January 25, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." — Romans 3:31 · KJV

When the believer is adopted into the Lord's family, his relationship to old Adam and the law ceases at once, and he comes under a new rule and a new covenant. Believer, you are God's child; your first duty is to obey your heavenly Father. You have nothing to do with a slavish spirit: you are not a slave but a child; and now, as a beloved child, you are bound to obey your Father's faintest wish, the least sign of His will. Does He bid you keep a sacred ordinance? You neglect it at your peril, for you would be disobeying your Father. Does He command you to seek the image of Jesus? Is it not your joy to do so? Does Jesus say, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"? Then, not because the law commands but because your Savior enjoins it, you will labor 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 His commandment, "that ye love one another." Are you told to give to the poor? Do it, not because charity is a burden 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 has fulfilled you already; I have no need to fulfill you for my salvation, but I rejoice to obey you, because God is now my Father and has a claim on me that I would not dispute." May the Holy Spirit 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, not the apologist of sin.