the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.- 1 Timothy 2:6.
The gospel is quite sufficient to answer every objection, and to silence every cavil against salvation by Christ. This sacred oracle we are to consult day after day. Do we ask, Why are any sinners saved? It assures us God hath loved them; this is the cause. If we enquire how God doth save them? It tells us, It is in a way of strict justice, consistent with the honor of God’s law, the perfection of his righteousness, holiness, and truth. Therefore redemption is, by stipulated price, the blood of the covenant, the precious blood of Christ as a Lamb without spot. Do we seek to know who are the redeemed of the Lord? Jesus assures us "he gave his life a ransom for many."- Matthew 20:28 -even for ALL whom the Father hath given him.
The word of God mentions no one in particular; but sets forth salvation in general and extensive terms-it is exactly suited to the most vile and accursed state of sinners-it is perfectly sufficient to relieve the mind, encourage hope, forbid despair, under a sense of the most complicated sins and accumulated guilt of lost, wretched, and undone souls; for the ransom of Jesus is sufficient, is all-sufficient. The price he paid for our redemption is fully equivalent to satisfy for all our transgressions, and to answer every demand of law and justice. To this very end Christ gave himself. So is he testified of in the gospel of grace. This essential and important enquiry, Have I redemption in the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of my sins? is also explicitly answered-for "he that believeth, shall be saved"-"he is justified from all things." Thus the Holy Ghost testifies in the word. Where this is received and believed in the heart, the same Spirit also bears witness to it with our spirits. And the faith of God’s elect is evidenced, by bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.
There is a time, a due time, when Christ shall be thus testified of to the souls of all God’s chosen. The ransom-price being paid, he will set the captives free, and "say to the prisoners, go forth; to them that are in darkness, shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways (of light and truth); and their pastures shall be in all high places (even the mountains of consolation and the hills of joy). They shall not hunger nor thirst (after any other hope but Jesus): neither shall the heat, nor the sun smite them; (trials and afflictions (shall profit them); he that hath mercy upon them shall lead them: (they shall not be left to walk in their own crooked ways): but by the springs of water (of refreshment and holiness) shall he guide them."- Isaiah 49:9-10.
Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Psalms 77:8.
It is one thing for God to desert, and another to disinherit. The former he frequently does by his children; the latter he never did to any one of them. He may change in his conduct to them, but never in his love for them. That is a sweet expostulation of the Lord’s, “How shall I give thee up Ephraim?” (Hosea 11:8.) It reminds us of the tender affection of a loving father to a disobedient son, with a pen in his hand, just going to execute a deed to disinherit him. But love pleads: his fatherly bowels yearn; his heart melts. Though he is disobedient, yet he is my child, my heir, the son of my loins; I cannot give him up; I cannot cut him off; I will not do it! The love of God to his children infinitely exceeds that of the most tender parent. He allows there may be such monsters in nature, for a mother not to have compassion on the son of her womb. But, says the Lord, “I will never forget thee.” (Isaiah 49:15.) “For, he will rest, or be silent in his love.” (Zephaniah 3:17.) Though thou dost not hear the voice of comfort, and the melody of joy, yet his love is the same. He cannot change. “God is love.” (1 John 4:8.) Nothing but love to his people in Christ: therefore it is impossible for his mercy to be clean gone, or his promise ever to fail. It was of his rich mercy and great love, that he quickened us, when dead in sins. (Ephesians 2:4.) Therefore, we cannot perish for want of mercy. “God’s promises are all in Christ Jesus, Yea and Amen, to his own glory.” (2 Corinthians 1:20.) Therefore, God would lose the glory of his truth, if one of them should fail. O! why then should any distressed sinner thus question his mercy and his promise? Take shame to thyself. Say with the Psalmist, “It is my infirmity.” No marvel, if, under infirmities, you call in question the mercy and truth of a faithful, covenant God; that you should question your own state, and think you are not a vessel of mercy, and that not one promise is for you. But your very questioning, fears, and concerns shew it. The dead in sin look not for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life. Unregenerate souls see nothing of the exceeding great and precious promises, which are in Christ Jesus: they have no concern about it. O, therefore, instead of questioning God’s mercy, plead it! Own this as thy sin, to doubt it. Instead of doubting his promises, look at them; glory in them; give God the glory of them. Stagger not at the promise, through unbelief. “Be strong in faith, and give glory to God.” (Romans 4:20.)
