Evening, August 16

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"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.