Daily Devotionals

Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God

Devotional: November 25th

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.- Philippians 1:21.

O happy, happy soul! who can thus say with Paul, "in life, in death, Christ is my gain!" Verily, if thou believest on the Son of God, thou mayest. Thou also hast the same right and the same reason as he had. Paul was a poor sinner, even as thou art; but Christ was all his gain: so he is to thee and every one who believes in him. Come Christian, let us, like the wise trader, state our accounts of loss and gain and see the sum total this day. In self-righteousness before God, peace with God, love to God, hope in God, power to please God, enjoyment of God, the life of our souls, yea, our souls themselves are ALL LOST. We are all a lump of sin, bankrupt sinners, insolvent debtors to law and justice, and are exposed to lie for ever in the prison of hell. Awful loss. What is our GAIN? Inestimable riches! nothing less than precious Christ, and a precious salvation! O, is his dear name enrolled in the book of our hearts? Can we read Jesus there? Then IN Christ we have perfect righteousness before God, full acceptance with God, free access to God, love from God, peace with God, hope of enjoying, yea, present fellowship with God; we are his children in Christ Jesus; all that he has is ours; every attribute and perfection of Jehovah are engaged for us; his Spirit is ours, to make us holy and happy here, and to lead us to eternal felicity hereafter. But, saith the poor believing sinner, "I am put to a stand in my reckoning; though Christ is my gain, yet I have not entirely lost my burden, sin. Sin is still alive in me." Stop not, O soul, reckon on. Though we have sin, feel sin raging and rebelling, what then? In Christ we have gained a sacrifice for it, and redemption from it. His precious blood hath taken away all the guilt of sin from us, and all the wrath due to us from the justice of God. So it stands upon record in the court of heaven, and the Holy Ghost is witness of it on earth; therefore record this in the court of conscience. Faith can shew a discharge from the guilt of sin and the curse of the law, therefore reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Dead indeed, how emphatic! yes, as much dead to sin as a corpse buried under ground; and as much alive to God in Christ, as though you had never committed one sin, nor have any sin in you. "For, O precious words! the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made us free from the law of sin and death."- Romans 8:2. Thus in Christ we gain a perfect victory over sin and the law. But say, will sin destroy our mortal bodies? let it; this is all it can do; it cannot hurt our immortal souls; for, thanks be to God, in Christ we have a complete victory over death; Christ is our gain in death. We shall lose nothing by death but sin and sorrow: we shall gain-what? eternal glory. "We shall be with our Jesus."- John 17:24.

Let me see the king’s face. 2 Samuel 14:32.

Beloved Absalom was now in a state of exile from his royal father. He had shed his brother Amnon’s blood. The king was enraged against him. Though he suffered Absalom to return to his house at Jerusalem, yet says he, “Let him not see my face.” Still there was love, great love in David’s heart, towards his son. Thus, O believer, thy heavenly Father may hide away his face in anger, because of thy provocations. That’s thy hell. But his love never abates. It is always the same towards thee, from everlasting to everlasting. That’s thy heaven to know. Was it not so, hell had long since been thy portion and mine. O think of, believe in, rejoice for everlasting, unchangeable love: love, that will never be wearied out by thy sins, till it hath brought thy soul, where sin and sorrow shall be no more for ever. But, was Absalom quiet and easy, to return to his house at Jerusalem? No, amidst all his enjoyments, there was a fly in the pot; his mind was corroded: his heart unhappy. Why? The king would not see him: and as though he had but this one desire in his soul, and all other enjoyments were nothing without this, says he, “Let me see the king’s face.” He could not rest till this request was granted him. Some folks are very fond of having their fortunes told. O soul, dost thou desire to know thy state? Thou mayest very easily know tonight, whether thou art in the way to heaven or hell. Is it the one desire of thy soul, to see the king’s face? the face of the King of kings-the King of saints, the friend of sinners? Is thy soul restless and unsatisfied without this sight? Though surrounded with all that heart can wish, yet art thou saying? “Lord I cannot live at a distance from thee, without the smiles of thy love, the sight of thy reconciled face in Jesus. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me, and I shall be whole: quite happy and comfortable. The light of thy countenance will make me exceedingly glad. In thy smile is heaven: in thy frown is hell.” Here is a blessed and sure evidence, that thou art a child of God. Here is the proof of thy faith, and the regeneration of thy soul. It is disposed to God: as a loving desire, an earnest pressing after, enjoying the comforts of his Spirit: a sight of his face, and a sense of his love. You will not, you cannot, rest upon doctrines of grace, without experiencing the grace of the doctrines in your heart: not to be satisfied with believing the everlasting love of God, without feeling it shed abroad in your heart, by the Holy Ghost.

My gracious Redeemer I’ll love,

His praises aloud I’ll proclaim,

And join with the armies above,

To shout his adorable name.