December 3 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure" (Rom. 7:13).

Devotional

Each child of God—if he is advancing in the divine life—must mourn over his defective views of sin. The holier he grows, the more aware he becomes of this. Yes, the deeper the view of his own vileness, the stronger the evidence of his growth in sanctification. A growing hatred of sin—of little sins, of great sins, of all sin, sin detected in the indwelling principle as well as sin observable in the outward practice—oh, it is one of the surest symptoms of the onward progress of the soul in its spiritual course.

The believer himself may not be aware of it, but others see it. To him it may be like going backwards, but to an observer it is an evidence of advance.

The child of God is not the best judge of his own spiritual growth. He may be rapidly advancing when not aware of it. The tree may be growing downwards, its roots may be expanding and grasping more firmly the soil in which they are concealed, and yet the appearance of growth may not be very apparent. There is an inward, concealed, yet effectual growth of grace in the soul; the believer may not be aware of it, and even others may overlook it, but God sees it. It is his own work, and he does not look down on it.

God, in his gracious dealings with the believer, often works by contraries. He opens the eye of his child to the deep depravity of the heart, discloses to him the sin unthought of, unsuspected, unrepented, unconfessed, that lies deeply embedded there. And why? Only to make his child more holy; to compel him to go to the mercy-seat, there to cry, there to plead, there to wrestle for its subjection, its mortification, its crucifixion. And through this circuitous process, the believer presses on to higher and higher degrees of holiness. In this way, too, the believer earnestly seeks for humility, by a deep discovery that the Lord gives him of the pride of his heart, for meekness; by a discovery of petulance, for resignation to God's will; by a sense of restlessness and impatience—and so on, through all the graces of the blessed Spirit. Thus there is a great growth in grace, when a believer's views of sin's exceeding sinfulness and the inward plague are deepening.

But how are these views of sin to be deepened? By constant, close views of the blood of Christ, by realizing apprehensions of the atonement. This is the only glass through which sin is seen in its great magnitude.

O Christian reader, then, deal much and often with the blood of Christ. Oh! that we should need to be urged to this!—that once having bathed in the "fountain opened," we should ever look to any other mode of healing, and of sanctification! For never forget that a child of God is as much called to live by Christ for sanctification as for pardon. "Sanctify them through your truth" (John 17:17). And who is the truth? Jesus himself answers, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). Then we are to live by Jesus for sanctification: and happy and holy is he who thus lives by Jesus.

The fullness of grace that is treasured up in Christ, why is it there? For the sanctification of his people. For the subduing of all their sins. Oh, do not forget, then, that he is the Refiner as well as the Savior, the Sanctifier as well as the Redeemer. Take your indwelling corruptions to him. Take your easy besetting sin, your weakness, your infirmity—of whatever nature it is—at once to Jesus. His grace can make you all that he would have you to be.

Remember, too, that this is one of the great privileges of the life of faith—living by Christ for the daily subduing of all sin. This is the faith that purifies the heart, and it purifies by leading the believer to live out of himself by Christ. To this blessed and holy life our Lord Jesus referred, when speaking of its necessity in order to the spiritual fruitfulness of the believer: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 14:4–5).

Ah, holy Jesus, how have you offended
that man to judge you has in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by your own rejected,
O most afflicted.

(Johann Hermann, 1630; tr. Robert S. Bridges, 1899; mod. LEW, 2006)

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.