March 12. (THE FAMILY ALTAR - BRIEF DAILY DEVOTIONS Based on Selected Scripture Texts - 1922)

 

And the high priest answered and said unto Him: "I adjure

thee by the living God that Thou tell us whether Thou be the

Christ, the Son of God." Jesus saith unto him: "Thou hast said;

nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of

Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds

of heaven." Matt. 26:63. 64.

 

The captors of Jesus first led Him bound to Annas, the

father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest of that year, who had

been plotting the Savior's death ever since the resurrection of

Lazarus. (John 11,49.50.) Before this biased and cruel judge

our Lord was brought from Annas, where his trial at once took

place. When, however, our Lord remains silent to all the lying

testimony which the hastily collected, false, and suborned witnesses

adduce against Him, Caiaphas springs his trap and solemnly ad-

jures the Lord to tell them whether He is the Christ, the Son

of the living God, or not.

Now, where the honor of His heavenly Father, the truth of His

Gospel, the salvation of the lost sinful world is involved, our

blessed Lord does not hesitate a moment, but at once confesses the

truth, though He knows what terrible sufferings and death await

Him. In His great love He would even save His cruel, unjust judges,

and therefore He warns them against the coming judgment. He came

in judgment on them in the destruction of their city, Jerusalem; He

will come to their final and eternal judgment when He appears in the

clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead. Woe unto all, then,

who rejected Him, their only Savior, in blind and obdurate hate

and unbelief!

He that believeth not shall be damned; he excludes

himself from the mercy, the righteousness, the salvation prepared

also for him in Christ Jesus, the sinners' Friend and pardoning

Judge; and so he must suffer the curse, and die in his sins

without mercy through all eternity. "Kiss the Son, lest He be

angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled

but a little. Blessed are all they thaf put their trust in Him."

 

 

Great God, to Thee my spirit clings,

Thy boundless love declaring;

One wondrous sight my comfort brings,

The Judge my nature wearing.

Beneath His cross I view the day

When heaven and earth shall pass away,

And thus prepare to meet Him.

 The Difference between the Law and the Gospel. 

The contents of Holy Scripture are twofold: Law and Gospel. Both are necessary for us. The Law teaches what we are to do; the Gospel teaches what God has done, and still does, for our sal­ vation. The Law teaches knowledge of sin; the Gospel shows us our Savior. The Law condemns us for our sins, terrifies and hum­ bles us before the holy God, so that we learn to despair of being able to save ourselves; the Gospel promises, gives, and seals unto us, forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Law does not promise heaven to you; on the contrary, it tells you very plainly, that you will go to hell; it works wrath and kills; it tells you that you must love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself; and you must acknowledge and confess that such a perfect love is not in your heart. What, then, does the Law teach but the wrath of God because you have not fulfilled its precepts? But what does the Gospel do? It invites and draws us to Christ, kindles faith in our hearts, and thus works spiritual life in us. It teaches righteousness. It tells us that we are righteous in the sight of God by faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that for the sake of His dear Son, who bled and died for us on the cross, God will not lay a single sin to our charge.

These two doctrines, Law and Gospel, faith and works, must not be confused or blended together; if that is done, the way of salvation is obscured. Whoever says that man must do his part, whereupon God will also do His, or that man is justified and saved by faith and works, obliterates the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, faith and works, grace and merit. The distinction between Law and Gospel, therefore, is of paramount importance.

Prayer.

Lord God, this twofold doctrine of Thy holy Word, Law and Gospel, affects our principles, sentiments, motives, aims, and all our works and doings. Let us well understand and rightly divide them in every situation of our lives. We entreat Thee of Thy fatherly goodness, let the curse of the Law make us despair of our own ability to merit Thy favor and eternal life, so that we shall gratefully accept the Gospel, the message of Thy grace through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, and thereupon willingly lead a Chris­tian life, prepare for a blessed departure, and, finally, fall asleep and rest in peace and joy, until Thou wilt call us forth again unto life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 

My beauty are, my glorious dress; 

In these Thy precious gifts arrayed, 

With joy shall I lift up my head.

DAILY READINGS IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST - J. R. Miller

March 12. Earthly Joys

That is just as true of all of earth's springs of joy — as it was of Jacob's well. Men and women drink of them today — and find a measure of satisfaction for a little while — but soon they are thirsty as ever again!

The human soul cannot be satisfied with any of earth's good things. This is not the fault of the things of earth; they are good and beautiful in their way and in their place. But the soul is spiritual and immortal, and cannot be filled with any good which is not also spiritual and immortal.

