Daily Devotional Readings
A broken heart, a contrite spirit and a subdued will are rare things in our day. This is the day of human rights, human dignity and human sovereignty. Self-esteem, self-worth and self-promotion are the cry of the day. All men are demanding what they call 'their rights'. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. All men by nature are exceedingly proud, selfish people. Preachers today, knowing man's natural pride, have capitalized upon it. They have developed a flesh-pleasing theology of pride. Our forefathers exalted the dignity, the majesty and the supremacy of the eternal God. But the smooth-tongued prophets of deceit in our day have set themselves to exalt the dignity, majesty and supremacy of man. It seems that religion today is dedicated, not to the honour of God, but to the honour of man. Its purpose is to make man feel good about himself. Therefore we hear little about brokenness of heart, contrition of the soul and the subduing of man's will.
Of this one thing you may be sure: 'The sacrifices of God are [still] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise' (Ps. 51: 17). The Lord God declares, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word' (Isa. 66:2). I am convinced that God will have broken material with which to build his kingdom. Sooner or later, the Lord God will bring us to nothingness before his presence, or we shall never experience his salvation. God's people, all of God's people, are a broken people.
That person who is saved by the grace of God has seen himself and his sin in the light of the crucified Christ and his heart is broken by what he sees (Zech. 12: 10). Such a person takes sides with God against himself (Ps. 51:4). justifying God in his own condemnation, he is justified by God and freed from all condemnation.
You know John 3:16 by memory. You learned it as a small child. It was probably the first text of Holy Scripture that you can remember hearing: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Everyone knows those words by memory, but do you know the meaning of those precious words? I am afraid that very few people do.
'God so loved the world.' Our Lord does not tell us how much God loved the world. He leaves it for our hearts to consider reverently. He simply says, 'so', 'God so loved'. God would have us not only to believe in the reality of his love, but also to admire the greatness and magnitude of his love. The love of God, like God himself, is infinite.
The word 'world' describes the character of those men and women who are the objects of God's infinite love. Our Lord is not telling us that God loves every person in the world. We know that is not true, because God himself said that he hated Esau. The word 'world' refers to mankind in general, in all its corruption and misery. Our Lord is not talking about the extent of God's love. He is describing the character of those who are loved by God. God loves fallen, guilty, depraved sinners, scattered throughout the whole world. 'The whole world lieth in wickedness.' God is no respecter of persons. He does not love the Jews only, but Gentiles also. He does not love white men only, but black men also. His elect are found among men of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue throughout the whole world. God might have poured out the vials of his wrath upon us, as he did upon the angels that fell. But no, he spared us! 'For God so loved the world!' justice demanded our punishment. Holiness required the extermination of our race. But that must not be. 'For God so loved the world.' Let all men give praise to the eternal God. Were it not for his love, we should all be in hell.
'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.' In the eternal purpose of his love God gave his Son to be the sinner's Substitute and appointed him to make a sacrificial atonement for sin. Then, 'In the fulness of time God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. 'At the appointed time Christ came to do that work which he and his Father had agreed upon in eternity. He is Immanuel, God in our nature, God come to save. Having lived in perfect righteousness as a man, perfectly fulfilling the law of God for his people, as our Representative, 'In due time Christ died for the ungodly.' He was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God gave his Son into the hands of his own law and justice, to make satisfaction for sin. God gave his Son up to die the cursed death of the cross, so that those sinners whom he loves with an everlasting love might never die. Here is the infinite magnitude of God's love for us: 'He gave his only begotten Son'!
'That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' What does John 3:16 tell us? It tells us that God loves sinners. It tells us that Christ died to redeem sinners. It tells us that God saves sinners. And it tells us that any sinner in all the world who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved by him. Christ did not die to give life to any who refuse to believe on him. But he did die and he does give life, eternal life, to every sinner who believes on him. Are you a sinner? Do you trust the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, this day you have eternal life in him. And you will never perish. 'For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.' 'He that believeth on him is not condemned' (John 3:17-18).
