Where Spiritual Life Begins
"With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early." Isaiah 26:9
There is, in the people of God, a principle of communion with God. For, first, this is where their spiritual life begins. "I will arise and go to my father" (Luke 15:18) was the token that the prodigal was really restored in heart. When he cleansed himself, touched himself up, joined himself to a citizen of that country, and began to work instead of wasting his substance in riotous living, it was a considerable improvement. It is always a good thing for a man to work rather than to waste his time in the indulgence of his vices; but he had not then begun to live spiritually. It was when he remembered his father that the gracious work was begun in his soul: the cry of his spirit was, "I will arise and go to my father."
Beloved, if any of your are seeking after righteousness by your own works or by your prayers, I do not know that this is a token of a new life., It may be that you are even in the dark, seeking after God if haply you may find Him there. But when there rises in your spirit this thought, "I must find God, I must come to God, I must confess my sin unto the Lord, I must lay myself at the Lord's feet, I must meet with Him," then we hope the best things of you. So long as you are content with ministers, priests, sacraments, books, prayers, and all that you can do, you are satisfied with the mere shell. But when there wakens in your spirit this desire, "It is God Whom I have offended; unto God will I make my confession. It is from God that I need pardon; O that I knew where I might find Him! I would come even to His seat"; when there is formed within your spirit this resolve: "I will seek the Lord's face until He turns to me in love and accepts me as His child" - then it is that spiritual life begins.
extract from a sermon given at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, Sept. 15, 1887
