Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t28900

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28901
 July 1                                                   Evening

 \\"The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool\\
 \\of the day."\\
                                                    --Genesis 3:8

    My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile
 and hearken to the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak
 with thee when thou art prepared to hear. If there be any
 slowness to commune it is not on his part, but altogether on
 thine own, for he stands at the door and knocks, and if his
 people will but open he rejoices to enter. But in what state is
 my heart, which is my Lord's garden? May I venture to hope that
 it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit
 for him? If not, he will have much to reprove, but still I pray
 him to come unto me, for nothing can so certainly bring my heart
 into a right condition as the presence of the Sun of
 Righteousness, who brings healing in his wings. Come,
 therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites thee earnestly, and
 waits for thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved,
 and plant fresh flowers in my garden, such as I see blooming in
 such perfection in thy matchless character! Come, O my Father,
 who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in thy tenderness and
 prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the
 herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would
 speak to me. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth! O that he
 would walk with me; I am ready to give up my whole heart and
 mind to him, and every other thought is hushed. I am only
 asking what he delights to give. I am sure that he will
 condescend to have fellowship with me, for he has given me his
 Holy Spirit to abide with me for ever. Sweet is the cool
 twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and the
 cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my
 elder Brother, my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness,
 for thou hast opened mine ear and I am not rebellious.

28902
 July 2                                                   Evening

 \\"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me:\\
 \\lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down\\
 \\into the pit."\\
                                                     --Psalm 28:1

    A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable
 utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry
 must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to
 waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the
 readiness of the Lord to hear, and his ability to aid, we shall
 see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God
 of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the
 day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries.

    "\\Be not silent to me\\." Mere formalists may be content
 without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot;
 they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in
 calming the mind and subduing the will--they must go further,
 and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and
 those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a
 little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that
 it shakes the wilderness; but his silence is equally full of awe
 to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close his ear, we must
 not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more
 earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and
 grief, he will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case
 should we be in if the Lord should become for ever silent to our
 prayers? "\\Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them\\
 \\that go down into the pit\\." Deprived of the God who answers
 prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in
 the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in
 hell. We \\must\\ have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case
 of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our
 agitated minds, for he never can find it in his heart to permit
 his own elect to perish.

28903
 July 3                                                   Evening

 \\"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him."\\
                                                 --2 Timothy 2:12

    \\We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and\\
 \\with Christ, if we are not in Christ\\. Beloved friend, are
 you trusting to Jesus only? If not, whatever you may have to
 mourn over on earth, you are not "suffering with Christ," and
 have no hope of reigning with him in heaven. Neither are we to
 conclude that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings with
 Christ, for \\it is essential that he be called by God to\\
 \\suffer\\. If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions
 for which neither providence nor grace has fitted us, we ought
 to question whether we are not rather sinning than communing
 with Jesus. If we let passion take the place of judgment, and
 self-will reign instead of Scriptural authority, we shall fight
 the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons, and if we cut our
 own fingers we must not be surprised. Again, \\in troubles which\\
 \\come upon us as the result of sin, we must not dream that we are\\
 \\suffering with Christ\\. When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and
 the leprosy polluted her, she was not suffering for God.
 Moreover, suffering which God accepts \\must have God's glory as\\
 \\its end\\. If I suffer that I may earn a name, or win
 applause, I shall get no other reward than that of the Pharisee.
 It is requisite also \\that love to Jesus, and love to his\\
 \\elect, be ever the mainspring of all our patience. We must\\
 \\manifest the Spirit of Christ\\ in meekness, gentleness, and
 forgiveness. Let us search and see if we truly \\suffer with\\
 \\Jesus\\. And if we do thus suffer, what is our "light
 affliction" compared with \\reigning with him\\? Oh it is so
 blessed to be in the furnace with Christ, and such an honour to
 stand in the pillory with him, that if there were no future
 reward, we might count ourselves happy in present honour; but
 when the recompense is so eternal, so infinitely more than we
 had any right to expect, shall we not take up the cross with
 alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing?
28904
 July 4                                                   Evening

 \\"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not\\
 \\lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."\\
                                                     --Psalm 24:4

    Outward practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace.
 It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the
 doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat
 good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting
 contempt at the last great day. If our hands are not clean, let
 us wash them in Jesus' precious blood, and so let us lift up
 pure hands unto God. But "\\clean hands\\"will not suffice,
 unless they are connected with "\\a pure heart\\." True religion
 is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the
 platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy,
 we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are
 more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our
 being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of
 purity within. The pure in heart shall see God, all others are
 but blind bats.

