the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
August 17—Morning—John 5:25
"The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."—John 5:25.
What a promise is here, and what an encouragement for every dead sinner to hope, and for every living saint, who is interested for dead sinners, not to despair? Observe, my soul, the extensiveness of the mercy: it is the dead. Why, all are dead in trespasses and sins. Is there not hope then for all? "And they that hear shall live." Why, then, every sinner should ask his heart-do I hear? But, my soul, mark how this is done. It is by the voice of the Son of God. Yes; there is salvation in no other. He saith himself, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die." But, my soul, while taking comfort from this blessed passage, as it concerns poor dead sinners, ask thine own heart whether thou hast been the happy partaker of it thyself. Hast thou heard the voice of the Son of God? Yes; if so be thou livest in him, and upon him, and walkest with him. Jesus’s voice is a quickening voice, a life-giving voice, a soul-feeding, soul-strengthening, heart-warming, heartbreaking, heart-melting voice. What sayest thou, my soul, to these examinations? Oh if Jesus’s voice hath been ever heard by thee, thou wilt be desiring the renewal of it from day to day, and thou wilt be saying, in the earnest language of the church: "let me hear thy voice, let me see thy countenance; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."
August 17—Evening—John 7:46
"Never man spake like this man."—John 7:46.
What a decided testimony were even the enemies of Christ compelled, from their own consciences, to give to the Godhead and power of the Lord Jesus Christ! Think then, my soul, what an evidence thou wouldest bring, if called upon to tell what Jesus hath said to thee! From the first moment that Jesus revealed himself, in his word, and by his word, to thy heart, thou couldest truly say, as the Jewish officers did, "Never man spake like this man." Never any spake like this God-man, this Glory-man, thy Redeemer. All his words were, and are divine words; powerful, persuasive, tender, gracious words, and full of salvation. Say, also, how very blessed all that Jesus spake of salvation was to thy heart, when he made it personal, and spake it all to thee. When he said, I am thy salvation. I have pardon, I have peace, I have righteousness, I have grace here, and glory hereafter; and all I have is for thee. So that when reading the word, or hearing the word, and the question arose in thy heart, to whom speaketh my Lord thus? Oh! how unspeakably precious did the word become, when Jesus said by his servant, "To you is the word of this salvation sent." Precious Lord Jesus! how shall I express my soul’s sense of thy love and grace, thy mercy and favour? Since thou first manifested thyself to my heart, I am no longer my own. Thou hast taken all my affections with thee to heaven, and caused them to center every thing in thyself. And now, Lord, I still daily, yea, sometimes hourly, when I hear thy voice, am constrained to cry out," Never man spake like this man!" How sweet and suitable are thy words to my weary soul; thou hast indeed" the tongue of the learned, and knowest how to speak in season to souls, (like mine) that are weary," Isaiah 1:4. How truly blessed and seasonable is thy well-known voice to my soul, when a sense of my nothingness makes thy fulness yet more precious. Oh! when I hear thee say, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness;" surely, Lord, I feel a power that makes all my enemies seem as nothing. Like thy servant, I then truly" glory in my infirmities, that thy power may rest upon me." Be thou then, dearest Lord Jesus, all I need, and let me hear thy voice, and see thy countenance; for both in life and in death, in time, and to all eternity, the voice of my Lord Jesus will be my everlasting comfort, for none speaketh like thee!
