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| Previous Next Selection Taken From: Spurgeon wrote this selection of readings to encourage believers to enter into the full provision that their relationship to Jesus entitled them to realise, on a daily basis. He explains we have to present the promises of Scripture to God in prayer and faith. Imitation Leather from Christian Focus Publications, Copyright 1994 |
July 4 Morning~Evening
Morning~Sanctify them through Thy
truth Evening~He that path clean hands,
and a pure heart;
who path not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully
Morning
Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes `a new creature' in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two ways - mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is carried on every day in what is called `perseverance’, by which the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state, and is made to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in `glory’, when the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten. `Sanctify them,' said Jesus, `through thy truth: thy word is truth.' The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to our mind the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.' Do not say of any error, `It is a mere matter of opinion'. No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.Evening
Outward practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace. It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting contempt at the last great day. If our hands are not clean, let us wash them in Jesus' precious blood, and so let us lift up pure hands unto God. But `clean hands' will not suffice, unless they are connected with `a pure heart'. True religion is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy, we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of purity within. The pure in heart shall see God; all others are but blind bats.