The gospel is not the mere historical fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died at Calvary 2,000 years ago, was buried in the tomb of Joseph and rose again the third day. James tells us that the devils believe that and tremble. The gospel is the plain and biblical declaration of how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3).
How did Christ die? What did Christ accomplish in his death? What do the scriptures teach us about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ?
First, the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily laid down his life for us: 'I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep' (John 10:11). 'I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself'. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again' (John 10:17-18). Our Lord did not die as the helpless victim of circumstances. He was born at Bethlehem for the express purpose of laying down his life at Calvary in the place of his people. Secondly, the Son of God died vicariously in the place of people. That is to say, he died as a real Substitute in the place of God's elect: 'He hath made him to be sin for us,...that we might be made the righteousness of God in him' (2 Corinthians 5:21). 'For the transgression of my people was he stricken' (Isaiah 53:8). Christ did not die for every person in the world, hoping to save everybody. The Bible nowhere says that he did. Christ died for every sinner in the world who believes on him and his death secured their faith in him. He died as a Substitute for God's elect.
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ died victoriously, accomplishing the redemption of his people. He did not try to redeem; he did redeem. He did not make it possible for all men to be redeemed; he actually 'obtained eternal redemption for us' (Heb. 9:12). He did not make it possible for sin to be put away; he 'put away sin by the sacrifice of himself' (Heb. 9:26). When he cried, 'It is finished' redemption's work was done. All the people of God were justified and pardoned by his victorious death. His atoning sacrifice was a real atonement for sin.
If you would train your children well, you must train them in the way they should go, not in the way they would go. Our sons and daughters are born with a decided bias towards evil. If we let them choose their way, they are sure to choose wrong (Prov. 22:15; 29:15). If we would be wise, we must not leave a child to the guidance of his own will.
Train your children with love, patience and tenderness. I do not mean that you should spoil your children. But I do mean that you should let them know that you love them. Love is the secret to proper training. Nothing will compensate for the absence of love and tenderness. Anger and harshness will frighten a child, but they will not persuade the child that you are right. If your children see you often out of temper, they will soon cease to respect You.
Train your children to be industrious and responsible in life. Life is not all fun and games. Children need to be taught responsibility, the earlier the better.
Train your children with loving, but firm discipline. Determine to make your child obey you. It may cost you much trouble and cost him many tears, but it will be best for the child (Prov. 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15-17; Heb. 12:5-11). Be firm and earnest in disciplining your children. Do not punish them rashly, or in anger. Do not use abusive words with them. Such things only create hostility. A loving, but firm use of the rod is essential to the proper training or children.
Again, train your children with a primary concern for their souls. If you love your children, think of their souls. In every step you take regarding them, in every plan you make for them, and in every decision you make which concerns them, ask yourself one question: 'How will this affect my child's soul?'
Once more, train your children with the firm persuasion that much depends on you, You cannot convert your children. But you are the one who moulds your children's character. And you do it, for better or for worse, in their earliest years.
Our salvation is not according to our merits in its commencement, in its continence or in its consummation. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, least any man should boast."
The sovereign love and unmerited grace of God are the cause of our salvation. Since his love and grace are unchangeable, their effect must be unchangeable. That is to say, God constantly communicates his love and grace to every believer. Once his love is revealed and his grace bestowed upon the heart, he never takes them away: 'For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.' God was not moved to bestow his grace upon us by anything which he saw meritorious or attractive in us. And the absence of everything good in us will not cause God to withdraw the grace he has bestowed. When he first bestowed grace upon us, the Lord knew that we were totally depraved and sinful. He knew that we were full of evil and void of good. And though, since our conversion, we have all been guilty of ingratude, unfaithfulness and sin of every kind, these things do not provoke the Lord our God to change his mind and withdraw his sustaining grace. He knew what we would be before he saved us. He chastens us because of our sin, like the loving Father he is, but he never withdraws his love. If he had not intended, from the beginning, to bear with our sin in longsuffering and patience and to forgive our sin for Christ's sake, he would never have saved us and called us in the first place.
