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August 23

Morning

The voice of weeping shall be no more heard. — Isa 65:19

The glorified weep no more—for all causes of grief are gone! There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander—are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens.

They weep no more—for they are perfectly sanctified! No “evil heart of unbelief” prompts them to depart from the living God. They are without fault before His throne, and are fully conformed to His image! Well may they cease to mourn—who have ceased to sin!

They weep no more—because all fear of change is past! They know that they are eternally secure! Sin is shut out and they are shut in!

They dwell within a city which shall never be stormed!

They bask in a sun which shall never set!

They drink of a river which shall never run dry!

They pluck fruit from a tree which shall never wither!

Countless cycles may revolve but eternity shall not be exhausted; and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall co-exist with it. They are forever with the Lord!

They weep no more—because every desire is fulfilled! They cannot wish for anything—which they have not in full possession. Eye and ear, heart and hand, judgment, imagination, hope, desire, will—all the faculties, are completely satisfied!

As imperfect as our present ideas are of the things which God has prepared for those who love Him—yet we know enough, by the revelation of the Spirit, that the glorified saints are supremely blessed. The joy of Christ, which is an infinite fullness of delight—is in them. They bathe forever in the bottomless, shoreless sea of infinite blessedness!

That same joyful rest remains for us! It may not be far distant. Before long—the weeping willow shall be exchanged for the palm-branch of victory! Sorrow’s dewdrops will be transformed into the pearls of everlasting bliss!

“The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more!”

“Therefore comfort one another with these words.”


Evening

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. — Eph 3:17

Beyond measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards Him, and to increase our knowledge of Him. I desire that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus’ college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, resolved to attain unto a good degree in the school of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of Him, welling up with His love, even to overrunning. Hence the apostle prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” See how near he would have Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in the heart itself. “That He may dwell”; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night but that He may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being—never more to go out!

Observe the words—that He may dwell in your heart, that best room of the house of manhood; not in your thoughts alone but in your affections; not merely in the mind’s meditations but in the heart’s emotions. We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love which flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers but a constant flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong—or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet. Faith is the lily’s root and love is the lily’s bloom.

Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart’s love—unless you have a firm hold of Him by your heart’s faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love Him. If your love is cold—you can be sure that your faith is drooping!


Morning and Evening - August 23

Public domain content taken from Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon.


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