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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Sunday, June 29, 2008
MORNING:
"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
-- 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. "Today shalt
thou be with me in paradise," is the whisper of Christ to every dying
saint. They "sleep in Jesus," but their souls are before the throne of
God, praising him day and night in his temple, singing hallelujahs to
him who washed them from their sins in his blood. The body sleeps in
its lonely bed of earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is
this sleep? The idea connected with sleep is "rest," and that is the
thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each
night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and
bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the life within may enter
its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn believer quietly sleeps, as
does the weary child when it slumbers on its mother's breast. Oh! happy
they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works
do follow them. Their quiet repose shall never be broken until God
shall rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by angel
watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the inheritors
of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the fulness of
redemption. What an awaking shall be theirs! They were laid in their
last resting place, weary and worn, but such they shall not rise. They
went to their rest with the furrowed brow, and the wasted features, but
they wake up in beauty and glory. The shrivelled seed, so destitute of
form and comeliness, rises from the dust a beauteous flower. The winter
of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of
glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes
us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of
incorruption. Blessed are those who "sleep in Jesus."
EVENING:
"Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of
Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was
done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know
all that was in his heart."
-- 2 Chronicles 32:31
Hezekiah was growing so inwardly great, and priding himself so much
upon the favour of God, that self-righteousness crept in, and through
his carnal security, the grace of God was for a time, in its more
active operations, withdrawn. Here is quite enough to account with the
Babylonians; for if the grace of God should leave the best Christian,
there is enough of sin in his heart to make him the worst of
transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ
would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: you who are
sound in the faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine;
you who now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel
to and fro, and stagger with a drunkenness of evil passion. Like the
moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace shines on us, we
are darkness itself when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws himself.
Therefore let us cry to God never to leave us. "Lord, take not thy Holy
Spirit from us! Withdraw not from us thine indwelling grace! Hast thou
not said, 'I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest
any hurt it, I will keep it night and day'? Lord, keep us everywhere.
Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against thy humbling
hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being
lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in
old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove
greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die,
lest, at the very last, we should deny thee! Keep us living, keep us
dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us
resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need thee, O our God!"
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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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