This is what I am saying: the cause of our salvation is entirely in God. His electing love, redeeming grace and saving power were given to us by an act of his sovereign goodness, without any consideration of what we were or might become. There was nothing in us to attract his grace. And there is nothing in any true believer's heart or conduct which can ever, cause the Lord Our God to alter his purpose of grace and withdraw his love from us.
I worship the one true and living God; I worship the God who is sovereign. I worship that God who reveals himself in the pages of Holy Scripture. Who is your God? Do you worship the true and living God or do you worship some religious idol that men call god? He who is God is totally sovereign in all things!
What do we mean when we declare that God is sovereign? Why, we mean that God is God. God is in control, ruling and governing all things exactly according to his own eternal intention. To declare that God is sovereign is to declare he is almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat his counsels, thwart his purpose, or resist his will (Psa. 115:3). To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is 'the governor among nations' Psa. 22:28). He raises up kings and kingdoms, overturns kings and kingdoms and determines the course and destiny of all things as it pleases him. To declare that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the 'only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords' (1 Tim. 6:15). This, my friend, is the God of the Bible. This is the one true and living God of heaven and earth.
I bow to a sovereign God. I dare not argue with him, dispute his claims, or try to bargain with him. I bow before his throne as the undisputed, sovereign King of the universe. I worship a sovereign God. I dare not think of him lightly or take his name in vain. I trust my soul into the hands of a sovereign God. I hope in the mercy of a sovereign God. My God is God. Is he your God?
Anyone who reads the Bible, with the slightest bit of interest, must see that the god of modern religion does not even faintly resemble that God who reveals himself in Holy Scripture. The god of this generation is moved by sentiment, emotion and impulse. The God of heaven acts according to justice and the principles of holiness and righteousness. 'Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne' (Psa. 89:14). The god of this generation has a will, it purpose and a desire, but his will is defeated both by men and Satan. He desires, but he cannot accomplish his desire. He wills, but he cannot perform his will. He purposes, but he cannot do what he has purposed. The God of the Bible works all things according to the counsel of his own will and purpose. This is what God says about himself: 'I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from unclear times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure' (Isa. 46:9-10). Today's Jesus offers eternal life to as many as will let him save them. The Christ of the Bible gives eternal life to as many as the Father has given him (John 17:2). Today's god has a wonderful plan for your life, if you will just fulfil the necessary requirements. The one true and living God works in you both to will and to do according to his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13; Rom. 8:28). The god of modern-day fundamentalism has provided a remedy for sin, and it will work if only the sinner will co-operate with God. The living God has provided a perfect righteousness and an effectual atonement for all of his elect through the righteous obedience and substitutionary death of his Son at Calvary (Heb. 10. 11-14).
This is what I am saying: the god of modern religion is a puny pigmy. He is an idol. The God of the Bible is great and glorious. He is the only true God.
Who is God? All true saving faith must begin with a real, spiritual heart knowledge of the one true and living God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent' (John 17:3). It is not possible for a person to be saved until he knows God as he has revealed himself in Holy Scripture. If you are interested in your own soul, it would be most wise to consider this question: who is God? And the only place where you can find the answer to that question is in Holy Scripture.
On one occasion Martin Luther, the great German Reformer, said to Erasmus, 'Your thoughts of God are too human.' It was a very solemn accusation, but it was true. Our Lord said to the religious leaders of his day, 'Ye neither know me, nor my Father' (John 8:19). And I lay this charge against the preachers and religious leaders of our day: they do not know the God of the Bible. 'Their thoughts of God are too human. This is the charge which God himself brings against this religious generation: 'Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself (Ps. 50:21).
I am not interested in knowing the god of this day, the god who is popular in the religious world, I want to know the one true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 'My soul panteth for the living God,' the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The god of this day no more resembles the one true and living God than a flickering candle resembles the glory of the noonday sun. The god with whom most men are familiar is a weak, pathetic, frustrated and defeated figment of man's imagination. He was born and came forth from the hearts of evil men.
