But while God and I shall be,
I am his and he is mine. What mercy. What mercy. Brother Murrow read the 23rd
Psalm to us a few minutes ago. Begins with this declaration,
the Lord is my shepherd. And ends with this conclusion,
surely, since the Lord is my shepherd, surely, There's no
question about this. Goodness and mercy shall follow
me. Goodness and mercy shall pursue
me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. If God will enable me, I want
to talk to you about his mercy. His mercies are new every morning. His mercy endures forever. We often speak of God's mercy,
but remember this. Apart from Christ, there is no
mercy. If you would have God's mercy,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust the Son of God. Apart from
Christ, there is no mercy. I have mistakenly said many times,
anything this side of hell is mercy. We sometimes say inaccurately. Salvation is by God's grace. Grace is saving. Anything but
hell is mercy. That's really not true. That's
really not true. You read the scriptures and you
understand that those things men think to be mercies by which
their hearts are kept from the Savior are but like the feeding
of a stalled ox, fattening them for the slaughter. God set them
in slippery places and the feet shall slide in due season. There's
no mercy except in Christ. John Gill put it this way, mercy
is displayed only in and through Christ. God out of Christ is
a consuming fire. God out of Christ is a consuming
fire. It is only in Christ that the
Lord God proclaims his name gracious and merciful. Christ is the mercy
seat in whom God Almighty promises to meet sinners, in whom we meet
God and God meets us and we obtain mercy. If you would be saved,
If I would be saved, we must, like the publican, make bare
our hearts before God and plead, God, be merciful. Be propitious
to me, the sinner, through Christ Jesus, the Lord. But how can
I describe God's mercy? Thy mercy is great unto the heavens. God's mercy transcends our loftiest
thoughts of his mercy. For as high as heaven is above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. God's
mercy to sinners in Christ is infinite, infinite beyond measure,
and utterly indescribable. The Bible tells us that it is
great mercy, rich mercy. abundant mercy, plenteous mercy,
and that there is a multitude of immutable mercies from God
for sinners in Christ. I can't begin to describe the
mercy of God, but I can tell you something of what I have
found of God's mercy. This is what I've experienced.
God's preventing mercy, the mercy of God that prevented me, His
prevenient mercy preserved me All the days of my rebellion
unto the time appointed of God called the time of love when
he called me by his grace. God's mercy, his forbearing mercy,
made him long suffering with me in my rebellion and graciously
brought me to repentance. The Lord's pardoning mercy has
put away all my sins by the blood of his dear son and his comforting
mercy. Oh, the comfort of God's mercy.
It sustains my soul in hope as he enables me to remember and
trust his promises, his providence, his presence, and his propitiation. Thy mercies are new every morning. What a consolation to this sinner's
soul. Streams of mercy never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise. This man speaking to you can
rightfully sing a debtor to mercy alone of covenant mercy I sing. Yea, thy mercy is great above
the heavens. The earth, O Lord, is full of
thy mercy. Everything we see and experience
are but tokens of God's mercy to us. I intended to say everything
we see, everything we experience as God's people in Christ Jesus
are tokens of mercy. Never tokens of wrath, never
tokens of judgment, tokens of mercy. He is ever merciful to
his own. The title of my message this
evening is Measuring Mercy. But I recognize that I can't
measure God's mercy. And you can't measure God's mercy. But God does. He measures mercy
to us. He measures mercy to us. Three times in the gospel narratives,
in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, our Lord speaks concerning this measuring
of mercy. He says, as you measure, it shall
be measured to you again. And on one occasion, it speaks
specifically with regard to that which we hear of the gospel of
God's grace. We are taught to be generous
and giving in measuring out our generosity. And as you measure,
it shall be measured to you again, pressed down, shaken together,
and running over. Oh, I don't know what all that
speaks of, but I know this. God's mercy is measured to His
people in Christ, pressed down, shaken together, and running
over, pressed down, Shaken together and running over that's how God
heaps mercy upon us in his dear son Now look at Ephesians chapter
1 verse 5 Ephesians 1 verse 5 In love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself now
watch this according to the good pleasure of of His will. In this
one chapter of Holy Scripture, the Spirit of God inspired the
Apostle Paul to use the words, according, according to, according
as, six times to measure His great mercy toward us in Christ. God measures out His mercy according
to the good pleasure of His will in all spiritual blessings in
all predestination, in all the blessedness of adoption and redemption,
in all the work of revealing His Son and His will in us, in
all His providence, and in the blessed effectual call of His
grace. Let's read a good portion of
the chapter together, back up to verse 3, Ephesians 1, 3. Watch
how God uses these words to measure out His mercy. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as,
there's the first time, he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, here it is again, according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. You see the third one? According
to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted. After
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
His glory. Wherefore also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all saints, cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
that the God and the Father God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power
to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power,
which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead,
and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places." Those
words, according to, according as, according, describes the
way God measures out His mercy to us, pressed down, shaken together,
and running over. The word means in agreement with,
in harmony with, guided by or measured by. The Spirit of God
uses this word according in the book of God to teach us that
every blessing we receive from the hand of God, every blessing
of God's mercy is measured to us by the eternal unalterable
purpose and will of God in Christ our Savior. Every blessing we
receive in time Every blessing we receive in time is measured
to us according to God's unalterable purpose of grace, according to
the will of our Heavenly Father for us, His sons and daughters,
established in eternity. Now, if that doesn't ring your
bell, I don't know what will. Here is a cause for unceasing
joy. The Apostle says, Rejoice in
the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men. Be easy. Be easy. Be comfortable. Be at ease. Be unruffled. Be gentle. Be even-tempered. Walk with peace
in your soul. The Lord's at hand. The thrice
holy God Oh, that he should save any of us is a wonder of his
sovereign mercy. That he should make such great
glorious provisions for our souls, for our everlasting welfare is
a cause for unceasing joy and praise. That he should save sinners
like us at such a price, the price of his own son's dear blood,
ought to inspire our souls with the greatest possible humility,
gratitude, and devotion. That God should deal with us
as he does in great mercy, constantly according to the good pleasure
of his sovereign eternal will toward us in Christ. Oh, that
ought to make us walk in peace, contentment, joy, and satisfaction
all the time. Now, let me make seven statements.
