Morning “With loving kindness have I drawn thee.” – Jeremiah 31:3

 The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to

Christ; but the final victory is effected by loving kindness. The prodigal set

out to his father’s house from a sense of need; but his father saw him a great

way off, and ran to meet him; so that the last steps he took towards his

father’s house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek, and the welcome

still musical in his ears.

 “Law and terrors do but harden

All the while they work alone;

But a sense of blood-bought pardon

Will dissolve a heart of stone.”

 The Master came one night to the door, and knocked with the iron hand of the

law; the door shook and trembled upon its hinges; but the man piled every piece

of furniture which he could find against the door, for he said, “I will not

admit the man.” The Master turned away, but by-and-bye he came back, and with

his own soft hand, using most that part where the nail had penetrated, he

knocked again–oh, so softly and tenderly. This time the door did not shake,

but, strange to say, it opened, and there upon his knees the once unwilling host

was found rejoicing to receive his guest. “Come in, come in; thou hast so

knocked that my bowels are moved for thee. I could not think of thy pierced hand

leaving its blood-mark on my door, and of thy going away houseless, Thy head

filled with dew, and thy locks with the drops of the night.’ I yield, I yield,

thy love has won my heart.” So in every case: lovingkindness wins the day. What

Moses with the tablets of stone could never do, Christ does with his pierced

hand. Such is the doctrine of effectual calling. Do I understand it

experimentally? Can I say, “He drew me, and I followed on, glad to confess the

voice divine?” If so, may he continue to draw me, till at last I shall sit down

at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

 

Evening “Now we have received … the spirit which is of God; that we might know the

things that are freely given to us of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:12

 Dear reader, have you received the spirit which is of God, wrought by the Holy

Ghost in your soul? The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart

may be clearly seen from this fact, that all which has been done by God the

Father, and by God the Son, must be ineffectual to us, unless the Spirit shall

reveal these things to our souls. What effect does the doctrine of election have

upon any man until the Spirit of God enters into him? Election is a dead letter

in my consciousness until the Spirit of God calls me out of darkness into

marvellous light. Then through my calling, I see my election, and knowing myself

to be called of God, I know myself to have been chosen in the eternal purpose. A

covenant was made with the Lord Jesus Christ, by his Father; but what avails

that covenant to us until the Holy Spirit brings us its blessings, and opens our

hearts to receive them? There hang the blessings on the nail–Christ Jesus; but

being short of stature, we cannot reach them; the Spirit of God takes them down

and hands them to us, and thus they become actually ours. Covenant blessings in

themselves are like the manna in the skies, far out of mortal reach, but the

Spirit of God opens the windows of heaven and scatters the living bread around

the camp of the spiritual Israel. Christ’s finished work is like wine stored in

the wine-vat; through unbelief we can neither draw nor drink. The Holy Spirit

dips our vessel into this precious wine, and then we drink; but without the

Spirit we are as truly dead in sin as though the Father never had elected, and

though the Son had never bought us with his blood. The Holy Spirit is absolutely

necessary to our well-being. Let us walk lovingly towards him and tremble at the

thought of grieving him.