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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Saturday, October 13, 2007
MORNING:
"Godly sorrow worketh repentance."
-- 2 Corinthians 7:10
Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God.
Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature's garden. Pearls
grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners
except divine grace works it in them. If thou hast one particle of real
hatred for sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature's thorns
never produced a single fig. "That which is born of the flesh is
flesh."
True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour. When we repent
of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross, or it
will be better still if we fix both our eyes upon Christ and see our
transgressions only, in the light of his love.
True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he hates
sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not
merely as a theory, but experimentally-as a burnt child dreads fire. We
shall be as much afraid of it, as a man who has lately been stopped and
robbed is afraid of the thief upon the highway; and we shall shun
it-shun it in everything-not in great things only, but in little
things, as men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True
mourning for sin will make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it
should say a wrong word; we shall be very watchful over our daily
actions, lest in anything we offend, and each night we shall close the
day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and each morning awaken
with anxious prayers, that this day God would hold us up that we may
not sin against him.
Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying
day. This dropping well is not intermittent. Every other sorrow yields
to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth, and it is so sweet
a bitter, that we thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to suffer it
until we enter our eternal rest.
EVENING:
"Love is strong as death."
-- Song of Solomon 8:6
Whose love can this be which is as mighty as the conqueror of monarchs,
the destroyer of the human race? Would it not sound like satire if it
were applied to my poor, weak, and scarcely living love to Jesus my
Lord? I do love him, and perhaps by his grace, I could even die for
him, but as for my love in itself, it can scarcely endure a scoffing
jest, much less a cruel death. Surely it is my Beloved's love which is
here spoken of-the love of Jesus, the matchless lover of souls. His
love was indeed stronger than the most terrible death, for it endured
the trial of the cross triumphantly. It was a lingering death, but love
survived the torment; a shameful death, but love despised the shame; a
penal death, but love bore our iniquities; a forsaken, lonely death,
from which the eternal Father hid his face, but love endured the curse,
and gloried over all. Never such love, never such death. It was a
desperate duel, but love bore the palm. What then, my heart? Hast thou
no emotions excited within thee at the contemplation of such heavenly
affection? Yes, my Lord, I long, I pant to feel thy love flaming like a
furnace within me. Come thou thyself and excite the ardour of my
spirit.
"For every drop of crimson blood
Thus shed to make me live,
O wherefore, wherefore have not I
A thousand lives to give?"
Why should I despair of loving Jesus with a love as strong as death? He
deserves it: I desire it. The martyrs felt such love, and they were but
flesh and blood, then why not I? They mourned their weakness, and yet
out of weakness were made strong. Grace gave them all their unflinching
constancy-there is the same grace for me. Jesus, lover of my soul, shed
abroad such love, even thy love in my heart, this evening.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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