Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. But God, who alone is eternal
and inhabits eternity, is in no wise bounded by time, since
he is the creator of time, and time only serves his purpose
as a realm in which his creation exists. Yet time is very real
to that creation, and those who are created cannot conceive of
any realm which is not described in terms of the passing of time.
Men often make attempts to speak of eternity past and eternity
to come, but the use of those phrases are but a proof of the
fact that man cannot describe eternity, since it has no past
or future, but simply is the abode of God to which no man
can approach. We know that God changes not,
nor are His decrees altered from one moment to the next. That
which God has purposed, ordained, and appointed cannot be changed,
nor is it in any wise contingent upon any action or will of any
of His creation, but rather the actions and wills of His creation
are contingent upon His purpose. These truths fly in the very
face of man's consideration of his own importance and produce
profound anger in those who worship the so-called free will of men.
Yet to those whom the Lord teaches these words are most comforting.
Even as Peter says, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious. There is no greater source of peace to the sons of
God than the revelation of Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone.
Jesus Christ is that stone of stumbling to those who believe
not, even as surely as he is that elect and precious stone
to those who believe. Just as surely as those who believe
were chosen and ordained unto eternal life, and given the gift
of faith, those who stumble at this rock of offense were appointed
to that stumbling as well. Who is sufficient for these things?
And wherein can any boast be made by the sons of God? For
who maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? This is the very venue in which
the grace of God is displayed. It is most glorious to those
who have tasted of it, and reprehensible to those who have not. Peter
speaks of those who are now made manifest as the people of God,
who had at one time not obtained mercy, but yet now have obtained
it. Yet the scripture is quite clear
that those who were appointed as vessels of mercy were chosen
in Christ before the world's foundation and created as the
sons of God. Paul says, And you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. God does demonstrate that those
whom he has appointed unto salvation are in and of themselves worthy
of death, and differ from those who are appointed unto wrath
only in the fact that he has shown mercy unto them. When the
Lord said, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God, this was a startling message to Nicodemus, primarily
because he, being a Jew, had the notion that one was an heir
of the kingdom by natural birth, being a son of Abraham. Yet the
Lord laid the axe to the root of his tree, even as he did the
same to that of the Samaritan woman. Only the work of God in
a man by the operation of his spirit can cause a man to live
and see the truth of God. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Jew and
Gentile alike are born strangers and enemies of God, manifest
by wicked works and a disobedient spirit. As it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Left to themselves,
men will imagine a vain thing and suppose that they have both
the power and ability to choose the way of God as simply as they
choose what color shirt to put on. They will suppose that the
sincerity of their religion and their good deeds will surely
influence him for their benefit. They will imagine that God will
wink at their sin, and in his magnanimity will surely not destroy
them. Yet it is only by the granting
of mercy that any man is not destroyed. It is this mercy which
the sons of God have now obtained that has brought them to despair,
which has now caused them to cry out to the Savior of sinners.
They now know that they have obtained mercy, according to
the good pleasure of his will and not their own, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Have you tasted
of the mercy of God? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.