March 6

Morning

Ye must be born again. — John 3:7

Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are “born again,” for there are many who imagine they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian—is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion—is of no avail whatever, unless there is something more added to it — the being “born again,” by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Regeneration is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe it. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt. It is known by works of holiness and felt by a gracious experience.

This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself. It is a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive! Man can do the one—God alone can do the other.

If you have then, been “born again,” your acknowledgment will be, “O everlasting Father, You are my spiritual Parent; unless Your Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life—I would have been to this day, ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly derived from You to You I ascribe it. ‘My life is hid with Christ in God.’ It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope!

Evening

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty. — Prov 18:12

It is an old and common saying, that “coming events cast their shadows before them;” the wise man teaches us that a haughty heart is the prophetic prelude of destruction. Pride is as safely the sign of destruction, as the change of mercury in the weather-glass is the sign of rain; and far more infallibly so than that. When men have ridden the high horse—destruction has always overtaken them. Let David’s aching heart show that there is an eclipse of a man’s glory—when he dotes upon his own greatness. “David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord—I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away Your servant’s guilt!” 2 Sam. 24:10.

See Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty builder of Babylon, creeping on the earth, devouring grass like oxen, until his nails had grown like bird’s claws, and his hair like eagle’s feathers! Dan. 4:33. Pride made the boaster a beast—as once before it made an angel a devil. God hates high looks, and never fails to bring them down. All the arrows of God—are aimed at proud hearts! O Christian, is your heart haughty this evening? For pride can get into the Christian’s heart as well as into the sinner’s; it can delude him into dreaming that he is “rich and increased in goods, and has need of nothing.” Are you glorying in your graces or your talents? Are you proud of yourself, that you have had holy frames and sweet experiences? Mark it, reader, there is a destruction coming to you also! Your flaunting poppies of self-conceit will be pulled up by the roots! Your mushroom graces will wither in the burning heat! Your self-sufficiency shall become as straw for the dunghill.

If we forget to live at the foot of the cross in deepest humility of heart—God will not forget to make us smart under His rod! A destruction will come to you, O unduly exalted believer—the destruction of your joys and of your comforts, though there can be no destruction of your soul. Therefore, “He who glories—let him glory in the Lord!”