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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Saturday, June 28, 2008
MORNING:
"Looking unto Jesus."
-- Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to
Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is
constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He
insinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you
do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end;
you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of
Jesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find
comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our
eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that
"Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of
Christ that saves thee-it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that
saves thee-it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be
the instrument-it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so
much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ;
look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to
thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall
never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our
feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the
soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it
must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let his
death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be
fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when
thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears
come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never
fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."
EVENING:
"But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods."
-- Exodus 7:12
This incident is an instructive emblem of the sure victory of the
divine handiwork over all opposition. Whenever a divine principle is
cast into the heart, though the devil may fashion a counterfeit, and
produce swarms of opponents, as sure as ever God is in the work, it
will swallow up all its foes. If God's grace takes possession of a man,
the world's magicians may throw down all their rods; and every rod may
be as cunning and poisonous as a serpent, but Aaron's rod will swallow
up their rods. The sweet attractions of the cross will woo and win the
man's heart, and he who lived only for this deceitful earth will now
have an eye for the upper spheres, and a wing to mount into celestial
heights. When grace has won the day the worldling seeks the world to
come. The same fact is to be observed in the life of the believer. What
multitudes of foes has our faith had to meet! Our old sins-the devil
threw them down before us, and they turned to serpents. What hosts of
them! Ah, but the cross of Jesus destroys them all. Faith in Christ
makes short work of all our sins. Then the devil has launched forth
another host of serpents in the form of worldly trials, temptations,
unbelief; but faith in Jesus is more than a match for them, and
overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful
service of God! With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are
surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honours. But if
religion is thus a consuming passion in the heart, then it follows that
there are many persons who profess religion but have it not; for what
they have will not bear this test. Examine yourself, my reader, on this
point. Aaron's rod proved its heaven-given power. Is your religion
doing so? If Christ be anything he must be everything. O rest not till
love and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!
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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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