Daily Devotional Readings
These Galatians had foolishly been trying to bear the heavy burden of the Mosaic law. They had entangled themselves again with the yoke of bondage. They endeavoured to establish righteousness for themselves by the works of the law. None of them said, 'We are saved by our own works.' Satan does not work in such an open manner. These lawmongers at Galatia were saying, 'We are saved by grace, but only if we keep the law.' Others of them said, 'We are saved by grace alone, in so far as our justification is concerned; but in order to be sanctified we must keep the law as a rule of life.' In reality their doctrine was the same. They were attempting to mix law and grace. They had forsaken the gospel way of salvation by grace alone.
Now Paul says to them, 'Do you want a law to live by? Then live by the rule of the law of Christ – love.' Here is a law which is a living principle. It touches the heart, influences the life, honours God and is sympathetic towards and helpful to men. The whole law is fulfilled in this one thing – love. Without it, all the pretentious, self-righteous piety which men claim to possess is hypocrisy.
It seems quite remarkable to me that those self-righteous people who apparently want all men to know that they make the law of Moses their rule of life usually forget that which is the essence and spirit of the law - love. They are so righteous that they become stern, hard, severe, critical and judgemental, which is being unrighteous. Even the righteousness of the Mosaic law is a righteousness of love. But I have never found one of those self-righteous legalists who was tender-hearted, kind and gentle. He looks at the killing letter of the law and becomes as hard and stern as death.
My friends, let this be the law by which we live: 'Love one another.' Reject that which is hard, stern and severe. 'Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.'
In my mind's eye, I see the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon his throne in glory, in the blessed serenity of his total sovereignty. He is not weak, frustrated and anxious, as some have pictured him, not knowing if he will be able to accomplish his purpose. Rather, he is calm, content and peaceful, knowing that by virtue of his sovereign power 'the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.' Behold his transcendent glory! He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the sovereign Monarch of heaven and earth. His empire is as limitless as the universe. His dominion is from everlasting to everlasting. His kingdom rules over all! Everything belongs to him. Everything is governed by him. Everything does his bidding. He is God over all and blessed for ever.
Standing before his throne are all those angelic, heavenly creatures who anxiously ' worship and serve him. They cast their crowns before him in adoring reverence. In that same great assembly I see all of God's elect who have already entered the heavenly city. They too cast their crowns before his feet and sing the songs of redeeming love. I see beneath his blessed feet the earth, which has become his footstool. His saints upon the earth worship, adore and honour him as the rightful sovereign of the universe and the rightful Lord of their hearts. They live in hopeful expectation of his glorious advent.
But then I see before this great King all the elements of the world, all the beasts of the field, all those fallen sons of Adam who wage their warfare against his throne, all the spirits of the damned in hell, the demons of hell and the prince of darkness himself. My heart begins to melt in fear for the safety of the great King's throne, his kingdom, his glory and my own soul. But all my fears are immediately silenced. All those evil men, the demons of hell, those forces of evil and Satan himself have a bit of iron in their mouths and a bridle of steel; and he who holds the reins of that bridle is the King himself! Christ is on his throne!
This is the result of our Saviour's finished work of righteousness and redemption on the earth as our Substitute. Paul is telling us that all the vast empire of God's creation has been placed under the dominion of the God-man, our Saviour. He is telling us that there is no limit to the realm and sphere of our Redeemer's total sovereignty. He is Lord of all; Christ is Lord of all people, Lord of all things and Lord of all events. The Lord God has given to his Son 'a name which is above every name'; and the name he has given him is Lord Supreme'.
Jesus Christ is Lord over all people upon this earth. He is Lord over the righteous and the wicked, the living and the dead, the believing and the unbelieving (Rom. 14:9). Believers recognize, acknowledge and willingly surrender to his lordship. Unbelievers deny it and rebel against it. But he is none the less Lord. All are under his control, do his bidding, perform his will and accomplish his purpose, always and in all things.
Jesus Christ is Lord over all the powers of darkness (Col. 2:15). Those souls damned for ever in hell, the demons of hell and Satan himself are all under the dominion of King Jesus. Not one of our Lord's enemies can breathe or move, except by his permission: and even then their moves are governed by him to accomplish nothing but good for his people and the eternal purpose of God (Job 1: 12; 2:6).
