11/30, Cleaving

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 28 (family); Micah 5 (secret)
EVENING:
2 Peter 2 (family); Luke 14 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q79. What is the Lord’s Supper?
A79. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ; in which, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to His appointment, His death is shown forth, and the worthy receivers are made partakers of His body and blood, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, with all His benefits to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:23-26

Q80. What is required in receiving the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner?
A80. It is required of them who would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience, lest coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves. 1 Corinthians 5:8; 11:18-20, 27-29, 31; 2 Corinthians 13:5

Q81. What is meant by the words, “till He come,” which are used by the apostle Paul in reference to the Lord’s Supper?
A81. They plainly teach us that our Lord Jesus Christ will come a second time, which is the joy and hope of all believers. Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 11:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:16


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9, ASV).

Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

How is our love displayed and demonstrated to one another without hypocrisy, that is unfeigned, that is true and sincere? Abhor, despise, utterly hate evil, and those things that are evil. How does this hatred for evil grow in us? Cleaving, being joint to, being attached to, being completely glued to that which is good; and Jesus told the rich young ruler, “There is none good but One, that is God” (Mark 10:18). We must cling, abide fast, follow hard after, and stick to (Hebrew davaq; Greek kalao) Jesus Christ, our beloved Bridegroom.

When the Holy Spirit brings us to the truth of the Cross in our daily devotions and continual meditations, He brings us to the overwhelming display and demonstration of the Triune God’s infinite and indescribable love. It is a love unfathomably deep, a love unascendably high, a love as vast and infinite as God Himself, for God is love.

Jesus Christ, our beloved Bridegroom has called us to be bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; and God the Father has called Him to cleave to His beloved bride, the church; and the Holy Spirit has quickened us that we may also cleave unto Christ with unfeigned love.

The lust of the flesh desires to hide this truth from us, producing works in us born from a servile, legalistic fear. The flesh wants us to see our Love, our Christ, our Bridegroom as strict, critical, and exacting in His ways because He is just and righteous; and He is just and righteous in His judgments against evil and evil doers, and will exact His holy wrath upon those in that day. Again, the flesh wars against the Spirit of Truth who tells us that God is love.

Every time we come to the Lord’s Table, it reminds us that there is a Marriage Supper that awaits. We are His body, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. How can we get a glimpse of His glorious love at the Cross and not see that, not sense that, and not have our wills bent to submit to that truth, or not have our affections moved to respond lovingly for that truth?

Cleave to that which is good. Cleave to God. Cling to Jesus.

Love suffers long; love envies not;
but love is ever kind;
She never boasteth of herself,
nor proudly lifts the mind.

Love harbours no suspicious thought,
is patient to the bad;
Grieved when she hears of sins and crimes,
and in the truth is glad.

Love no unseemly carriage shows,
nor selfishly confined;
She glows with social tenderness,
and feels for all mankind.

Love beareth much, much she believes,
and still she hopes the best;
Love meekly suffers many a wrong,
though sore with hardship pressed.

Love still shall hold an endless reign
in earth and heav’n above,
When tongues shall cease, and prophets fail,
and ev’ry gift but love.

Here all our gifts imperfect are;
but better days draw nigh,
When perfect light shall pour its rays,
and all those shadows fly.

Like children here we speak and think,
amused with childish toys;
But when our pow’rs their manhood reach,
we’ll scorn our present joys.

Now dark and dim, as through a glass,
are God and truth beheld;
Then shall we see as face to face,
and God shall be unvailed.

Faith, Hope, and Love, now dwell on earth,
and earth by them is blest;
But Faith and Hope must yield to Love,
of all the graces best.

Hope shall to full fruition rise,
and Faith be sight above:
These are the means, but this the end;
for saints for ever love.

1 Corinthians 13:3-13
Scripture Paraphrase and Hymns

11/29, Fleeing

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 26-27 (family); Micah 4 (secret)
EVENING:
2 Peter 1 (family); Luke 13 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q74. How do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become spiritually helpful?
A74. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become spiritually helpful, not from any virtue in them, or in him who administers them, but only by the blessing of Christ and the working of the Spirit in those who receive them by faith. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7; 12:13; 1 Peter 3:21

Q78. What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized?
A78. It is the duty of those who are rightly baptized to give themselves up to some particular and orderly church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. Luke 1:6; Acts 2:47; 9:26; 1 Corinthians 14:40; 1 Peter 2:5



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).

As fleeing youthful lusts was a commandment to the young pastor from the aged apostle, this command is not merely for pastors or leaders within the ministry. As the pastor is “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12), then by his example is the flock also shown the living Word that is alive in the believer.

Certainly, all of God’s people are commanded to flee from particular sins, such as fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18), idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14), and the love of money (1 Timothy 6:11-12), yet, fleeing youthful lusts, is something that we should heed very earnestly because youthful lusts will keep us from maturing as it is far away from, and quite in the opposite direction of, righteousness, faith, love, peace, and a pure heart that calls out to God.

What might these youthful lusts be? These are desires and longings that may still remain in the will of one that is new in the faith; desires that still have a tendency toward the flesh rather than the Spirit; desires that may have a tendency toward the temporal rather than the eternal. As an infant craves feeding and fondling rather than education and edification, so also the new creature, born from above in Christ, may be more prone to desire the blessings from God rather than the blessing of God Himself.

Believers that have been growing for some time may come to a roadblock in their faith because of youthful lusts that they have not escaped. Because Christ is holy, righteous and full of mercy, &etc., we will desire to have those attributes in our lives; nevertheless, if we are not steadfast in the Word and ever at the Cross of Jesus Christ in prayer, we will develop a desire and longing for holiness itself, righteousness itself, compassion itself, for the attribute’s sake; and these things will hang about our necks like a millstone, keeping us from the true and original desire: to be pleasing to the Master, for His sake and His glory alone. These attributes can become youthful lusts that are as far from true righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and purity as idolatry is from pure worship of Jehovah God.

As with any sin, we must flee youthful lusts in whatever way we can, with whatever it takes to move in the direction of pure discipleship in Christ. Realizing that youthful lusts are in the opposite direction from true godliness in Christ, it means repentance at the foot of the Cross; yet, however the Spirit of Christ brings about our purging, our cleansing, our plucking out of the offending eye or cutting off of the offending hand, it will always be anchored in the truth of God’s Word, fleeing from those lusts unto Jesus our Lord.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“In ev’ry condition— in sickness, in health,

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home or abroad, on the land, on the sea,

As days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,

For I will be with thee, thy trials to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

“The soul that on Jesus hath lean’d for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”

“How Firm a Foundation”
John Rippon’s A Selection of Hymns

11/28, Rejoicing

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 24-25 (family); Micah 3 (secret)
EVENING:
1 Peter 5 (family); Luke 12 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q72. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A72. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, and effectual means of convicting and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith to salvation. Psalms 19:7; Romans 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:6

Q73. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?
A73. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence, preparation, and prayer, receive it with faith and love, lay it up into our hearts, and practice it in our lives. Psalms 119:11, 18; Proverbs 8:34; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; Hebrews 4:2; James 1:25; 1 Peter 2:1-2



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

There are certainly times when we will despair, be despondent, or feel downtrodden. Although each one of us could point to our own lives and say heartily that we can believe that, it is wise not to judge that statement in ourselves or by ourselves; it is best and necessary that we judge and confirm its truth by the absolute authority of God’s Word. So is it true? Certainly. A quick look through the Book of Psalms will tell us that.

Elijah, a man with the same passions that we have, was so depressed that he asked the great Jehovah to end his life (1 Kings 19:4). In fact, he was so confused that, after prophetically speaking for God, and through his prayers the power of God was manifested before the people, he prayed to the Lord to take his life because Jezebel sought to take his life (1 Kings 19:3, 10). That really doesn’t make much sense, but in the midst of a crisis and in the throes of conflict, sometimes we become a little irrational (or a lot), and we can’t see the forest for the trees. That’s why our situations, however real they may seem, or even be at the time we are in them, they must be measured according to God’s Word; and we must make our decisions, discernments, and determinations in the light of and by the guidance of that Holy Word.

The life that we live in Christ has conflict because we still dwell in these tabernacles of flesh. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). Yet, it is in the struggle and the conflicts, the trials and the tribulations, the suffering and the sorrow, that makes our rejoicing truly great, wonderful, and magnificent. When rejoicing rises from the depths of despair, the greater the difference between the agony and exaltation produces a corresponding joy, if it is certainly in Christ; the smaller the distance between the two, the smaller the joy; the greater the distance, the greater the joy. This is one of the things that the heavenly angels look at in utter amazement.

Brokenness that begets restoration is cause for rejoicing. Humility that begets honor is cause for rejoicing. Calamity that begets comfort is cause for rejoicing. Death that begets life is cause for rejoicing.

The source and stay of Christian joy is the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. Far from the “pleasant” or “happy” circumstances that we are in, our joy is in the Lord and from the Lord, and the Lord’s joy is our strength.

When we reflect upon the Man of sorrows, considering that the despair, the destitution, and the wrath of destruction He endured upon Calvary’s tree was infinitely worse than anything we could possibly experience, we have cause to rejoice in Him. The depth of His eternal Sacrifice guaranteed the very height of exaltation in His resurrection and ascension.

We rejoice as comforted in our sufferings because of His sufferings. We rejoice as more than conquerors in Christ because of His exaltation.

Ye righteous, in the Lord rejoice;
it comely is and right,
That upright men, with thankful voice,
should praise the Lord of might.

Praise God with harp, and unto Him
sing with the psaltery;
Upon a ten-string’d instrument
make ye sweet melody.

A new song to Him sing, and play
with loud noise skilfully;
For right is God’s word, all His works
are done in verity.

To judgment and to righteousness
a love He beareth still;
The loving-kindness of the Lord
the earth throughout doth fill.

Behold on those that do Him fear
the Lord doth set His eye;
Ev’n those who on His mercy do
with confidence rely.

From death to free their soul, in dearth
life unto them to yield.
Our soul doth wait upon the Lord;
He is our help and shield.

Sith in His holy name we trust,
our heart shall joyful be.
Lord, let Thy mercy be on us,
as we do hope in Thee.

Psalms 33:1-5, 18-22
Scottish Psalter

11/27, Thanksgiving

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 23 (family); Micah 2 (secret)
EVENING:
1 Peter 4 (family); Luke 11 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q69. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A69. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, through which we receive, and rest upon, Him alone for salvation, as He is set forth in the gospel. Isaiah 33:22; John 1:12; Philippians 3:9; Hebrews 10:39

Q70. What is repentance to life?
A70. Repentance to life is a saving grace, through which a sinner, out of a true sense of his own sins, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it to God with full purpose to strive after new obedience. Psalms 119:59; Jeremiah 31:18-19; Joel 2:13; Acts 2:37; 11:18

Q71. How are the outward means by which the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A71. The outward and ordinary means by which the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of Christ’s redemption, are the Word, by which souls are begotten to spiritual life; Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Prayer, and Meditation, by all which believers are further edified in their most holy faith. Acts 2:41-42; James 1:18


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:4-5).

Those beloved Puritans who sailed to America four centuries ago were not leaving England to find a new home in order to elevate their standard of living; they weren’t looking for a bigger house because they’ve outgrown the old one. When they left England to forge out a new life in the new land, they still had eyes upon the city of God that was to come: the New Jerusalem.

