December 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes" (Rom. 10:4).

Devotional

Behold, what an open door this subject sets before the humble, convinced sinner. It encircles the whole future of his being with the covenant rainbow of hope. He is safe beneath its gorgeous and expanding arch.

The law, now honored as it never was before, invested with a luster in view of which its former glory pales, the utmost glory brought to the Divine government, do you think, penitent reader, that the Lord will reject the application of a single sinner who humbly asks to be saved? What? After the Son of God has stooped so low to save the lowest, has suffered so much to save the vilest, will the Father refuse to embrace to his reconciled heart the penitent who flees to its blessed asylum? Never!

Approach, then, bowed and broken, weary and burdened spirit. There is hope for you in Jesus! There is forgiveness for you in Jesus! There is acceptance for you in Jesus! There is rest for you in Jesus! There is a heaven of bliss and glory awaiting you! All of this in Jesus, the law's great fulfiller.

Oh, how welcome the heart of Christ will make you! How full and free the pardon of God extended will be to you! How deep and rich the peace, and joy, and hope, which, like a river, will roll its gladdening waves into your soul the moment that you receive Christ into your heart!

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my Word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).

Saints of God, keep the eye of your faith intently and immovably fixed upon Christ, your sole pattern. Our Lord did not keep that law so that his people might be lawless. He did not honor that law so that they might dishonor its precepts. His obedience provides no license for our disobedience. His fulfillment does not releases us from the obligation—the sweet and pleasant, yet solemn obligation—to holiness of life. Our faith does not overthrow the law, but rather upholds the law (Rom. 3:31).

"The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us" when we "walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" in lowly conformity to Christ's example (Rom. 8:4). Was he meek and lowly in heart? Did he bless when cursed? Did he, when reviled, revile not again? Did he walk in secret with God? Did he always seek to do those things which pleased his Father? Did he live a life of faith, and prayer, and toil? So let us imitate him, that of us it may be said, "It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rev. 14:4). What richer comfort can flow into the hearts of the godly than that which springs from this truth? "The righteousness of the law fulfilled in us." What wondrous, blessed words!

You are often in fear that the righteousness of the law will rise against you; and when you consider your many failures and short-comings, you justly tremble. But do not fear! Why? Because in Christ the law is perfectly fulfilled, and fulfilled in your place, as much as if you had obeyed in your own person. Is this not a sure ground of comfort?

You see the imperfection of your own obedience, and you are alarmed. But do you not have an eye also for the perfection of Christ's obedience, which he has made yours by imputation? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus," because he has fulfilled the law's righteousness in their behalf (Rom. 8:1).

You are cast down because of the law of sin, but the Spirit of life has freed you from the law. You are troubled because of the law of God, but that law, by Christ's perfect obedience, is fulfilled in you.

You desire a righteousness that will present you without spot before God; you have it in him who is the "Lord our righteousness."

Christian! Christ's whole obedience is yours. What can sin, or Satan, or conscience, or the law itself allege against you now? Be humble, and mourn over the many flaws and failures in your obedience; yet withal rejoice, and glory, and make your boast in the fullness, perfection, and unchangeableness of that righteousness on the Incarnate God which will place you without fault before the throne.

Sinner! if the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled in you now, that righteousness will be exhibited in your just condemnation to all eternity! Flee to Christ Jesus, "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes."

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
there a precious fountain,
free to all—a healing stream—
flows from Calvary's mountain.

(Fanny J. Crosby, 1869 [st. 2 alt., LEW, 1984])

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.