    The man who is born for heaven "\\hath not lifted up his soul\\
 \\unto vanity\\." All men have their joys, by which their souls
 are lifted up; the worldling lifts up his soul in carnal
 delights, which are mere empty vanities; but the saint loves
 more substantial things; like Jehoshaphat, he is lifted up in
 the ways of the Lord. He who is content with husks, will be
 reckoned with the swine. Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou
 hast thy reward and portion in this life; make much of it, for
 thou shalt know no other joy.

    "\\Nor sworn deceitfully\\." The saints are men of honour
 still. The Christian man's word is his only oath; but that is as
 good as twenty oaths of other men. False speaking will shut any
 man out of heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's house,
 whatever may be his professions or doings. Reader, does the text
 before us condemn thee, or dost thou hope to ascend into the
 hill of the Lord?

28905
 July 5                                                   Evening

 \\"Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is\\
 \\everlasting strength."\\
                                                    --Isaiah 26:4

    Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon
 him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all
 unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of doubts and fears, which so
 much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where
 God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be
 sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how
 ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little
 confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and
 who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the
 household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as
 nimble nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is his mercy clean
 gone for ever? Will he be favourable no more?" David had not
 made any very lengthy trial of the mighty sword of the giant
 Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had tried
 it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved
 itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it
 ever afterwards; even so should we speak well of our God, there
 is none like unto him in the heaven above or the earth beneath;
 "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the
 Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our
 enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to
 live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as
 Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook;
 and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred
 torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We
 have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where
 we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be
 encouraged to trust in the Lord for ever, assured that his ever
 lasting strength will be, as it has been, our succour and stay.

28906
 July 6                                                   Evening

 \\"How many are mine iniquities and sins?"\\
                                                      --Job 13:23

    Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin
 of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression,
 and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower
 up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each
 other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon
 Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is
 in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children!
 Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude
 of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you
 will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the
 people for whom Jesus shed his blood. But we arrive at a more
 adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the
 remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and
 well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before
 him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround his glorious
 throne. "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen." And yet he
 takes upon himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and
 pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but
 the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for
 our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite
 value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's
 people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably
 greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a
 black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet
 stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and
 cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea
 rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his
 sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes
 it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark
 night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene
 splendour.

28907
 July 7                                                   Evening

 \\"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live."\\
                                                   --Ezekiel 16:6

    Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note
 that this fiat of God is \\majestic\\. In our text, we perceive
 a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but
 wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks,
 he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word,
 "Live." There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to
 deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again,
 this fiat is \\manifold\\. When he saith "Live," it includes
 many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be
 condemned, but the mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises
 pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not
 Jesus--our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear
 his voice--Jehovah said "Live," and we were quickened who were
 dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life,
 which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee,
 Live:" and that word rolls on through all the years of time till
 death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the
 Lord's voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the
 resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the
 arch-angel, "Live," and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be
 blest for ever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of
 this same word, "Live." Note again, that it is an
 \\irresistible\\ mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to
 Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is
 heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of
 the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me
 to do?" This mandate is a mandate of \\free grace\\. When
 sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God \\will\\ do
 it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace.
 Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your
 gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden
 you live, see to it that you live in earnest.
28908
 July 8                                                   Evening


 \\"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of\\
 \\my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."\\
                                                     --Psalm 25:5

    When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in
 the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a
 little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves
 to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental
 teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he
 felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's
 school: four times over in two verses he applies for a
 scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many
 professors if instead of following their own devices, and
 cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would
 enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech
 the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and
 teachable spirits. "\\For thou art the God of my salvation\\."
 The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation
 to his people. Reader, is he the God of \\your\\ salvation? Do
 you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and
 in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal
 hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining
 further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely
 he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy
 thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which
 David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and
 comfort in trial. "\\On thee do I wait all the day\\." Patience
 is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait
 when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our
 duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in
 worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our
 faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it
 will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow
 weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how
 graciously he once waited for us.

