the Fourth Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
He giveth more grace. - James 4:6.
WE are here taught to view the Saviour as “THE GOD OF ALL GRACE.” We are encouraged to open our mouth wide, and he will fill it; to ask and receive, that our joy may be full. In applying this subject let us observe, First, What a view does it give us of the glory of Christ? How boundless his compassion! How amazing his resources! How unsearchable his riches! He is Lord of all. Compare him with other benefactors: how soon would the greatest monarch be impoverished, if all the poor and needy of every kind were to apply to him with the assurance of success! But in all ages of the world “a multitude which no man can number” have addressed the Saviour, and not one of them all have been repulsed, or sent empty away! Every one of them has said, “The Lord, hath heard the voice of my supplications;” and, turning to others, has exclaimed, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Secondly, It should lead us to self-examination. Are we partakers of this fulness?
The hearers of the gospel may be divided into three classes. First, There are those who never received from the fulness there is in Christ; they have never applied for it. They are, indeed, the subjects of his bounty and of his providence. He has clothed them and fed them all their life long, though they have never offered up one prayer to him. But have we not souls within us, and an eternity before us? Is this all we need, and all we shall need in the hour of trouble and in the day of death? The Scriptures assure us that there is no relief but in him, but that in him it is sure. His giving falls in with his dispensation of mercy. He delights to succour and relieve all applicants; he never said, “Seek ye me in vain.” In the days of his flesh he said, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” If we do not consider ourselves too good, he will not deem us too bad. Oh, let us turn, then, from all creatures, who are but broken cisterns, to the Saviour, the fountain of living waters; from a world of vanity and vexation, to the Saviour full of grace and truth. So long as we look to ourselves, the view is enough to fill us with despair; but on receiving out of his fulness we shall be able to say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength;” for Christ is all and in all to those who have received him.
Secondly, There are some who have received of this fulness, but are not persuaded of it, and have never drawn a conclusion in their favour. But shall this drive them to despair? It should not:-“There is hope in Israel concerning this thing.” They have a proof of something good, and a pledge of something better, if they have only light enough to see their darkness, and feeling enough to be sensible of their need of a Saviour.
“Cold as I feel this heart of mine,
Yet, since I feel it so,
It yields some hope of life divine
Within, however low.”
“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Thirdly, There are some who can and do say that they have received of this fulness. “Oh,” say these, “I cannot sufficiently or worthily express my gratitude for what he has done for my soul, for he has turned my feet into the path of peace, and my desire is to his name; and I can say, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.’” If this is our experience, we have reason to rejoice in the Lord. Let us remember that we were once far off, but he has brought us nigh; we were once poor, but he has enriched us. We know who it is that has made us to differ; and, having received of his fulness and “grace for grace,” we are thus called upon to speak to others; and we can address them from our own experience and say, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.”
How hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? - Acts 2:8.
THE audience on this occasion was composed of “Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, and Cretes, and Arabians;” but, however diversified, they all heard the Apostles speak in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
In noticing, therefore, this extraordinary fact, we observe, First, That it could be nothing less than a real miracle. Two things are essential to a miracle. First, There must be something that can be seen, and touched, and handled. These are called signs, and it would be wonderful if signs could not be seen. This, by the way, shows the absurdity of the doctrine of transubstantiation. Its advocates say it is a miracle. Why, then, let it be seen. We are all capable of seeing and knowing bread and wine; the priest mumbles certain words over it, and he says it is changed. Why, then, let it be seen-let it be tasted, let it be touched, let it be examined. It was so with all the miracles of Moses. It was so with the miracles of our Lord. The deaf heard, the blind saw, the dumb spake, the lepers were cleansed, the dead were raised up; and so it was here. These men professed to speak in all these various languages; well, and here were many men who heard them speak in these languages, and were well capable of judging.
Secondly, A miracle must be above all known second causes. God only could have done this. God only could have stored the minds of these men with such a multitude of arbitrary signs, and have given them power and ability to utter such a variety of distinct sounds. It is well known to be very difficult for any man to speak a foreign language-to bring his knowledge of it into application, so as to be intelligible. And yet we find these men speaking these languages off-hand, and rendering themselves perfectly intelligible to all that heard them. It could therefore be nothing in them.