Jesus Christ is Lord over all the affairs of providence (Isa. 53: 10- 12; Rom. 8:28; Heb. 1: 1-3). I rejoice to tell you that there is no place in this universe, from the throne-of God in the highest glory to the lowest pit of deepest hell, where Jesus Christ does not rule in total, absolute, sovereign power. God's creation is not out of control. Nothing is thrown into confusion. Jesus Christ is Lord. His purpose is being accomplished.
And Jesus Christ is Lord over all the vast regions of heaven (Heb. 12: 1 0.) The King of the City Beautiful is Immanuel, God in our nature. The light of that city is Christ himself. The reward of heaven is Christ. All the songs of the redeemed in heaven shall be praises to the Lord the Lamb for ever.
The doctrine of the Trinity is often represented as a speculative point of theology, which must not be pressed too tenaciously. But we cannot place too much importance upon it. It is an essential element of gospel truth. It is interwoven in every aspect of our salvation, all the doctrines of the gospel and the experience of God's people. We cannot do without it. As soon as a man is convinced of his sinful and miserable condition by nature, he perceives that there is a divine person whom he has offended and that there is need for another divine person to make satisfaction for his offences and that there is need for a third divine person to give him life eternal, to regenerate, sanctify and preserve him.
As you read the Bible, it becomes obvious to your mind, if you are a believer, that all three of the divine persons of the Holy Trinity are actively engaged in the salvation of your soul. This fact is no where more clearly revealed than in Paul's letter to the Ephesians (1:3-14). Our salvation was planned by God the Father in his eternal purpose of grace: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him: in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Our salvation was purchased by God the Son in his substitutionary sacrifice at Calvary: 'In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.' And our salvation was performed in our hearts by the gracious, effectual work of God the Holy Spirit who gave us faith in Christ: 'Ye were scaled with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance...'
There are many who think they do honour to the Lord Jesus Christ when they say that 'Christ is like God', or that 'Christ is a God.' They do him no Honour at all. Their pretended honour is naked blasphemy! Their religion is a mockery of the Lord Jesus Christ, for he claimed that he is very God of very God. Did he say, 'Before Abraham was, I AM'? (John 8:58.) Did he not declarer and my Father are one'? (John 10:30.) While our Saviour lived upon this earth, he claimed to possess the attributes of God: righteousness, infinity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. And he fully demonstrated the truthfulness of his claims.
The Word of God expressly declares that, Jesus Christ is God: 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever' (Ps. 45:6; Heb. 1:8). 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us'(I John 3:16).'Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever' (Rom. 9:5). 'Without controversy great is the mystery of' godliness: God was manifest in the flesh' (1 Tim. 3:16). While he was upon the earth his disciples worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ as God, and were never reproved for doing so. 'Thomas... said unto him, My Lord and my God'(John 20:28). Had he been merely a good man, or even an angel, he would have surely rebuked any who called upon him and worshipped him as God (Rev. 19: 10).
If our Saviour had been nothing more than a good, righteous man he could never have redeemed us and justified us before God's holy law. Only God could tender perfect righteousness of infinite merit to the law. Only one who is both God and man in one glorious person could have suffered to full satisfaction the infinite justice of God, so as to merit by one great sacrifice the eternal salvation of God's elect. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, is 'Immanuel', God with us, God in our nature, the God-man, our Mediator. Were he not God, he would be the greatest impostor who ever lived, and we should all be miserably lost and without hope.
The Lord God gave us his Son. We did not earn him. We did not even desire him. And when he came we despised him, rejected him, nailed him up on a piece of wood and mocked him as he died. Yet for all of this, the love, mercy and grace of God were not abated! The purpose of his love was not thwarted. God's love towards fallen, guilty sinners, scattered throughout the whole world, was so great that 'He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
God gave his Son to be our Saviour in the covenant of grace before the world began. Before all worlds, in the mind and purpose of God, he took his own beloved Son, laid him upon the altar of his strict justice as the Substitute of that vast multitude whom he had determined to save and killed him as a sin-atoning, propitiatory sacrifice. In that sense Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God 'slain from the foundation of the world' (Rev. 13:8).
God gave his Son in the incarnation. In the fulness of time the divine purpose must be fulfilled. God sent forth his Spirit to prepare a body for his Son in the virgin's womb and Immanuel came, God in our nature! 'God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law' (Gal. 4:4-5).
