Al's Devotional

Good morning, All,   This is a continuation of the previous chapter.   The last verse in chapter 8 says, Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by . Joh n 8:59 .  So after the confrontation in the Temple when Jesus stated he was the light of the world, and after he told the Pharisees that they were of their father, the devil, Jesus is leaving the Temple and he comes across a blind person.   The lesson here is one of great importance.  One of the signs of the coming of the Messiah was that he would open the eyes of the blind.  This is the second miracle that Jesus performed on the Sabbath, the first one being the healing of the lame man whom Jesus told, " take up thy bed and walk. "  The Pharisees were already out to kill him.  He had violated their deepest most religiously held precept, works on the Sabb...

At last count the lottery was over a billion dollars.  Imagine that, if you won it, you could have anything you wanted.  What would get if you could have anything you wanted?   Now take it a step further, what would you ask for if God Himself told you that he would give you anything?  That is what happened with his disciples,   And in that day ye will ask me nothing: Verily, verily, I say to you, Whatever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.  Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.  Joh 16:23 -24     So now, think about this, what did the followers of Jesus ask?  Which of His disciples asked for wealth, or houses, or fame?  Which of His disciples died a normal death?  Which of His disciples was kept from temptation or persecution?  Paul wrote,   Are they...

Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.  His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.  For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.  For neither did his brethren believe in him.  Joh 7:2 -5     Show thyself to the world A single word will often lay bare a man's object, habit of mind, whole bent of nature. This is a revealing sentence involving a perpetual principle of the carnal mind. Christ had been doing and saying great things, but of the latter these people made no account. They fix upon that which struck the eye. I. THIS IS A SPEECH OF WORLDLY MINDED MEN, and presents to us the worldly mind in its foolishness, making false deductions because unable to understand the things of God. Rising n...

For neither did his brethren believe in him.  Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.  The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Joh 7:5 -7      Christ and man I. THE DESPERATE HARDNESS AND UNBELIEF OF HUMAN NATURE. Even His brethren did not believe in Him, who should have been the first to do so. This was worse than the unbelief of the Jews. 1. The doctrine of man's need of preventing and converting grace stands out here as a sunbeam. Seeing Christ's miracles, hearing Christ's teaching, living in Christ's own company, were not enough to make men believers. The mere possession o f spiritual privileges never made any one a Christian. All is useless without the work of the Holy Ghost (chap. 6:44). 2. Christians in every age will do well to remember this. They are often troubled to find that...

If any man will do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from myself . Joh 7:17      If any man will do his will - Literally, if any man wills or is willing to do the will of God. If there is a disposition in anyone to do that will, though he should not be able perfectly to keep His commandments. To do the will of God is to obey His commandments; to yield our hearts and lives to His requirements. A disposition to do His will is a readiness to yield our intellects, our feelings, and all that we have entirely to Him, to be governed according to His pleasure. He shall know - He shall have evidence, in the very attempt to do the will of God, of the truth of the doctrine. This evidence is internal, and to the individual it is satisfactory and conclusive. It is of two kinds. 1. He will find that the doctrines which Jesus taught are such as commend themselves to his...

Jesus saith to him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.  And immediately the man was healed, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him that was cured, it is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.  He answered them, He that healed me, the same said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk.  Then they asked him, What man is that who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?  And he that was healed knew not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, thou art cured: sin no more, lest a worse thing come to thee.  Joh 5:8 -14     The third miracle in John's Gospel—Christ giving power to the powerless This third of the miracles recorded in John's Gospel finds a place there, as it would appea...

Jesus saith to him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk . Joh 5:8   Take up thy bed and walk   The hospital of waiters visited by the gospel   It was the Sabbath day and a feast. Where and how would Jesus spend it? Not in any trifling manner. He would do good; so He spent it amongst the afflicted, and not even among His friends.   I. First we will go down to BETHESDA, the hospital of waiters. There was nothing else that they could do before the troubling of the waters. There are enough waiters to-day to fill all the five porches. 1. Some are waiting for a more convenient season—on a sick-bed, possibly, or a dying-bed. How many years have you been waiting? The wise man lives to-day. 2. In the second porch a crowd is waiting for dreams and visions like those with which some ancient prophet was favored. What is this but insulting unbelief? Is not Christ to be believed until...

