Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
September 4
Morning
"I will; be thou clean."—Mark
1:41.
Primeval
darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightway light
was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of
power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is
done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's
"I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of
recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word
effected the entire work on the spot and for ever. The sinner is in a plight
more miserable than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus,
"beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him." Let him exercise what
little faith he has, even though it should go no further than "Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean"; and there need be no doubt as to the
result of the application. Jesus heals all who come, and casts out none. In
reading the narrative in which our morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout
notice that Jesus touched the leper. This unclean person had broken through the
regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house, but Jesus so far
from chiding him broke through the law Himself in order to meet him. He made an
interchange with the leper, for while He cleansed him, He contracted by that
touch a Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ
was made sin for us, although in Himself He knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. O that poor sinners
would go to Jesus, believing in the power of His blessed substitutionary work,
and they would soon learn the power of His gracious touch. That hand which
multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted
saints, which crowns believers, that same hand will touch every seeking sinner,
and in a moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation.
He loves, He looks, He touches us, WE LIVE.
Evening
"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah,
and a just hin, shall ye have."—Leviticus
19:36.
Weights,
and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of justice.
Surely no Christian man will need to be reminded of this in his business, for
if righteousness were banished from all the world
beside, it should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other
balances which weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need
examining. We will call in the officer to-night.
The
balances in which we weigh our own and other men's characters, are they quite
accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and other
persons' bushels of excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures here,
Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles, are they
according to standard? Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called his
afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be heavy—surely
something must be amiss with the weights! We must see to this matter, lest we
get reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights with which we
measure our doctrinal belief, are they quite fair? The doctrines of grace
should have the same weight with us as the precepts of the word, no more and no
less; but it is to be feared that with many one scale or the other is unfairly
weighted. It is a grand matter to give just measure in truth. Christian, be
careful here. Those measures in which we estimate our obligations and
responsibilities look rather small. When a rich man gives no more to the cause
of God than the poor contribute, is that a just ephah
and a just hin? When ministers are
half starved, is that honest dealing? When the poor are despised, while
ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that a just balance? Reader, we
might lengthen the list, but we prefer to leave it as your evening's work to
find out and destroy all unrighteous balances, weights, and measures.