Most of them did not even call themselves Puritans, as that was a name given them by others due to the outward life produced by their inward devotions and meditations… and their practical outlook, to do whatever was needed to flee from sin, and to serve God with love, joy, peace, and with a clear conscience according to the Holy Scriptures. In fact, the closer they were drawn to God, the less purity they saw in themselves under the brilliant and glorious light of God’s Redemption. No, most of them called themselves Christians.

They wouldn’t have objected to being called Pilgrims, however. The 17th century classic by John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, should indicate the Puritan thought concerning their lives on the planet as one of a pilgrimage toward a celestial city.

The first thanksgivings of the Pilgrims in America were only a reflection of the constant giving of thanks that these Puritan believers had for the graces bestowed upon them in, through, and by Jesus Christ. They emphasized that these graces were just that, graces; granted them by the unmerited favor of God. Therefore, thanksgiving poured forth from their lives daily, and from their lips continually.

Too often, our role as ambassador of Christ overshadows our role as pilgrim for Christ. Both roles are ours, and one should not be emphasized to the detriment of the other. As ambassadors, our representation of Christ, the importance of His commands, and the seriousness of His commissions in the work He has given us to do, is important and should not be neglected; nevertheless, we must give place to the reality of our pilgrimage: the brevity of life in the light of eternity, the hardships faced in a land that is not our own, and the truth that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

We should be thankful for the material things that God hath bestowed upon us; and many of us really and truly are. Yet, I wonder, are we as thankful for the blessed graces of Baptism, the Lord’s Table, Prayer, and Meditation upon God’s Word? And more than that, are we rejoicing with thanksgiving for that moment of glimpsing a bit of Christ’s glory through the truth in God’s Word, and the pure joy of thinking, reflecting, and meditating upon the atoning Sacrifice of Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the reality of His return? The latter are graces that can never be taken away if God has granted them from above, regardless of whether you live in opulence in a country that allows men to pray openly; or whether you live under the worst of tyrannies where the blessedness of those latter graces is all that you have. In Christ, even in the midst of despair and destitution, we have much, very much, to be thankful for.

O come, let us sing to the Lord:
come, let us ev’ry one
A joyful noise make to the Rock
of our salvation.

Let us before His presence come
with praise and thankful voice;
Let us sing psalms to Him with grace,
and make a joyful noise.

For God, a great God, and great King,
above all gods He is.
Depths of the earth are in His hand,
the strength of hills is His.

To Him the spacious sea belongs,
for He the same did make;
The dry land also from His hands
its form at first did take.

O come, and let us worship Him,
let us bow down withal,
And on our knees before the Lord
our Maker let us fall.

For He’s our God, the people we
of His own pasture are,
And of His hand the sheep; to-day,
if ye His voice will hear,

Then harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation,
As in the desert, on the day
of the tentation:

When Me your fathers tempt’d and prov’d,
and did My working see;
Ev’n for the space of forty years
this race hath grieved Me.

I said, This people errs in heart,
My ways they do not know:
To whom I sware in wrath, that to
My rest they should not go.

Psalms 95

Scottish Psalter

11/26, Buffeting

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 22 (family); Micah 1 (secret)
EVENING:
1 Peter 3 (family); Luke 10 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q66. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A66. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of various aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. John 19:11; 1 John 5:15

Q67. What does every sin deserve?
A67. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and in the life that is to come. Psalms 11:6; Ephesians 5:6

Q68. How may we escape His wrath and curse due to us for sin?
A68. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting alone to His blood and righteousness. This faith is attended by repentance for the past and leads to holiness in the future. John 3:16; Acts 20:21


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected” (1 Corinthians 9:27, ASV).

Yesterday, Mr. Philpot’s “pearl” presented some very blessed insights into suffering as it relates to the personal holiness of the believer; that our trials, tribulations, and sufferings bring us trust, truth, and singleness of mind: Christ and Him crucified.

Yet, it is often when the sea is calm, when the storm clouds do not assail, when the flowers are rife and blooming on the hillside, and there is plenty of sweet water bubbling up from the spring, that we may tend toward sloth in our spiritual walk.

We need to “keep under” the body with more careful discipline when things are fine, even more so than when suffering comes and the storms beat hard upon our doors. If not, we will tend toward sloth in our spiritual lives and before we know it, we’ve backslidden.

The blessedness of the graces of reading, searching, and meditating upon God’s Word, prayerful watching, and watchful praying, bring us renewal of thought, subjection of will, and joy in the Holy Ghost; and as we are renewed, revelation of Himself from His Word and Spirit is increased; and as revelation of Himself increases, as we are souls regenerated by the life-blood of the blessed Savior, we are rejuvenated in Him, increasingly alive with our Lord Jesus; which then, strengthens us in the graces of prayer, the Word, the sacraments, the communion of saints, &etc., and we become renewed once more in thought, will, and love.

Let us give pause, beloved brothers and sisters. We may sing of a desire for holiness in our Sabbath worship, but are we truly working out our salvation in fear and trembling because of the awesome revelation of the infinite and precious worth of Redemption purchased at Calvary’s tree? How much time is truly given to the graces found in diligent and disciplined prayer and meditation upon God’s Word? Does leisure or pleasure in other employments sometimes, or often, replace those graces, both robbing God of glory and heavenly blessings from us?

As I have written this particular devotional provocation, I pray, in the spirit of meekness and humility, I also pray that it is received by you in that same way as well; and not with an over zealous burst. Even, we, the more seasoned, more mature saints, who have weathered the storms of suffering, and buffeted the body unto discipline, we need to gently encourage the younger of the Lord’s flock to begin in those graces consistently, however small and humble the portions may be; and when they are strengthened, they will feed upon the hill as well as down in the valley.

That man hath perfect blessedness,
who walketh not astray
In counsel of ungodly men,
nor stands in sinners’ way,

Nor sitteth in the scorner’s chair:
But placeth his delight
Upon God’s law, and meditates
on His law day and night.

He shall be like a tree that grows
near planted by a river,
Which in his season yields his fruit,
and his leaf fadeth never:

And all he doth shall prosper well.
The wicked are not so;
But like they are unto the chaff,
which wind drives to and fro.

In judgment therefore shall not stand
such as ungodly are;
Nor in th’ assembly of the just
shall wicked men appear.

For why? the way of godly men
unto the Lord is known:
Whereas the way of wicked men
shall quite be overthrown.

Psalms 1
Scottish Psalter

11/25, Suffering

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 21 (family); Jonah 4 (secret)
EVENING:
1 Peter 2 (family); Luke 9 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q63. What is the tenth commandment?
A63. The tenth commandment is, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbou’'s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” Exodus 20:17

Q64. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
A64. The tenth commandment forbids all discontentments with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate emotions and affections to anything that is his. 1 Corinthians 10:10; Galatians 5:26; Colossians 3:5

Q65. Is any man able to perfectly keep the commandments of God?
A65. Since the fall, no mere man is able to keep the commandments of God in his life, but daily breaks them in thought, word, and deed. Genesis 8:21; Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2, 8


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

A friend, who attends the Pastor’s College at the Metropolitan Tabernacle (yes, the very same school of ministry started by Charles Spurgeon) recently sent me one of the wonderful extracts from J. C. Philpot’s book, Pearls from Philpot. I thought I’d share it with you for today’s devotion.

“After You Have Suffered A While”

“But the God of all grace, who has called us unto
His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have
suffered a while— make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10

There is no divine establishment, no spiritual
strength, no solid settlement— except by suffering.
But after the soul has suffered, after it has felt
God’s chastising hand, the effect is...
to perfect,
to establish,
to strengthen,
and to settle it.

By suffering, a man becomes settled into a solemn
conviction of the character of Jehovah as revealed
in the Scripture, and in a measure made experimentally
manifest in his conscience. He is settled in the persuasion
that “all things work together for good to those who love
God, and are the called according to His purpose”— in the
firm conviction that everything comes to pass according
to God’s eternal purpose— and are all tending to the good
of the Church, and to God’s eternal glory.

His soul, too, is settled down into a deep persuasion of
the misery, wretchedness, and emptiness of the creature;
into the conviction that the world is but a shadow— and
that the things of time and sense are but bubbles that
burst the moment they are grasped— that of all things
sin is most to be dreaded— and the favor of God above
all things most to be coveted— that nothing is really worth
knowing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified— that all
things are passing away— and that he himself is rapidly
hurrying down the stream of life, and into the boundless
ocean of eternity.

Thus he becomes settled in a knowledge of the truth,
and his soul remains at anchor, looking to the Lord to
preserve him here, and bring him in peace and safety

to his eternal home.

– J. C. Philpot
Pearls from Philpot

In the cross of Christ I glory,

Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that thro’ all time abide.

“In the Cross of Christ I Glory”
by John Bowring

11/24, Verity

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 19-20 (family); Jonah 3 (secret)
EVENING:
1 Peter 1 (family); Luke 8 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q61.What is the ninth commandment?
A61. The ninth commandment is, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Exodus 20:16

Q62. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A62. The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own, and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness-bearing. Proverbs 14:5, 25; Zechariah 8:16; Acts 25:10; 1 Peter 3:16; 2 John 1:12



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

The account of the fall of man tells us that Satan cast doubt upon the truth of God’s Word and then opposed it outright by lying about it; Eve was carried away in that deception; Adam was immediately disobedient to the truth of God’s command not to eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden.

Although deception and disobedience travel in the same circles and are found as partners in near proximity to one another, deception is not necessarily the cause of disobedience.

Adam and Eve were created in perfection, without sin; nevertheless, man’s will was unstable as merely a created being, and without any compulsion, Adam willfully transgressed the law of their creation and the command given them not to eat the forbidden fruit.

Now, if Adam and Eve were perfect and sinless as created beings, and the one was deceived in ignorance of God’s Word and the other was willfully disobedient to God’s Word, could we possibly think that we, though saved and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, that we might fair better, especially when we consider that we dwell in the imperfect fleshly tabernacle we inherited from Adam and Eve? Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the redeemed, not imparted.

Yet, what God has given to us is the glorious blessing of sanctifying us by His truth, through His truth, in His truth, and for His truth.

We are sanctified by Him. Truth, itself, does not keep us from deception and disobedience. The love of His truth keeps us from its allure. But love for His truth only comes from our love for Him, Jesus Christ, who is very Truth: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

We are sanctified through Him. The fullness of God’s revelation of truth is found in the 66 books of God’s holy Word. To seek truth apart from the Scriptures is the acme of foolishness. As the Man from heaven, Jesus Christ, is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the truth of the Word of God is as full a revelation of who God is as we will ever find anywhere: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).

We are sanctified in Him. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the greatest testimony of the truth of the Triune God that the created universe has ever seen; as to whom He eternally is, and in what He has eternally done. That revelation of the awesome majesty, splendor, glories, and excellencies exhibited to the world in the Cross of Christ is the truth that supernaturally seizes and captures the elect by God’s sovereign power. “Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice” (John 18:37).

We are sanctified for Him. No longer are we the slaves to sin and unrighteousness, but willing bond slaves to the One who set us free. We are now free to dwell richly in His Word of truth, to enjoy His commandments, rejoice in its blessings, and glorify the Triune God with the fullness of the Truth that inhabits our lives, matures our lives, and sets our lives apart from the world. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-33).

Within Thy tabernacle, Lord,
who shall abide with Thee?
And in Thy high and holy hill
who shall a dweller be?

