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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Friday, December 26, 2008
MORNING:
"The last Adam."
-- 1 Corinthians 15:45
Jesus is the federal head of his elect. As in Adam, every heir of flesh
and blood has a personal interest, because he is the covenant head and
representative of the race as considered under the law of works; so
under the law of grace, every redeemed soul is one with the Lord from
heaven, since he is the Second Adam, the Sponsor and Substitute of the
elect in the new covenant of love. The apostle Paul declares that Levi
was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him: it is a certain
truth that the believer was in the loins of Jesus Christ, the Mediator,
when in old eternity the covenant settlements of grace were decreed,
ratified, and made sure for ever. Thus, whatever Christ hath done, he
hath wrought for the whole body of his Church. We were crucified in him
and buried with him (read Col. 2:10-13), and to make it still more
wonderful, we are risen with him and even ascended with him to the
seats on high (Eph. 2:6). It is thus that the Church has fulfilled the
law, and is "accepted in the beloved." It is thus that she is regarded
with complacency by the just Jehovah, for he views her in Jesus, and
does not look upon her as separate from her covenant head. As the
Anointed Redeemer of Israel, Christ Jesus has nothing distinct from his
Church, but all that he has he holds for her. Adam's righteousness was
ours so long as he maintained it, and his sin was ours the moment that
he committed it; and in the same manner, all that the Second Adam is or
does, is ours as well as his, seeing that he is our representative.
Here is the foundation of the covenant of grace. This gracious system
of representation and substitution, which moved Justin Martyr to cry
out, "O blessed change, O sweet permutation!" this is the very
groundwork of the gospel of our salvation, and is to be received with
strong faith and rapturous joy.
EVENING:
"Lo, I am with you alway."
-- Matthew 28:20
The Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church; he walketh among the
golden candlesticks; his promise is, "Lo, I am with you alway." He is
as surely with us now as he was with the disciples at the lake, when
they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon and bread. Not carnally,
but still in real truth, Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is,
for where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the
world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the
presence of Jesus! A glimpse of him so overcomes us, that we are ready
to say, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." Even
the smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia, which drop from
his perfumed garments, causes the sick and the faint to grow strong.
Let there be but a moment's leaning of the head upon that gracious
bosom, and a reception of his divine love into our poor cold hearts,
and we are cold no longer, but glow like seraphs, equal to every
labour, and capable of every suffering. If we know that Jesus is with
us, every power will be developed, and every grace will be
strengthened, and we shall cast ourselves into the Lord's service with
heart, and soul, and strength; therefore is the presence of Christ to
be desired above all things. His presence will be most realized by
those who are most like him. If you desire to see Christ, you must grow
in conformity to him. Bring yourself, by the power of the Spirit, into
union with Christ's desires, and motives, and plans of action, and you
are likely to be favoured with his company. Remember his presence may
be had. His promise is as true as ever. He delights to be with us. If
he doth not come, it is because we hinder him by our indifference. He
will reveal himself to our earnest prayers, and graciously suffer
himself to be detained by our entreaties, and by our tears, for these
are the golden chains which bind Jesus to his people.
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YOU ARE MY HIDING PLACE: 50 PRAISE & WORSHIP SONGS, by The Maranatha Singers
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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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