The God of heaven is infinitely, totally and absolutely sovereign. It is written, 'Our God is in the heavens; he hath pleased' (Ps. 115:3). 'Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and in all deep places' (Ps. 135:6).
My friends, there is no possible alternative between a sovereign, omnipotent, supreme God, who does what he will, when he will, with whom he will and in the way he will, and no god at all. You cannot have a frustrated, defeated god. If there is any power that can resist him, change him, or defeat him, he is not god. Either God is sovereign, supreme and almighty, or there is no god. A god who has to give an account of what he thinks, what he purposes, or what he does is no god at all. Therefore it must be concluded, the god of modern, religious fundamentalism is no god at all. He is the idolatrous figment of man's imagination. Those who preach this weak, defeated, frustrated god are false prophets. And those who worship him are lost. Their religion is idolatry. Someone said, 'A god whose will can be successfully resisted, a god whose designs can be defeated or frustrated, a god whose purpose or counsel depends in any way on the help or co-operation of any creature, has no claim to deity. Instead of being an object of your worship, he merits nothing but your contempt.'
I worship God on the throne. I believe and trust God on the throne. I preach God on the throne. The Lord our God is totally sovereign. He is sovereign in creation, sovereign in providence and sovereign in salvation. He says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy' (Rom. 9: 15-16).
Most people today do not know who God is. The modern idea that religious people have about God is that he is an old man, sitting in a rocking chair somewhere above the earth, weak, frustrated and defeated, because he is not able to accomplish his purposes. The preachers and religious leaders of our day have persuaded this generation that God is good but not powerful, God is gracious but not great, God is merciful but not majestic. The god of the twentieth century has a purpose, he has a will, he has a plan, but his hands are tied. Man, they say, will not let God have his way. Satan, they tell us, has God's creation in chaos. Such a god as this is not worthy of worship, trust, reverence and submission. Such a god as this merits nothing but man's contempt. Such a god as this is no god at all. He is but the idolatrous figment of man's depraved imagination.
My God is not at all like that. My God is worthy of worship. My God merits my trust, confidence, reverence and submission. You see, my God truly is God. He is the God of the Bible. The God whom I worship, trust and serve is an absolute sovereign. When I say that God is sovereign, I am simply saying that God does what he will, when he will, with whom he will, in the way he will. He does not ask anyone's permission to act. He simply does as he pleases. And he does not stand before anyone in judgement to give an account of his actions. He is God, 'who liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?' This is 'the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgement: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase' (Dan. 4:34,35,37). My friend, either God is absolutely, totally, universally sovereign, or he is not God.
Did you ever notice what a great difference there is between the God who is revealed in the Bible and the god that is being preached today? The God of the prophets and apostles is not even similar to the god of today's preachers. The modern conception of God, which is prevalent today, even among those who profess to believe the Bible, is a miserable misconception and a terrible perversion of the truth. The god of the twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate creature, who commands the respect of no truly thoughtful man. The god of this age is nothing more than an emotional, sentimental, sympathetic being without any real power. The god who is preached in most pulpits, even in the most conservative churches, is an object to be pitied, not a God to be worshipped.
Arthur Pink stated the issue very plainly: 'To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of all mankind, that God the Son died with the express intention of saving the whole human race and that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to Christ, when, as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of our fellow men are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity is to say that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is dissatisfied, and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated.'
I am stating the issue very plainly, but there is no escaping this conclusion. Let me be perfectly understood. To say that God is trying his best to save all men, but that the majority of men will not let God save them is to say that the will of God is impotent and that the will of man is omnipotent. That is nothing short of blasphemy! Many try to remove the difficulty by throwing the blame on Satan but that doesn't work either. If Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then Satan is almighty and God is no longer supreme. That too is blasphemy!
