Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
April 6
Morning
"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without
the camp."—Hebrews 13:13.
Jesus, bearing His cross,
went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian's reason for leaving the
camp of the world's sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular,
but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master.
Christ was "not of the world:" His life and His testimony were a
constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was such overflowing
affection for men as you find in Him; but still He was separate from sinners.
In like manner Christ's people must "go forth unto Him." They must
take their position "without the camp," as witness-bearers for the
truth. They must be prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must
have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and His truth
next, and Christ and His truth beyond all the world.
Jesus would have His people "go forth without the camp" for their
own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you
are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but
it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life may cost you many
pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all. No joy
can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals Himself so graciously,
and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more calm and peace in
his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is
the highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the crown if
we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ "without the
camp." The crown of glory will follow the cross of separation. A moment's
shame will be well recompensed by eternal honour; a
little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when
we are "for ever with the Lord."
Evening
"In the name of the Lord I will destroy
them."—Psalm 118:12.
Our Lord Jesus, by His
death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He
contemplated in His passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and
body; that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme without a
rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which
God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must conquer all the rest of
thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue
all thy powers and passions to the silver sceptre of
Jesus' gracious reign, and thou must never be satisfied till He who is King by
purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in thee supreme.
Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and
lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. O my body,
thou art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate thy subjection to the prince of
darkness? O my soul, Christ has suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with
His most precious blood: shall I suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of
evil, or thy passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my
judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity?
No, my soul, thou art Christ's, and sin hath no right to thee.
Be
courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not
dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are
able to overcome them—not in your own strength—the weakest of them
would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through
the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, "How shall I dispossess them, for they
are greater and mightier than I?" but go to the strong for strength, wait
humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue,
and you shall sing of victory through His grace.