daily-devotionals

Reading: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, l say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Matthew 5:25–26

Christian, have you agreed with your adversary, and made peace? If so, it is blessed to review the account, and look over the several particulars, wherein you were a debtor, now struck out of God’s book, and marked paid, paid, in red letters, with Jesus’s blood.

To you, as a sinner, born in sin, and an insolvent debtor, both by nature and by practice, the law of God stood as your adversary. To agree with him as quickly as possible, while in the way with him, and while life remains, which is every moment subject to be ended, is the first and most momentous of all concerns. If you had not done this, and death had come, both law and justice must have consigned you over to the Judge; and haring rejected Him as your Saviour, and knowing Him only as your Judge, He must have delivered you to the angels, who are officers in His kingdom, to execute His wrath; and into hell, as the eternal prison, you would have been cast. As the debt at that stage could never have been paid, deliverance could never have been obtained; but unsatisfied justice would have continued to demand, without any possibility of paying for all eternity.

Now see how your account stands. It is a solemn thing to deal with God. If your debt of original and actual sin is not paid by Christ, it is not cancelled. But if Jesus, the surety, has paid it for you, then God has accepted it of Him. Indeed, God Himself appointed Jesus to pay it, and Jesus did not defer until He had paid the uttermost farthing. Now you are free. Christian, review this blessed account often, in which all your plea for grace and acceptance here, and glory hereafter, most completely stands. Jesus hath paid the whole, and God the Father graciously says, “Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24).

Taken from The Poor Man’s Evening and Morning Portions by Rev. Robert Hawker, Works, Vol. 8; 1830. Edited by Aaron Dunlop for thinkgospel.com ©2014.