God gave his Son to die in the place of sinners at Calvary. The death of Christ was not the work of Satan, nor even the work of men, for neither Satan nor men had the power to kill God the Son. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was the work of God the Father, the greatest work ever done by God. It was that work which God had purposed from eternity, for which he created this world. In the crucifixion of his Son by the hands of wicked men God gave his Son up into the hands of his own holy law, to suffer the wrath and vengeance of the law in the place of sinners. Being fully satisfied with the sacrifice of his own dear Son, God now gives salvation and eternal life to every sinner who trusts his Son. Truly, Jesus Christ dying in the place of sinners is the gift of God's love!
When the prophet says, 'It pleased the Lord to bruise him,' he does not mean us to understand that God found a reason for laughter in the agonies of his Son. God did not take delight and joy in punishing his Son. The text might be read like this: 'It gave satisfaction to the Lord to bruise him. 'The Lord himself tells us, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.' In doing so, he is telling us that his wrath and justice can never be satisfied by the death of the wicked. That is the reason why hell is eternal. Men can never satisfy the infinite wrath and justice of God. The torments of the damned in hell can never give God pleasure and satisfaction. But when God bruised his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Substitute, crushing him beneath the terrible load of our sin, he was pleased with the death of his Son. The sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, pouring out his life's blood unto death, made an infinite satisfaction to the wrath and justice of God. God, in his infinite holiness and justice, could not require more than Christ offered and he could not be satisfied with less than Christ offered for the ransom of our souls.
Surely the prophet also means us to understand that God is pleased with the sure results of his Son's death, The Lord God was pleased to 'make his soul an offering for sin', because he saw more than the blood of his Son being poured out at Calvary. He saw more than the agony and the groans and the ignominious shame that his Son endured. He saw that as a result (if his Son's great sacrifice, he would 'justify many'. He saw all the host of his elect standing around his throne, shouting and singing the praises of his Son, throughout the endless ages of eternity. This was 'the joy' which was set before our Saviour, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame'. In order to save us, 'to the praise of the glory of his grace', 'it pleased the Lord to bruise him'.
In Romans 10: 14-17 the apostle Paul tells us four things which are impossible. He has declared, 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' And we rejoice to know that it is true. Yet we must not ignore the fact that Paul plainly tells us that certain things must take place before any sinner can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
1.No one can call upon Christ for mercy until he believes on Christ. In order for a man to seek the mercy of God in Christ by faith he must believe the testimony God has given concerning his Son: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?'
2. No one can truly believe on Christ until he hears the gospel of Christ. 'How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?' Sinners today are being asked to 'believe on Jesus', but the preachers are not telling anyone who the Lord Jesus Christ is – what he has done - where he is now - or how God in justice saves sinners by the substitutionary sacrifice of his Son. Until it sinner has heard these things faithfully proclaimed he cannot have or exercise true faith in Christ and be saved. No one is saved where the gospel is not faithfully proclaimed.
3. No one can hear the gospel of Christ without a preacher. God has chosen to save sinners by the instrumentality of gospel preaching. God does not call sinners to Christ by the voice of angels or the voice of singers. God calls sinners to Christ by the Voice of a preacher, by the voice of a man proclaiming the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. 'How shall they hear without a preacher?... Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.'
4. No man can truly preach the gospel of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit unless he-is sent of God. 'How shall they preach, except they be sent?' When God intends to call his elect to Christ he always sends a preacher, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to that place where his elect are found, just as he sent Philip to preach the gospel to the eunuch.
Through the course of our Lord's earthly ministry he had men and women who followed him for a season, but for one reason or another forsook him. This was also the experience of the apostles in the early church. And it continues to be the experience of God's saints today. In every church there are empty seats which were once filled by men and women who were highly esteemed, but who have now forsaken Christ. I have seen many who were so promising, for whom I had such high hopes, forsake Christ. Always, without exception, their apostasy can be traced to one of these four facts.
1. Some forsake Christ simply because they cannot endure the doctrine of the gospel. The natural man is highly offended by the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. He will not long endure a faithful, consistent declaration of the gospel. Some are offended by the grace of the gospel; others are offended by the simplicity of the gospel.
2. Some forsake Christ because they received the Word as stony-ground hearers. Having no root, they wither away as soon as some trial arises because of the Word.
3. Some forsake Christ because they received the Word as seed sown among thorns. After a while the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the influence of the gospel.
4. Some forsake Christ because they do not count the costs of following Christ. Once they find out what it costs to follow Christ, they determine that the price is too dear and they refuse to pay.
