October 12 Daily Devotional

O taste and see ...

Why are we all what we are in view of such promises? [Matthew 7:7.] Why is the quality of our Christian living so poor? ... Everything we need is available; why then are we what we are? Why are we not exemplifying this Sermon on the Mount more perfectly? Why are we not conforming more and more to the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? All that we need is offered us; it is all promised us here in this comprehensive promise. Why are we not availing ourselves of it as we should?... there are certain conditions which must be observed before we can rejoice in these great benefits that are offered us in Christ. What are they?

... If we want to go through life triumphantly, with peace and joy in our hearts, ready to face whatever may come to meet us, and to be more than conquerors in spite of everything, there are certain things we have to realize.... The first is, we must realize our need ... the effect of sin upon us is such that we shall never fly to Christ until we realize that we are paupers. But we hate to regard ourselves as paupers, and we do not like to feel our need. People are ready to listen to sermons which present Christ to them, but they do not like to be told that they are so helpless that He had to go to the cross and die before they could be saved.... We must be brought to realize our need. The first two essentials to salvation and rejoicing in Christ are the consciousness of our need, and the consciousness of the riches of grace that are in Christ. It is only those who realize these two things who ‘ask’ truly.... The other man is not aware of his need. It is the man who knows that he is ‘down and out’ who begins to ask. And then he begins to realize the possibilities that are in Christ.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 199–200