the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. - Galatians 2:4.
CONCERNING which we have four admonitions to urge. First, Hold fast this liberty “wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage.” This is the admonition which the apostle himself gives to those Galatians. If Christians lose not their estate, they may lose some of its spirit; they may lose some of its enjoyments, and some of its noble profession; they may tremble when they should be bold, and temporize when they should be firm; they may conceal and cringe when they ought to be open as the day. “If reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.” It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his Lord.
Secondly, Do not abuse your liberty. “Brethren,” says the apostle, “ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Remember, your liberty is not liberty to sin. Why, the thought of continuing in sin that grace may abound quite shocked the apostle, who said, “God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?”
Thirdly, Improve this liberty. In one sense we cannot: its provisions surpass all expression and conception. But we mean we should make use of it and improve it. As to ourselves, we should be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” We should seek to be exemplary-to be useful-and to show forth the praises of Him “who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light,” and to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”
Fourthly, Recommend this liberty to others only. We should be careful to exemplify what we recommend. Christians should show what their religion has done for them and what it has done in them, and then they may expect and hope that it will do something by them, for then our address to others will be effectual; if we hold forth the word of life by our tempers and conduct, it will not be difficult to hold it forth by our lips. It is when we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, we may go and say to others, “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.”
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
Who inherit the promises, - Hebrews 6:12.
GOD from the beginning has dealt with his people in a way of promise. He could have accomplished all his grace and mercy in their behalf without having previously announced them. But then they could not have known them: they could not have believed in them; they could not have hoped for them, and pleaded them in prayer, or have made them their song in the house of their pilgrimage. Many advantages are derived from the promises; some of these promises regard the life that now is, but many more of them regard the life which is to come.
Few of the promises of God, indeed, are ever completely accomplished in this world; they draw us, therefore, forward and upward. “We are saved by hope;” “we rejoice in hope;” heaven will fill up every void; heaven will perfect everything that concerns us. Heaven will perfect the intellectual life. “Here we see through a glass darkly, there face to face; now we know in part, then shall we know even as we are known.” Heaven will perfect the Spiritual life. We now groan, being burdened, and when we would do good evil is present with us; we shall then be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Heaven will perfect the social life. Here we dwell in Mesech, and have our tents in Kedar; there shall we join the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven; and the Spirits of just men made perfect; and an innumerable company of angels; and Jesus, the Mediator; and God, the Judge of all. Heaven will perfect the corporeal faculties. What limbs, what senses, what imaginations, shall we have then! What a state heaven must be, if we take but this one view of it- that it brings us into the possession of all the promises. “To die is gain,” says the Apostle; and no wonder, if we are to gain all that God has spoken of, and if all that the Scriptures have told us is to be there realized.
Now observe that this inheritance is & present possession. They inherit-not that they shall inherit. Now, says our Saviour, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” for all live unto him. And do not the Scriptures perpetually imply it? How else could we understand the words of the Saviour to the poor thief, or the language of the Apostle? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” This intimates an immediate transition. “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.” This regards immediate enjoyment. How delightful to remember that our pious friends and relatives, who have been removed from us, now inherit the promises! Delivered from the burden of the flesh, they are now enjoying the felicity of heaven. They have done with sorrow, and, what is best, they have done with sin, and are freed from all their infirmities. They have entered that blessed world of light and life-of peace and joy-and are for ever with the Lord.
