From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Hebrews 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined
unto you.
There is a strange power about the very name of blood, and the sight of it is
always affecting. A kind heart cannot bear to see a sparrow bleed, and unless
familiarized by use, turns away with horror at the slaughter of a beast. As to
the blood of men, it is a consecrated thing: it is murder to shed it in wrath,
it is a dreadful crime to squander it in war. Is this solemnity occasioned by
the fact that the blood is the life, and the pouring of it forth the token of
death? We think so. When we rise to contemplate the blood of the Son of God,
our awe is yet more increased, and we shudder as we think of the guilt of sin,
and the terrible penalty which the Sin-bearer endured. Blood, always precious,
is priceless when it streams from Immanuel's side. The blood of Jesus seals the
covenant of grace, and makes it for ever sure. Covenants of old were made by
sacrifice, and the everlasting covenant was ratified in the same manner. Oh,
the delight of being saved upon the sure foundation of divine engagements which
cannot be dishonoured! Salvation by the works of the law is a frail and broken
vessel whose shipwreck is sure; but the covenant vessel fears no storms, for
the blood ensures the whole. The blood of Jesus made His testament valid. Wills
are of no power unless the testators die. In this light the soldier's spear is
a blessed aid to faith, since it proved our Lord to be really dead. Doubts upon
that matter there can be none, and we may boldly appropriate the legacies which
He has left for His people. Happy they who see their title to heavenly
blessings assured to them by a dying Saviour. But has this blood no voice to
us? Does it not bid us sanctify ourselves unto Him by whom we have been
redeemed? Does it not call us to newness of life, and incite us to entire
consecration to the Lord? O that the power of the blood might be known, and
felt in us this night!
Morning...
Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.
No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the word "Behold," is
excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said,
"The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me." How amazed the
divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding
than the unfounded doubts and fears of God's favoured people? The Lord's loving
word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, "How can I have forgotten thee,
when I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands? How darest thou doubt my
constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?" O unbelief,
how strange a marvel thou art! We know not which most to wonder at, the
faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promise a
thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never faileth; He
is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a
melting vapour; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested
with suspicions, and distu rbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of
the desert. "Behold," is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we
have a theme for marvelling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that
rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be
written upon the palms of His hands. "I have graven thee. "It does not say,
"Thy name." The name is there, but that is not all: "I have graven thee." See
the fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy
circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works;
I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put
thee altogether there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee
when He has graven thee upon His own palms?
Matthew 12:1-4
(New King James Version)
(1) At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the
Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and
to eat. (2) And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your
disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” (3) But He said
to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who
were with him: (4) how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which
was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for
the priests?
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
According to the Pharisees, the disciples reaped a crop. They
threshed it by rubbing the berries in their hands and breaking the hulls off.
Then they winnowed it by blowing the hulls away. By doing so, they were guilty
of preparing a meal. This was actually a high holy day, very likely one of the
holy days of the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Consider the disciples' motivation for what they did. First, they
were hungry. Second, they were itinerate, using "shoe leather express,"
traveling with Jesus as a part of His entourage. He instructed them, giving
them examples of His way of life, all along the way. He Himself said that He
had no place to lay His head. They had, therefore, no place to prepare a meal.
They did not have homes that they could readily return to.
These were strong, young men, probably in their twenties or early
thirties (about the same age as Jesus), so they could have fasted without
damage. But, because it was the Sabbath, Jesus deliberately drew attention to
one of the Sabbath's main purposes: It is a day of mercy and not a day of
sacrifice.
Christ's justification comes from I Samuel 21:1-6. He reasoned
that, if it was all right for David to allay his hunger under an unusual
circumstance by eating bread that had been consecrated for holy use, His
disciples could provide for their needs in this manner. (The showbread was put
into the Tabernacle on the table, and it sat there during the entire week.
Then, every Sabbath it was exchanged for new bread. David ate the week-old
bread that had just been exchanged for the new.)
So what is He saying? The Sabbath is a day of mercy. And if one
can rightly, lawfully use "holy bread" to do something that, according to the
letter of the law, was illegal, then it was also legitimate for the disciples
to provide for their needs also in an usual circumstance.
The emphasis here is on the word unusual. How frequently was
David fleeing for his life and finding himself hungry? It did happen, at least
this one time, but it did not happen every Sabbath. Maybe in David's lifetime
something like this occurred a few times, but even for a man of war like David,
it did not happen all that frequently.
The overall lesson, however, is that it is not the intention of
God's law to deprive anybody of good things. The intent of God's law is to
ensure life. If the need arises, one should not feel conscience-stricken to use
the Sabbath in a way that would not "normally" be lawful. Christ admitted that
what David did was not "normally" lawful. Neither was what the disciples were
doing "normally lawful," except for the extenuating circumstance.
In this case then, they were blameless because a larger
obligation overruled the letter of the law. The larger obligation was to be
merciful. The letter of the law said that they could not have that bread. The
larger obligation said that it was more important to eat than it was to fast
(to sacrifice eating). Holy bread, or holy time (the Sabbath), can be used
exceptionally in order to sustain life.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Fourth Commandment (Part 3)
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daily devotional
Evening...
Acts 1:8 And ye shall be witnesses unto Me.