Whenever a professed believer forsakes Christ and the gospel it will be for one of these reasons. We must not be surprised or shaken when it happens. 'They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us' (I John 2:19).
God cannot lie. He cannot break his covenant. He cannot forsake his people. He cannot be unjust. He cannot deny himself. And God cannot remember the sins of his people. I do not suggest that God is not aware of the fact that we have sinned, are sinning and will sin. He is. But in so far as the law and justice of God are concerned our sins do not exist. The blood of Christ has blotted them out, washed them away and removed them from us: 'As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us' (Ps. 103:12). Because God himself has removed our sins, he cannot remember our sins. This is his promise to every believer: 'I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins' (Isa. 43:25). What can this promise of grace mean? It means at least these four things.
1. God will never remember our sins so as to treat us any the less graciously because of our sins.
2. God will never remember our sins so as to bring them up and require payment from us for our sins while we live.
3. God will not remember our sins when we stand before him in the Day of judgement. 'In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve' (Jer. 50:20).
4. God will not remember our sins in the distribution of his heavenly gifts, crowns and rewards. All the limitless bounty of heaven's eternal glory will be given to all of God's elect, because all will be perfect, blameless, sinless and holy through the righteousness and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Occasionally I hear preachers make this statement: 'God does not forgive sin.' I understand what they are doing. They are emphasizing the fact that God's justice must be satisfied. But we must be careful not to contradict the plain statements of Holy Scripture. God does forgive sin. He says that he does. He is a God 'keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' (Exod. 34:7). 'God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you' (Eph. 4:32). 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (I John 1:9). Yes, marvellous and unbelievable as it may appear, the holy, just and true God does forgive sin! It is true God does not forgive sin as men speak of forgiveness, but he does forgive sin. In faithfulness to his covenant, in faithfulness to his character and in faithfulness to his Son, God forgives sin in a way that is altogether consistent with his justice.
God cannot forgive sin unless he can do so in a way that is honouring to his law and satisfying to his justice. He said, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' (Ezek.18:20). He said, 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them' (Gal. 3: 10). How can God forgive sin and yet be just?
In order for a holy God to forgive sin four things must be done.
1. The law of God must be honoured and perfectly obeyed.
2. The justice of God must be satisfied.
3. The sinner must bear the full punishment of his sin.
4. The sin must be entirely removed.
The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that there is only one way for a holy and just God to forgive sin. God can only forgive sin through the righteous obedience and satisfactory sacrifice of an all-sufficient substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ is that Substitute! In him, and only in him, is there forgiveness with God (Rom. 3:23-26). Trust that Substitute whom God has accepted, and all your sins will be forgiven you. Yes, it is true, 'He delighteth in mercy'! God delights to forgive sin justly, through the blood of his Son.
When the apostle John describes God, he says, 'God is love.' Now
that is not all that God is: he is also gracious, just, holy, wise and almighty. But all these attributes are consistent with this glorious truth: 'God is love.' When you and I think about the love of God, we must remind ourselves that God is not a man. His love is not like ours. The love of God is that special affection that he has for his people. It does not arise from anything outside of himself and it does not change. God's love implies his absolute purpose and will deliver, bless and save his people. And that loving purpose of God is never more wonderfully and completely revealed than in the sacrifice of his Son in our stead. In this text, John tells us four things which characterize the love of God.
1. God loves sovereignly. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.' There is nothing which compels God to love any of his sinful creatures. But, in his infinite goodness, God says, 'Jacob have I loved.' Our God is infinite and immutable, and so is his love. He loves whom he will, because he will, and he loves them eternally.
2. God loves sinners. 'He loved us.' I preach fully, without reservation, unlimited love, unbounded mercy to the vilest of men. We have nothing in us worthy of consideration. We deserve the utmost terror of God's wrath. Who can express the fulness and magnitude of those words: 'He loved us'?
3. God loves sacrificially. 'He sent his Son.' Do not ever think that Christ died at Calvary in order to win God's love for us. No! Christ died in our place at Calvary because God loved us and he resolved to have us.
4. God loves savingly. Brethren, God loved us before the world began. But in order for us to be reconciled to God, justice had to be satisfied. Therefore, our loving Father gave his Son to be the satisfying 'propitiation for our sins'. Through his substitutionary death, all the sins of God's people were washed away.
