Morning, December 31 Go To Evening Reading
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”
—John 7:37
Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast, he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he claims with us and waits to be gracious to us. The wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy! Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Savior in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit.
Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother, woo his children to his bosom! Indeed at the call of such a cry, our willing hearts will come.
Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul’s thirst. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul was utterly famished, Jesus could restore it. To his conscience, the atonement brings peace; to his understanding, the gospel brings the most prosperous instruction; to his heart, the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man, the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment.
Proclamation is made most freely, and every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst for avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The desire may be wrong in itself and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust. Still, it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation; the Lord Jesus sends it freely and without respect of persons.
Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bears our sins in His own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Savior is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh, for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day!
No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink, and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejeweled chalice, to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as he cries to each of us,
“IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK.”
Go To Morning Reading Evening, December 31
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
—Jeremiah 8:20
Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation; you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful seasons have come and gone—your summer and your harvest have passed—and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you—will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with you—the best of standards, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection—what more can be done for you?
Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death forever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come; why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it will never arrive and that Felix will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is and the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!
Reader, suppose you should die unsaved; your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the glory of his power. A brother’s voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who can save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance is bred in you, it will be well; and if it leads to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year’s midnight peals sound upon a joyless nature! Now, believe, and live.
“Escape for thy life;
Look not behind thee,
Neither stays thou in all the plain;
Escape to the mountain,
Lest thou be consumed.”
Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.
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