Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
June 26
Morning
"Art thou become like unto us?"—Isaiah 14:10.
What must be the apostate
professor's doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that
voice, "Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou
hast played the harlot, and departed from Me: I also
have banished thee for ever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon
thee." What will be this wretch's shame at the last great day when, before
assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and
sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of
fire to point at him. "There he is," says one, "will he preach
the gospel in hell?" "There he is," says another, "he
rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!" "Aha!"
says another, "here comes a psalm-singing Methodist—one who was
always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of
everlasting life; and here he is!" No greater eagerness will ever be seen
among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils
drag the hypocrite's soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive
but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven
devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to
heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors!
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." Look well to your
state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the
world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be
tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to
yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you
build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord
give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may
you be led to turn aside.
Evening
"Having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust."—2 Peter 1:4.
Vanish for ever
all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power of your risen
Lord. It were ill that a man who is alive in Christ
should dwell in the corruption of sin. "Why seek ye the living among the
dead?" said the angel to Magdalene. Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should divine life be immured in the charnel
house of fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink
the cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are
delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive lime-twigs
of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the
lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from
carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the
pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that
you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be
indeed the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not suffer all the lavish
treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the
Christian's crown and glory. An unholy church! it is
useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's
laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought
upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You
are God's priest: act as such. You are God's king: reign over your lusts. You
are God's chosen: do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live
like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in Jesus,
for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be
holiness in the life.
"Lord, I desire to live as one
Who bears a blood-bought name,
As one who fears but grieving Thee,
And knows no
other shame."