Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

 February 8– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“He shall save his people from their sins.” 

—Matthew 1:21

Many people think that salvation is “Being saved from hell and taken to heaven.” This is one result of salvation, but it is not a fraction of what is contained in that blessing. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ redeems all his people from the wrath to come, saving them from the condemnation their sins had brought upon them. But his triumph is far more complete than this. He saves his people “from their sins.” Oh, what sweet deliverance! Where Christ does his saving work, he casts Satan from his throne and will not let him be master any longer.

No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Yes, sin will be in us—it will never be utterly expelled until our spirit enters glory—, but it will no longer reign as king. There will be a striving for control—a struggle against the new law and the new spirit which God has implanted–, but sin will never be the absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be put to death. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out.

Do you profess to be a Christian? Is sin being conquered in you? If your life is unholy, then your heart is unchanged; and if your heart is unchanged, you are not saved. If the Savior has not set you apart for right living, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, he has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves his people not merely in their sins but from them. “Without holiness no man will see the Lord.”

If we are not saved from sin, how can we hope to be counted among his people? Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honor my Savior. [M&E]