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LUKE 4:18. To preach deliverance to the captives.

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#1 ·
Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening - November 25, 2015
> Reply-To: support@e.biblegateway.com

> "To preach deliverance to the captives."
> Luke 4:18
>
> None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty cometh from him
only. It is a liberty righteously bestowed; for the Son, who is Heir of all
things, has a right to make men free. The saints honour the justice of God, which
now secures their salvation. It is a liberty which has been dearly purchased.
Christ speaks it by his power, but he bought it by his blood. He makes thee free,
but it is by his own bonds. Thou goest clear, because he bare thy burden for thee:
thou art set at liberty, because he has suffered in thy stead. But, though dearly
purchased, he freely gives it.

Jesus asks nothing of us as a preparation for this
liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and ashes, and bids us put on the
beautiful array of freedom; he saves us just as we are, and all without our help
or merit. When Jesus sets free, the liberty is perpetually entailed; no chains can
bind again. Let the Master say to me, "Captive, I have delivered thee," and it is
done forever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord be on our side, whom
shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to ensnare us, but
mightier is he who is for us than all they who be against us. The machinations of
our own deceitful hearts may harass and annoy us, but he who hath begun the good
work in us will carry it on and perfect it to the end.

The foes of God and the
enemies of man may gather their hosts together, and come with concentrated fury
against us, but if God acquitteth, who is he that condemneth? Not more free is the
eagle which mounts to his rocky eyrie, and afterwards outsoars the clouds, than
the soul which Christ hath delivered. If we are no more under the law, but free
from its curse, let our liberty be practically exhibited in our serving God with
gratitude and delight. "I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast
loosed my bonds." "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
>
> Evening
>
> "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
> Romans 9:15
>
> In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the right to give or to
withhold his mercy according to his own sovereign will. As the prerogative of life
and death is vested in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to
spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in his sight. Men by their sins have
forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to perish for their sins--and if they
all do so, they have no ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, he
may do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if he judges it best to
leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence, none may arraign him at
their bar.

Foolish and impudent are all those discourses about the rights of men
to be all placed on the same footing; ignorant, if not worse, are those
contentions against discriminating grace, which are but the rebellions of proud
human nature against the crown and sceptre of Jehovah. When we are brought to see
our own utter ruin and ill desert, and the justice of the divine verdict against
sin, we no longer cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do
not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing us an injury, but
feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it will be his own free act of undeserved
goodness, for which we shall forever bless his name.
>
> How shall those who are the subjects of divine election sufficiently adore the
grace of God? They have no room for boasting, for sovereignty most effectually
excludes it. The Lord's will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human
merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in
Scripture than that of election, none more promotive of gratitude, and,
consequently, none more sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but
adoringly rejoice in it.
>
>
 
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