When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith to him, Wilt thou be healed?  Joh 5:6      "Wilt thou be made whole?"   Do you think it a strange question? Do you take it for granted that a man must long to be freed from the tyranny of sin. Ah! I would to God it were so. But it is not. 1. One desires to be saved only from the consequences of sin, and from the eternal death which is the bitter wages of sin; but not—not to "be made whole!" No! To be made whole would mean giving up some practice which has become second nature. It would mean making new rules of life which would stand in the way of present prosperity. 2. If this one were to say straight out what is in his heart, he would answer the question, "Wilt thou be made whole?"—thus, "Ah, Lord Jesus, leave me as I am! Only—in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, good Lord, de...

When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith to him, Wilt thou be healed?  Joh 5:6      The cure of spiritual disease   I. WHAT IS SUPPOSED IN THE CONDITION OF THE PERSON ADDRESSED. A state of disorder and disease, or the question would be absurd. You often hear of the dignity of human nature. 1. Physically and intellectually it is dignified when we see man, in his capacity for boundless improvement, "a little lower than the angels." 2. But how lamentable it is to find his fine powers misapplied and abused! What is man morally and religiously? (1) His body has become mortal and subject to every calamity. (2) His soul is alienated from the life of God. (3) He has no spiritual health.   II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE QUESTION? 1. That the disease is curable. But not by man; (1) not by gov...

When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith to him, Wilt thou be healed?  Joh 5:6    A singular but needful question It seems a strange question. Who would not be made whole? Would the poor man have been lying at the pool had he not been anxious for healing? Yet, as our Lord spoke no superfluous words, it may be perceived that the paralysis was mental as well as physical. He had waited until despondency had dried up his spirits, and he scarcely cared whether he was made whole or not. The Savior touched a chord that needed to vibrate; He aroused a dormant faculty whose exercise was essential to cure. Are there not those here who, through having waited so long, are beginning to get paralyzed in their once earnest desires to come to occupy this seat as a mere matter of custom.   I. This question is needful, because IT IS NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD. 1. It is not the...

And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years.  Jesus saith to him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.  And immediately the man was healed, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.   J oh 5: 7-9     He is bidden to take up his bed. First, To make it to appear that it was a perfect cure, and purely miraculous; for he did not recover strength by degrees, but from the extremity of weakness and impotency he suddenly stepped into the highest degree of bodily strength; so that he was able to carry as great a load as any porter that had been as long used to it as he had been disused. He, who this minute was not able to turn himself in his bed, the next minute was able to carry his bed. The man sick of the palsy (Mat 9:6) was bidden to go to his house, but probably this man had no house to go to, the hospital was his home; therefore he is bidden to rise an...

This is really very good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciI6qfd70s

And the glory which thou gavest to me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one . Joh 17:22    Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given to me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given to me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.  Joh 17:24        Eternal glory   I. THE OBJECTS OF THIS PRAYED. " That which Thou hast given to Me " and " they also ." But in what respects were this people given by the Father to the Son? 1. In the first instance, He gave them to Him in the everlasting covenant. 2. But, in the second instance, the Father gives them to His Son in the day of their espousals—in the day of their effectual calling. " All that the Father giveth Me ," saith Jesus, " shall come to Me " (Joh 6:37),—not all that the Father gave Me,—as if He were speaking merely ...

But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.   Rom 10:21     God's entreaties   Nothing can be more wonderful. That man should stretch out his hands to God—the dependent and sinful creature supplicating the supremely righteous and holy Creator—this is as it ought to be. But here—the Creator stretches out His hands to the creature; God entreats man; the offended Sovereign beseeches the offending subject! But is there not something still more wonderful, that He should have to complain of want of success? Yet such was the mournful fact! God's entreaties were— I. Condescending. When a father entreats a child, a master a servant, a monarch, a subject, there is condescension. But what is all the condescension of creature to creature?—of creature the most exalted to creature the most insignificant and mean? But what is the difference between a...