The man that walketh uprightly,
and worketh righteousness,
And as he thinketh in his heart,
so doth he truth express.

Who doth not slander with his tongue,
nor to his friend doth hurt;
Nor yet against his neighbour doth
take up an ill report.

In whose eyes vile men are despis’d;
but those that God do fear
He honoureth; and changeth not,
though to his hurt he swear.

His coin puts not to usury,
nor take reward will he
Against the guiltless. Who doth thus
shall never moved be.

Psalms 15 A Psalm of David.
Scottish Psalter

11/23, Generosity

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 18 (family); Jonah 2 (secret)
EVENING:
James 5 (family); Luke 7 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q59.What is the eighth commandment?
A59. The seventh commandment is, “Thou shalt not steal.” Exodus 20:15

Q60. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
A60. The eighth commandment forbids whatever does or may unjustly hinder our own, or our neighbor’s wealth, or estate. Proverbs 28:19; 21:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:8



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1 Corinthians 10:24).

We are not only commanded not to take another person’s welfare and substance, or unjustly hinder his welfare and substance, but we are also commanded to seek to advance the welfare and substance of another as a priority over our own, if it is possible to do so; that is, if it is within our means and ability to see that through.

When God grants us increased revelation of the reality of the crucified Savior, when we fall before our sovereign Lord at Calvary’s tree by His grace through the open Word, we should ever realize the immensity of His sacrifice: of all it cost God to save the souls of men; of the unworthiness of those souls to merit such love; of the absolute goodness, grandness, and gloriousness of His triune Person to perform such a thing; and when the Holy Spirit works a supernatural revelation in us to see the unrivaled and unprecedented love and generosity in Himself that He gave Himself, and of Himself, how can we not do the same in giving ourselves, and of ourselves?

First, generosity comes of the great spiritual gift we have received, and goes forth because of it. At the Cross we know that we received life, yet, did not deserve life. Because of His incredible mercy we should now be able to say along with the apostle, “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 10:33).

Second, generosity comes from the great communion we have with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and also pour forth because of it. The precious blood that was shed and His broken body are reminders at the Lord’s Table of the reconciliation God has provided through such loving and merciful generosity. In our fellowship as believers are we not moved in our bowels to desire the blessing of others as we gather? “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another” (1 Corinthians 11:33).

Third, generosity comes of substance, in as much as it is in us to give. If we are saved by grace, we have the greatest gift to give no matter what our station and financial situation: the gospel of Christ, and Him crucified. But if God has supplied our needs according to His riches in glory, then when the Spirit opens to us an opportunity to give, certainly in our abundance, but even in our lack, we are moved by the same Spirit to seek the well-being of others. “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 John 3:17).

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches deep where sinners dwell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

“The Love of God”
verse 1 and refrain
by F. M. Lehman

11/22, Purity

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 17 (family); Jonah 1 (secret)
EVENING:
James 4 (family); Luke 6 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q57.What is the seventh commandment?
A57. The seventh commandment is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14

Q58. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A58. The seventh commandment forbids all impure thoughts, words, or actions. Matthew 5:28; Ephesians 5:3-4; Colossians 4:6; 2 Timothy 2:22



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Purity”

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (Psalm 101:3).

We are bombarded all the time with evil and wickedness because we live in an unregenerate world; we are surrounded by the depravity of the human condition that exists without God. It’s in the workplace. It’s in the stores we shop in. It’s in the parking lots before we even get to the stores. It’s in our very neighborhoods. It’s everywhere; we can’t help that.

Often, the images of the things we see and the sounds of the things we hear stay with us for quite a long time. So when we see something of the depraved condition of mankind, or hear of its corruption, it can affect us.

The salvation that Christ has purchased does not only save us from future judgment and give us the promise of being eternally with Him in the sweet by and by; it also strengthens our characters through sanctification as we experience real eternal life daily although we live in the midst of the corruption of a dying world. This is one of the reasons why the sovereign Lord left us on the planet until He come again. Death is around us, yet His life doth abound in us.

Personal purity comes from a determination not to willingly set those vile, evil and wicked things before us. When we do not “walk circumspectly” (Ephesians 5:15), we willingly and, or, unwittingly place ourselves in the very situations that do not bring glory to God, and will furthermore, bring less glory to Him if left uncorrected because it retards our spiritual maturity, our growth in faith.

Remember that determination does not come from the innate strength within us, but from His supernatural power from above (2 Corinthians 12:10).

The more we surrender to God by the reality of Christ’s Redemption Truth, the more we will desire to set the good and pure things before our eyes, meditate upon the true and pure things in our thoughts, and listen for and hear the holy and pure things with our faith.

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalms 12:6).

The purity of God’s pure word purifies our minds; then with pure minds, subjects our wills; then with submissive wills, strengthens us to increasingly turn aside from the wicked things and increasingly embrace the honest, the just, the pure, the lovely, the virtuous, and the praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).

The great distance that the truth must travel is not the eighteen inches from the head to the heart, but instead, the eighteen inches from the heart to the head. The reality of the regenerated life in Christ, a new creation with a new heart and new spirit, must now be realized by a renewed mind. The mind must now get in step with the new life wrought by the supernatural power of God by His sovereign grace; and that mind is renewed by the truth of God’s Word.

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty,
At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty,
At Calvary.

“At Calvary”
verses 1-2 with refrain
by William Newell

11/21, Clarity

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 16 (family); Obadiah (secret)
EVENING:
James 3 (family); Luke 5 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q55.What is the sixth commandment?
A55. The sixth commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13

Q56. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
A56. The sixth commandment forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatever has a tendency toward it. Genesis 9:6; Proverbs 24:11-12; Acts 16:28



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38).

When we do not have a clear view of Christ and Him crucified as revealed in His holy Scriptures, we lose clarity on every other thing. Here’s an example:

Sometimes a Christian may think that he wants to be in heaven sooner than God’s providence would allow. “O, I wish that He would just come,” he might lament, not seeing that the difficult circumstance that he desires to escape is the very thing that God is using to build him faithfully and mature him spiritually.

At other times a Christian may think that he doesn’t want God to take him home just yet because he have so much work that he wants to do for Him here on earth. “I’m about the Lord’s business, and not ready to go” he might boast, forgetting that apart from Jesus Christ he can do nothing, and is nothing; and that God could raise up stones to proclaim the gospel he preaches… and they’d probably do a much better job. This particular view can be seen and heard of ministers that have taken their eye off the Cross, forgetting (or even never considering) that the infinite glories of Christ’s eternal Presence will cause every thought of inferior things to pass away.

Desiring to be off the earth and in heaven and desiring to stay on earth in order to do God’s work are both perspectives that miss the point entirely. It is all about doing God’s will: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart” (Psalm 40:8).

Is He calling you home? Awesome. He is keeping you here? Excellent. Has God made you wealthy for His glory? Fine. Has He given you the blessedness of poverty? Good. Whatever your circumstance is and whatever your case may be, let His will be done.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Go, labour on; spend, and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will;
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still?

Go, labour on; ‘tis not for naught;
Thy earthly loss is heav’nly gain;
Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not,
The Master praises, what are men?

Go, labour on, while yet ‘tis day;
The world’s dark night is hast’ning on;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;
It is not thus that souls are won.

Men die in darkness at thy side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice;
For toil comes rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, “Behold, I come!”

“Go, Labour On”
by Horatius Bonar

11/20, Authority

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 15 (family); Amos 9 (secret)
EVENING:
James 2 (family); Luke 4 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q52.What is the fifth commandment?
A52. The fifth commandment is, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12

Q53. What is required in the fifth commandment?
A53. The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honor, and performing the duties belonging to every one in their various positions and relationships as superiors, inferiors, or equals. Romans 12:10; 13:1; Ephesians 5:21-22; 6:1, 5, 9

Q54. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
A54. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity— as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and his or her own good— to all such as keep this commandment. Ephesians 6:2-3



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another” (Romans 12:3).

One of the evidences that we are regenerated is a growing maturity in the proper and godly recognition of authority. Certainly there are various degrees in faith as well as various levels of understanding within each of us; nevertheless, if we are new, supernaturally regenerate creatures in Christ, there will be a joyful desire to be submissive to the Holy Writ in the portions concerning our preferring, honoring, and esteeming others, especially those in positions of authority.

It does not mean that we blindly follow the wicked straight through the gates of hell, but it does mean that we grow in a recognition and a realization of the truth of authority on earth as it is in heaven; and that, because of the revelation of a sovereign God taught to us by the Holy Spirit in His holy Scriptures. We are warned of the lying deception of antichrist, told to resist the devil, and flee from idolatry. We certainly should not bend the knee to Baal in our desire to submit to authority; for in that case, “authority” itself as a concept, is the idol that is being worshiped.

When we are commanded to honor father and mother as children, honor the king as subjects, and magistrates as citizens, God has given us a practical set of circumstances for our faith to be worked out in us and grow in that maturity; because, in our submissive obedience to the truth of His Word, it puts down the rebellious flesh that wants to resist authority, flee from holiness, and hide altogether from God.

How is this faith nurtured, that faith which humbly submits to authority? It is found first and foremost at Calvary. When Jesus willingly hung upon that Tree of wood, submissive to the Father’s sovereign will, obedient to the infinite authority of a holy God’s just and righteous wrath upon sin, then the faith that has been created in us by the truth of the atoning Sacrifice is further nurtured and strengthened to grow in a reflective submission and obedience here on earth. The revelation of the heavenly truth becomes a reality upon earthly sod among earthbound men.

God’s pleasure is not found in a “Purpose-Driven” life but in a Propitiation-revealed, regenerated reality.

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24).

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.

Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone:
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyelids close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne;
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Then above the world and sin,
Thro' the veil, drawn right within,
I shall see Him face to face,
Sing the story, saved by grace,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me ever be with Thee.

“Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”
by Augustus Toplady

11/19, Humility

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 13-14 (family); Amos 8 (secret)
EVENING:
James 1 (family); Luke 3 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q49.What is the fourth commandment?
A49. The fourth commandment is, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11

Q50. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A50. The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as He has appointed in His Word, expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to Himself. Leviticus 19:30; Deuteronomy 5:12

Q51. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
A51. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. Leviticus 23:3; Psalm 92:1-2; Isaiah 58:13-14; Matthew 12:11-12



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Humility”

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).

Each one of us in Christ has been dealt a measure of faith from God. We know that the faith increases as we grow in maturity because each circumstance in our lives is designed by God’s providence to strengthen us “from faith to faith” in the revelation of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17). Yet, what is very important to realize, if not most important with regard to this measure of faith, is not how much faith each one of us has received, but rather whom it is that has given it to us: God.

We are commanded in God’s Word to humble ourselves (James 4:6). Sadly, we often come before our Lord, or before others, with too lofty a view of ourselves, or else, too low an opinion of ourselves. Both cases are deceptive pride and a work of the flesh. True humility actually comes, not from thinking of oneself in either a low state or a more elevated state, but in not thinking of ourselves at all. “Well,” objects someone, “I can’t just not think of myself.” That’s true if the mind isn’t renewed and filled with something better.

In the Word, as our minds are renewed by the reading of Scripture, the Holy Spirit brings the attention of regenerated men, submissive to the Father’s will, to the truths that pop out supernaturally. Humility comes from the revelation of truth. And the most basic truth is that the measure of faith we have is FROM GOD. Did we do anything to earn, deserve or apprehend such faith? No. It is ours by the pitiful mercy and the free and sovereign grace of our loving heavenly Father.

