BibleWare/BibWare.bin/bibstudy/morneven.exe/ME03.PM

Text File | 1993-09-05 | 63KB | 1,147 lines

* 03/01/PM

"He is precious."
                                                   --1 Peter 2:7

   As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in
our Beloved. The glances of His eyes outshine the sun: the
beauties of His face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no
fragrance is like the breath of His mouth. Gems of the mine, and
pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by His
preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did
not and could not tell us _how_ precious, nor could any of us
compute the value of God's unspeakable gift. Words cannot set
forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to His people, nor
fully tell how essential He is to their satisfaction and
happiness. Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty
a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining,
but Christ had hidden Himself, and all the world was black to
you; or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was
gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light.
What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If
once He hideth Himself from us, withered are the flowers of our
garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their
songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles
cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He
is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our
life. Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without
Him, when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day's
battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home
jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between
thee and Christ? Blessed be His name, He will not suffer us to
try our lot without Him, for Jesus never forsakes His own. Yet,
let the thought of _what life would be without Him_ enhance His
preciousness.

* 03/02/PM

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ."
                                                 --Ephesians 3:8

   The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to
preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a
drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while
Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it
greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it
sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their
abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon
learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, _try hard work_;
if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for
Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart
from the living God, attempt especially the great work of
proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will
know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you
are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness,
he was never perplexed as to the _subject_ of his ministry. From
his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing
but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God
who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal
efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let "Christ
and Him crucified" be your ever recurring theme. The Christian
should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun
is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, "Fill us with
thy beams!" but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they
close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian
feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he
must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of
Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject
which is both "seed for the sower, and bread for the eater."
This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the
master-key to the heart of the hearer.

* 03/03/PM

"He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove."
                                                  --Matthew 3:16

   As the Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus, the head,
so He also, in measure, descends upon the members of the
mystical body. His descent is to us after the same fashion as
that in which it fell upon our Lord. There is often a singular
_rapidity_ about it; or ever we are aware, we are impelled
onward and heavenward beyond all expectation. Yet is there none
of the hurry of earthly haste, for the wings of the dove are as
soft as they are swift. _Quietness_ seems essential to many
spiritual operations; the Lord is in the still small voice, and
like the dew, His grace is distilled in silence. The dove has
ever been the chosen type of _purity_, and the Holy Spirit is
holiness itself. Where He cometh, everything that is pure and
lovely, and of good report, is made to abound, and sin and
uncleanness depart. _Peace_ reigns also where the Holy Dove
comes with power; He bears the olive branch which shows that the
waters of divine wrath are assuaged. _Gentleness_ is a sure
result of the Sacred Dove's transforming power: hearts touched
by His benign influence are meek and lowly henceforth and for
ever. _Harmlessness_ follows, as a matter of course; eagles and
ravens may hunt their prey--the turtledove can endure wrong, but
cannot inflict it. We must be harmless as doves. The dove is an
apt picture of _love_, the voice of the turtle is full of
affection; and so, the soul visited by the blessed Spirit,
abounds in love to God, in love to the brethren, and in love to
sinners; and above all, in love to Jesus. The brooding of the
Spirit of God upon the face of the deep, first produced _order
and life_, and in our hearts, He causes and fosters new life and
light. Blessed Spirit, as Thou didst rest upon our dear
Redeemer, even so rest upon us from this time forward and for
ever.

* 03/04/PM

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy
house."
                                                    --Psalm 36:8

   Sheba's queen was amazed at the sumptuousness of Solomon's
table. She lost all heart when she saw the provision of a single
day; and she marvelled equally at the company of servants who
were feasted at the royal board. But what is this to the
hospitalities of the God of grace? Ten thousand thousand of his
people are daily fed; hungry and thirsty, they bring large
appetites with them to the banquet, but not one of them returns
unsatisfied; there is enough for each, enough for all, enough
for evermore. Though the host that feed at Jehovah's table is
countless as the stars of heaven, yet each one has his portion
of meat. Think how much grace one saint requires, so much that
nothing but the Infinite could supply him for one day; and yet
the Lord spreads His table, not for one, but many saints, not
for one day, but for many years; not for many years only, but
for generation after generation. Observe the full feasting
spoken of in the text, the guests at mercy's banquet are
satisfied, nay, more "abundantly satisfied;" and that not with
ordinary fare, but with fatness, the peculiar fatness of God's
own house; and such feasting is guaranteed by a faithful promise
to all those children of men who put their trust under the
shadow of Jehovah's wings. I once thought if I might but get the
broken meat at God's back door of grace I should be satisfied;
like the woman who said, "The dogs eat of the crumbs that fall
from the master's table;" but no child of God is ever served
with scraps and leavings; like Mephibosheth, they all eat from
the king's own table. In matters of grace, we all have
Benjamin's mess--we all have ten times more than we could have
expected, and though our necessities are great, yet are we often
amazed at the marvellous plenty of grace which God gives us
experimentally to enjoy.

* 03/05/PM

"Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."
                                                    --Psalm 35:3

   What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my
evening's petition; but first let it yiel