Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: September 7th

Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? - Isaiah 2:22.

PERHAPS there is nothing to a person of a tender spirit that is more productive of distress than disappointment in friendship; and it is well when the providence of God, as well as Scripture, thus addresses us. We can turn to him, as the church did in the days of Micah, and say, “Therefore I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” Sometimes we lose our friends from infirmity, temper, ignorance, prejudice. Others of them,-who are rotten at the very core,- these were sure to fail us in the hour of distress. They were friends for prosperity.

As soon as ever David experienced the affliction which arose from the rebellion and treason of his son, when, with his head uncovered, and barefooted, he walked up the side of the Mount of Olives, where afterwards stood the garden of Gethsemane, in which his son and his Lord agonized, one ran to him and said, “Behold, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” It was on this occasion that he said, “It was not an enemy that did this; then I could have borne it: but it was thou, -a man mine equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company.” Then it was that he said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.” Thus it was with Job. Job therefore says, “My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away, which are black by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid; what time they wax warm they vanish; when it is hot they are consumed out of their place.” Thus it was with Paul: when he had appeared unto Cæsar, and when he was going to Home, in order to appear before the emperor, the brethren came down from Rome along the fine Appian Way, as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns,-fifty-two miles: when Paul saw this “he thanked God, and took courage.” Surely he could rely upon these in the evil hour.

Alas! no; not even upon one of them; and therefore says he, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” “To him that is afflicted, pity should be shown from his friend, but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.” We may meet with cold sympathy, if it deserve the name; but, instead of assisting us in our trouble, many may seem to take advantage of our distress.

Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:6.

OBSERVE here the calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. This work was assigned to him in ancient prophecy, “Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee.” Among whom, says the Apostle, addressing a Gentile Church, “are ye the called of Jesus Christ.” Mankind were always under a dispensation of forbearance and mercy, founded on the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He therefore “never left himself without witness in the world, in that he was continually doing men good, sending them rain and fruitful seasons, and filling their hearts with food and gladness;” as if he would have “called” them to himself by the seasons of the year, by the beauties of nature, and by all the comforts of life.

And he has “called” men also by affliction; he has called them to consider the evil of sin, the vanity of the world; he has called some by the mortality of others to remember their own; and to live as dying creatures. He has “called” them by conscience, sometimes in whispers, sometimes in thunders. We too are “among the called of Jesus Christ.” And thus he has called us a thousand times.

Observe the calling here intended is principally by the gospel, and especially by the labours of his servants. As to his own ministry he was the minister of the circumcision only; he was only “sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And yet, says the Apostle to the Ephesians, “He came and preached peace to them that were far off, and to them that were nigh.” Them that were “nigh” were the Jews, them that were “far off ” the Gentiles; but he never preached to them personally. The Apostle therefore in that place of Scripture, as also in this, refers to the dispensation which the Saviour had established after his resurrection, when he said to his Apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Go forth preaching “repentance and remission of sins among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” And Jesus appeared to Paul, and sent him to the Gentiles, to “open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light; from the power of Satan unto God;” to call them from “dumb idols, to serve the living God;” from superstition to worship “the Father in Spirit and in truth;” from the vileness and misery of sin to the beauties, the glories, and the blessedness of genuine religion, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost. And wherever the Bible comes, if a man is able to read it, he is there “called “according to this testimony by the Lord Jesus.

It is however chiefly by the preaching of the Word. This was at first ridiculed; it was called the “foolishness of preaching.” Yet by this God chose to “save them that believe.” The wisdom of the plan is however generally acknowledged and sanctioned. The Saviour when he ascended up on high, and received gifts for men, gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry to be perpetuated to the end of time.

Observe, secondly, His gospel was not only to inform them, but to accomplish their pardon. But his calling them was to awaken their attention. Before then there were none seeking after God. Though they all felt their want of happiness, they were seeking after it where it could never be obtained; and therefore he came forth in the gospel and called them, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,” &c.

And thirdly, his call was to justify the appropriation of the blessings displayed. When a man becomes convinced of the wrongs and dishonour his sins have done to God, he will find it no easy thing to believe that God is willing upon his return to receive him graciously. There will always be something within that will always be ready to check him, and to say to him, But what warrant have you for this? The man in this case can immediately reply, Here is my warrant, here is my authority; I am allowed, I am invited to come and partake of these blessings; I am called to do it. An invitation to go to court is called a command of her Majesty; an invitation to us to come and partake of these blessings must be considered as a command from the King of kings and Lord of lords. And it is thus expressed in the Scriptures: “This is his commandment; that ye believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.”

Oh, here is enough to meet the tremblings of conscience; here is enough to show us that if we decline to accept these blessings, even if it be from a sense of our own guilt and unworthiness, it is an act of disobedience against the will of heaven. This is his commandment, “Look unto me and be ye saved.”