When we are walking with an eye on Christ, with a reality of His death, burial, and resurrection, the revelation of that supernatural truth overflows from within us so that we can’t help but to worship: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:14); we can’t help but to rejoice over His incredible goodness, His indescribable riches, His overflowing grace, and His compassionate mercy: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

True humility rejoices in others when they do well because when one member of the body of Christ “be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

“Praise the Lord!” you exclaim in true humility, “You received high marks in the advancement exam!”

But as your friend sees your paper and tells you how sorry he is that you did so poorly, in true humility the words come forth with a grateful smile unto the Lord, “Thanks be to God! Were it not for His grace and mercy I would not have done this well!”

And though we all know very well that apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5), true humility does not dwell on our own lowliness; that would be false humility. True humility is so selfless that the thought of self never darkens the threshold of the mind and certainly does not corrupt the mouth with haughty talk: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). Why? Because the truly humble saint’s focus and attention is on the Giver and not the gift: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

So, then, you, in true humility say, “But let’s not look at this paper. Let’s rejoice in your score… and to God be the glory for great things HE hath done!”

To God be the glory,
great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He
gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life
an atonement for sin
And opened the life-gate
that all may go in.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
let the earth hear His voice.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
let the people rejoice.
O come to the Father
thro’ Jesus, the Son
And give Him the glory
great things He hath done!

“To God Be the Glory”
verse 1 & refrain
by Fanny Crosby

11/18, Stability

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 11-12 (family); Amos 7 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 13 (family); Luke 2 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q47.What is the third commandment?
A47. The third commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain” Exodus 20:7

Q48. What is required in the third commandment?
A48. The second commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works. Deuteronomy 28:58-59; Job 36:24; Psalm 29:2; 138:2; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Revelation 15:3-4



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place” (Proverbs 27:8).

Yes, salvation does cost us our lives. The blood redeemed us. We are not our own. We are purchased with the precious price that God Himself has paid with His only Son. We are commanded to die to self, to take up our cross daily, lose our lives for His sake, and live a crucified life with Christ that is so completely surrendered to Him that it honors and glorifies the life He laid down, and took up again, for us unto His Father’s glory.

Yet, saying such things, as I did yesterday, calling all but unrivaled devotion and unconditional surrender to Christ “idolatry”, can ruffle a few feathers. “Well,” one may object, “are you demanding that everyone of us give everything away and become missionaries to some remote location? Or perhaps, you want every man among us to quite our jobs and pastor a church.” No, not at all: I would be the first to say that one not called to be in a remote location, or a man not called to be behind a pulpit, must flee from that pursuit with all speed.

We should never divorce an absolute abandon and an unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ with any place our feet should tread, any work our hand has been applied, any thing our eyes can see, any sound our ears can hear, and any word our mouths should utter.

The tendency of our flesh toward sin will move us toward thinking that the Christian life contains elements of sacred and secular; that we have times of worship and then times in the world, yet while we’re in the world, there’s often nothing to distinguish our actions from the God-hating, Christ-rejecting world… even though, we may recite the portion from His Word, “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). Sadly, in these last days, the world often hates those that profess the name of Jesus because of our obstinate rebellion against them rather than an obedient relationship to our Lord and Savior.

Our wandering, our instability, our wavering, comes from a mind that is not stayed upon Christ and His Cross. When the washing and cleansing of the Word renews our mind, our will conforms to the newness of life we have as regenerated creatures in Christ. Then, we are no longer double minded and unstable in all our ways; we find stability upon the Rock.

By the Word and because of the Cross, in faith, nothing wavering, we meet our calling and election with gladness. Then, with a certainty, you can rejoice to be the wife to your husband and mother to your children that God called you to be; that employer to your hires that blesses; that laborer that lifts with care; that driver that prays for the unsafe and inconsiderate; that attendant that serves responsively; that teacher that cares supernaturally; that Christian who walks in all humility.

Has God allowed you to be free to go wherever and do whatever, then do so as unto the Lord. Are you bound and obligated to an employer, then likewise, work for him as unto the Lord.

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).


O Lord my God, with all my heart
to Thee I will give praise;
And I the glory will ascribe
unto Thy name always:

Because Thy mercy toward me
in greatness doth excel;
And Thou deliver’d hast my soul
out from the lowest hell.

O God, the proud against me rise,
and vi’lent men have met,
That for my soul have sought; and Thee
before them have not set.

But Thou art full of pity, Lord,
a God most gracious,
Long-suffering, and in Thy truth
and mercy plenteous.

O turn to me Thy countenance,
and mercy on me have;
Thy servant strengthen, and the son
of Thine own handmaid save.

Shew me a sign for good, that they
which do me hate may see,
And be asham’d; because Thou, Lord,
didst help and comfort me.

Psalm 86:12-17 A Prayer of David.
Scottish Psalter

11/17, Idolatry

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 9-10 (family); Amos 6 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 12 (family); Luke 1:39-80 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q44.What is the second commandment?
A44. The second commandment is, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6

Q45. What is required in the second commandment?
A45. The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in His Word. Deuteronomy 12:32; 32:46; Matthew 28:20

Q46. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
A46. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images or any other way not appointed in His Word. Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Colossians 2:18



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

The weakness of our flesh is such that when we are not living a life crucified with Christ, when we are not bringing ourselves to the Cross of Christ in prayer, through the Word, &etc., we forget the cost of so great a salvation. O, how horrid to think that we would slight the precious worth of the sacrifice of God’s Son! that we would treat as a light thing the infinite value and goodness of ALL that God gave in the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world!

The discovery of what the Cross cost our Lord is a continual discovery now, and ever more will be in glory, because the majesty and splendor, the worth and value, the grace and goodness, are infinite and infinitely beyond description; and because we forget what it cost almighty God, we forget what salvation has cost us. “What?” you may utter! “Cost us? Why you’re starting to sound Arminian!”

No. Our salvation is by the free and sovereign grace of God. “It is finished” and our Lord has paid it all with His precious blood. We are unconditionally elected, particularly chosen, and supernaturally regenerated by the will of God for His good pleasure. Yet, once saved, we must recognize, first, and remember always, that God REDEEMED us; that is, we have been purchased for Himself and bought with the costly price of the atoning death of His one and only Son. “What? know ye not that… ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). I don’t belong to me. You don’t belong to you. We are HIS… and all we have is His as well.

When we stray from the truth of the Cross, even we pastors and preachers (especially in America where there is no physical persecution as in other countries), will tend to compromise our proclamation. “You may suffer,” we may say; or “If you receive Christ and you live in Saudi Arabia or North Korea, it may cost you your life.” We try to make the gospel “appealing” in America. Lord, help us. The gospel of Jesus Christ will and does cost you, me, us our lives. God does not have only part of a life; He has it all.

Our unwillingness to surrender is rebellion and is either proof that we are weak in the faith and following the lust of the flesh, or it is evidence that we may not even be saved at all and are very much reprobate. Whichever it may be, it is idolatry. To serve a god that has only saved part of us is worshipping an image that is not God. To serve a god that does not own your entire life, a god that must compete with your limited loyalty and divided devotion, is serving an imagination that is not worshipping the true and living God, nor appointed in the Word of God.

Jesus said,

“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.... So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26, 33).


The earth belongs unto the Lord,
and all that it contains;
The world that is inhabited,
and all that there remains.

For the foundations thereof
He on the seas did lay,
And He hath it established
upon the floods to stay.

Who is the man that shall ascend
into the hill of God?
Or who within His holy place
shall have a firm abode?

Whose hands are clean, whose heart is pure,
and unto vanity
Who hath not lifted up his soul,
nor sworn deceitfully.

He from th’ Eternal shall receive
the blessing him upon,
And righteousness, ev’n from the God
of His salvation.

This is the generation
that after Him enquire,
O Jacob, who do seek Thy face
with their whole heart’s desire.

Ye gates, lift up your heads on high;
ye doors that last for aye,
Be lifted up, that so the King
of glory enter may.

But who of glory is the King?
The mighty Lord is this;
Ev’n that same Lord, that great in might
and strong in battle is.

Ye gates, lift up your heads; ye doors,
doors that do last for aye,
Be lifted up, that so the King
of glory enter may.

But who is He that is the King
of glory? who is this?
The Lord of hosts, and none but He,
the King of glory is.

Psalm 24
Scottish Psalter

11/16, Recognition

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 7-8 (family); Amos 5 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 11 (family); Luke 1:1-38 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q42.What is the first commandment?
A42. The first commandment is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3

Q43. What is required in the first commandment?
A43. The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly. Deuteronomy 26:17; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Matthew 4:10


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne” (Revelation 4:10).

We must be very watchful in these last days that our attention doesn’t get on our works accomplished and our fruit produced. Certainly, there will be times that the Spirit will, and must, bring us to examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5); inspecting the good works and the spiritual fruit produced, as it were, and testing the center of our devotional duty and proving whether it has love for God, first, and love for the brethren second, and etceteras.

Yet, we must guard our hearts against a tendency toward legalism. Because we want to ensure that we’re walking rightly before God, ministering justly before His people, proclaiming effectively His everlasting gospel, we can attach little unbiblical methods to what we do to satisfy a need for vindication; that is, we seek justification for our work rather than living by the justification that Christ has already wrought through His atoning sacrifice. We might want to preach the gospel, even knowing that all of it is God’s supernatural work of efficacious grace, yet, we’ll give an altar call and lead sinners in a prayer. The more hands raised and the more commitments made, the better we seem to feel about ourselves. O, Lord, save us from our arrogance.

In reading the passage of the heavenly scene, because of this unhealthy and unholy need to be vindicated in our salvation, we want to do something to obtain a crown so we won’t feel left out when everyone is casting crowns before the eternal throne. As our dear friend, Mr. Spurgeon, would say, “RUBBISH!” The reason that the elders are casting their crowns down before the throne is because they realize that they received them, not for anything in them, but because they have them by God’s grace and His grace alone. It’s all of grace and nothing else. “And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7, NASB).

When we get our attention off of the God who sacrificed His very soul for lost sinners, when our focus is removed from the Cross, we will have such bizarre thoughts and notions. Yet, when we gaze upon the infinite glories, the eternal majesties, the magnificent splendors, and the superlative excellencies of the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, how can we have a thought for anything else but Him?

Oswald Chambers said something very interesting: “The mature stage is a life of a child which is never conscious; we become so abandoned to God that the consciousness of being used never enters in.… A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent upon God.”

I had that quote highlighted for many years… and I knew what Mr. Chambers was saying, but I never really knew what he meant until I labored to get to the Cross and stay at the Cross of Jesus Christ.

The spiritual life is not about our recognition from God; it’s about our recognition of God. It’s not about the things we get from God, or even the things we do for Him, because He is the Gift and the Giver. Again, even all we do in Him and for Him would never have come through us or from us had He not equipped us, enabled us, and empowered us in the first place by His free and sovereign grace.

When He gave Himself on Calvary’s Tree, to reconcile us to Himself, He gave us the greatest Gift in the universe: Himself. Get to the Cross and stay at the Cross and look to Him who is the Giver of all good things (James 1:17).

“We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19); “…her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much” (Luke 7:47).


Behold the glories of the Lamb
amidst His Father’s throne;
Prepare new honours for His name,
and songs before unknown.

Lo! elders worship at His feet;
the church adores around,
With vials full of odours rich,
and harps of sweetest sound.