In order to learn how to discharge your duty as a witness for Christ, look at
His example. He is always witnessing: by the well of Samaria, or in the Temple
of Jerusalem: by the lake of Gennesaret, or on the mountain's brow. He is
witnessing night and day; His mighty prayers are as vocal to God as His daily
services. He witnesses under all circumstances; Scribes and Pharisees cannot
shut His mouth; even before Pilate He witnesses a good confession. He witnesses
so clearly, and distinctly that there is no mistake in Him. Christian, make
your life a clear testimony. Be you as the brook wherein you may see every
stone at the bottom-not as the muddy creek, of which you only see the
surface-but clear and transparent, so that your heart's love to God and man may
be visible to all. You need not say, "I am true:" be true. Boast not of
integrity, but be upright. So shall your testimony be such that men cannot help
seeing it. Never, for fear of feeble man, restrain your witness. Your lips have
been warmed with a coal from off the altar; let them speak as like
heaven-touched lips should do. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening
withhold not thine hand." Watch not the clouds, consult not the wind-in season
and out of season witness for the Saviour, and if it shall come to pass that
for Christ's sake and the gospel's you shall endure suffering in any shape,
shrink not, but rejoice in the honour thus conferred upon you, that you are
counted worthy to suffer with your Lord; and joy also in this-that your
sufferings, your losses, and persecutions shall make you a platform, from which
the more vigorously and with greater power you shall witness for Christ Jesus.
Study your great Exemplar, and be filled with His Spirit. Remember that you
need much teaching, much upholding, much grace, and much humility, if your
witnessing is to be to your Master's glory.
Morning...
Colossians 2:6
As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.
The life of faith is represented as receiving- an act which implies the very
opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift. As the
earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts
light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of
God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns
into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours
His salvation. The idea of receiving implies a sense of realization, making the
matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which
is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us. While
we are without faith, Jesus is a mere name to us-a person who lived a long
while ago, so long ago that His life is only a history to us now! By an act of
faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart. But
receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I
receive becomes my o wn: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I
receive Jesus, He becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall
be able to rob me of Him. All this is to receive Christ-to take Him as God's
free gift; to realize Him in my heart, and to appropriate Him as mine.
Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving
hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these
blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS Himself. It is true that He gave us
life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; He gave us imputed righteousness.
These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have
received Christ Himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have
received Him, and appropriated Him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven
itself cannot contain Him!
Ephesians 4:22-24
(22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in
the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Notice another interesting similarity in terminology whenever Paul
speaks of the new man. Quite consistently, he uses the verb "to put on." The
Greek verb is enduo, which means, literally, "to sink into." By extension, it
means "to enter into," "to get into," or "to put on" (Vine's Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words). New Testament writers often use it when
referring to putting on clothes (see Matthew 6:25; 27:31; Mark 1:6; I
Thessalonians 5:8; Revelation 1:13; 15:6; etc.).
Paul repeatedly uses the metaphor of putting on clothes when he
commands us to adopt the Christian way of life. With the same predictability,
he speaks of taking clothes off to describe the abandonment of this world's
lifestyle. We see it again in Colossians 3:9-10, where he speaks of our
"put[ting] off the old man with his deeds" and our "put[ting] on the new man."
He uses the same figure of speech in Ephesians 4:22-24. In Ephesians 6:11-17,
the apostle goes a step further when he tells us how to dress the new man: "Put
on the whole armor of God."
God's consistent use of the analogy of donning clothes to describe
our adoption of the new man tells us a lot about the choices we must make
daily. The logical conclusion of the metaphor is as inescapable as it is
meaningful: The clothing we wear is largely a matter of our choice. Unless an
adult is in very special circumstances, as in prison or the military, he has
wide discretion in the matter of clothing. His is the choice of what to wear
and when to wear it. He determines when to take clothes off and when to put
them on. More than this, it is a choice he makes daily—sometimes many times a
day—as he determines what to wear in different social contexts.
So it is with the Christian walk, the way of life of the new man.
Daily, repeatedly each day, we must choose to "put on" the Christian way of
life.
That is what Paul is telling us through his splendid clothing
analogy: Christianity is a way of life. We must choose to put on that way of
life—and to keep it on. Just as we do with a well-worn garment, we must come to
feel so at home with the new man—so comfortable with his way of life—that we
absolutely refuse to take it off for any reason at all.
In addition, God's consistent use of the clothing analogy argues
against the Protestants' false doctrine of eternal security. "Once saved,
always saved" is the cry of some Protestants. Others put it in a slightly
different way: "It was all done at the cross."
What is wrong with this? "Born-again" Protestants, so-called
Christians who claim the new man was born in them when they "accepted" Christ,
have in fact abdicated virtually all personal responsibility for their
salvation! Take their thought to its logical conclusion: When we were
physically born, from our viewpoint, it just happened—we had no say about it at
all! It was out of our control. So, the "born-again" Christian believes that he
"accepts Christ," and, presto, he is saved, forever born as a spirit being, a
new man. Thus, now, in this life, he has no further responsibility. Christ did
it all "at the cross" and must, upon his confession of faith, irrevocably save
him.
This false doctrine permits its adherents to evade all
responsibility to choose daily to follow Christ. True Christians know, because
of the clothing analogy, that they have that ongoing responsibility to "put on
the new man."
In describing the new man, the birth or conception analogy is
conspicuous by its absence. However, by its repeated presence, the clothing
analogy is equally conspicuous.
Charles Whitaker
From Choosing the New Man (Part Two)
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