Money and fame and power, can never be food for a soul made in the divine image; nothing less than God Himself can answer its cravings.

We could not make the angels happy — by giving them gold and diamonds, and building them fine marble palaces to live in, and putting crowns and fine clothes on them. No more can we satisfy our own souls with such things! Men try to do so — but their thirst is only momentarily quenched, and soon they must drink again! Gratification only intensifies desire!

There is said to be a strange plant in South America which finds a moist place and sends its roots down. It then becomes green for a little while, until the place becomes dry — when it draws itself out and rolls itself up and is blown along by the wind until it comes to another moist place, where it repeats the same process. On and on the plant goes, stopping wherever it finds a little water — until the spot is dry. Then, in the end, after all its wanderings — it is nothing but a bundle of dry roots and leaves!

It is just the same with those who drink only of this world's springs. They drink — and then thirst again. They thus go on from spring to spring, blown by the winds of passion and desire, and at last their souls are nothing but bundles of unsatisfied desires and burning thirsts! We must find something better than this — or perish forever! "Whosoever drinketh of this water — shall thirst again!" John 4:13

THE WINDS OF FATE

 [This poem was written by Mrs. Wilcox on the steamer, Richard Peck, between New Haven and New York, following her husband’s observation that one ship west and the other east in the same wind.] 

 

 What the Gospel Is (Pasche, F.E.)

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom,. 1:16.

What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the glad tidings of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. The Gospel is the joyful message that the God of heaven had compassion on us, His fallen creatures, and sent a Savior to save us from our sins. The Gospel is the won­ derful story of Jesus Christ, telling us who He is, how He came into this world, what He did and taught, for what purpose He suffered and died, and how He rose again and ascended to heaven. The Gospel tells us that the Son of God suffered the punishment which we had deserved on account of our sins, that He won for us forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God, and that God the Father accepted the work of His beloved Son by raising Him from the dead and crowning Him with honor and majesty. The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ merited the righteousness for us which avails in the sight of God and that He prepared everlasting man­ sions in heaven for us, and it invites, yea, urges us to look to Him and be saved by Him. The Gospel says: “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” The Gospel tells us: “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever­ lasting life.”

So the Gospel brings Christ and His salvation nigh unto us. Christ has earned eternal salvation for us, the Gospel brings it to us, and faith receives and holds it ■—•surely a plain, simple, and direct way to heaven!

Come, then, to Christ just as you are, with all your sins. Forgiveness, pardon, grace, His eternal kingdom with all its riches, is yours free of charge, without money and without price. Is not that the sweetest story ever told? What message is sweeter to the prisoner than the news of his pardon and freedom? We verily have a glorious Gospel, and we may well say with St. Paul: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

Prayer.

Merciful God, with a solemn oath Thou hast promised and said: “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” I take comfort in Thine only-begotten Son, mine only Redeemer, Justifier, and Mediator, who by virtue of His obedience, suffering, and death has regained Thy favor for me and has given me, who believes in Him, power to be and remain Thy child and an heir of salvation. He is the Water of Life, which alone can give health to my soul. Amen.

I heard, the voice of Jesus say, Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I drank Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in Him.

DAILY READINGS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller

March 11. Give Me a drink

"There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drinkr." John 4:7

This illustrates to us how full the world's common walks are of Christ. This woman went out from her home on a very ordinary and commonplace errand, to draw a little water from the public well, and before she returned — she had met the Messiah and He had revealed Himself to her soul as her Savior! She was not seeking for Christ, except as the unsatisfied yearning of her heart was a faint cry for Him whom she knew not. We never know when we are to meet Christ. He often meets us in all the paths of life. She was in the way of simple duty, when he met her.

The way of duty is always the surest place to come upon Christ. No one ever yet found Him in the path of disobedience. This woman was unaware of the glory of the presence beside her. Jesus met her in the form of a weary and way-worn man — and won His way to her conscience and heart, before he revealed to her the glory of His personality. Christ continually comes in unrecognized ways, getting near to us and drawing out our love and trust — and before we know that it is Christ — we are loving and trusting Him; then He drops the veil — and shows us His blessed face.

There is another suggestion here: Jesus began His ministry of blessing to this woman — by asking a simple favor of her. "Give me a drink," He said. Thus He continually stands before us in some disguise, asking some service. He Himself has told us that in the least of His little ones who appeal to us for bread in their hunger, or relief in their distress — He Himself comes; and that what we do for these — we do for Him. So we never know when it is Christ who stands before us, in some suppliant or needy one, with a timid request for help. We should be careful how we treat the lowliest person, lest some day we deny a cup of water to the blessed glorious Christ.