These odours are the pray’rs of saints,
these sounds the hymns they raise;
God bends His ear to their requests,
He loves to hear their praise.

Who shall the Father’s record search,
and hidden things reveal?
Behold the Son that record takes,
and opens ev’ry seal.

Hark how th’ adoring hosts above
with songs surround the throne!
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues;
but all their hearts are one.

Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry,
to be exalted thus;
Worthy the Lamb, let us reply,
for He was slain for us.

To him be pow’r divine ascribed,
and endless blessings paid;
Salvation, glory, joy, remain
for ever on His head!

Thou hast redeemed us with Thy blood,
and set the pris’ners free;
Thou mad’st us kings and priests to God,
and we shall reign with Thee.

From ev’ry kindred, ev’ry tongue,
Thou brought’st Thy chosen race;
And distant lands and isles have shared
the riches of Thy grace.

Let all that dwell above the sky,
or on the earth below,
With fields, and floods, and ocean’s shores,
to Thee their homage show.

To Him who sits upon the throne,
the God whom we adore,
And to the Lamb that once was slain,
be glory evermore.

Revelation 5:6-13
Scripture Paraphrase & Hymns

11/15, True Tutor

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 5-6 (family); Amos 4 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 10 (family); Psalm 148-150 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q40.What did God reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
A40. The rule, which God first revealed to man for his obedience, is the moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy 10:4; Matthew 19:7

Q41. What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?
A41. The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. Matthew 22:37-40; Luke 10:27


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.... But [now we are] under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father” (Galatians 3:24, 4:2).

The Law of Moses, and the moral law (Ten Commandments) in particular, was a schoolmaster that led us to Christ; or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism explains, that the moral law was “the rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience.”

The schoolmaster did not teach anything. The schoolmaster was not a teacher, or a “tutor” as other translations suggest. It was a slave that safely led his Master’s children to school. Now, in the spiritual realm, this slave is a good and holy servant (Psalm 19:7), but a guide to the schoolhouse nonetheless, not the teacher.

“Schoolmaster” comes from the Greek word paidagoogos and the Latin translation of it, pedagogue, the meaning of which I’ve described above: a slave who escorted children to school. Yes, today, pedagogue generally means tutor or teacher, but it’s not what it meant then (or 400 years ago). Why is this important?

Once the moral law has led us to Christ, and we are justified by faith through the atoning death of Christ, then we are taught of Christ and taught by Christ through His anointed overseeing stewards (tutors) and preaching instructors (governors), in the full counsel of His entire revealed Law, the Holy Scriptures.

Today, some want to suggest that the Cross of Christ is the schoolmaster; that it is the way to a destination or a leading to something better. No, no, no. Calvary’s Tree is the schoolhouse where we are taught of Christ through His holy Word.

Now that we are justified by faith through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, every command issued in the Scripture, every doctrine taught, every blessing pronounced, is given in order that we get to Calvary’s Tree and stay there “until the time appointed of the Father.”

It is at the Tree on Calvary’s ridge, the Tree of Life, which exhibits for us, expresses to us, and edifies and educates us in the Person of God (who He is) and the power of God (what He has done). The love, the grace, the mercy, and the free and sovereign will of God almighty displayed at the Cross is throughout His holy Word; as well as His infinite glory, His majesty, His splendor, His excellence!

See the Cross in His Word. Be ever at the Cross in prayer. Carry the Cross in communion with one another. Preach the Cross to ever creature. Praise God for Christ, and Him crucified!

(For an additional note, please see the comment from the original devotion at SermonAudio.com by CLICKING HERE.)

Praise God. From heavens praise the Lord,
in heights praise to Him be.
All ye His angels, praise ye Him;
His hosts all, praise Him ye.

O praise ye Him, both sun and moon,
praise Him, all stars of light.
Ye heav’ns of heav’ns Him praise, and floods
above the heavens’ height.

Let all the creatures praise the name
of our almighty Lord:
For He commanded, and they were
created by His word.

He also, for all times to come,
hath them establish’d sure;
He hath appointed them a law,
which ever shall endure.

Psalm 148:1-6

Scottish Psalter

11/14, Anger

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 3-4 (family); Amos 3 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 9 (family); Psalm 146-147 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q37.What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A37. Being raised up in glory at the resurrection, believers shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the Day of Judgment and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body in the full enjoyment of God for all eternity. Matthew 10:32; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 John 3:2

Q38. What shall be done to the wicked at their death?
A38. At their death, the souls of the wicked shall be cast into the torments of hell; and their bodies will lie in their graves until the resurrection, and judgment of the Great Day. Psalm 49:14; Luke 16:22-24

Q39. What shall be done to the wicked at the Day of Judgment?
A39. At the Day of Judgment, the bodies of the wicked will be raised out of their graves, and together with their souls, they shall be sentenced to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels forever. Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:41; John 5:28-29; 2 Thessalonians 1:9


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26).

I have heard quite a few expositions of the passage above that try to justify man’s anger somewhat. Even from the text itself, it almost seems to suggest “when” we are angry and not “if” we are angry. Another English translation puts it this way: “In your anger do not sin” (NIV).

There should be no doubt for anyone that we do get angry. We know this by our own experience, and if we are truly honest with ourselves, we should readily admit it; and if we are not honest with ourselves, we can bend the knee and sincerely ask the Lord to reveal a moment of anger in our lives and our angriest moments will come rushing to us in a flood.

One of the root meanings for our text’s word, angry, is “to have a violent passion.” (Because yesterday’s devotion speaks of passion for the truth of Christ and Him crucified, it seemed to be appropriate to mention this before we enter our next series of Scripture portions.) This word from our text has the same root as the verse a little later: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31).

Hmm. Does the Word of God contradict itself? Some have tried to get around this difficulty by suggesting that righteous indignation, such as when Jesus turned over the moneychangers, is an anger that God allows us to have. But this doesn’t square with the whole of Scripture. Jesus Christ was, first of all, God; and therefore, the only one on the planet who was ever good at all (see Mark 10:18). Second, Jesus Christ, as Man, was the only sinless, perfect, righteous, and truly holy man who ever lived. Are you beginning to see the fruitlessness of comparing our anger with that of Christ’s? “But wait,” says one, “Yet, in Christ, He is in us and we in Him!” Exactly, say I; you’re on to something; yet, we must view it through the whole counsel of God. In fact, the same Greek word for anger is translated wrath in this well known verse: “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).

A holy hatred for sin is not the same as the anger spoken of in these three verses from Ephesians and James. How can we obey His command to be meek, gentle, love our enemies, &etc., while being angry? We cannot. When it says, Be angry, and yet do not sin, it is a Hebrew conundrum, a riddle. You see, there’s no way that you, me, we can be angry without sinning. This conundrum is designed to bring us to the Cross of Christ.

Every command issued in the Scripture, every doctrine taught, every blessing pronounced, is given in order that we get to Calvary’s Tree and stay there. How can I possibly justify my anger when I’ve seen the love, the grace, the mercy, and the free and sovereign will of God almighty displayed at the Cross? and that’s not to mention His infinite glory, His majesty, His splendor! Simply, I can’t. We can’t.

When the light of God at the Cross of Jesus Christ illuminates His truth, we recognize that our anger is sin, and must be repented of. Therefore, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” In other words, we must recognize the anger for the sin that it is, and confess that sin before the day is done.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Do thou from anger cease, and wrath
see thou forsake also:
Fret not thyself in any wise,
that evil thou should’st do.

For those that evil doers are
shall be cut off and fall:
But those that wait upon the Lord
the earth inherit shall.

For yet a little while, and then
the wicked shall not be;
His place thou shalt consider well,
but it thou shalt not see.

But by inheritance the earth
the meek ones shall possess:
They also shall delight themselves
in an abundant peace.

Psalm 37:8-11 A Psalm of David.
Scottish Psalter

11/13, Eternal Sacrifice

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
1 Chronicles 1-2 (family); Amos 2 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 8 (family); Psalm 145 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q34.What is sanctification?
A34. Sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit, in which we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die to sin, and live to righteousness. Romans 6:11; Ephesians 4:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Q35. What are the benefits that either accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification in this life?
A35. The benefits that accompany or flow from justification, adoption and sanctification in this life are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in it to the end. Proverbs 4:18; Romans 5:1-2, 5; 14:17; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 5:13

Q36. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?
A36. At their death, the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness and immediately pass into glory; and being still united to Christ, their bodies rest in their graves until the resurrection. Job 19:26; Isaiah 57:2; Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Hebrews 12:23


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

NOTE: You may also like to listen to this devotion as you read through it from this attached link (click on the arrow next to the symbol of the speaker on the left):


“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand” (Isaiah 53:10).

There is a movement afoot among people that would call the pleasure of Jehovah to crush, destroy, and pulverize (bruise) His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, “spiritual child abuse.” They see the wrath of God poured out upon the righteous sacrificial Lamb as the vicarious atonement for sin as vile and wicked. They know not the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Jehovah bruised (Hebrew daka) His Son because it was His will, His desire, His inclination (it pleased the LORD) to do so; for this was the Testament of Redemption made between the Father and the Son, and sealed by the Spirit, from before the foundation of the world. YHVH God declared the end, the “It is finished” of the Cross of Jesus Christ, “from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10)

It pleased Jehovah to bruise His only beloved Son because the covenant promise of Redemption was not only made by the Father, but it was also made by the Son. The Son gave His life willingly to please His Father. Jesus said, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17-18).

This passage is everlasting truth. This passage expresses the infinite glories of God the Father and God the Son. We could meditate upon this passage alone for an entire lifetime until we declare with Isaiah, “Woe is me! for I am undone.” When glorified (if I might be so bold as to suggest by way of illustration, however weak my illustration may be), we will eternally exalt our God and Savior with joy unspeakable for this incredible truth. There is certainly too much here for one devotion.

The Holy Spirit testifies of the eternal covenant He has witnessed, saying, And it pleased the Father to crush the Son in His holy and just wrath by affliction (grief).

But the Son, cries out in third person, because He had taken upon Himself the form of a Servant and made Himself to be in the likeness of human flesh, saying to the Father, You shall make the Son’s soul a substitutionary Sacrifice for sin; that the Father shall see the Seed He had promised through the woman, and through Abraham, rise again, returning unto the prolonged days of glory that the Son once enjoyed with the Father, and that all those saved will be completed works in the hands of the Savior.

Do we believe that? Is the event of the crucifixion of Christ just something to us? Do we merely take the portions of Scripture and think upon them for a moment and go on about our business, as if it never said anything at all about the infinite glories of the Triune God at Calvary’s Tree?

We have not a deep desire and passion for God, because we have relegated the Tree of Calvary to a thing, an object, two pieces of wood stuck upon a wall, a sticker for the car, jewelry around the neck, or graphic designs upon our clothing.

Do we really believe this truth!?! Are we captured and apprehended by the truth of God’s redemptive Sacrifice!?!

Do you want revival in the midst of your dryness? Do you want joy in the midst of your sorrow? Do you want life in the midst of death? Then get to the Cross and stay at the Cross. Surrender to this truth and let nothing sway you to the left or to the right.

Years ago, too many preachers lost their passion because they really didn’t believe this truth. Because they were not passionate for this one thing, Christ and Him crucified, there was no supernatural anointing upon their lives. When they preached, souls were not regenerated because there was no power, because there was no passion, because there was no anointing, because there was no true faith that Jesus Christ and His atoning death was THE TRUTH.