28909
 July 9                                                   Evening

 \\"And God divided the light from the darkness."\\
                                                    --Genesis 1:4

    A believer has two principles at work within him. In his
 natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was
 darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles
 disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter
 of Romans: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil
 is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
 inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against
 the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
 sin, which is in my members." How is this state of things
 occasioned? "The Lord divided the light from the darkness."
 Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord
 sends in light, there is a conflict, for the one is in
 opposition to the other: a conflict which will never cease till
 the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a
 division \\within\\ the individual Christian, there is certain to
 be \\a division without\\. So soon as the Lord gives to any man
 light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around;
 he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial,
 for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him,
 and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous
 amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for "We know we
 have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
 The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What
 God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ went
 without the camp, bearing his reproach, so let us come out from
 the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless,
 undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as he was, so we are to
 be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and
 distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our
 Master.

28910
 July 10                                                  Evening

 \\"And the evening and the morning were the first day."\\
                                                    --Genesis 1:5

    The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and
 yet \\the two together are called by the name that is given to\\
 \\the light alone\\! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an
 exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there
 is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner
 because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint
 because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a
 most comforting thought to those who are mourning their
 infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there
 is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not
 your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are
 spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly
 holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light,
 though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what
 is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one
 day be the only principle remaining. Observe that \\the evening\\
 \\comes first\\. Naturally we are darkness first in order of
 time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension,
 driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to
 me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when
 grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan,
 "That which is last, lasts for ever." That which is first,
 yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the
 last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you
 become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy
 sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an
 evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with
 God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred,
 high, eternal noon.

28911
 July 11                                                  Evening

 \\"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their\\
 \\children, and their children another generation."\\
                                                       --Joel 1:3

    In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for
 truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the
 Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the
 covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next
 descendants. This is our \\first\\ duty, we are to begin at the
 family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his
 ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and
 the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior
 claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's
 arrangements. To teach our children is a \\personal\\ duty; we
 cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly
 aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred
 obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this
 case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their
 households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring
 concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental
 teaching is a \\natural\\ duty--who so fit to look to the
 child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual
 being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than
 brutish. Family religion is \\necessary\\ for the nation, for
 the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand
 plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the
 most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost
 neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith.
 Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of
 this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons
 and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be
 an \\accepted\\ work, for God has saved the children through the
 parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which
 this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive his smile.
28912
 July 12                                                  Evening

 \\"His heavenly kingdom."\\
                                                 --2 Timothy 4:18

    Yonder city of the great King is a place of \\active\\
 \\service\\. Ransomed spirits serve him day and night in his
 temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their
 King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care
 is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or
 inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of \\communion\\
 with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac,
 and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse
 with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with him who by
 his love and his potent arm has brought them safely home. We
 shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King.
 Heaven is a place of \\victory realized\\. Whenever, Christian,
 thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts--whenever after hard
 struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet--thou
 hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when
 the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou
 shalt find thyself more than conqueror through him who hath
 loved thee. Paradise is a place of \\security\\. When you enjoy
 the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that
 glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect
 citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem,
 thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to him whose
 love hath taught me to long for thee; but louder thanks in
 eternity, when I shall possess thee.

              "My soul has tasted of the grapes,
              And now it longs to go
              Where my dear Lord his vineyard keeps
              And all the clusters grow.

              "Upon the true and living vine,
              My famish'd soul would feast,
              And banquet on the fruit divine,
              An everlasting guest."

28913
 July 13                                                  Evening

 \\"When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this\\
 \\I know; for God is for me."\\
                                                     --Psalm 56:9

    It is impossible for any human speech to express the full
 meaning of this delightful phrase, "\\God is for me\\." He was
 "for us" before the worlds were made; he was "for us," or he
 would not have given his well-beloved son; he was "for us" when
 he smote the Only-begotten, and laid the full weight of his
 wrath upon him--he was "for \\us\\," though he was against
 \\him\\; he was "for us," when we were ruined in the fall--he
 loved us notwithstanding all; he was "for us," when we were
 rebels against him, and with a high hand were bidding him
 defiance; he was "for us," or he would not have brought us
 humbly to seek his face. He has been "for us" in many struggles;
 we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have
 been assailed by temptations from without and within--how could
 we have remained unharmed to this hour if he had not been "for
 us"? He is "for us," with all the infinity of his being; with
 all the omnipotence of his love; with all the infallibility of
 his wisdom; arrayed in all his divine attributes, he is "for
 us,"--eternally and immutably "for us"; "for us" when yon blue
 skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture; "for us"
 throughout eternity. And because he is "for us," the voice of
 prayer will always ensure his help. "\\When I cry unto thee,\\
 \\then shall mine enemies be turned back\\." This is no
 uncertain hope, but a well grounded assurance--"\\this I\\
 \\know\\." I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up
 for the answer, assured that it will come, and that mine enemies
 shall be defeated, "for God is for me." O believer, how happy
 art thou with the King of kings on thy side! How safe with such
 a Protector! How sure thy cause pleaded by such an Advocate! If
 God be for thee, who can be against thee?

