Daily Devotionals

Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God

Devotional: March 9th

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.- Isaiah 51:11.

"A good word maketh the heart glad."- Proverbs 12:25. This is true of the good word of gospel-grace. Unscriptural notions of conditional grace and salvation deject the spirits of sensible sinners. God’s free-grace declarations and absolute promises revive the hearts of contrite ones. Man’s ifs, suppositions, and peradventures, tend to counteract God’s SHALLS and WILLS, his gracious purposes and loving determinations. Where the word of a king is, there is power: "And who may say unto him, what doest thou?"- Ecclesiastes 8:4. In the word of Jehovah there is almighty power: "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"- Daniel 4:35.

God’s I WILL and YOU SHALL, are the stay, the strength, the food of faith. It is the joy of believing hearts to set their seal to God’s free promises, and say, Amen, so be it. The arm of the Lord, the strength of Jehovah, which hath done wonders of old, is not shortened that it cannot save; that is our mercy. It is, it ever will be stretched forth in power; that is our comfort. Every redeemed soul "SHALL return to mount Sion, to the general assembly of the church of the first-born, which are enrolled in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all; and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling."- Hebrews 12:22-24.

All the objects of the Father’s love are the subjects of the Son’s redemption, and shall be partakers of the Spirit’s power and consolation. In returning to Jesus they shall find rest, and peace, and joy. By the sprinkling of his blood, sorrow and mourning flee away from their consciences. Then how sweetly, how joyfully do we sing the song of Moses?- Exodus 15:1, "The Lord is my strength and my song: he is become- what? even MY SALVATION," etc. How comfortably do our souls join the triumphant song of the victorious Lamb- Revelation 1:5, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." What strong consolation! what full assurance is proclaimed from the mouth of the Lord! Every sentence contains a SHALL; not it may be, but it shall be. Sinners feel the power of grace, which melts hearts of stone into flesh; saints feel the comfort of love, which turns mournful penitents into joyful souls. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ."- 2 Corinthians 5:18.

This people have I formed for myself: they shall shew forth my praise. Isaiah 42:21.

What says the world, of God’s new formed creatures? “These men turn the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6.) Well, if they do, is it not right? Seeing the devil by sin turned it upside down once, Christ, by the power of his grace, turned it upside down again, then it is turned into its right state. The Lord is here about to perform a wonder of grace. He calls for our special attention to it. “Behold, I will do a new thing.” (ver. 19.) He was going to take those who were not a people, to make them his people. The eminent displays of God’s grace, should be the admiration of our hearts, and the glory of our souls. See (1st.) the description of this people. They are compared to the beasts of the field, to dragons and owls. Yet the Lord calls them “my people, my chosen.” My soul, remember what thy nature is. As filthy as a beast, as fierce as a dragon, as stupid as an owl. Was the earth at its first creation, without form, and void of order? (Genesis 1:2.) Just so respecting spiritual things, are all the subjects on whom the Lord displays the power of his grace. View thy nature. Come down from thy altitudes. Live in the valley of humiliation. Adore the power that formed thee. Confess the hand divine. For, (2d.) the Lord forms such. Till this is effected, we are only formed to serve our lusts, enjoy the pleasures of sense and sin, and to be slaves of Satan. What hand have we in our spiritual formation? Just as much as the earth had, in forming itself into order and beauty out of a rude mass of chaos and confusion. Well might St. Paul say, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:10.) Settle this well in thy mind, to quell the rising of cursed free-will pride, which robs the Lord of the glory of his efficacious grace. (3d.) See the end of the Lord’s work of grace upon sinners. (1st.) “Formed for myself.” How precious is that word. Formed to come unto God, enjoy fellowship with him, and live upon the fulness of the grace of Christ. Yea, to choose the Lord for our portion, and delight in him as our ALL, in time and eternity. (2d.) “They shall shew forth my praise.” Lord fill our hearts with such a sense of thy distinguishing grace to us, that thy name may be ever praised by us. O may we ever praise thee, with the love of our hearts, and the obedience of our lives, who hath called us out of nature’s darkness, into the marvellous grace of Christ.

We’re all alike destroyed by sin,

And sunk into a hell of woe.

But sov’reign grace renews within,

Hence peace and love with comfort flow.

Sing, O ye saints! this matchless grace,

Flows from our Father’s endless love,

Thro’ Christ, unto our ruin’d race,

To raise our souls to joys above.

Equal praise to thee, O Spirit,

Our souls are ever bound to give:

By thy pow’r we now inherit

Our all in Christ and on him live.