November 27 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 28:16–20

Devotional

Don’t take too lightly the union of the three Divine Persons in all their gracious acts. How unwisely those believers talk who make preferences in the Persons of the Trinity—who, for example, think of Jesus as if he embodies everything lovely and gracious while regarding the Father as severely just but destitute of kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the Father and the atonement of the Son in such a way as to belittle the work of the Holy Spirit.

In works of grace none of the Persons of the Trinity act apart from the rest. They are just as united in their works as they are in their being. In their love towards the chosen they are one, and in the actions that flow from that great central source they are still undivided.

Pay special attention to this in the matter of sanctification. While we may without mistake speak of sanctification as the work of the Holy Spirit, yet we must take care that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son have no part in it. It’s correct to speak of sanctification as the work of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Jehovah still says, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness” (Gen 1:26) so that in this way “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

Appreciate the value that God sets upon real holiness, since Scripture represents the three Persons in the Trinity as working together to produce a church “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish” (Eph. 5:27). And you, believer, as the follower of Christ, must also set a high value on holiness—upon purity of life and godliness of behaviour. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of your hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the Father or the Holy Spirit which enables you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 2:12).

This day let us live in such a way as to show forth the work of the Triune God in us.

[July 12]

Extracted from C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (public domain), language modernized by Larry E. Wilson.