Spurgeon: July PM
* 07/07/PM
"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live."
--Ezekiel 16:6
Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate (of mercy. Note
that this fiat of God is majestic . In our text, we perceive a
sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath;
but the eternal Lord passes by in His glory; l He looks. He
pauses, and He pronounces the solitary but royal word, "Live."
There speaks a God. Who but He could venture thus to deal with
life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is
manifold . When He saith "Live," it includes many things. Here
is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the
mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It
is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus--our eyes could not see
Christ, our ears could not hear His voice--Jehovah said "Live,"
and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of
spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live:" and that word rolls on
through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst
of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard,
"Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same
voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, "Live," and as holy
spirits rise to heaven to be blest for ever in the glory of
their God, it is in the power of this same word, "Live." Note
again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is
on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God.
A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the
brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace .
When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will
do it to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace.
Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your
gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden
you live, see to it that you live in earnest.