February 22 Daily Devotional

A First Book of Daily Readings

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)

______ March 1 Thoughts in God's House (ii) Then we go a step farther. We look round the congregation and suddenly find ourselves looking at someone who we know has had an infinitely worse time than we have been having. We thought our problem was the most terrible problem in the world and that no one had ever before suffered as we had. Then we see a poor woman, a widow perhaps, whose only child has died or has been killed. But she is still there. It puts our problem into a new perspective immediately. The great Apostle Paul has a word for this, as for all things. "There hath no temptation taken you," he reminds us, "but such as is common to man" (1 Corinthians 10:13). Where the devil gets us is just there. He persuades us that nobody has ever had this trial before, no one has ever had a problem like mine, no one else has been dealt with like this.... We are always helped in our suffering by hearing that somebody else is suffering too! ...The realization that we are not alone in this helps to put the thing in the right perspective. I am one of a number; it seems to be something that happens to God's people—the house of God reminds us of all that. Then it reminds us of things that go still farther back. We begin to study the history of the Church throughout the ages, and we remember what we read years ago, perhaps something in the lives of some of the saints. And we begin to understand that some of the greatest saints that have ever adorned the life of the Church have experienced trials and troubles and tribulations which cause our little problem to pale into insignificance. The house of God, the sanctuary of God, reminds us of all that. And immediately we are beginning to climb; we are going upwards; we have our problem now in its right setting. The house of God, the sanctuary of the Lord, teaches us all these lessons.... My experience in the ministry has taught me that those who are least regular in their attendance are the ones who are most troubled by problems and perplexities. There is something in the atmosphere of God's house. Faith on Trial, pp. 39-40 March 2 When he had sat down, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them.... There is a kind of logical sequence in this Sermon. Not only that, there is certainly a spiritual order and sequence. Our Lord does not say these things accidentally; the whole thing is deliberate. Certain postulates are laid down, and on the basis of those, certain other things follow. Thus I never discuss any particular injunction of the Sermon with a person until I am perfectly happy and clear in my mind that that person is a Christian. It is wrong to ask anybody who is not first a Chris­tian to try to live or practice the Sermon on the Mount. To expect Christian conduct from a person who is not born again is heresy. The appeals of the gospel in terms of conduct and ethics and morality are always based on the assumption that the people to whom the injunctions are addressed are Christian. Now that is obvious in any one of the Epistles, and it is equally obvious here. Take any Epistle you like. You will find that the subdivision in each one of them is the same: always doctrine first, then deductions from doctrine. The great principles are laid down, and a description is given of the Christians to whom the letter is written. Then, because of that, or because they believe that, "therefore" they are exhorted to do certain things. We always tend to forget that every New Testament letter was written to Christians and not to non-Christians; and the appeals in terms of ethics in every Epistle are always addressed only to those who are believers, to those who are new men and women in Christ Jesus. This Sermon on the Mount is exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, i, pp. 23-4 March 3 Why does God... Why doesn't He...? Let us follow [Habakkuk] as he applies this method* to the two major problems that troubled him.... (a) God is eternal. After stating his difficulty the prophet declares, "Art thou not from everlasting?" (1:12). You see, he is laying down a proposition. He is forgetting for a moment the immediate problem and asking himself what it was he was sure of about God.... He had just said (1:11) that the Chal­deans, flushed with success, imputed their power to their god; and ... he began to think, "Their god—what is their god? Just something they have made themselves (cf. Isaiah 46). God ... the everlasting God ... is not like the gods whom men worship.... He is God from eternity to eternity.... He has preceded history. He has created history. His throne is above the world and outside time. He reigns in eternity, the everlasting God." (b) God is self-existent ... the eternal I AM.... The name "I AM that I AM" means, "I am the Absolute, the self-existent One." Here is a second vital principle. God is not in any sense dependent upon anything that happens in the world.... Not only is He not dependent upon the world, but He need never have created it had He not willed to do so. The tremendous truth concerning the Trinity is that an eternally self-existent life resides in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here again is wonderful reassurance.... The problem begins to fade. (c) God is holy ... utterly, absolutely righteous and holy, "a consuming fire." "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." And the moment you consider Scriptures like that, you are forced to ask, "Can the Lord of the earth do that which is unrighteous?" Such a thing is unthinkable. (d) God is almighty.... The God who created the whole world out of nothing, who said, "Let there be light" and there was light, has absolute power; He has illimitable might. He is "The Rock." From Fear to Faith, pp. 28-30
(continued on March 4) * December 20, pp. 25-28 March 4 Why does God...? Why doesn't He...?