Rather than going forth in the power of the passionate pistis (faith), they went out with the right words of Scripture as if it would do something. As it did nothing, they began importing the arm of the flesh and justifying it by calling it “the means” by which the Lord would save through His Word.

Perhaps you know the power, passion, and preeminent truth of the Cross of Jesus Christ. But are you praying for your pastors? Are you praying for the Lord’s anointed? Do you remember their frames? that they are but dust? that apart from God they can do nothing and are nothing? Have you considered that they are men, and even the best of men, are merely men at best?

Pray for your pastors that they be praying pastors. Pray that their prayers become passionate prayers that have one focus, and one focus alone: Christ and Him crucified.

If the Cross is your passion, pray that it become your pastors’ passion. Then you will see powerful preaching. Then you will see the power, not of mighty men, but the supernatural power of a majestic and magnificent God.

Pastors, do you have this passion and want to see this power fall upon God’s people? Perhaps it means a few more minutes (hours?) earlier in rising for prayer to pray with the Cross in view, first for yourself, and passionately bringing the Lord’s sheep to the Cross in prayer.

Let us all endeavor to mediate upon every chapter, every verse, every line, every precept through the truth of the Christ crucified because it was there that the infinite love and glory of God has been forever displayed. Take this verse today, and every portion every day whatever it may be, and meditate upon the truth as it reveals the Cross of Christ unto the glory of God the Father and the Son by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth His fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3).

11/12, He is Risen

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 25 (family); Amos 1 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 7 (family); Psalm 144 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q31. What benefits do they who are effectually called partake of in this life?
A31. They who are effectually called in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the various benefits, which do either accompany, or flow from them in this life. Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:5

Q32. What is justification?
A32. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, in which He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. Romans 3:24; 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:9

Q33. What is adoption?
A33. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, in which we are received into the number of those effectually called, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. John 1:12; Romans 8:17; 1 John 3:1


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth” (Isaiah 53:9).

As the crown of thorns and His disfigurement were the physical evidence to Israel and the nations that He was made “to be sin for us, who knew no sin”; that He “redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us”; Jesus, the righteous Son of God, hung upon the Tree between two criminals, being put to death as a criminal by sinful, criminal men (Matthew 27:37-38; Mark 15:26-28; Luke 23:32-33; John 19:18-20).

He further fulfilled this Scripture in being laid in the borrowed tomb of a rich counselor of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathaea (Matthew 25:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38-42).

“He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,” even the wretched and shameful death of a criminal, though He was the only man who never did anything criminal or sinful; Jesus was also exalted in His death by God’s provision of a rich man’s tomb.

The incredible and unfathomable love God had for His only Son was demonstrated through His care and detail to provide every clue, every hint, every message for a violent, deceitful, transgressing world so that we could recognize His sovereign justice and His immeasurable compassion for the transgressing sinners He came to save; and what’s more, He, in providing a rich man’s tomb for His one and only Son, that tomb would be empty three days and nights later, providing an evil and adulterous generation the only sign that Jesus Christ was, is, and ever more shall be, who He eternally is, and what He has infinitely done.

Because He is risen, “the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10) has raised us unto newness of life. By the same power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sent forth to keep Jesus of Nazareth from corruption in the grave and raising Him from the dead the third day, we are not left in the grave of our old man, but raised out of the grave as new creatures in Christ, “old things are passed away; behold all things become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

O, the filth of the flesh we continue to inhabit; for we may acknowledge that we are new creatures in Christ; that God has saved us through the sacrificial and atoning death of His one and only Son, yet, we fail to meditate on the glorious riches of the depths of the love of God in what He has done for us. We too often emphasize the “for us” part of the redemptive work of God while too often casually dismissing the infinitely more important “what HE has done” part. Indeed, what God has done!

Let us endeavor not to allow the lust of the flesh, or the sway of the world, or the onslaught of principalities and powers to remove us from the source and stay of life, the blood that flows from our Lord’s side; His soul laid down as the atoning sacrifice; the expression of His infinite love; let us never leave that altar of sacrifice of the Son that was forsaken of God because it was there that you and I are forgiven of the Father.

Lord, what is man, that Thou of him
dost so much knowledge take?
Or son of man, that Thou of him
so great account dost make?

Man is like vanity; his days,
as shadows, pass away.
Lord, bow Thy heav’ns, come down,
touch Thou the hills, and smoke shall they.

Cast forth Thy lightning, scatter them;
thine arrows shoot, them rout.
Thine hand send from above, me save;
from great depths draw me out;

And from the hand of children strange,
Whose mouth speaks vanity;
And their right hand is a right hand
that works deceitfully.

A new song I to Thee will sing,
Lord, on a psaltery;
I on a ten-string’d instrument
will praises sing to Thee.

Psalm 144:4-9 A Psalm of David.
Scottish Psalter

11/11, Effectual Call

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 24 (family); Joel 3 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 6 (family); Psalm 143 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q28. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A28. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit. John 1:12; Titus 3:5, 6

Q29. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A29. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and by it uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. Ephesians 2:8; 3:17

Q30. What is effectual calling?
A30. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit in which He persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel, by convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills. Ezekiel 36:26; John 6:44-45; Acts 2:37; 26:18; 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:17-18


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who (among them) considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people to whom the stroke (was due)?” (Isaiah 53:8, ASV).

When once we are saved, the sanctification that God’s Spirit works in us and through us has various expressions of grace that edifies our character and conforms us to the image of His beloved Son, from faith to greater faith and from glory to increasing glory.

Salvation, on the other hand, must come by the supernatural working of God by the effectual call. When Jesus hung upon Calvary’s Tree, He was cut off from the land of the living, as a tree is cut down in the forest. And though His being “cut off” was the vicarious, substitutionary atonement for the transgressing people that deserved to be stricken, the gospel truth of Christ and Him crucified is the “dividing of the baby” in the story Solomon’s judgment, so to speak (1 Kings 3:16-28).

When two sinful women, who lived together both gave birth, one rolled over and smothered her child in the middle of the night. The mother of the dead child switched babies that night. In the morning, when the unsuspecting mother found a dead child, she also recognized that it wasn’t hers; the two women went before the king. The wise king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” The true mother of the living child yearned with compassion for the child and requested that the child not be slain, and was willing that the other woman would keep the child. The deceitful woman was eager to shed the blood of the child that was not hers.

The words “cut off” from our Scripture passage and “divide” from 1 Kings 3 are the same Hebrew word, gazar, meaning to divide, execute, decree, cut off or cut down.

The decree of the gospel, concerning the execution of Jesus Christ, is the truth by which God’s Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ. And when that supernatural revelation comes, it either works faith in the soul and unites the sinner to Christ in that effectual call, like the woman who desired to save her child alive; or it works hatred, death, and bloodlust in the soul who rejects the gospel and whose heart is hardened, like the sinful woman who thought she could deceive the other woman, the king, and the God of heaven.

It is only by the decree of God, the proclamation of the “dividing of the child,” the “cutting off of the Christ,” the reality of the purchased redemption, that the effectual call is made and responded to. Do the gospel we believe and the gospel we preach convince fallen men of their sin and misery? enlighten their minds in the knowledge of Christ? renew their wills?

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?… So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Isaiah 53:1; Romans 10:17).

Vain are the hopes the sons of men
upon their works have built;
Their hearts by nature are unclean,
their actions full of guilt.

Silent let Jew and Gentile stand,
without one vaunting word,
And, humbled low, confess their guilt
before heav’n’s righteous Lord.

No hope can on the law be built
of justifying grace;
The law, that shows the sinner’s guilt,
condemns him to his face.

Jesus! how glorious is Thy grace!
when in Thy name we trust,
Our faith receives a righteousness
that makes the sinner just.

Romans 3:19-22

Scripture Paraphrase & Hymns

11/10, No Reviling

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 23 (family); Joel 2 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 5 (family); Psalm 142 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q26. Of what did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A26. Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the Cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 12:40; 27:46; Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:8

Q27. Of what did Christ’s exaltation consist?
A27. Christ’s exaltation consists of His rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day. Mark 16:19; Acts 17:31; 1 Corinthians 15:4


CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

When false witnesses were brought against Jesus, He held His peace before His accusers and the high priest (Matthew 26:62-63). When the chief priests brought accusation to Pontius Pilate against Jesus, the Lord answered not a word (Matthew 27:12-14). When Pilate questioned the Lord privately, Jesus gave no answer (John 19:9).

The Lord answered nothing because, in His humiliation, He was standing in the place of the guilty sinner, the Substitute for you and I.

When the Lord did say a word, He answered with eternal truth. When questioned directly and plainly whether He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, He answered affirmatively, “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” (Matthew 26:64).

In the Lord’s silence Pilate said to Jesus, “Speakest Thou not unto me? knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee?” (John 19:10); the Lord responds with an answer that disturbed Pontius Pilate so much that the Roman governor sought to release the Lord. Jesus said, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11).

The humiliation of Jesus to hang upon a wooden Tree for the sins of fallen men was ordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20). Every event surrounding the humiliation of Jesus Christ came by the free and sovereign will of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter notes:

“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:22-25).

For the Lord to revile His accusers and threaten His tormentors, it would have suggested that God was not sovereign Ruler over all things. When the Master was arrested in the garden did He not ask His disciples, “…the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).

Likewise, we blaspheme the providence of God as we revile, blame, and threaten when events, situations, and circumstances assail us and press hard against us.

“For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:20-21).

When all Thy mercies, O my God!
my rising soul surveys
Transported with the view, I’m lost
in wonder, love, and praise.

O how shall words, with equal warmth,
the gratitude declare
That glows within my ravished heart!
but Thou canst read it there.

Thy Providence my life sustained,
and all my wants redrest,
When in the silent womb I lay,
and hung upon the breast.

To all my weak complaints and cries
Thy mercy lent an ear,
Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learned
to form themselves in pray’r.

Unnumbered comforts to my soul
Thy tender care bestowed,
Before my infant heart conceived
from whom these comforts flowed.

When in the slipp’ry paths of youth
with heedless steps I ran,
Thine arm, unseen, conveyed me safe,
and led me up to man:

Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths,
it gently cleared my way;
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
more to be feared than they.

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou
with health renewed my face;
And, when in sins and sorrows sunk,
revived my soul with grace.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
hath made my cup run o’er;
And, in a kind and faithful friend,
hath doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
my daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
that tastes these gifts with joy.

Through ev’ry period of my life
Thy goodness I’ll proclaim;
And after death, in distant worlds,
resume the glorious theme.

When nature fails, and day and night
divide Thy works no more,
My ever grateful heart, O Lord,
Thy mercy shall adore.

Through all eternity to Thee
a joyful song I’ll raise;
For, oh! eternity’s too short
to utter all Thy praise.

Hymn #1
by Joseph Addison

Scripture Paraphrases & Hymns

11/9, Stray Sheep

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 22 (family); Joel 1 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 4 (family); Psalm 140-141 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q23. How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A23. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by His Word, and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. John 1:18; 14:26; 20:31

Q24. How does Christ execute the office of a priest?
A24. Christ executes the office of a priest, in His once offering up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. Hebrews 2:17; 7:25; 9:28

Q25. How does Christ execute the office of a king?
A25. Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. Psalm 110:3; Matthew 2:6; 1 Corinthians 15:25

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Are you lost? not dead in your trespasses and sins lost, but disoriented? unsure? wandered from what you know is, deep in the depths of your soul, the true and good things of a life that is supposed to be renewed and regenerated by the Sacrifice of God, and the very life of God living in you? Have you ever heard the term, “spiritually dry,” and thought, “yeah, that’s me, right now…”? Things around you are going okay on the surface. You don’t doubt your salvation; you believe you are a sheep; you’re still meek and content to eat because there’s plenty of grass around to graze upon, yet, there’s something missing. You don’t hear His voice!

