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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Sunday, May 4, 2008
MORNING:
"Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods."
-- Jeremiah 16:20
One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the
spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly. Remphan's
star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for Tammuz, but
Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the shrines of pride are not
forsaken. Self in various forms struggles to subdue the chosen ones
under its dominion, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can
find space for them. Favourite children are often the cause of much sin
in believers; the Lord is grieved when he sees us doting upon them
above measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom
was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes
desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their sleepless
pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.
It is truly said that "they are no gods," for the objects of our
foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which they yield
us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in the hour of
trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so bewitched with vanities?
We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone, and yet worship a
god of gold. Where is the vast superiority between a god of flesh and
one of wood? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either
case, only that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have
more light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false
deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils,
inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May the Lord
purge us all from this grievous iniquity!
"The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee."
EVENING:
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible."
-- 1 Peter 1:23
Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other
"with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched his argument, not
from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and
divine nature which God hath implanted in his people. Just as some
judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a
kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their
position and descent, so, looking upon God's people as heirs of glory,
princes of the blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth's
truest and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, "See that ye love
one another, because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible
seed; because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator
of all things; and because of your immortal destiny, for you shall
never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its
existence shall cease." It would be well if, in the spirit of humility,
we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up
to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king, he adds
priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king's royalty often lieth only
in his crown, but with a Christian it is infused into his inmost
nature. He is as much above his fellows through his new birth, as a man
is above the beast that perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in
all his dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of
the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among "the
peculiar people" and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as others,
nor live after the manner of the world's citizens. Let the dignity of
your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believers in
Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very
appearance of evil.
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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,
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