(continued from March 3) (e) God is faithful ... God is the God of the Covenant. Though He is independent and absolute, eternal, mighty, righteous, and holy, nevertheless He has condescended to make a covenant with men.... It was this covenant that entitled Israel to turn to God and say, "My God, mine Holy One." [Habakkuk] remembers that God has said, "I will be their God and they shall be my people." For those saintly men, the prophets, and all who had spiritual understanding in Israel, this fact was more significant than anything else. While believing in the eternal attributes of God, they might have been chilled by the thought that such a God might be far away in the heavens and oblivious to their need. But what linked Him to them was the knowledge that He was a faithful, covenant-keeping God. God had given His word and He would never break it.... Whatever the Chaldean army might do, it could never exterminate Israel because God had given certain promises to Israel which He could never break.... The prophet now proceeds to bring his problem into the context of those absolute and eternal principles.... He reaches his answer to this question about the Chaldeans by reasoning like this: "God must be raising them up for Israel's benefit: of this I can be absolutely certain. It is not that the Chaldeans have taken the law into their own hands; it is not that God is incapable of restraining them. These things are impossible in view of my propositions. God is just using them for His own purposes ... and He is carrying out those purposes. I do not understand it fully, but I am quite sure that we are not going to be exterminated ... although ... there are apparently going to be very few of us left; and we are going to be carried into captivity. But a remnant will remain because the Almighty is still God, and He is using the Chaldeans to do something within the purpose of the covenant. God ... is not being defeated.... He is doing this and doing it for His own grand end and object." From Fear to Faith, pp. 31-2 March 5 A picture of true faith What are the characteristics of the true Christian? ... It is that he "doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." The first part of the answer is to make clear what it does not mean.... Obviously it does not mean "justification by works"; the first statement [in the Beatitudes] is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." We can try from now until we are dead, but we shall never make ourselves "poor in spirit," and we can never make ourselves conform to any of the Beatitudes.... Neither is it a teaching of sinless perfection. Many people read these pictures at the end of the Sermon on the Mount and say that they mean that the only man who is allowed or able to enter into the kingdom of heaven is the man who, having read the Sermon on the Mount, puts each detail into practice, always and everywhere. This again is obviously impossible. If that were the teaching, then we could be quite certain that there never has been and there never will be a single Christian in the world.... What then is it? It is none other than the doctrine which James, in his Epistle, summarizes in the words, "Faith without works is dead." It is simply a perfect definition of faith. Faith without works is not faith; it is dead. The life of faith is never a life of ease; faith is always practical. The difference between faith and intellectual assent is that intellectual assent simply says, "Lord, Lord" but does not do His will. In other words, though I may say "Lord, Lord" to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no meaning in it unless I regard Him as my Lord and willingly become His bondslave. My words are idle words, and I do not mean "Lord, Lord" unless I obey Him. Faith without works is dead. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 308-10 March 6 We praise Thee for the radiance
That from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps,
Shines on from age to age The authority of the Scriptures is not a matter to be defended, so much as to be asserted.... I am reminded of what the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said in this connection: 'There is no need for you to defend a lion when he is being attacked. All you need to do is to open the gate and let him out'... it is the preaching and exposition of the Bible that really establish its truth and authority. I believe that this is more true today, perhaps ... than it has been for the last two centuries.... There is nothing that really explains the whole world situation, as it is today, except the Bible. Take even the question of the origin of the world, and the very nature and character of the world itself. We know that there have been certain scientists in this present century who ... have been forced to come to the conclusion that there must be a great Mind, a great Architect behind the universe.... The Bible has always asserted this, but at long last some of these men are coming to admit it. But when you come to consider the