Daily Devotionals

Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God

Devotional: September 14th

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.- Jeremiah 31:34.

The outward teaching of the word is to be prized. Diligent attendance on gospel-preaching is by no means to be neglected. Faithful ministers of Jesus are to be esteemed highly in love for their works’ sake. Christian conversation is to be valued: none of these are here spoken against by our Lord. No; his appointing teachers, the Spirit’s owning and blessing the word by them to the instruction and conversion of souls, plainly prove the contrary. But Jesus, the substance, being come, teaching by types and shadows should be no more. Men shall not teach one another by pretended revelations: but the ministration of the Spirit should take place of the ministration of the letter. Such should be the effusion of the Spirit after the ascension of Jesus; that he should enlighten with his power and teach with his energy all the children of God. Every believer in Jesus has this unction of the Holy Spirit, which teacheth him all things,- 1 John 2:20. Hence the babe in Christ, as well as the father, is taught by the same divine Lord to know Jesus as the only and alone Saviour, the virtue of his precious blood, the perfection of his atonement, the glory of his righteousness, and the completeness of his salvation; taught to believe in his blessed name, and love his adorable person. O believer, is this absolute declaration, "they shall all know me," thy mercy? Jehovah speaks with the voice of omnipotence. The Lord effects by the power of his sovereignty, THEY SHALL all know me: are ALL men thus taught of God? Do ALL men know the Lord? We cannot say so. We dare not think so. The contrary is too evident. This teaching, this knowledge, is not general and universal, but special and peculiar to God’s people ONLY. Therefore his grace proved effectual to thy calling, thy teaching. How vain, how fruitless would all other teachers have proved! but the work is his, the comfort thine. Ever reflect on the pride of thy nature, the obstinacy of thy will, the blindness of thy understanding, the desperate wickedness and unbelief of thy heart, and bow to his sovereignty. Give the Spirit all the glory for what thou knowest of Jesus as thy hope and salvation. Now there is an essential difference between BELIEVING and KNOWING. All men believe there is a God. But to know God is peculiar to regenerate souls. And this is the comforting criterion, to know him as our own sinforgiving God: for he adds, "I will forgive their iniquity; I will remember their sin no more."

We bless the prophet of the Lord

That comes with truth and grace:

Jesus, thy Spirit and thy word

Doth teach us in thy ways.

Hosanna to thy glorious name,

Who call’d us by thy grace;

Thy mercies lay a sov’reign claim

To our immortal praise.

He saw his glory, and spoke of him. John 12:41.

Ministers who do not preach Christ, sinners who do not speak of Christ, are objects of pity, not of our wrath. Their eyes are blind to his matchless glory. Their hearts do not understand his unparalleled love. But consider, (1st.) When once Christ’s glory is displayed, and his love believed in the heart, the tongue will speak of him. So Isaiah found it. So did that poor woman of Samaria, “she ran into the city,” she catched hold of one and another. She eagerly cried, “Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ?” Surely it is, what think ye? (John 4:29.) She had sweet experience. Here was no self-exalting. No cry, see me, admire me. What fine experience I have got! One is sometimes grieved to read, or hear people tell of their experiences, when they tend only to make the poor sinner appear, as somewhat glorious in his own eyes, and to be admired by his fellow sinners. This is not right. If the sinner’s vileness is not fully explored, and the Saviour’s glory only exalted, such souls know not as they ought to know. Such experiences are not profitable, they are not worth attending to. (2d.) When sinners see Christ’s glory, they will speak to him of God the Father. They will come in his name. They will plead his blood only for the pardon of sin, his righteousness alone for the justification of their souls, his intercession for their obtaining every blessing in earth and heaven. Thus we can come boldly to a throne of grace. Thus we expect freely to obtain mercy to relieve us, and grace to comfort us. Thus we are sure, perfectly sure, we are welcome to God. For he hath told us so. It pleased the Father, that in Christ all fulness (of grace and glory) should dwell. (Colossians 1:19.) “That out of his fulness we should receive.” (John 1:16.) Having seen Christ’s glory, we come to him for this grace. For (3d.) The sight of Christ’s glory, eclipses our own fancied glory. The more we see of Jesus, the less we like ourselves. We grow out of conceit with ourselves. What glory is there in a filthy dunghill, a cage of unclean birds, a nest of serpents, toads, and adders? Worse, inexpressibly worse are we than all these. Our natures are half-beast, half-devil. Yet, astonishing love! Jesus displays the glory of his grace to us. Nothing but unbelief prevents our beholding it. “Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see my glory?” John 11:40.

When I my Saviour’s glory see

Revealed in the word to faith,

My soul is full of ecstasy,

I dwell with joy on what he saith.

My tongue is loos’d to speak his fame,

And tell poor sinners all around,

That they with me may know his name,

And say, I’ve precious Jesus found.