Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Evening Devotional For Sunday August 16, 2020 |
Evening Time: 6:35 PM PST
"Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit." --Romans 8:23
Present possession is declared. At this present moment we have the first
fruits of the Spirit. We have repentance, that gem of the first water; faith,
that priceless pearl; hope, the heavenly emerald; and love, the glorious ruby.
We are already made "new creatures in Christ Jesus," by the effectual working of
God the Holy Ghost. This is called the firstfruit because it comes first.
As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life, and all
the graces which adorn that life, are the first operations of the Spirit of God
in our souls. The firstfruits were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as
the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, he looked forward with
glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the sheaves.
So, brethren, when God gives us things which are pure, lovely, and of good
report, as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the
coming glory. The firstfruits were always holy to the Lord, and our new
nature, with all its powers, is a consecrated thing. The new life is not ours
that we should ascribe its excellence to our own merit; it is Christ's image and
creation, and is ordained for His glory. But the firstfruits were not the
harvest, and the works of the Spirit in us at this moment are not the
consummation--the perfection is yet to come. We must not boast that we have
attained, and so reckon the wave-sheaf to be all the produce of the year: we
must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and pant for the day of full
redemption. Dear reader, this evening open your mouth wide, and God will fill
it. Let the boon in present possession excite in you a sacred avarice for more
grace. Groan within yourself for higher degrees of consecration, and your Lord
will grant them to you, for He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we
ask or even think.
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