state and condition of the world this particular point is still more evident. When you look at the average individual man as he is today, in spite of all the advance of learning and culture and knowledge . . . what are you to say? When you are confronted by the fact of two major world wars in this present century . .. the only adequate explanation is that which is given in the Bible: the biblical doctrine of sin. Nothing else really gives an adequate explana­tion. ... It is only in the light of this teaching that you can understand the whole process of history. Now it is of great interest and real significance to observe that the critics themselves are now beginning to say this. They used to deny it.... They hated the whole notion of sin. Man was developing and improving. He was getting better and better. But now they have been forced to admit the truth of the biblical teaching and they are coming back to it. Authority, pp. 41-2 March 7 The way to salvation—and the only way Is not [modern man] trusting for salvation to himself, his own sincerity and his own efforts ? Why is it that he still refuses the gospel concerning Jesus Christ and His atoning death and glorious Resurrection? Think again of the utter folly and futility of that position. Contemplate once more the task which faces us, and what is demanded of us. It is all utterly impossible for man in his own effort. Try to think of being in the presence of God; and if you realize to any extent what that means you will be compelled to agree with him* who said, Eternal light! Eternal light!
How pure the soul must be,
When, placed within Thy searching sight,
It shrinks not, but, with calm delight,
Can live, and look on Thee!

Oh, how shall I, whose native sphere
Is dark, whose mind is dim, Before the Ineffable appear,
And on my naked spirit bear
That uncreated beam? How can one rise to perfect purity ? How can all our zeal and sincerity get us there ? The one way is outlined in the third stanza: There is a way for man to rise
To that sublime abode:
An offering and a sacrifice,
A Holy Spirit's energies,
An Advocate with God. The Son of God came to die for us and for our sins. He now offers to clothe us with His righteousness, and to present us faultless before God in eternity. There is no need for us to exhaust ourselves further in futile efforts. There is no need for heroics. . . . Our all is not enough. But He is all sufficient. . . "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). Truth Unchanged, Unchanging, pp. 72-3 *Thomas Binney. March 8 O the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer,
and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend The outstanding characteristic of all the most saintly people that the world has ever known has been that they have not only spent much time in private prayer, but have also delighted in it.... The more saintly the person, the more time such a person spends in conversation with God. Thus it is a vital and all-important matter.... This has been true in the experience of God's people throughout the centuries. We find it recorded in the Gospels that John the Baptist had been teaching his disciples to pray. They ob­viously had felt the need of instruction, and they had asked him. ... And John had taught them how to pray. Our Lord's disciples felt exactly the same need.... "Lord, teach us how to pray." Undoubtedly the desire arose in their hearts because they were conscious of this kind of natural, instinctive, initial diffi­culty of which we are all aware; but it must also have been greatly increased when they watched His own prayer life. They saw how He would arise "a great while before dawn" and go up into the mountains to pray, and how He would spend whole nights in prayer. And sometimes, I have no doubt, they said to themselves, "What does He talk about? What does He do?" They may also have thought, I find after a few minutes in prayer that I come to the end of my words. What is it that enables Him to be drawn out in prayer ? What is it that leads to this ease and abandonment?" "Lord," they said, "teach us how to pray." They meant by this ... "We wish we knew God as You know Him. Teach us how to pray." Have you ever felt that ? Have you ever felt dissatisfied with your prayer life, and longed to know more and more what it is truly to pray ? If you have, it is an encouraging sign. