Morning, April 23
Go To Evening Reading
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.”
Romans 8:37
We go to Christ for forgiveness, and then too often look to the law
for power to fight our sins. Paul thus rebukes us, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey
the truth? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? are ye so foolish?
having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Take your sins to Christ’s cross, for the old man can only be crucified there: we are crucified
with him . The only weapon to fight sin with is the spear which pierced the
side of Jesus. To give an illustration—you want to overcome an angry temper; how do you go to work? It is
very possible you have never tried the right way of going to Jesus
with it. How did I get salvation? I came to Jesus just as I was, and
I trusted him to save me. I must kill my angry temper in the same
way. It is the only way in which I can ever kill it. I must go to
the cross with it, and say to Jesus, “Lord, I trust thee to deliver me from it.” This is the only way to give it a death-blow. Are you covetous? Do you feel
the world entangle you? You may struggle against this evil so long
as you please, but if it be your besetting sin, you will never be
delivered from it in any way but by the blood of Jesus. Take it to
Christ. Tell him, “Lord, I have trusted thee, and thy name is Jesus, for thou dost save
thy people from their sins: Lord, this is one of my sins; save me
from it!” Ordinances are nothing without Christ as a means of mortification.
Your prayers, and your repentances, and your tears—the whole of them put together—are worth nothing apart from him. “None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good;” or helpless saints either. You must be conquerors through him who
hath loved you, if conquerors at all. Our laurels must grow among
his olives in Gethsemane.