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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Friday, February 29, 2008
MORNING:
"With lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
-- Jeremiah 31:3
The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to
bring us to Christ; but the final victory is effected by
lovingkindness. The prodigal set out to his father's house from a sense
of need; but his father saw him a great way off, and ran to meet him;
so that the last steps he took towards his father's house were with the
kiss still warm upon his cheek, and the welcome still musical in his
ears.
"Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Will dissolve a heart of stone."
The Master came one night to the door, and knocked with the iron hand
of the law; the door shook and trembled upon its hinges; but the man
piled every piece of furniture which he could find against the door,
for he said, "I will not admit the man." The Master turned away, but
by-and-bye he came back, and with his own soft hand, using most that
part where the nail had penetrated, he knocked again-oh, so softly and
tenderly. This time the door did not shake, but, strange to say, it
opened, and there upon his knees the once unwilling host was found
rejoicing to receive his guest. "Come in, come in; thou hast so knocked
that my bowels are moved for thee. I could not think of thy pierced
hand leaving its blood-mark on my door, and of thy going away
houseless, 'Thy head filled with dew, and thy locks with the drops of
the night.' I yield, I yield, thy love has won my heart." So in every
case: lovingkindness wins the day. What Moses with the tablets of stone
could never do, Christ does with his pierced hand. Such is the doctrine
of effectual calling. Do I understand it experimentally? Can I say, "He
drew me, and I followed on, glad to confess the voice divine?" If so,
may he continue to draw me, till at last I shall sit down at the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
EVENING:
"Now we have received ... the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
-- 1 Corinthians 2:12
Dear reader, have you received the spirit which is of God, wrought by
the Holy Ghost in your soul? The necessity of the work of the Holy
Spirit in the heart may be clearly seen from this fact, that all which
has been done by God the Father, and by God the Son, must be
ineffectual to us, unless the Spirit shall reveal these things to our
souls. What effect does the doctrine of election have upon any man
until the Spirit of God enters into him? Election is a dead letter in
my consciousness until the Spirit of God calls me out of darkness into
marvellous light. Then through my calling, I see my election, and
knowing myself to be called of God, I know myself to have been chosen
in the eternal purpose. A covenant was made with the Lord Jesus Christ,
by his Father; but what avails that covenant to us until the Holy
Spirit brings us its blessings, and opens our hearts to receive them?
There hang the blessings on the nail-Christ Jesus; but being short of
stature, we cannot reach them; the Spirit of God takes them down and
hands them to us, and thus they become actually ours. Covenant
blessings in themselves are like the manna in the skies, far out of
mortal reach, but the Spirit of God opens the windows of heaven and
scatters the living bread around the camp of the spiritual Israel.
Christ's finished work is like wine stored in the wine-vat; through
unbelief we can neither draw nor drink. The Holy Spirit dips our vessel
into this precious wine, and then we drink; but without the Spirit we
are as truly dead in sin as though the Father never had elected, and
though the Son had never bought us with his blood. The Holy Spirit is
absolutely necessary to our well-being. Let us walk lovingly towards
him and tremble at the thought of grieving him.
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
the leading Christian living e-zine on the Web. Visit HEARTLIGHT
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