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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
MORNING:
"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink."
-- John 7:37
Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day
of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the
year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable
indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us
year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and
resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in
the land of mercy!
Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not
only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He
entreats us to be reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as
though God did beseech you by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are
these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over
sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the
call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.
Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need
to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings
peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction;
to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to
the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest
nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul
were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.
Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No
other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst
of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from
it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of
grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with
deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which
brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without
respect of persons.
Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not
to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding,
dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for
grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year's last day!
No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents
a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot
can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation
to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in
which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is
welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous,
filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute
it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear
reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as he cries to each of
us,
"IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK."
EVENING:
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved."
-- Jeremiah 8:20
Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the
judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this
moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the
Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends,
and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be
without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy
Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been
preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the
divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful
seasons have come and gone-your summer and your harvest have past-and
yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity,
and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going,
and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you-will you ever be saved? Is
there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have
left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have
failed with you-the best of means, used perseveringly and with the
utmost affection-what more can be done for you? Affliction and
prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and
sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the
probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than
likely that you will abide as you are till death for ever bars the door
of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most
reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all
probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come,
why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will
arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till
you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread
probability that you will soon be cast into it!
Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture.
Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans
and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting
destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power. A brother's voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be
wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus,
who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to
lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well;
and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O
see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit.
Let not the new year's midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now,
NOW, NOW believe, and live.
"ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE;
LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE,
NEITHER STAY THOU IN ALL THE PLAIN;
ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN,
LEST THOU BE CONSUMED."
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