the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
November 9—Morning—Daniel 12:2
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."—Daniel 12:2.
What a morning will this be! how distinguished from every other! Lord, how often do I now awake with thoughts of earth, and sin, and trifles, and vanity How have I opened mine eyes this morning?—was it, dearest Jesus, with thoughts of thee? In that solemn morning there will be no longer dreams, as now, even in our waking hours—for all childish imaginations, shadows, doubts, and fears, will be done away. Precious, blessed Lord Jesus! cause me morning by morning, while upon earth, to awaken with sweet thoughts of thee. Let the close of night, and the opening of the day, be with thy dear name in my heart, on my thoughts, and on my lips; and in that everlasting morning, after having dropped asleep in Jesus, and in thy arms by faith, may I awake up in thy embraces, and after thy likeness, to be everlastingly and eternally satisfied with thee.
November 9—Evening—1 Corinthians 6:11
"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."—1 Corinthians 6:11.
It is profitable at times to see our mercies, and to trace them to their source, by considering what we once were, the better to apprehend what we now are. "Such," the apostle saith, when speaking of the vilest of the vile, "were some of you:" dead in trespasses and sins, hateful, and hating one another. But now, being washed from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, there is a justification by Christ, and a sanctification in Christ; and by the effectual work of God the Spirit in the heart, the believer stands complete before God, in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is a blessed testimony to the soul of the poor sinner, whom the Holy Ghost hath convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. For God the Father gave the promise, in the old testament scripture, that he would sprinkle clean water upon the people, and they should be clean. And here, in the new testament dispensation, the fountain is opened, by which it is to be accomplished, and they are said to be clean; yea, "both washed, and justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." So that all the persons of the Godhead are engaged in this glorious act, to render it secure and certain to the believing soul. See to it then, my soul, that this be thy privilege, and that from long-tried and approved experience thou canst take home this sweet scripture to thyself, as both "washed, justified, and sanctified," and set to thy seal that God is true. Oh! for grace to live in the daily exercise of faith upon it, until faith be swallowed up, and lost in sight, and amidst the throng of the redeemed in glory, thou shalt live at the fountain-head of enjoyment, with those that have "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!"
