April 6 — Evening

Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in His passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as you art a child of God, you must conquer all the rest of thyself which yet remains unblest; you must subdue all your powers and passions to the silver sceptre of Jesus' gracious reign, and you must never be satisfied till He who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in you supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. O my body, you art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate your subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has suffered for your sins, and redeemed you with His most precious blood: shall I suffer your memory to become a storehouse of evil, or your passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, you art Christ's, and sin has no right to you. Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them-not in your own strength-the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, "How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?" but go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through His grace.