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December 28 Daily Devotional

A First Book of Daily Readings

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

Man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looketh on the heart

[The disciples] had been sent out to preach and to cast out devils, and had been highly successful. [Luke 10.] They came back full of pride because of the things that had happened, and our Lord said to them in effect, ‘Did I not tell you in the Sermon on the Mount that people who are outside the kingdom can preach in my name, and cast out devils and do many wonderful works? Do not be misled by these things; make certain of yourself. It is your heart that matters. Is your name written in heaven? Do you really belong to me? Have you this holiness, this righteousness which I am teaching? “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven”.’ The way to test yourself, the way to test any man, is to look below the surface. Do not look at the apparent results, do not look at the wonders and the marvels, but discover whether he conforms to the Beatitudes. Is he poor in spirit; is he meek; is he humble; does he groan in his spirit as he sees the world; is he a holy man of God; is he grave, is he sober; does he say with Paul, ‘We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened’? Those are the tests, the tests of the Beatitudes, the tests of the Sermon on the Mount—the man’s character, the man’s nature. Not the appearances only, but the reality itself alone counts with God.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 270–1

 

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