To declare, as many do, that God's plan has been frustrated by the entrance of sin into the world is to dethrone God. Some would have us to believe that God was taken by surprise when Adam sinned in the garden and that he is now trying to remedy and correct this unforeseen calamity in his creation. Such a notion is degrading to the character of God. It brings the Most High God down to the level of erring mortals. We are told that man is a free moral agent, that he is the determiner of his own destiny and that he has the power to resist God and hold the Almighty in check. Such a blasphemous notion would strip God of his attribute of omnipotence. Men would have us to believe that man has burst the bounds originally set by God and that God is now a spectator, more or less without power over the sin and suffering brought into the world by the fall of Adam. But such doctrine is in direct contradiction of Holy Scripture. It is written in the Word of God: 'Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain' (Ps. 76: 10). To put it very plainly, to deny the sovereignty of God in all things is either to make God what you want him to be, which is idolatry, or it is to enter upon a path which, if logically followed, must bring you to atheism.
My friend, the sovereignty of the God of the Bible is absolute, irresistible and infinite. In declaring God's sovereignty, I am simply affirming his right as God to govern this universe, which he has created for his own glory, just as he pleases. He is the Potter; we are the clay. We have no more power over God than clay has over the potter. God moulds the clay of Adam's race into whatever form he chooses. From the lump of fallen humanity, he makes one vessel unto honour and another into dishonour. This is his right. He is God. He is under no law, rule, or power beyond his own sovereign will and holy nature. He is God.
God loves some men and he hates others. God does not love everyone in the world. He is sovereign in the exercise of his love. He said, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' (Rom. 9:13). This, I know, is a difficult truth for men to receive. It is impossible for you to rejoice in it, unless God gives you a heart to do so. When I say that God is sovereign in the exercise of his love, I simply mean that God loves whom he chooses to love and he does not love those whom he chooses not to love. God does not love Satan. There is nothing in the old serpent to love. There is nothing in him to attract God's love. And there is nothing in God compelling him to love that which is evil. Nor is there anything in all the fallen sons of Adam to attract God's love. We are all by nature 'children of wrath'. There is nothing to compel God's love towards us. If there is nothing in any member of the human race to attract God's love and yet he does love some men, then the cause of love must be found in God himself'. I love my wife because she is lovely. She possesses those qualities and attributes of a woman which cause me to love her. I love her because she is who and what she is. Not so with God's love towards us. He loves us because he would love us. He loves us in spite of who and what we are, The cause of God's love towards his own elect is his own sovereign choice, determination and pleasure. God is sovereign in the exercise of his love.
In the final analysis, the exercise of God's love must be traced back to his own sovereign pleasure. Otherwise he would love by rule. If he loved by rule, then he is obliged to love. And if he is obliged to do something by some force outside himself, he is not God. Some people are shocked to hear me say that God does not love the entire human race. But their shock reveals an ignorance of Holy Scripture. 'As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.' If God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were born, before they had done anything, either good or evil, then the reason for his love is not in them, but in God.
In Ephesians 1:3-5, we see a clear picture of God exercising his love sovereignty. '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.' It was in love that God the Father predestined his chosen ones unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, 'according' – according to what? According to some good thing he saw in them? According to some decision they would make? According to some foreseen merit of their own? No. According to what he foresaw they would become? No. Listen to the carefully worded answer of the Holy Spirit. God chose his own elect and predestined us, 'according to the good pleasure of his will'.
God loves his own elect personally, with an everlasting love. He says, 'Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee' (Jer. 31:3). God's love for his own elect, like God himself, is immutable. It never changes. Those whom God loves will never become the objects of his anger, wrath and vengence. God's love for his own elect is persevering. He loved us before we fell in Adam and after we fell. He loved us before Christ came to redeem us. He loved us throughout the days of our rebellion and unbelief'. He loved us when we hated him. He loved us before we were regenerated by the power of his Spirit and made to love him. And though we sill against him continually, he loves his own still. He will never cease to cherish his own. Are you one of those whom God loves with an everlasting love? If so, you should rejoice in God's sovereign exercise of his love towards you.
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