Friday, March 15, 2024

Fri.-Sabbath, 3/15-17/24 Devotion

Thank God—it is almost Sunday! Here is Thomas Watson, from his book, en-titled, "The Lord's Prayer.” . . .

"Here is comfort to those who are the subjects of the King of heaven. God will put forth all His royal power for their help and comfort. (1) The King of heaven will plead their cause: 'I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you,' (Jer. 51:36). (2) He will protect His people. He sets an invisible guard about them: 'I will be to her a wall of fire round about,' (Zech. 2:5). A wall, that is de-fensive; a wall of fire, that is offensive. (3) When it may be for the good of His people, He will raise up deliverance to them. 'The Lord saved them by a great deliverance,' (1 Chron. 11:14).

"God reigning as a King, can save any way; even by contemptible means, as the blowing of the trumpets, and blazing of lamps, (Judges 7:20). By contrary means; as when He made the sea a wall to Israel, and the waters were a means to keep them from drowning. The fish's belly was a ship in which Jo-nah sailed safe to shore. God will never be short of ways of saving His peo-ple. . . . As God will deliver His people from temporal danger, so from spiritual danger, as from sin, and from hell. 'Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come,' (1 Thess. 1:10)."

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Thurs., 3/14/24 Devotion (2 Cor. 3:6a)

Today's encouragement comes from 2 Corinthians 3:6a, where we read these words:

" . . . [God] also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant . . . “

It is intriguing, that the New Covenant church ministers look a lot different from the Old Covenant church ministers. In the old order, only Hebrews could attend at the altar, and these were from one tribe (Levi). In the new order, God calls His ministers from all kinds of people groups, ethnicities, and races.

How can we ordinary people be made "sufficient as ministers of the new cov-enant"? Only through the perfected and more abundant grace of God in the New Covenant age, whereby God pours-out His Spirit without measure through our Risen and Ascended God/Man Lord Jesus Christ. May all the re-deemed church—clergy and laity—be filled with the joy of ministering gospel life in our Messiah today.

[Puritan quote of the day: "As God has two places He dwells in, heaven and a humble heart; so the devil has two places he dwells in, hell and a hard heart.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Doctrine of Repentance"]

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Wed., 3/13/24 Devotion (Job 42:1-3)

Today's encouragement comes from Job 42:1-3, where we read these words:

"Then Job answered the LORD and said: 'I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, "Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.' "

There are things about ourselves that we (ourselves) do not understand, which have a powerful impact on us. There are many things about God, and His providences towards us that we simply cannot grasp. But the key is to truly and sincerely believe in the One who *does* fully comprehend all of these things: our Triune God.

When we are able to do this (through our faith in Christ), then we may live comfortably in Him; and we may accept, without a need to untangle it, what God has meted out to us.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Because faith looks at Christ in every duty, it touches the hem of His garment; and through Christ, both the person and the offering are accepted, (Eph. 1:6).” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Lord's Prayer"]

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Tues., 3/12/24 Devotion (Jn. 2:24-25)

Today's encouragement comes from John 2:24 & 25, where we read these words:

"But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man."

The Lord Jesus Christ was quite careful regarding those with whom He would totally commit Himself; and those with whom He would not. Though the Mes-siah was not burdened with the curse of original sin (or any sin, for that mat-ter)—He still completely understood what it (sin) was, and what it did to man-kind.

The people in Jn., ch. 2, were "believing" in Jesus; but they were *not* *real-ly* believing in Him. They were impressed by Christ's miracles; but they were not moved to love Him on the grounds and basis of who He was (as the Son of God). May all of us who say we are God's true children prove, by grace, to be sincere in our loving faith in Jesus.

[Augustine quote of the day: “For what is that which we call evil but the ab-sence of good?” —from, “The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love”]

Monday, March 11, 2024

Mon., 3/11/24 Devotion (Job 40:8b)

Today's encouragement comes from Job 40:8b, where we read these words:

" . . . Would you [Job] condemn Me [God] that you may be justified?

As fallen sinners, outside of Christ, we always do exactly what we read of here (above). We "condemn" God in all kinds of ways, in order to seek to "jus-tify” ourselves—pretending that we are better than the Lord. Of course, God understood Job's heart; and the Lord knew, in reality, that Job really *did* find his justification in Christ, and not in himself. (See Job 19:25-27 as proof of this.) . . .

Even as regenerate Christian churchmen we need to be aware of the fact that whenever we are uncomfortable or inconvenienced—our temptation—just as it was with Job, is also to "condemn" God, and "justify" ourselves. Let us rather see things as they *really* are, in Christ; and recognize that the Lord is *always* right; and that we are always dependent upon His grace.

[Augustine quote of the day: “And in the universe, even that which is called evil, when it is regulated and put in its own place, only enhances our admira-tion for the good.” —from, “The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love”]

Friday, March 8, 2024

Fri.-Sabbath, 3/8-10/24 Devotion

Praise God—it is almost Sunday!! Here is Thomas Watson, from his, "A Plea For The Godly" book. . . .

"A righteous man has more excellent freedom [than an unbeliever]. 'And I will walk at liberty,' (Ps. 119:45). Another is capable of civil freedom; he may be a Roman citizen, but he is still enslaved to his lusts. But a righteous person is God's freeman, (1 Cor. 7:22). His neck is out of the devil's yoke. He is 'free from the law of sin,' (Rom. 8:2). He has God's free Spirit, (Ps. 51:12), which makes him free and cheerful in his obedience. The will is not compelled but changed. A regenerate person is drawn indeed by the Spirit, but sweetly, as one is drawn into a garden of spices by the fragrance of their smell. He is drawn to Christ as one is drawn with another's beauty. He is free; a righteous soul chooses the ways of God, (Ps. 119:30); and what greater act of freedom is there than an act of choice? And a saint cannot have his spiritual freedom taken from him. While be suffers in prison, his conscience is most free. In short, he is made free to enjoy 'the innumerable company of angels,' (Heb. 12:22).

"A righteous man has more excellent food [than an unbeliever]. Carnal men feed only on earthly provision; the righteous feeds on heavenly food. He tastes how sweet the Lord is, (Ps. 34:8). He feeds on God's love; this is the hidden manna. He eats Christ's flesh, which not only begets life, (Jn. 6:33), but prevents death. 'This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die,' (Jn. 6:50)—that is, not die the second death. Other bread may nauseate or cause bloating, but there is no excess here. We cannot eat too much of the Bread of Life. We cannot have too much of Christ, as one cannot have too much of health. Oh, what excellent food is this! God Himself is in this cheer!"

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Thurs., 3/7/24 Devotion (2 Cor. 6:1)

Today's encouragement comes from the words of Paul, as they are found in 2 Corinthians 6:1:

"We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."

How is the grace of God received "in vain”—even potentially by us, regener-ated Christians? It is "received in vain" when we forget that our justification before God is all wrapped up in Jesus. The previous verse, (2 Cor. 5:21), had taught us imputed righteousness and substitutionary atonement. But our flesh continually recoils at such marvels, and seeks to regain its perverse "credibil-ity" (even with God)—usually through the old dead covenant of works.

So, when we cease to look to Jesus alone for our redemption, (and we gaze upon ourselves or something else), we receive the grace of God "in vain." Is Christ our righteousness? Then let us look no further.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Christ is never really absent from such as love Him, but He may seem to be so sometimes.” —Thomas Vincent, in, "The True Christian's Love To The Unseen Christ"]