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Daily devotions for 03-27-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Freedom From Sin
Evening Title: Partakers in His Glory
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Morning: Freedom From Sin
"Jesus said unto them, If ye seek Me, let these go their way." --John 18:8
Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in His hour of trial,
towards the sheep of
His hand! The ruling passion is strong in death.
He resigns Himself to the enemy, but He interposes a word of power to set His
disciples
free. As to Himself, like a sheep before her shearers He is dumb and opened not
His mouth, but for His disciples' sake He speaks with Almighty energy. Herein
is love, constant,
self-forgetting, faithful love. But is there not far more here than is to be
found upon the
surface? Have we not the very soul and spirit of the atonement in these words?
The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, and pleads that they must
therefore go free. The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom
He stands a substitute should go their way.
In the midst of Egypt's bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, "Let
these go their way." Out of slavery of sin and Satan the redeemed must come. In
every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound is echoed, "Let these go their
way," and forth come Despondency and Much-afraid. Satan hears the well-known
voice, and lifts his foot from the neck of the fallen; and Death hears it, and
the grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. Their way is one of progress,
holiness, triumph, glory, and none shall dare to stay them in it. No lion shall
be on their way, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon. "The hind of
the morning" has drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the most timid
roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the lilies of his
loves. The thunder-cloud has burst over the Cross of Calvary, and the pilgrims
of Zion shall never be smitten by the bolts of vengeance.
Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity which thy Redeemer has secured thee,
and bless His name all the day, and every day.
Evening: Partakers in His Glory
"When He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." --Mark 8:38
If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall be sharers with Him
in the lustre
which shall surround Him when He appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one,
with Christ Jesus?
Does a vital union knit thee to Him? Then thou art to-day with Him in His
shame; thou hast taken up His cross, and gone with Him without the camp bearing
His reproach; thou shalt doubtless be with Him when the cross is exchanged for
the crown. But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with Him in the
regeneration, neither shalt thou be with Him when He shall come in His glory.
If thou start back from the black side of communion, thou shalt not understand
its bright, its happy period, when the King shall come, and all His holy angels
with Him. What! are angels with Him? And yet He took not up angels--He took up
the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with Him? Come, my soul, if thou art
indeed His own beloved, thou canst not be far from Him. If His friends and His
neighbours are called together to see His glory, what thinkest thou if thou art
married to Him? Shalt thou be distant?
Though it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart
which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into union. Has
He not said to thee, O my soul, "I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness,
and in judgment, and in lovingkindness"? Have not His own lips said it, "I am
married unto thee, and My delight is in thee"? If the angels, who are but
friends and neighbours, shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His
own beloved Hephzibah, in whom is all His delight, shall be near to Him, and
sit at His right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for thee, of such
exceeding brilliance, that it may well light up the darkest and most desolate
experience.
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Daily devotions for 03-26-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Sincere Kiss
Evening Title: Son of Man
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Morning: Sincere Kiss
"Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" --Luke 22:48
The kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Let me be on my guard when the world
puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master,
with a kiss. Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes
very great reverence for it. Let me beware of the
sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing
the deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent to detect
and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man, void of understanding, was
led astray by the kiss of the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously
instructed all this day, that "the much fair speech" of the world may have no
effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail
son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son of
perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a member
of His visible Church; I sit
at the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. Am I sincere
in them? If not,
I am a base traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet
make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to
ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called.
Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me
that I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter?
Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from
every false way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love Thee, Jesus, and
though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto
death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and then fall
at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master with a kiss.
