Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: November 3rd

This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you: that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5.

LET us, in considering this message as addressed to ourselves, make two inquiries. First, How was this message obtained? John says, “We have heard it, and declare it unto you.” Heard it from whom? Unquestionably from the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the great Teacher, sent from God. He delivered it to his disciples, and they delivered it to others. “No man,” says he, “hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, he hath declared him.” And in his intercessory prayer he says, “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.” He had savingly opened to their minds his character, relations, attributes, and designs, especially his purposes of mercy and grace, so that what they communicated was not invented, but reported.

They delivered that which they also received. Some part of this message he delivered personally, while with them; but it would appear that he delivered much more after his resurrection than before; for which purpose he was with them forty days, speaking of the things which pertained to the kingdom of God. Still more did he communicate spiritually after his ascension, according to his promise:-“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.” Accordingly, we see what a difference there was afterwards in their views, and how their sentiments enlarged after the pouring down of the Holy Spirit. We may mark this with regard to one article.

Take the death of the Lord Jesus. When our Saviour “showed unto his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and chief-priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day,” Peter took him aside, and said, “Be it far from thee; this shall not be unto thee,” which drew upon him the severe reproof of the Saviour,- “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things which be of God, but those which be of men.” But now, after he had received the communication of the Holy Spirit, now that Jesus is glorified, how does he view his death? Oh, it is the precious “blood of Christ, by which,” says he, “we are redeemed.” “He bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” And again he says, “He once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”

Secondly, What does the message express? “Who by searching can find out God? who can find out the Almighty to perfection?” Yet we are not called to worship an unknown God. He never “left himself without witness, in that he has been continually doing us good, in sending us rain from heaven and filling our hearts with food and gladness.” And all his works praise him, by wearing impressions of his perfections and subserving his designs. But what a difference between the discoveries of him in nature and grace! When a noted heathen philosopher was asked what God was, he required two days to give the answer, then four, doubling the time at every additional application to him, assigning as a reason, that the more he thought upon the question the less capable he was of replying to it.

But now take John, one of the two called “unlearned and ignorant men” by the Jewish rulers: what says he? “God is light.”

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; - Ephesians 5:20.

OH, how little of this there is to be found! How much does our selfishness predominate! Even in our religious exercises! Even when we succeed in our applications to God for supplies, we forget the Giver. And thus it was even with good Hezekiah himself. How had God appeared for him! And he even composed a song for the occasion, and yet what was after a while the consequence? It is said, “Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefits done unto him.” Whatever be our condition, gratitude is required. Whatever be our circumstances, we have more to be grateful for than to complain of. Let us therefore take four views of this gratitude.

First, It is deserved. When we reflect on the Lord having remembered us in our low estate, of his having given his Son for, and his Spirit to us, of his redeeming our souls from the lowest hell, and of his engaging to conduct us to the highest heaven, that he hath “quickened us when dead in trespasses and in sins,” has forgiven us all our trespasses, and admitted us into a state of holy intimacy, so that by his grace we stand, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, we must acknowledge that he has infinite claims upon our gratitude.

Secondly, This gratitude is distinguishing. What is it that at any time will most easily and powerfully excite our gratitude? A natural man, even if he is thankful, is moved to thankfulness by a line harvest, a safe journey, or a prosperous voyage, or on account of some outward temporal good. While these should not be overlooked, nor will they be by a Christian, yet these will not principally draw forth his gratitude. He will say, with the Apostle, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” He will not principally bless God that his grounds bring forth plenteously, but that he has a plenteousness of the means of grace, and that he is blessed with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly places.

Thirdly, This gratitude impractical. It will be so, if we are sensible of that obligation which we are never able to discharge. Let us not with regard to God as well as to man, “love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” David therefore says, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Upon which Philip Henry observes, that “though thanks-giving be good, thanks-living is much better. If a tree had a capacity, and wished to praise the husbandman, the only way in which it could do it would be by the excellence and abundance of fruit it produced to him.” “And herein,” says the Saviour, “is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” Thus, according to the well-known and beautiful language of the Liturgy, we should be concerned to “show forth his praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service, and by walking before him in holiness and righteousness all our days.”

Lastly, This gratitude is to be never ending. We shall soon have done with many things here. We shall soon have done with sorrow, with sin, with a wicked world without us, and a wicked heart within us. We shall soon have done with some parts of our Christian experience and exercises. Faith will soon be lost in sight, and hope in fruition. There will be no need of patience where there is nothing to be endured or waited for. But as to thanksgiving and praise, though we shall change our places, we shall never change our employment, unless for higher and nobler strains. They that dwell in his house above will be still praising him, and therefore we may say-

“My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life, or breath, or being last,

Or immortality endures.”