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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, April 5
"I know that my Redeemer liveth." - Job 19:25
The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word "My"-"My Redeemer," and in
the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh! to get hold of a living Christ. We must
get a property in him before we
can enjoy him.
What is gold in the mine to me? Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in
California. It is gold in my purse which will satisfy my necessities, by
purchasing the bread I need. So a
Redeemer who does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my
blood, of what avail were such? Rest not content until by faith you can say
"Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and he is mine."
It may be you hold him with a feeble hand; you half think it presumption to
say, "He lives as my Redeemer;" yet, remember if you have but faith as a grain
of mustard seed, that little faith
entitles you to say it. But there is also another word here, expressive of
Job's strong confidence, "I know." To say, "I hope so, I trust so" is
comfortable; and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get
much further.
But to reach the essence of consolation you must say, "I know."
Ifs, buts, and perhapses, are sure murderers of peace and comfort. Doubts are
dreary things in times of sorrow.
Like wasps they sting the soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not
mine, then there is vinegar mingled with the gall of death; but if I know that
Jesus lives for me, then darkness is
not dark: even the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those ages before
the coming and advent of Christ, could say, "I know," we should not speak less
positively. God forbid that our
positiveness should be presumption.
Let us see that our evidences are right, lest we build upon an ungrounded hope;
and then let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is from the
upper rooms that we get the widest prospect. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is
joy unspeakable.
Evening, April 5
"Who is even at the right hand of God." - Romans 8:34
He who was once despised and rejected of men, now occupies the honourable
position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right hand of God is the place of
majesty and favour. Our Lord Jesus is his people's representative.
When he died for them they had rest; he rose again for them, they had liberty;
when he sat down at his Father's right hand, they had favour, and honour, and
dignity. The raising and elevation of Christ is the elevation, the acceptance,
and enshrinement, the glorifying of all his people, for he is their head and
representative. This sitting at the right hand of God, then, is
to be viewed as the acceptance of the person of the Surety, the reception of
the Representative, and therefore, the acceptance of our souls. O saint, see in
this thy sure freedom from condemnation. "Who is he that condemneth?" Who shall
condemn the
men who are in Jesus at the right hand of God?
The right hand is the place of power. Christ at the right hand of God hath all
power in heaven and in earth. Who shall fight against the people who have such
power vested in their Captain? O my soul, what can destroy thee if Omnipotence
be thy helper? If the aegis of the Almighty cover thee, what sword can smite
thee?
Rest thou secure. If Jesus is thine all-prevailing King, and hath trodden thine
enemies beneath his feet; if sin, death, and hell are all vanquished by him,
and thou art represented in him, by no possibility canst thou be destroyed.
"Jesus' tremendous name
Puts all our foes to flight:
Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
A Lion is in fight.
"By all hell's host withstood;
We all hell's host o'erthrow;
And conquering them, through Jesus' blood
We still to conquer go."
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, April 4
"That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death." -
Hebrews 2:14
O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is
destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by
an intimate knowledge and a firmbelief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be
strengthened for that dread hour.
Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and
welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord:
it is a covenant-blessing to sleep
in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going
home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell.
The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth
seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home-a moment will bring us
there. The sail is spread; the
soul is launched upon the deep.
How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail
ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed
upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the
answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Yon ship has just
departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was
there.
Like that ship of old, upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but
Jesus said, "Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not that
a long period intervenes between the
instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they
open in heaven.
The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then, O child of God, what
is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord
its curse and sting are destroyed?
and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top
reaches to glory everlasting.
Evening, April 4
"Fight the Lord's battles." - 1 Samuel 18:17
The sacramental host of God's elect is warring still on earth, Jesus Christ
being the Captain of their salvation. He has said, "Lo! I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world." Hark
to the shouts of war! Now let the people of God stand fast in their ranks, and
let no man's heart fail him.
It is true that just now in England the battle is turned against us, and unless
the Lord Jesus shall lift his sword, we know not what may become of the church
of God in this land; but let us be of good courage, and play the man. There
never was a day when Protestantism seemed to tremble more in the scales than
now that a fierce effort is making to restore the Romish antichrist to his
ancient seat. We greatly want a bold voice and a strong hand to preach and
publish the old gospel for which martyrs bled and confessors died.
The Saviour is, by his Spirit, still on earth; let this cheer us.
He is ever in the midst of the fight, and therefore the battle is not doubtful.
And as the conflict rages, what a sweet satisfaction it is to know that the
Lord Jesus, in his office as our great Intercessor, is prevalently pleading for
his people! O anxious gazer, look not so much at the battle below, for there
thou shalt be enshrouded in smoke, and amazed with garments
rolled in blood; but lift thine eyes yonder where the Saviour lives and pleads,
for while he intercedes, the cause of God is safe. Let us fight as if it all
depended upon us, but let us look
up and know that all depends upon him.
Now, by the lilies of Christian purity, and by the roses of the Saviour's
atonement, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, we charge you who are
lovers of Jesus, to do valiantly in the
Holy War, for truth and righteousness, for the kingdom and crown jewels of your
Master. Onward! "for the battle is not yours but God's."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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