Spurgeon: January PM
* 01/25/PM
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea,
we establish the law."
--Romans 3:31
When the believer is adopted into the Lord's family, his
relationship to old Adam and the law ceases at once; but then
he is under a new rule, and a new covenant. Believer, you are
God's child; it is your first duty to obey your heavenly
Father. A servile spirit you have nothing to do with: you are
not a slave, but a child; and now, inasmuch as you are a
beloved child, you are bound to obey your Father's faintest
wish, the least intimation of His will. Does He bid you fulfil
a sacred ordinance? It is at your peril that you neglect it,
for you will be disobeying your Father. Does He command you to
seek the image of Jesus? It is not your joy to do so? Does
Jesus tell you, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect"? Then not because the law commands, but
because your Saviour enjoins, you will labour to be perfect in
holiness. Does He bid his saints love one another? Do it, not
because the law says, "Love thy neighbour," but because Jesus
says, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments;" and this is the
commandment that He has given unto you, "that ye love one
another." Are you told to distribute to the poor? Do it, not
because charity is a burden which you dare not shirk, but
because Jesus teaches, "Give to him that asketh of thee." Does
the Word say, "Love God with all your heart"? Look at the
commandment and reply, "Ah! commandment, Christ hath fulfilled
thee already--I have no need, therefore, to fulfill thee for my
salvation, but I rejoice to yield obedience to thee because God
is my Father now and He has a claim upon me, which I would not
dispute." May the Holy Ghost make your heart obedient to the
constraining power of Christ's love, that your prayer may be,
"Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do
I delight." Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not
the apologist of sin.