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, p. 47 March 9 Today, while it is called today! It is only in the light of God's hatred and abhorrence of sin that we can really see His love, and appreciate the wonder and the glory of the gospel. The measure of His anger against sin is the measure of the love that is prepared to forgive the sinner and to love him in spite of the sin. In spite of all the talk and writing about the love of God during the past century, there has been much less evidence of true appreciation of the love of God and less readiness to surrender all to it. The idea of love has been so sentimentalized that it has become little more or better than a vague general benevolence. The love of God is a holy love. It expresses itself not by condoning sin or compromising with it; it deals with it, and yet does so in such a way that the sinner is not destroyed with his sin, but is delivered from it and its consequences.... But there is no real ground at all for the objection to this teaching concerning "the wrath of God." For the way of escape is wide open. There is no need for anyone to remain under the wrath of God. And surely that fact settles the matter. Were there no escape, the position would be very different. But what can happen to anyone who deliberately refuses to accept that offer of salvation, save to suffer the consequences of that refusal? And that is the explanation of the note of urgency in the preaching of Paul and the other Apostles, and of all the greatest preachers ever since. That is why the gospel is good news. The wrath of God already revealed. But now the way to escape that wrath is also revealed in the gospel of Christ. The Plight of Man and the Power of God, pp. 72-3 March 10 Fall to rise There are certain simple principles about which we must be quite clear before we can ever hope to enjoy this Christian salvation. The first is conviction of sin. We must be absolutely clear about our sinfulness. Here I follow the method of the Apostle Paul and raise an imaginary objection. I imagine someone saying at once: "Are you going to preach to us about sin, are you going to preach about conviction of sin? You say your object is to make us happy but if you are going to preach to us about conviction of sin, surely that is going to make us still more unhappy. Are you deliberately trying to make us miserable and wretched?" To which the simple reply is, "Yes! That is the teaching of the great Apostle in these chapters.* It may sound paradoxical&mdassh;the term does not matter—but beyond any question that is the rule, and there are no exceptions. You must be made miserable before you can know true Christian joy. Indeed the real trouble with the miserable Christian is that he has never been truly made miserable because of conviction of sin. He has by-passed the essential preliminary to joy, he has been assuming something that he has no right to assume. Let me put it again in a Scriptural statement. You remember the aged Simeon standing with the infant Lord Jesus Christ in his arms? He said a very profound thing when he said, "This Child is set for the fall and for the rising again of many in Israel." There is no rising again until there has been a preliminary fall. This is an absolute rule, and yet this is the thing that is being so sadly forgotten by so many today, and assumed by as many more. But the Scripture has its order, and its order must be observed if we are to derive the benefits of the Christian salvation. Ultimately the only thing which is going to drive a man to Christ and make him rely upon Christ alone, is a true conviction of sin. Spiritual Depression, pp. 27-8 *Romans 1-4. _________ He is waiting to bless We must come [to prayer] with the simple confidence of a child. We need a child-like faith. We need this assurance that God is truly our Father, and therefore we must rigidly exclude any idea that we must go on repeating our petitions because it is our repetition that is going to produce the blessing. God likes us to show our keenness, our anxiety, and our desire over a thing. He tells us to "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and to seek it; He tells us to "pray and not to faint"; we are told to "pray without ceasing." Yes, but that does not mean mechanical repetitions; it does not mean believing that we shall be heard for our "much speaking." ... It means that when I pray I know that God is my Father, and that He delights to bless me, and that He is much more ready to give than I am to receive, and that He is always concerned about my welfare.... I must see God as my Father who has purchased my ultimate good in Christ and is waiting to bless me with His own fullness in Christ Jesus. So ... in confidence we make our requests known to God, knowing He knows all about it before we begin to speak.... But we must not come with doubtful minds; we must know that God is much more ready to give than we are to receive.... O the blessings that are stored at the right hand of God for God's children. Shame on us for being paupers when we were meant to be princes; shame on us for so often harboring unworthy, wrong thoughts of God in this matter. It is all due to fear and because we lack this simplicity, this faith, this con­fidence, this knowledge of God as our Father. If we but have that, the blessings of God will begin to fall upon us and may be so overwhelming that with D. L. Moody we shall feel that they are almost more than our physical frames can bear and cry out with him, saying, "Stop, God!" God is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Let us believe that and then go to Him in simple confidence. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 31-2