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Goats do not hear the Good Shepherd’s voice. When the Shepherd calls, those that are His come, He saves them; they are His. But once we have been clearly brought into the fold by the supernatural power of His free grace, though we are redeemed, we are still sheep, meek, helpless, unintelligent, guidance-required sheep. Sheep wander. Children chase butterflies. Saved men in sinful flesh leave their First Love, Jesus Christ: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:18-19).

We all leave Him at times, our First Love. We’ve wandered. We’ve strayed. He calls out but we cannot hear; yet, we know He is calling because He promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Then bleat, dear sheep. Cry out to Him. Remember the overwhelming glory and majesty of the crucified Savior, which was revealed to the new heart and spirit He gave you to repent and believe. Remember His infinite grace and unrivaled mercy demonstrated on Calvary’s Tree, when the blessed Man of sorrows took upon Himself the iniquity of us all. Weep and wail and mourn for having left and you will soon hear His voice, this time louder and clearer than ever before. Though you have wept in the Valley of Baca and walked in the Valley of Shadows, He restores you soul; He sets you back upon the Rock from whose side flowed water and blood.

Then once returned, open His Word, and meditate with thanksgiving. See the crucified, resurrected and ascended Savior exalted in the pages of the text. Rejoice in hearing His voice in the Word. Thy Word is now my Word for Thy Word dwelleth in me. Thy Cross is now my Cross for in the power of your strength I take it up daily and follow Thee. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

O Lord, I unto Thee do cry,
do Thou make haste to me,
And give an ear unto my voice,
when I cry unto Thee.

As incense let my prayer be
directed in Thine eyes;
And the uplifting of my hands
as th’ ev ‘ning sacrifice.

Set, Lord, a watch before my mouth,
keep of my lips the door.
My heart incline Thou not unto
the ills I should abhor,

To practise wicked works with men
that work iniquity;
And with their delicates my taste
let me not satisfy.

Let him that righteous is me smite,
it shall a kindness be;
Let him reprove, I shall it count
a precious oil to me:

Such smiting shall not break my head;
for yet the time shall fall,
When I in their calamities
to God pray for them shall.

When as their judges down shall be
in stony places cast,
Then shall they hear my words; for they
shall sweet be to their taste.

About the grave’s devouring mouth
our bones are scatter’d round,
As wood which men do cut and cleave
lies scatter’d on the ground.

But unto Thee, O God the Lord,
mine eyes uplifted be:
My soul do not leave destitute;
my trust is set on Thee.

Lord, keep me safely from the snares
which they for me prepare;
And from the subtile gins of them
that wicked workers are.

Let workers of iniquity
into their own nets fall,
Whilst I do, by Thine help, escape
the danger of them all.

Psalm 141 A Psalm of David.
Scottish Psalter

11/8, Healed

My appologies; though I had written this and posted it up on the SermonAudio blog, I failed to post this one here yesterday.

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 21 (family); Hosea 14 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 3 (family); Psalm 139 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q21. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A21. Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. Matthew 26:38; Luke 1:31, 35; Hebrews 2:14; 4:15; 7:26

Q22. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A22. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in His state of humiliation and exaltation. Psalm 2:6; Acts 3:22; Hebrews 5:6

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus Christ was profaned, polluted, and blasphemed for our transgressions, because we defiled and corrupted the name of LORD: “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call [profanely and blasphemously] upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26); “And ye shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:12).

The Lord Jesus was crushed, pulverized, and utterly destroyed for our iniquities, because we persecuted God as His enemy and refused to humble ourselves before Him: “For the enemy hath persecuted My soul; he hath smitten My life down to the ground; he hath made Me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead” (Psalm 143:3).

The Son of man was rebuked, chastised, and corrected for our rebellion against God because we would not receive instruction: “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God” (Zephaniah 3:2).

Yet, because the one and only beloved Son of Jehovah God suffered the wrath of God for our justification; sacrificed His own soul as our substitution; spilled His blood for our remission; humbled Himself and was obedient unto the death of a Cross for our redemption; raised again the third day for our resurrection; and exalted at the right hand of Majesty on high as our intercession; we have reconciliation with God, jubilations in God, and eternal restoration for the sake and glory of God. We are healed! WE ARE HEALED.

In Christ and Him crucified, risen, and exalted, no longer will we desire to blaspheme the name of God: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

In Christ and Him crucified, risen, and exalted, we must be clothed with humility as God as removed His enmity from us, and ours from Him: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).

In Christ and Him crucified, risen, and exalted, we must surrender to Him utterly to apprehend the joy of obedience: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

How few receive with cordial faith
the tidings which we bring?
How few have seen the arm revealed
of heav’n’s eternal King?

The Saviour comes! no outward pomp
bespeaks His presence nigh;
No earthly beauty shines in Him
to draw the carnal eye.

Fair as a beauteous tender flow’r
amidst the desert grows,
So slighted by a rebel race
the heav’nly Saviour rose.

Rejected and despised of men,
behold a man of woe!
Grief was His close companion still
through all His life below.

Yet all the griefs He felt were ours,
ours were the woes He bore:
Pangs, not His own, His spotless soul
with bitter anguish tore.

We held Him as condemned by Heav’n,
an outcast from His God,
While for our sins He groaned, He bled,
beneath His Father’s rod.

His sacred blood hath washed our souls
from sin’s polluted stain;
His stripes have heal’d us, and His death
revived our souls again.

We all, like sheep, had gone astray
in ruin’s fatal road:
On Him were our transgressions laid;
He bore the mighty load.

Isaiah 53:1-6
Scripture Paraphrase

11/7, Smitten of God

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 20 (family); Hosea 13 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 2 (family); Psalm 137-138 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q18. What is the misery of man’s fallen state?
A18. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God and are under His wrath and curse; therefore, all mankind is made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. Genesis 3:8, 24; Matthew 25:41; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:3; Galatians 3:10

Q19. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?
A19. God elected some to everlasting life from all eternity out of His good pleasure and entered into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. Romans 5:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Q20. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A20. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one Person forever. John 1:14; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

When He who knew no sin was made sin for us, in the Lord’s humiliation, He was afflicted, not for His sake but for ours. One of the greatest supernatural acts of God’s Spirit is to reveal that truth to the unregenerate soul, whose spirit is dead and whose heart is stone. Yet, behold, the LORD doth say, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

O, what it cost God the loving Father to smite His only Son that fallen men might be saved. O, what it cost the beloved Son to be smitten, stricken, afflicted, to please His Father in saving men’s souls. The depth and length and height and breadth of such love, in both the Father and the Son, is too unfathomably deep, too infinitely long, too magnificently exalted, to enormously wide, for the holiest angel or the most glorified and sanctified of beings to comprehend.

Just as equally supernatural as the regeneration of the depraved sinner, and just as great an act perhaps of God’s mighty power, is God’s work to keep that truth persevering within that new creature in Christ; though we are risen from the dead, the old man being buried with Christ in the baptism of regeneration, we are still walking around in tabernacles of flesh and have minds that must be renewed by the reading of God’s Word. The flesh is a haughty, prideful thing that must die daily. The mind is weak, wandering, and prone to filthiness, and must be cleansed by the washing of the water of His Word.

Yet, when our hope is renewed day by day, moment by moment, by the reading of His Word and the meditation of the truths that the smiting, the striking, the affliction of God’s Son was, is, and ever shall be, the most glorious act of love, mercy, grace, truth, compassion, longsuffering, and etceteras, ad infinitum, we will find that we are growing from faith to faith and from glory to glory by those truths. It’s supernatural. It’s God’s Word. It’s very God.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.... For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 1:6; 2:13).

Ye who the name of Jesus bear,
His sacred steps pursue;
And let that mind which was in Him
be also found in you.

Though in the form of God He was,
His only Son declared,
Nor to be equally adored
as robb’ry did regard;

His greatness He for us abased,
for us His glory vailed;
In human likeness dwelt on earth,
His majesty concealed:

Nor only as a man appears,
but stoops a servant low;
Submits to death, nay, bears the cross,
in all its shame and woe.

Hence God this gen’rous love to men
with honours just hath crowned,
And raised the name of Jesus far
above all names renowned:

That at this name, with sacred awe,
each humble knee should bow
Of hosts immortal in the skies,
and nations spread below:

That all the prostrate pow’rs of hell
might tremble at His Word,
And ev’ry tribe, and ev’ry tongue,
confess that He is Lord.

Philippians 2:6-12
Scripture Paraphrase

11/6, Christ-Esteem

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 19 (family); Hosea 12 (secret)
EVENING:
Hebrews 1 (family); Psalm 135-136 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q15. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A15. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but also for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first estate. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22

Q16. What state of circumstances did the fall bring to mankind?
A16. The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery. Romans 5:18

Q17. What does the sinfulness of man’s fallen state consist of?
A17. The sinfulness of man’s fallen state consists of the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the lack of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. Psalm 51:5; Matthew 15:19; Romans 3:10; 5:19; Ephesians 2:1

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

In our unregenerated, God-hating, Christ-rejecting, fallen state, we…

…hid our faces from Jesus Messiah as if He were a murderer like Cain: “Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me” (Genesis 4:14).

…despised the Lord Jesus with the same scorn, hatred, and villainy that Esau had for God’s providence when he, like Adam, sold his birthright for something to eat: “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34).

…esteemed not Jesus Christ and considered the faith He imparts through His incarnation of no value, whereas God counts faith in Him as righteousness, and of the utmost value: “And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

Fallen man esteems himself important and the unbelieving, unredeemed world esteems mankind above God. Self-esteem is not the solution; it’s the problem. Self-esteem is sin.

The estimation of Christ is all that matters. Jesus is not just something we add to our lives. Jesus is LIFE. His Cross is not just a path to some “better place.” Who Jesus is and what He has done upon the Cross is everything. Jesus is not all that we need; He is all that we have; and if we have not Jesus Christ, we have nothing.

As regenerated, born-from-above, new creations in Christ, as we continue to submit to God, by His grace, mercy, and the supernatural power of His Spirit, the infinitely glorious truth of Christ’s value and worth is revealed to us more and more; the unspeakable majesties of His love, grace, and mercy demonstrated upon that Tree of wood shines so brightly that it absolutely overcomes the darkness of our own depravity. Is there any sin now that can overwhelm us as our spiritual eyes are ever on the Cross? “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

How few receive with cordial faith
the tidings which we bring?
How few have seen the arm revealed
of heav’n’s eternal King?

The Saviour comes! no outward pomp
bespeaks His presence nigh;
No earthly beauty shines in Him
to draw the carnal eye.

Fair as a beauteous tender flow’r
amidst the desert grows,
So slighted by a rebel race
the heav’nly Saviour rose.

Rejected and despised of men,
behold a man of woe!
Grief was His close companion still
through all His life below.

Yet all the griefs He felt were ours,
ours were the woes He bore:
Pangs, not His own, His spotless soul
with bitter anguish tore.

