the Fourth Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
May 29—Morning—Romans 5:18
"As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."—Romans 5:18.
Concerning the ruin in which thou art involved in Adam, surely, my soul, thou knowest and feelest it from day to day. No one can persuade thee out of this. Thou art as much concerned in. the sin, and consequently implicated in the punishment, of the first man’s transgression, as if thou hadst been, and which indeed as thy root and head thou really wert, in the garden with him when he did it. And thou feelest the same disposition to sin the same rebellion in thy very nature. So that most fully and freely dost thou subscribe to the rights of God’s judgment, that condemnation cometh upon all men, because all have sinned. Now then see, my soul, whether, through the same Almighty Teacher who convinced thee of sin, thou art convinced also of the righteousness of Jesus, and art as fully and as truly interested in all that belongs unto him. Now as Adam and his seed are one in sin and its just consequences, so equally Christ and his seed, in the eye of God’s law and justice, are one in Christ’s righteousness. Remember, my soul, and it is a great point to remember, Jesus is never spoken of in scripture as a single person, and as the Christ of God, but as the covenant head. He is as much the head, the root, the common stock of all his spiritual seed, as Adam was the head, and root, and stock, of all his natural seed. So then, as Adam’s sin is the sin of all his children, because they are his children; even so the righteousness of Christ, the second Adam so called, is the righteousness of all his children, because they are his children. This is so plain a truth, that it can need no further argument. The next point now is, in order to enjoy all the comfort and blessedness which ariseth out of this precious doctrine, that thou shouldest be able, my soul, to prove that thou art of Christ’s seed. Very fully thou provest from day to day, by the remains of indwelling corruption that ariseth within, that thou art of the stock of the first Adam: how wilt thou prove thy relationship to the second? For, as upon the presumption, I had not sprung from the stock of Adam, and none of his blood was running in my veins, I should not have partaken of his sin, or been subject to his punishment; so equally evident it is, that if I am not born again and belong to the seed of Christ, I am not interested in him or his righteousness. Blessed be God! the relationship with Jesus, as the glorious Head and Mediator of his people, is as easily to be proved as the relationship with Adam. God promised to pour out of his Spirit upon Christ’s seed, Isaiah 44:3-5. Hast thou then, my soul, the Spirit of Christ as thou hast the nature of Adam? Is Jesus precious, more precious than gold—his salvation dear—his righteousness thy only confidence? Canst thou, and dost thou say, with one of old, "this is all my salvation, and all my desire?" Is he whom the Father delighteth in, thy delight—he that is the desire of all nations, thy desire? If these and the like testimonies are in thy experience, my soul, what greater evidences dost thou need, to manifest thy relationship to thy Jesus, as thy corruptions prove thee allied to the old nature? See then, my soul, that thou foldest up this soul-reviving truth for thy bosom, and carriest it about with thee daily wherever thou goest; so will Jesus be thy hope and thy portion for ever.
May 29—Evening—Acts 21:16
"An old disciple.—Acts 21:16.
My soul! of what standing art thou in the church of Christ? If there be any thing of real rank and dignity in human life, to cause one man to differ from another, certainly that age, which consisteth not in a multitude of years, but in fellowship and long acquaintance with Jesus, must be most honourable. But in this, as in all other distinctions, the believer’s dignity is the reverse of the world’s. He that is highest in grace, is the lowest in humility. How beautiful and engaging to this point are the words of Christ: "Whosoever will be chief among you (saith that divine Teacher), let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." Hence the simplicity and lowliness of the weaned child, Jesus, make the character and feature of those that are "greatest in the kingdom of heaven." And wherefore is this? Is it because of our spiritual attainments, or of our improvement in the divine life? Will our title to salvation be at length made out, from our having been such a time, or so long a season with Jesus? Is he "an old disciple," who hath been so many years an attendant on ordinances, sacraments, hearing sermons, and the like? Is this the plan of counting years in the school of Christ; and by so much, as we can number our attendance on the means of grace and improvements under them, as we fancy in ourselves the progress of our own holiness, do we estimate an old disciple? Not so, my soul, is the scripture calculation of age in the divine life. There we read, that" the child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed," Isaiah 65:20. What is it then to be" an old disciple?" Surely he is one that is eldest, in having learned, from the continued teachings of God the Holy Ghost, to think less of himself, and more and more of Jesus. He advanceth the farthest in this scriptural age, who is growing in grace, by growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His every day’s experience brings him more acquainted with his own unworthiness, so as to endear the infinite merit of the Redeemer. He is truly "an old disciple," who is old in this science, of being more out of love with himself, and more in love with Jesus. For it is impossible, in this progress of the divine life, but to make advances in this exact proportion; and as the blessed Spirit exalts Christ to the view, and brings him home to the heart, by so much our self-confidence lessens; and the more glorious he appears, the more lowly we become in our own eyes. This is one rule to ascertain the real age of a disciple. And there is another like it: as those who have long lived in a family, best know its government, and find themselves more at home in it; so the oldest disciples in Jesus’s household will best know how to improve a long and growing acquaintance with him, be coming to him for all they want, and making his glory the one great object of all their desire. And it will prove indeed that they are faithful to their Lord’s interest, when they not only lay out every thing for his praise, but receive every thing that he lays out that it may be for his glory. My soul! what sayest thou to this statement of things, in respect of the real age of the believer in Jesus? Art thou" an old disciple" of thy Lord?
