Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
July 23
Morning
"Even
thou wast as one of them."—Obadiah 1:11.
Brotherly
kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of need, but instead thereof,
the men of Esau made common cause with Israel's foes. Special stress in the
sentence before us is laid upon the word thou; as when Caesar cried to
Brutus, "and thou Brutus"; a bad action may be all the worse,
because of the person who has committed it. When we sin, who are the
chosen favorites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis; ours is a crying offence,
because we are so peculiarly indulged. If an angel should lay his hand upon us
when we are doing evil, he need not use any other rebuke than the question,
"What thou? What dost thou here?" Much forgiven, much
delivered, much instructed, much enriched, much blessed, shall we dare to put
forth our hand unto evil? God forbid!
A few minutes of confession
may be beneficial to thee, gentle reader, this morning. Hast thou never been as
the wicked? At an evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke
was not altogether offensive to thine ear, even
thou wast as one of them. When hard things were
spoken concerning the ways of God, thou wast
bashfully silent; and so, to on-lookers, thou wast
as one of them. When worldlings were bartering in
the market, and driving hard bargains, wast thou not
as one of them? When they were pursuing vanity with a hunter's foot, wert thou
not as greedy for gain as they were? Could any difference be discerned between
thee and them? Is there any difference? Here we come to close quarters.
Be honest with thine own soul, and make sure that
thou art a new creature in Christ Jesus; but when this is sure, walk jealously,
lest any should again be able to say, "Even thou wast
as one of them." Thou wouldst not desire to share their eternal doom, why
then be like them here? Come not thou into their secret, lest thou come into
their ruin. Side with the afflicted people of God, and not
with the world.
Evening
"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin."—1 John 1:7.
ÒCleansethÓ, says the text—not "shall
cleanse." There are multitudes who think that as
a dying hope they may look forward to pardon. Oh! how
infinitely better to have cleansing now than to depend on the bare possibility
of forgiveness when I come to die. Some imagine that a sense of pardon is an
attainment only obtainable after many years of Christian experience. But
forgiveness of sin is a present thing—a privilege for this day, a
joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner trusts Jesus he is fully forgiven.
The text, being written in the present tense, also indicates continuance;
it was "cleanseth" yesterday, it is "cleanseth" to-day, it will be "cleanseth" tomorrow: it will be always so with you,
Christian, until you cross the river; every hour you may come to this fountain,
for it cleanseth still. Notice, likewise, the completeness
of the cleansing, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin"—not only from sin, but "from all
sin." Reader, I cannot tell you the exceeding sweetness of this word, but
I pray God the Holy Ghost to give you a taste of it. Manifold are our sins
against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same receipt can
discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus Christ is as blessed and divine
a payment for the transgressions of blaspheming Peter as for the shortcomings
of loving John; our iniquity is gone, all gone at once, and all gone for ever.
Blessed completeness! What a sweet theme to dwell upon as one gives himself to
sleep.
"Sins against a holy God;
Sins against His righteous laws;
Sins against His love, His blood;
Sins against His name and cause;
Sins immense as is the sea-
From them
all He cleanseth me."