28914
 July 14                                                  Evening

 \\"As it began to dawn, came Magdalene, to see the sepulchre."\\
                                                   --Matthew 28:1

    Let us learn from Mary Magdalene how to obtain fellowship
 with the Lord Jesus. Notice how she sought. She sought the
 Saviour \\very early\\ in the morning. If thou canst wait for
 Christ, and be patient in the hope of having fellowship with him
 at some distant season, thou wilt never have fellowship at all;
 for the heart that is fitted for communion is a hungering and a
 thirsting heart. She sought him also with \\very great\\
 \\boldness\\. Other disciples fled from the sepulchre, for they
 trembled and were amazed; but Mary, it is said, "stood" at the
 sepulchre. If you would have Christ with you, seek him boldly.
 Let nothing hold you back. Defy the world. Press on where others
 flee. She sought Christ \\faithfully\\--she stood \\at the\\
 \\sepulchre\\. Some find it hard to stand by a living Saviour,
 but she stood by a dead one. Let us seek Christ after this mode,
 cleaving to the very least thing that has to do with him,
 remaining faithful though all others should forsake him. Note
 further, she sought Jesus \\earnestly\\--she stood "\\weeping\\".
 Those tear-droppings were as spells that led the Saviour
 captive, and made him come forth and show himself to her. If you
 desire Jesus' presence, weep after it! If you cannot be happy
 unless he come and say to you, "Thou art my beloved," you will
 soon hear his voice. Lastly, she sought the Saviour \\only\\.
 What cared she for angels, she turned herself back from them;
 her search was only for her Lord. If Christ be your one and only
 love, if your heart has cast out all rivals, you will not long
 lack the comfort of his presence. Mary Magdalene sought thus
 \\because she loved much\\. Let us arouse ourselves to the same
 intensity of affection; let our heart, like Mary's, be full of
 Christ, and our love, like hers, will be satisfied with nothing
 short of himself. O Lord, reveal thyself to us this evening!

28915
 July 15                                                  Evening

 \\"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene."\\
                                                      --Mark 16:9

    Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene," probably not only
 on account of her great love and persevering seeking, but
 because, as the context intimates, \\she had been a special\\
 \\trophy of Christ's delivering power\\. Learn from this, that
 the greatness of our sin before conversion should not make us
 imagine that we may not be specially favoured with the very
 highest grade of fellowship. She was one who had left all to
 become \\a constant attendant on the Saviour\\. He was her
 first, her chief object. Many who were on Christ's side did not
 take up Christ's cross; \\she\\ did. \\She spent her substance\\
 \\in relieving his wants\\. If we would see much of Christ, let
 us \\serve\\ him. Tell me who they are that sit oftenest under
 the banner of his love, and drink deepest draughts from the cup
 of communion, and I am sure they will be those who give most,
 who serve best, and who abide closest to the bleeding heart of
 their dear Lord. But notice \\how\\ Christ revealed himself to
 this sorrowing one--by a \\word\\, "Mary." It needed but one
 word \\in his voice\\, and at once she knew him, and \\her heart\\
 \\owned allegiance by another word\\, her heart was too full to
 say more. That one word would naturally be the most fitting for
 the occasion. It implies obedience. She said, "\\Master\\."
 There is no state of mind in which this confession of allegiance
 will be too cold. No, when your spirit glows most with the
 heavenly fire, then you will say, "I am thy servant, thou hast
 loosed my bonds." If you can say, "Master," if you feel that his
 will is your will, then you stand in a happy, holy place. He
 must have said, "Mary," or else you could not have said,
 "Rabboni." See, then, from all this, how Christ honours those
 who honour him, how love draws our Beloved, how it needs but one
 word of his to turn our weeping to rejoicing, how his presence
 makes the heart's sunshine.
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