Morning  “They go from strength to strength.” / Psalm 84:7

They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these

words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.

Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this

morning. “They go from strength to strength.” That is, they grow stronger and

stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we

start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is

rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again

painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained

fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and

struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant,

nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much

stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far

more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of

truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days;

but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many

waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault

of the promise which still holds good: “The youths shall faint and be weary,

and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall

renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run

and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” Fretful spirits sit down

and trouble themselves about the future. “Alas!” say they, “we go from

affliction to affliction.” Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou

goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of

affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God

will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown

shoulders.

 

Evening   “I am crucified with Christ.” / Galatians 2:20

The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative

person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people.

Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation

to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted

to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the cross in

Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently,

resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ’s death, he had

satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a

blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the

cross of Christ, and feel, “I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am

therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse,

and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of

condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ.”

 

But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death,

and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the

crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he

said, “I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them.” Such is the experience of

every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who

is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the

same time, exclaim with the apostle, “Nevertheless I live.” He is fully alive

unto God. The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can

comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet

alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in

newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the

world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!