Daily Devotional

January 18

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Man's only hope—the gospel

How tragic it is that mankind should so long have been guilty of the foolish error of reversing the true order of religion and morality! For once they are placed in their right positions the situation is entirely changed. In precisely the same way as morality alone fails, the gospel of Christ succeeds.

It starts with God and exists to glorify His holy Name. It restores man into the right relationship to Him, reconciling him to God through the blood of Christ. It tells man that he is more important than his own actions or his environment and that when he is put right, he must then proceed to put them right.
It caters for the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, intellect, desire, and will, by giving him the most exalted view of all and filling him with a passion and a desire to live the good life in order to express his gratitude to God for His amazing love. And it provides him with power; in the depth of his shame and misery as the result of his sin and failure, it restores him by assuring him that Christ has died for him and his sins and that God has forgiven him. It calls him to a new life and a new start, promising him power that will overcome sin and temptation and will at the same time enable him to live the life he believes and knows he ought to live.

There, and there alone, lies the only hope for men and for the world. Everything else has been tried and has failed. Ungodliness is the greatest and the central sin. It is the cause of all our other troubles. Men must return to God and start with Him. And, God be praised, the way for them to do so is still wide open in "Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

The Plight of Man and the Power of God, p. 40

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”