Daily Devotional

July 07

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)

Lift up the standard of Thy Cross
And all shall own Thou diedst for all

[The Gospel] works for everyone, for anyone, for all.... No type or kind of person is excluded from its all-embracing scope and span ... All the things about which others boasted, and in which they gloried, were sectional and partisan in their appeal and limited in the number of their adherents. They all lacked universality ... and what satisfied one was rejected by another.... The world was divided and discord prevailed....

But the gospel of Christ is different. It is for anyone, for everyone. Its secret is that it postulates nothing in man except failure and sin and weakness.... The gospel is not concerned about our natural differences. It centres on that which we share in common—sin and rebellion against God, failure in our lives, and a sense of shame. It demolishes all distinctions by placing us all together before God. And it does so, further, by postulating our weakness and helplessness, and relying for its efficacy upon the power of God Himself.

It matters not therefore who we are nor what we are. None can be too high or too low for this. There is no such thing as wise and unwise, great and small, learned and ignorant, wealthy or poor. There is no longer Jew and Gentile, Barbarian or Scythian, male or female, bond or free. God sees us as souls lost and desperate, helpless and forlorn. And He offers us the same salvation.

The Plight of Man and the Power of God, pp. 91–2

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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.”