Evening: Son of Man
"The Son of man." --John 3:13
How constantly our Master used the title, the "Son of man!" If He had chosen,
He might always have spoken of Himself as the Son of God, the Everlasting
Father, the Wonderful, the
Counsellor, the Prince of Peace; but behold the lowliness of Jesus! He prefers
to call Himself
the Son of man. Let us learn a lesson of humility from our Saviour; let us
never court great titles nor proud degrees. There is here, however, a far
sweeter thought. Jesus loved manhood so much, that He delighted to honour it;
and since it is a high honour, and indeed, the greatest dignity of manhood,
that Jesus is the Son of man, He is wont to display this name, that He may as
it were hang royal stars upon the breast of manhood, and show forth the love of
God to Abraham's seed. Son of man--whenever He said that word, He shed a halo
round the head of Adam's children. Yet there is perhaps a more precious thought
still. Jesus
Christ called Himself the Son of man to express His oneness and sympathy with
His people. He thus reminds us that He is the one whom we may approach without
fear. As a man, we may take to Him all our griefs and troubles, for He knows
them by experience; in that He Himself hath suffered as the "Son of man," He is
able to succor and comfort us. All hail, Thou blessed Jesus! inasmuch as Thou
art evermore using the sweet name which acknowledges that Thou art a brother
and a near kinsman, it is to us a deartoken of Thy grace, Thy humility, Thy
love.
"Oh see how Jesus trusts Himself,
Unto our childish love,
As though by His free ways with us
Our earnestness to prove!
His sacred name a common word
On earth He loves to hear;
There is no majesty in Him
Which love may not come near."
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Daily devotions for 03-25-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Utterly Forsaken
Evening Title: Spirit of Joy
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Morning: Utterly Forsaken
"He was heard in that he feared." --Hebrews 5:7
Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that He was utterly forsaken.
There may be
sterner trials than this, but surely it is one of the worst to be utterly
forsaken? "See," said
Satan, "thou hast a friend nowhere! Thy Father hath shut up the bowels of His
compassion against thee. Not an angel in His courts will stretch out his hand
to help thee. All heaven is alienated from Thee; Thou art left alone. See the
companions with whom Thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they worth? Son of
Mary, see there Thy brother James, see there Thy loved disciple John, and Thy
bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep when Thou art in Thy sufferings! Lo!
Thou hast no friend left in heaven or earth. All hell is against Thee. I have
stirred up mine infernal den. I have sent my missives throughout all regions
summoning every
prince of darkness to set upon Thee this night, and we will spare no arrows, we
will use all our
infernal might to overwhelm Thee: and what wilt Thou do, Thou solitary one?" It
may be, this was the temptation; we think it was, because the appearance of an
angel unto Him strengthening Him removed that fear. He was heard in that He
feared; He was no more alone, but heaven was with Him. It may be that this is
the reason of His coming three times to His disciples--as Hart puts it--
"Backwards and forwards thrice He ran, As if He sought some help from man."
He would see for Himself whether it were really true that all men had forsaken
Him; He found them all asleep; but perhaps He gained some faint comfort from
the thought that they were sleeping, not from treachery, but from sorrow, the
spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was weak. At any rate, He was heard in
that He feared. Jesus was heard in His deepest woe; my soul, thou shalt be
heard also.
Evening: Spirit of Joy
"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit." --Luke 10:21
The Saviour was "a man of sorrows," but every thoughtful mind has discovered
the fact that down deep in His innermost soul He carried an inexhaustible
treasury of refined and heavenly
joy. Of all the human race, there was never a man who had a deeper, purer, or
more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. "He was anointed with the oil of
gladness above His fellows." His vast benevolence must, from the very nature of
things, have afforded Him the deepest possible delight, for benevolence is joy.
There were a few remarkable seasons when this joy manifested itself. "At that
hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth." Christ had His songs, though it was night with Him; though His face
was marred, and His countenance had lost the lustre of earthly happiness, yet
sometimes it was lit up with a matchless splendour of unparalleled
satisfaction, as He thought upon the recompense of the reward, and in the midst
of the congregation sang His praise unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a
blessed picture of His church on earth.
At this hour the church expects to walk in sympathy with her Lord along a
thorny road;
through much tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown. To bear the cross
is her office,
and to be scorned and counted an alien by her mother's children is her lot; and
yet the church
has a deep well of joy, of which none can drink but her own children. There are
stores of wine,
and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst of our Jerusalem, upon which the saints
of God are
evermore sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in our Saviour's case, we
have our seasons of intense delight, for "There is a river, the streams whereof
shall make glad the city of our God." Exiles though we be, we rejoice in our
King; yea, in Him we exceedingly rejoice, while in His name we set up our
banners.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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