Coming to Christ is the one essential thing for salvation. He that does not come to Christ, do what he may, or think what he may, is yet in 'the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity'. Coming to Christ is the very first result of regeneration. The soul that is quickened by the power of God at once realizes its lost condition. Feeling a sense of divine wrath, the quickened sinner flees to Christ and trusts him for salvation. Where there is no coming to Christ, there is no salvation. But how does a poor sinner come to Christ?
1. Coming to Christ is not a mere Physical act. In our day, men have substituted coming to the front of the church for coming to Christ. Much uproar is made when we say that this is a deception. But I must remind you that during the Saviour's earthly ministry, many came to him with their feet and their lips whose hearts were far from him.
2. Coming to Christ is not a mere mental act. Many believe the faith of Christ's words, that is, they give intellectual assent to them, whose hearts are yet unchanged. At heart they are still children of wrath.
3. Coming to Christ is an act faith. It is the response of the heart to the sovereign, life-giving power of God. It is that act of the soul whereby we leave our sins and our self-righteousness and flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is simply trusting his righteousness to be our covering and his blood to be our atonement. Coming to Christ is the repentance of sin, the denial of self, and faith in him who is God's salvation. Coming to Christ is the belief of the truth, the crying of the soul unto God and the submission of the heart to Christ's absolute lordship as it is revealed in the gospel. Come now, my friend, away from yourselves, away from your self-righteousness and away from your false refuges – come unto Christ. He alone is able to save poor sinners. Christ is also willing to save poor sinners. Come now to Christ, the true altar, and lay hold of him for eternal life.
It is ever the tendency of fallen man to run to extremes. Nowhere is this tendency more evident than in religious customs, doctrines and practices. With regard to the matter of baptism, almost all men run to one of two extremes. Some make baptism a means of salvation. Anyone who reads the Word of God with honesty immediately recognizes that such doctrine is heresy. 'Salvation is of the Lord.' It is not the water of baptism that washes away sin, but the blood of Christ. We are not saved by baptism, but by grace. There are others who run to the opposite extreme, who make baptism an insignificant thing. Some even neglect it altogether. This too is a perversion of Scripture. Baptism is important. Baptism is essential!
Baptism is essential as a matter of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. By example and by commandment our Lord requires that all believers (and only believers) be baptized. To rebel against this ordinance and refuse to be baptized is to expose rebellion, not submission of heart to Christ. Such rebellion is a fair indication that a person is not saved. I have searched the Scriptures carefully and I have not yet found a single believer in the New Testament (other than the penitent thief who was not baptized. Baptism is an act of obedience to Christ our Lord.
Baptism is essential in confessing Christ before men. This is the New Testament way of confessing faith in Christ. We who believe are symbolically buried with Christ in baptism and we arise from the watery grave with him to walk in the newness of life. Baptism is a vivid picture of the believer's death, burial and resurrection in Christ our Substitute. By this public ordinance we confess to all men our faith in Christ.
Baptism does not save; baptism does not put away sin; baptism has no merit before God. But baptism is essential. It is the answer of a good conscience toward God'. If you believe on Christ, obey him and confess him before men in baptism.
It causes me great concern to see so many who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ absenting themselves from the ordinance of the Lord's Supper and neglecting this commandment of Christ. The Lord's Supper is an important part of worship, essential to the spiritual well-being of God's church. The apostle Paul said, 'As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.'
The purpose of observing the Lord's Supper is that we might symbolically show forth the death of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted this ordinance just before his death on the cross. The bread and wine symbolically represent the sufferings and death of our Redeemer in our place. The broken bread symbolizes his immaculate body, crushed under the wrath of God beneath the load of our sins. The wine poured out symbolizes his blood, poured out in death, by which our sin was put away. Breaking the bread and drinking the wine, we are reminded of our need of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice to put away sin and we are reminded of God's great love in sacrificing his Son to redeem us.
This is an ordinance which every true believer should observe. Regrettably, many of God's children have been taught to fear coming to the Lord's Supper. They think they are showing reverence for the ordinance by not receiving it. They do not. Our worthiness to take the bread and wine is not in ourselves, but in Christ. We come not with perfection, but with faith. By eating the bread and drinking the wine, we show our confidence in Christ's finished work to make us accepted in the sight of God. No unbeliever is worthy to receive this ordinance, but no believer is unworthy.
The Lord's Supper is to be observed often. A friend recently told me that in his church they had observed the Lord's Supper only once in twelve years! That is utterly inexcusable. We need to be frequently reminded of our Lord's love for us and of the price by which he redeemed us.
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