August 21 Daily Devotional

AUGUST 21

Bible Verse

"A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,'and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:19–30).

Devotional

Believer in Jesus! Remember that all your confidence, all your hope, and all your comfort flows from the finished work of your Savior. See that you unwittingly add nothing to the perfection of this work.

You may be betrayed into this sin and this folly by looking within yourself instead of to the person and work of Jesus—by attaching too great an importance to repentance and faith (to your own doings and strivings), rather than ceasing from your own works altogether and resting simply, entirely, and exclusively in the work of Jesus for your peace, joy, and hope.

Remember that whatever you unintentionally add to the finished work of Christ mars the perfection and obscures the beauty of that work. "If you wield your tool on it you profane it" (Ex. 20:25).

You have nothing to do, except in your moral pollution and nakedness to plunge beneath the fountain and wrap yourself within the robe of that Savior's blood and righteousness. When he died on the tree, he so completed your redemption as to leave you nothing to do but to trust him and be saved.

"It is finished!" Oh words pregnant with the deepest meaning! Oh words rich with the richest consolation! Salvation is finished! Look away from your fluctuating frames to "Jesus only." Look away from your fitful feelings to "Jesus only." Look away from your sins and guilt to "Jesus only." Look away from your emptiness and poverty to "Jesus only."

"It is finished!" Let devils hear it and tremble! Let sinners hear it and believe! Let saints hear it and rejoice! All is finished!

"Then, Lord, I flee to you just as I am! I have stayed away from you too long. Instead of getting better, I have grown worse. Too exclusively have I looked at my unworthiness, too absorbed have I been with my poverty, too bitterly have I mourned that I have nothing to pay. I now cast myself upon your own finished work. Save me, Lord, and I shall be saved!"

Before this stupendous truth let all creature merit sink, let all human glory pale, let all man's boasting vanish, and let Jesus be all in all. Perish, utterly and forever perish, anything whatsoever that would be a substitute for the finished work of Jesus—whether forms and ceremonies, rites and rituals, creeds and churches, anything whatsoever. Perish, utterly and forever perish, anything whatsoever that would tend to neutralize the finished work of Jesus. Perish, utterly and forever perish, anything whatsoever that would obscure or dim the beauty, the brightness, and the glory of the finished work of Jesus!

It was "Jesus only" in the councils of eternity. It was "Jesus only" in the everlasting covenant of grace. It was "Jesus only" in the manger of Bethlehem. It was "Jesus only" in the garden of Gethsemane. It was "Jesus only" on the cross of Calvary. It was "Jesus only" in the tomb of Joseph. It was "Jesus only" who, "after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). It shall be "Jesus only" returning in power and glory. And it shall be "Jesus only"—the joy of our hearts, the object of our glory, the theme of our song, the Beloved of our adoration, service, and praise—through the endless ages of eternity.

Oh, stand fast—in life and in death—by the finished work of Jesus.

Man of Sorrows! what a name
for the Son of God, who came
ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah! what a Savior!

(Phillip P. Bliss, 1838–1876)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.