From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Morning ...
John 19:16
They took Jesus, and led Him away.
He had been all night in agony, He had spent the early morning at the hall of
Caiaphas, He had been hurried from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod,
and from Herod back again to Pilate; He had, therefore, but little strength
left, and yet neither refreshment nor rest were permitted Him. They were eager
for His blood, and therefore led Him out to die, loaded with the cross. O
dolorous procession! Well may Salem's daughters weep. My soul, do thou weep
also. What learn we here as we see our blessed Lord led forth? Do we not
perceive that truth which was set forth in shadow by the scapegoat? Did not the
high-priest bring the scapegoat, and put both his hands upon its head,
confessing the sins of the people, that thus those sins might be laid upon the
goat, and cease from the people? Then the goat was led away by a fit man into
the wilderness, and it carried away the sins of the people, so that if they
were sought for they could not be found. Now we see Jesus brought before the
priests and rulers, who pronounce Him guilty; God Himself imputes our sins to
Him, "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all;" "He was made sin for
us;" and, as the substitute for our guilt, bearing our sin upon His shoulders,
represented by the cross; we see the great Scapegoat led away by the appointed
officers of justice. Beloved, can you feel assured that He carried your sin? As
you look at the cross upon His shoulders, does it represent your sin? There is
one way by which you can tell whether He carried your sin or not. Have you laid
your hand upon His head, confessed your sin, and trusted in Him? Then your sin
lies not on you; it has all been transferred by blessed imputation to Christ,
and He bears it on His shoulder as a load heavier than the cross. Let not the
picture vanish till you have rejoiced in your own deliverance, and adored the
loving Redeemer upon whom your iniquities were laid.
Romans 12:3-8
(3) For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to
think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(4) For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same
office: (5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another. (6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of
faith; (7) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on
teaching; (8) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do
it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with
cheerfulness.
These six verses are all tied together by humility—that one should not
think of himself more highly than he ought. God has put us each in the body as
it pleases Him, so we should not think that we, as, say, the toe are better
than the knee because the toe cannot do the knee's job. God thinks of the toe
just as highly as He does of the knee, but if He has put us as a toe, why not
in faith do the job of a toe because that is what God wants us to be? If He had
wanted us to be a knee, He would have put you in the body as a knee, but He
made us to be a toe, so be happy as a toe! Do a toe's work in faith!
Paul tells us to think soberly, logically, seriously, that as God has
dealt to each a measure of faith, that we in faith can consider our place in
the church and deal with it. So, whatever we are to do, do it! Do it with all
the gifts and skills that God has given—but do not try to do another's job. It
is his job to do diligently, not ours. God put us in the body to do a specific
job, our job not his, otherwise He would have given us his job!
If we have been given the job to exhort, then we should exhort. If it
is our job to minister and serve others, serve—but do not take another's job to
prophesy. Paul is saying, "In lowliness of mind, be content where you are,
because obviously God has put you there for a reason. If you do the job that
God has given to you, you are fulfilling His will." The church, then, can be
united because the members are not competing over each other's responsibilities.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Psalm 133
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Morning ...
Matthew 27:14
He answered him to never a word.
He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons of men, but He
would not say a single word for Himself. "Never man spake like this Man," and
never man was silent like Him. Was this singular silence the index of His
perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the
slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us?
Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own
behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling,
uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type of the defenselessness of sin?
Nothing can be said in palliation or excuse of human guilt; and, therefore, He
who bore its whole weight stood speechless before His judge. Is not patient
silence the best reply to a gainsaying world? Calm endurance answers some
questions infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The best
apologists for Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil
breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows. Did not the silent
Lamb of God furnish us with a grand example of wisdom? Where every word was
occasion for new blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the
flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will ere long
overthrow and confute themselves, and therefore the true can afford to be
quiet, and finds silence to be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence,
furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of Himself would
have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction. "He is led as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His
mouth." By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of God.
As such we salute Him this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence of
our heart, let us hear the voice of Thy love.
1 Corinthians 7:14
(14) For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean;
but now are they holy.
The children of believing parents are "holy," meaning "set apart." God
considers such a child to be "clean." That does not mean "sinless," but they
are still legally clean in His sight. They are therefore acceptable in His
presence and have the opportunity to have true success in life as a result.
They have the chance to believe God, to cast their lot with Him, and to be
spared the horror of having to face many of the evils in this world.
But, just as parents can lose their sanctification, so children who are
set apart can also lose their status. Law plays no favorites. It does not care
whether one is male or female, or thirteen, nineteen, or ninety-three. If a
ninety-three year old male jumps off the 80th floor of the Empire State
Building, which direction will he go? What if a 16-year old girl does the same
thing? The law of gravity does not play favorites.
Law does not care what one's race, sex, or age are. If parents who are
sanctified break the laws of God persistently, they will lose their
sanctification. If a seventeen-year-old does the same thing, even though his
parents are sanctified and a child is held to be clean because of God's
judgment, he can lose his too.
For a child who is sanctified, even though unconverted, there is still a
great deal that he will be held accountable for. "To whom much is given, much
is also required." Jesus does not say that this only applies to converted
parents.
The child's sanctification gives him the advantage of access to God.
Because of that access, he has the guidance of God available to him, and from
that guidance he can form a proper vision of what he wants to do with his life
( Proverbs 29:18). This allows him to see what he wants to do in terms of
conduct—what he wants to pursue, the way he wants to do work, the attitude he
has toward other people, parents, neighbors, fellow-employees, etc.
We can tell from the conduct of people in this world that they do not
have this guidance. But a sanctifed child has access to the knowledge of what
God expects, and from that he can make it his goal in life to act that way. He
can set his will to do the right thing. He is sanctified, and divine guidance
is what he gains from it.
He has access to truth. Even if his parents fail to give it to him
directly, every Sabbath that he attends church services he is receiving it
through one of God's ministers. It is available, but he still must make
choices. He must discipline himself to follow the information, the true
knowledge, given to him. The advantage lies in the fact that he has access to
truth about the way life is to be conducted and how he can please God. He can
do it because he is not cut off from God. His lamp is not put out ( Proverbs
20:20).
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Sanctification and the Teens
