew what we
should be! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as unbelieving,
backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless, lax in prayer, and
yet he said, "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Saviour ... Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee,
and people for thy life!" O redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost
thou shine when we think how black we are! O Holy Spirit, give us
henceforth the hearing ear, the understanding heart!
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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