June 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 8:1-17:

¹When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
²And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
³And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
⁴And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
⁵And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
⁶And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
⁷And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
⁸The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
⁹For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
¹⁰When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
¹¹And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
¹²But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
¹³And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
¹⁴And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
¹⁶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Devotional

The Christian religion is the only religion that teaches the forgiveness of sin. We confess in the Apostles' Creed, "I believe the forgiveness of sins." This may be easy to confess in a general way; but to believe that my sins are forgiven, and that they are forgiven "for the sake of Christ's satisfaction," and then to rest in this certainty, that is a task more difficult. The human heart by nature is constantly inclined to put its trust in something else, something alongside of the merits of Christ — in conversion, in good works, in obedience, etc. This in spite of the fact that we are assured that our whole salvation stands in the one sacri­fice of Christ made for us on the cross, and that all his sufferings and obedience are as certainly our own, as if we had ourselves suffered and done all in our own person. True faith must ever and again lay hold of the perfect work of Christ, as the "only ground of our salvation." On this ground or basis God forgives sins, no matter how great and how heinous. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God makes us perfectly whole in Christ Jesus, who bore our diseases. "I am Jehovah that healeth thee." "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

Prayer

Our Heavenly Father, help us to realize and firmly to believe that we are perfect in Christ; that He has made full satisfaction for all our sins, and has kept Thy law perfectly, that He rendered perfect obedience unto Thee. And help us to believe that He suffered what we deserved to suffer, and rendered obedience on our behalf; that his suffering and obedience are set to our account, and that therefore in Christ we have righteous­ness and life, yea, all things necessary to our salvation. May nothing and no one rob us of this precious truth. May thy truth be our shield and buckler. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: 1 John 1:9; Matt. 8:17; Ex. 15:24; Ps. 32:1.

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