We held Him as condemned by Heav’n,
an outcast from His God,
While for our sins He groaned, He bled,
beneath His Father’s rod.

His sacred blood hath washed our souls
from sin’s polluted stain;
His stripes have heal’d us, and His death
revived our souls again.

We all, like sheep, had gone astray
in ruin’s fatal road:
On Him were our transgressions laid;
He bore the mighty load.

Isaiah 53:1-6
Scripture Paraphrase

11/5, Grief and Sorrows

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 18 (family); Hosea 11 (secret)
EVENING:
Philemon 1 (family); Psalm 132-134 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man when He created him in his initial state?
A12. When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him, that upon condition of perfect obedience, man was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. Genesis 2:17; Galatians 3:12

Q13. Did our first parents continue in the initial state that God had created them?
A13. Being left to the freedom of their own will, our first parents fell from that initial state God had created them, by sinning against Him, by eating the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:6-8; Ecclesiastes 7:29

Q14. What is sin?
A14. Sin is any lack of conformity to the law of God, or transgression against it. 1 John 3:4

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“Grief and Sorrow”

“He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

Though our Lord was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) to the extent that He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), yet, He knew our maladies, calamities, sicknesses (grief). He knew that the source of our grief, the ailment, the affliction, the weakness was passed down from fallen Adam unto his progeny, all flesh. Nevertheless, though Jesus was very man, a flesh and blood human being, He did not experience this grief of sin through a nature from within; He knew this grief because He is very God, all-knowing, omniscient, and there is nothing that He cannot know. As very man, He was pressed by temptation in every way, yet without sinning, ever and always pleasing His heavenly Father, He was not only physically stricken with grief by grief-stricken men as they pinned Him to that Tree of wood, His soul was stricken with grief by His holy heavenly Father as if Jesus Christ was the source of that grief, as if He committed every grief of all those He would save through this sacrificial, substitutionary atonement… “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

As “a Man of sorrows” Jesus of Nazareth knew sorrow far beyond what any man will ever know. His pain, sadness, torment (sorrows)… His agony and anguish (sorrows) had reached a climax in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed concerning the cup that He must drink of His Father: “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). The cup was filled full of mixture with the wrath of God; and Jesus drank it down to the dregs, every last drop, when He was nailed to the Cross.

Our grief and sorrows are momentary. The darkness of our grief and sorrows are nothing in the light of the magnitude of His grief, of His sorrows. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

At all times, but especially in the midst of our grief and in the struggle of our sorrows, get to the Cross. Kneel before the crucified Lord. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

David, and his afflictions all,
Lord, do Thou think upon;
How unto God he sware, and vow’d
to Jacob’s mighty One.

I will not come within my house,
nor rest in bed at all;
Nor shall mine eyes take any sleep,
nor eyelids slumber shall;

Till for the Lord a place I find,
where He may make abode;
A place of habitation
for Jacob’s might God.

And there will I make David’s horn
to bud forth pleasantly:
For Him that mine anointed is
a lamp ordain’d have I.

As with a garment I will clothe
with shame His en’mies all:
But yet the crown that He doth wear
upon Him flourish shall.

Psalm 132 A Song of degrees. (vv.1-5, 17-18)
Scottish Psalter

11/4, Despised Rejection

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 17 (family); Hosea 10 (secret)
EVENING:
Titus 3 (family); Psalm 129-131 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q9. What is the work of creation?
A9. The work of creation is God’s making all things from nothing, by the Word of His power, in six normal consecutive days, and all very good. Genesis 1:1, 31; Exodus 20:11; Hebrews 11:3

Q10. How did God create man?
A10. God created man, male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness with dominion over the creatures. Genesis 1:27-28; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10

Q11. What are God’s works of providence?
A11. God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions. Psalm 145:17; 103:19; Isaiah 28:29; Matthew 10:29; Hebrews 1:3

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

Jesus of Nazareth was not valued as He walked upon the earth and it culminated in His desolate rejection be the men of the world at Calvary: by His people Israel (John 1:11), and by the rest of the world, Rome (Luke 23:24).

Although He was crucified, buried, and risen; though He appeared alive and ascended into the clouds; though He received again the glory He once knew with the Father; and though He is exalted to His rightful position seated at the right hand of Majesty on high, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is still despised and rejected of men. “Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me” (Matthew 25:45).

And, if we are new creatures in Christ, truly regenerated by the supernatural power of the living God, then we know that Christ really, truly, and actually dwells within us by His Holy Spirit. His indwelling presence is a greater reality, a more certain truth, and a more intimate actuality than when our Lord walked with His disciples on the shores of Galilee. If this is so, we will be despised and rejected as well. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

We don’t have to go out of our way to be hated, despised, or rejected. If we are abiding in Christ, and He in us, we will be hated, despised, and rejected by the unbelieving, God-hating, Christ-rejecting world.

How do we abide? Keep at the Cross and stay in His Word in absolute abandon and unconditional surrender the Holy One of Israel; and it cannot be accomplished through the will of our flesh, it must be by His power, His strength, and His might. Call out to Him. Cry out to Him. Don’t stop until it is so and a work has been done. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Lord, from the depths to Thee I cry’d
my voice, Lord, do Thou hear:
Unto my supplication’s voice
give an attentive ear.

Lord, who shall stand, if Thou, O Lord,
should’st mark iniquity?
But yet with Thee forgiveness is,
that fear’d Thou mayest be.

I wait for God, my soul doth wait,
my hope is in His Word.
More than they that for morning watch,
my soul waits for the Lord;

I say, more than they that do watch
the morning light to see.
Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with Him mercies be;

And plenteous redemption
is ever found with Him.
And from all his iniquities
He Isr’el shall redeem.

Psalm 130 A Song of degrees.
Scottish Psalter

11/3, His Humiliation

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 16 (family); Hosea 9 (secret)
EVENING:
Titus 2 (family); Psalm 126-128 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q6. How many Persons are there in the Godhead?
A6. There are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. Matthew 28:19; 1 John 5:7

Q7. What are the decrees of God?
A7. The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. Ephesians 1:11-12

Q8. How does God execute His decrees?
A8. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence. Daniel 4:35; Revelation 4:11

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTION:

“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Jesus was not attractive, having no striking physique (no form), nor did He have any outward majesty or magnificence (nor comliness). Try to find a physical description of the Lord in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. You won’t. And although none can be found, it hasn’t stopped sinful man from drawing, painting, or filming idolatrous portraits and images to depict the Lord of glory.

Jesus was not handsome (no beauty). His appearance was not anything that would attract men, women, or children to Him; His looks would not foster any desire toward Him or for Him.

Likewise, as was His appearance, so was His message. The incarnate God of heaven above came to earth not seeking to be relevant to His culture: for the good news of the gospel, Christ and Him crucified, came to the Jew first, but also to the Greek (1 Corinthians 1:23).

The Lord’s message had no outward beauty, no cultural relevance, no tricks or gimmicks. His message was the hard truth that men are vile, wretched, sinners and that the only way for them to be saved was that God must become a flesh and blood man, live a perfect sinless life as a man, and die a substitutionary death for wicked men, by being pinned by sinful mankind upon a tree of wood.

Let us dwell all day and meditate upon the humiliation of God becoming an unattractive, yet sinless man, to atone for the sins of sinful mankind.

Bless’d is each one that fears the Lord,
and walketh in His ways;
For of thy labour thou shalt eat,
and happy be always.

Thy wife shall be a fruitful vine
by thy house’ sides be found:
Thy children like to olive-plants
about they table round.

Behold, the man that fears the Lord,
thus blessed shall he be.
The Lord shall out of Sion give
His blessing unto thee:

Thou shalt Jerus’lem’s good behold
whilst thou on earth dost dwell.
Thou shalt thy children’s children see,
and peace on Israel

Psalm 128 A Song of Degrees
Scottish Psalter

11/2, Virgin Birth

R. M. McCeyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 15 (family); Hosea 8 (secret)
EVENING:
Titus 1 (family); Psalm 123-125 (secret)

A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A3. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13; 2 Timothy 1:13

Q4. What is God?
A4. God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Exodus 34:6-7; Job 11:7; Psalm 90:2; 147:5; Ezekiel 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; Revelation 4:8

Q5. Are there more Gods than one?
A5. There is but one only, the living and true God. Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST DEVOTIONAL:

“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).

The Messiah comes from the tribe of Judah, being the root of Jesse, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).

The barren land (dry ground) that Jesus would be plucked from (root out) was the womb of His mother, Mary, as she was a virgin until after the Lord was born (Matthew 1:25). The Christ’s virgin birth was of utmost importance. First, it fulfilled God’s first promise after the Fall of Man; that the “Seed” of the woman would come and bruise His heel while crushing Satan’s authority (Genesis 3:15).

He must be born of a virgin because the Son of God is very God. Were He merely a man, we would be lost and remain in our sins; were He an angel, likewise, lost and unclean; were He any other being than God Himself, we would have no forgiveness of sins because, “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). The precious blood of Jesus spilled at Calvary’s Tree is holy. It’s value is beyond measure because the Man that shed His blood that day, not only was very man, but also very God. His blood, untainted by the sin of Adam, is pure, clean, innocent, and blessed.

The Father has given the blood for life. The Son has shed the blood upon the altar as propitiation. The Holy Spirit sprinkles the precious blood upon the soul.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

It is the precious, powerful blood of the God-Man, Jesus Christ! What heinous sin cannot be washed away by this blood, except that our offering is rejected because the blood is not there at all?

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

There’s pow’r, pow’r,

wonderworking pow’r,
in the blood
of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r,
wonderworking pow’r,
in the precious blood of the Lamb.

“There is Power in the Blood”
by L. E. Jones

11/1, A Tender Plant

R.M. McCheyne’s DAILY BREAD portions:

MORNING:
2 Kings 14 (family); Hosea 7 (secret)
EVENING:
2 Timothy 4 (family); Psalm 120-122 (secret)


A CHRISTIAN CATECHISM:

Q1. What is the chief end of man?
A1. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. Psalm 73:25-26; 1 Corinthians 10:31

Q2. What rule had God given to direct us how we may glorify Him?
A2. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy Him. Ephesians 2:20; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 1:3-4


“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).

“Surely, the Messiah will come from the house of David, as Samuel prophesies; that the Anointed One ‘shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high,’ as Isaiah tells us,” says the expectant Jew.

Nevertheless, God’s Son “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself” (Philippians 2:7-8).

As a tender plant, Jesus Christ would spring forth from an obscure family from the tribe of Judah, would grow up before the His earthly step-father, a poor carpenter, in the insignificant village of Nazareth, and would grow up before His heavenly Father, the LORD God Almighty, in the region of Galilee.

The humiliation of our Lord was not forced upon Him as He had covenanted with the heavenly Father, which was witnessed to by the Holy Spirit, before time and world began; and though sent, He willingly went; “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 2:2).

I to the hills will lift mine eyes,
from whence doth come mine aid.
My safety cometh from the Lord,
who heav’n and earth hath made.

Thy foot He’ll not let slide, nor will
He slumber that thee keeps
Behold, He that keeps Israel,
He slumbers not, nor sleeps.

The Lord thee keeps, the Lord thy shade
on thy right hand doth stay:
The moon by night thee shall not smite,
Nor yet the sun by day

The Lord shall keep thy soul; He shall
preserve thee from all ill.
Henceforth thy going out and in
God keep for ever will

Psalm 121 A Song of degrees
Scottish Psalter