Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: October 9th

He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them, on the Sabbath-days. And they were astonished at his doctrine; for his word was with power. - Luke 4:31-32.

OBSERVE the place,-Capernaum. Capernaum shared much of the Saviour’s presence, for he was there nearly two years of his public ministry,-a longer period than he resided in any other place. Though it is here called a city, it was a poor insignificant fishing-town. Yet our Saviour says, “Thou art exalted unto heaven.” Why? How? Because he dignified the place by his presence, by his miracles, and by his teaching. But what says the Saviour in another place? “And thou, Capernaum, who art exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.” The reason is, because answerable to our privileges are our responsibilities; because the greater our means and advantages the greater our sin if we neglect them; and the greater our sin the greater our condemnation.

Let us notice, secondly, the season,-“The Sabbath-day.” Not that he forbore on other days: his lips always dropped like the honeycomb; and whether he was in a private house, or on the road, or by the seaside, or upon the mountain, we find his lips preserving and conveying knowledge. Yet he always paid a particular regard to the Sabbath, and he would lead us to do so by his example: he would lead us to do the same also by his command; and he does this, above all, by the influences of his Spirit. Dr. Haweis has observed, in his Church History, that there never was a revival of religion in any age or country which was not characterized by two things,-a peculiar fondness for psalmody, and a peculiar regard for the Sabbath-day.

Thirdly, We may consider the teaching. “We are not told what he taught, but we have a specimen of his teaching a few days before, when he was in Nazareth and in the synagogue, when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” He had the “words of eternal life;” and, his enemies being his judges, “never man spake like this man.”

And lastly, We may observe the impression produced. “They were, all astonished at his doctrine.” One of the first emotions which is ever produced by his word, when it enters the mind, is astonishment. Every thing seems wonderful. The things in themselves are not new, but our perception of them and our experience are new. The sun had shone before, but the blind man never saw it till his eyes were opened, and therefore it was now to him. But here, alas! the astonishment was a mere temporary excitement, an idle wonder, passing off “like the morning cloud and early dew, which soon pass away.”

“His word was with power.” Not the power of compulsion, dry official authority; not the power of paid eloquence, nor of mere reasoning and argumentation: no, but the power arising from influence, and this influence arising from his full knowledge, of the subject; from his felt acquaintance by the audience with the state of their hearts; from his “commending himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God;” from the motives which he adduced, throwing back the veil of futurity, showing them a world in flames,.a descending Judge, and hell and heaven following; and the combination of dignity and simplicity, majesty and mildness, which he possessed. He was all feeling, and never failed to make others feel.

His word is still accompanied with power. The apostle says to the Thessalonians, “Our word came to you, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” The gospel is his word, and the gospel is “the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.” What power is there in it to awaken, to comfort, to sanctify, and to preserve!

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. - Romans 3:24.

THIS is the condition in which all Christians are. “Being justified.” Let us first contemplate the nature of this blessing. Justification is a legal and not a moral term; it refers not to disposition, but to a condition; it does not make a man righteous, but declares him to be so. Sanctification and justification, while they always go together, are distinct blessings; they are combined in the purpose of God in the purchase of the cross, and in the experience of every Christian. But these blessings are at the same time as distinguishable as they are inseparable; the one is without, the other is within; the one is relative, the other personal; the one a change of state, the other is a change of nature; the one gives a title to heaven, the other a meetness for it; the one is gradual, the other is complete at once. The justification which all believers have in Christ has two properties: it is full, extending to all transgressions, they are “justified from all things;” and it is perpetual and irreversible: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Observe, secondly, The source of this blessing: “Being justified freely by his grace.” This seems to be a tautology, for if it be “free,” it must be of “grace,” and if of “grace,” it must be “free.” Paul was a man who loved to speak with energy and emphasis; he also understood human nature, and he knew there were many cases in which there must be “line upon line and precept upon precept,” and he knew this was one of these cases, and a very peculiar one; he knew that men are naturally as proud as they are poor, and that though they are daily compelled to beg their bread of God, yet, when they come to deal with him concerning Spiritual things, they come rather as merchants than as suppliants, and that nothing will satisfy these poor but proud creatures unless they merit the very things they need. Hence the language of the Scripture so frequently and fully upon this subject. Therefore the Apostle says we are “justified freely by his grace.”

It is obvious that God was not compelled to do it. There is no power beyond or above God to constrain him. It is equally certain that he was under no obligation to do it. We had no claim upon him; as sinners we were entirely at his mercy, and that it was for him to determine whether we should be punished or pardoned. It was impossible that this justification could have been accomplished by our good works, for these are all performed by the grace of God, and they are all defective, and therefore if they deserve anything it is condemnation; and even if our good works were perfect they could not atone for our former guilt. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.” Where is despair then, if we are justified by faith and grace? It is excluded. By what law? the law of Works? Nay: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Observe, thirdly, The medium of this blessing: “Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The price of our redemption was his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. The death of Christ is to be considered, first, as the effect of God’s love, “Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son a propitiation for our sins;” and, secondly, as the medium through which his goodness extends to the guilty children of men. A way strictly harmonising with all the perfections of his Divine nature; for if “Jacob is to be redeemed,” God is to be “glorified in his redemption;” if the transgressor escapes, the law must be “magnified and made honourable;” if sin be pardoned, it must also be condemned in the flesh. “For it became him from whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings; and being thus made perfect through suffering he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; “thus he “once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” and that now in Christ Jesus “we who sometime were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”