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March 6 |
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Morning Reading |
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Evening
Reading |
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"Ye must be born again." |
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John 3:7 |
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Regeneration is a subject which lies at the
very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we
really are "born again," for there are many who fancy they are, who are not.
Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian;
and that being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing
the Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there be something
more added to it — the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious,
that human words cannot describe it.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Nevertheless,
it is a change which is known and felt: known by works of holiness,
and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural.
It is not an operation which a man performs for himself: a new principle is
infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire
man. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am
not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a
corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the one,
God alone can do the other. If you have then, been "born again," your
acknowledgment will be, "O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, thou art my
spiritual Parent; unless thy Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a
new, holy, and spiritual life, I had been to this day
'dead in trespasses
and sins.' My heavenly life is wholly derived from thee, to thee I ascribe
it. 'My life is hid with Christ in God.' It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who liveth in me." May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this
vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without
God, and without hope. |
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Evening Reading |
Go to Morning Reading |
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"Before destruction the heart of man is
haughty." |
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Proverbs 18:12 |
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It is an old and common saying, that "coming
events cast their shadows before them;" the wise man teaches us that a
haughty heart is the prophetic prelude of evil. Pride is as safely the sign
of destruction as the change of mercury in the weather-glass is the sign of
rain; and far more infallibly so than that. When men have ridden the high
horse, destruction has always overtaken them. Let David's aching heart show
that there is an eclipse of a man's glory when he dotes upon his own
greatness.
2 Sam.
24:10. See Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty builder of Babylon, creeping on the
earth, devouring grass like oxen, until his nails had grown like bird's
claws, and his hair like eagle's feathers.
Dan. 4:33.
Pride made the boaster a beast, as once before it made an angel a devil. God
hates high looks, and never fails to bring them down. All the arrows of God
are aimed at proud hearts. O Christian, is thine heart haughty this evening?
For pride can get into the Christian's heart as well as into the sinner's;
it can delude him into dreaming that he is
"rich and increased in goods, and
hath need of nothing." Art thou glorying in thy graces or thy talents? Art
thou proud of thyself, that thou hast had holy frames and sweet experiences?
Mark thee, reader, there is a destruction coming to thee also. Thy flaunting
poppies of self-conceit will be pulled up by the roots, thy mushroom graces
will wither in the burning heat, and thy self-sufficiency shall become as
straw for the dunghill. If we forget to live at the foot of the cross in
deepest lowliness of spirit, God will not forget to make us smart under his
rod. A destruction will come to thee, O unduly exalted believer, the
destruction of thy joys and of thy comforts, though there can be no
destruction of thy soul. Wherefore,
"He that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord." |
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