Now, I'll be as brief as I can. First, we're told that every
spiritual blessing of grace, every heavenly mercy is bestowed
upon needy sinners according to, that is, by the measure of
God's sovereign election. I hope do your heart good to
read this text one more time. Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. God's choice and
election of our souls is not the result of something we do
in time, but rather it is the cause of everything God does
for us in Christ. It was the fact of our election
by God unto salvation and eternal life that gives us joy and comfort
as it did David while he walked on this earth. while he endured
difficulties, while he was chased like a wild beast by Saul, while
he was opposed by men who should have been his friends, while
he was fleeing for his life, and when he sat on the throne
in Israel, when he was fallen and raised again, it was God's
mercies that sustained him, so that he cried, blessed is the
man. Oh, blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. John Kent expressed
it in him far better than I can in any words I come up with.
"'Twas with an everlasting love that God, his own elect, embraced,
before he made the worlds above, our earth on her huge columns
placed. O love, how high thy glory swell! How great, immutable, and free! Ten thousand sins, as black as
hell, are swaddled up, O love in thee!' when a wretch defiled
with sin, at war with heaven, in league with hell, a slave
to every lust obscene, who living lived but to rebel. Believer,
here thy comfort stands, from first to last salvation's free,
and everlasting love demands an everlasting song from thee."
All right, second, look at verse 5 again. We are told that predestination
and adoption are mercies measured to us according to the good pleasure
of His will. What does that mean? It means
that there are no unexpected children born in God's kingdom. No unexpected children born in
God's house. No unexpected children born in
God's family. When a child is unexpected, If
I remember correctly, my dear wife here was not an expected
child until her mother realized she was pregnant. She was the
child of her parents' old age. She was the baby. I think her
mother was 42 when she was born. A little bit beyond what's normal,
or especially in that day what was normal. And so an unexpected
child somewhat takes a mother and father by surprise. But when
a couple had been married for a while, And the young couple
are planning a family, and they get the test back from the doctor,
and the rabbit's dead. They start preparing their home
for a baby. When I was in college, we didn't
have much of a house. We found out Shelby was pregnant
with Faith, and we lived in a camper about half the size of my office
back there. They called it a trailer back in those days. We'd call
it a camper now. But we decided we had to get somewhere where
we could have at least room enough to put a crib for the baby. And
so we rented an apartment and started buying furniture, going
out and buying stuff and cleaning it up and getting it ready for
the baby to come. Buying clothes, found out that
we were expecting a child, didn't know if it was gonna be a boy
or a girl. We were assured right up until an hour and a half before
Faith was born, it was gonna be a big boy. It was just a big
girl. Oh, what a great, big, darling
girl. Delight, delightful girl. But
we made every preparation we could for the nursery just in
case, whichever we had, and it worked out pretty good. But we
made our plans with little knowledge, with little insight. The doctors
told us not to go anywhere Thanksgiving. Baby would be born. Christmas
rolled around and gave Shelby a big dose of castor oil, and
she got sick as a dog, said, we'll see you this weekend. And
the baby didn't come. And February, the baby came.
We made best preparations we could, but we didn't have much
knowledge. We didn't have much insight. Our Heavenly Father
prepared everything. Our Heavenly Father prepared
everything for us, His children, before the world was. that we
should be born in His kingdom at the appointed time of love,
called by His grace, and at last enter into His kingdom in glory,
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, in resurrection
glory with Christ, and everything was prepared for us from eternity. And in the last day our Savior
will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There are no unexpected
children in God's family, nothing unprepared in God's family, nothing
unanticipated in God's family, but everything for every child
ordered by God from eternity and brought to pass by the hand
of God in providence in great mercy. In great mercy. We don't understand
how everything is merciful, but everything moves according to
God's purpose of mercy toward his elect. And those ordained
to eternal life at the appointed time of love are brought to life
and faith in Christ. It often takes us by surprise.
See, conversions and sometimes they're just surprise, just surprise. We've been praying for Joe and
God saves Sammy. And it takes Sammy by surprise,
takes us by surprise, but it didn't take God by surprise.
You see, the Lord God Almighty, Sammy's all wise, good, gracious,
heavenly father, predestined everything that comes to pass
in time just for Sammy. and performs all things in time
just for Sevi and makes Sevi delight in all that he's done
when he's finished. And we who are gods, oh, may
God teach us today to delight in all the good pleasure of his
will by which we have been made the sons of God, having his mercy
measured to us today. Teach me. Shelby read this to
me again. this afternoon, to know how frail I am and measure your mercy to me.
Measure your mercy to me, my God, and make me to rejoice in
it. Third, God the Holy Spirit tells
us in verse 7 that our redemption by the precious blood of Christ
and the forgiveness of all our sins by his blood is measured
to us according to the riches of His grace. Imagine that. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. All who are redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ, all for whom the Son of God obtained eternal
redemption have the forgiveness of sins. And the measure of these
companion mercies, redemption and forgiveness, is the riches
of His grace. C.D. Cole, who lived out of Madisonville,
Kentucky, wrote these words concerning that. Poor sinners need a wealth
of grace, and God is wealthy in grace. Our forgiveness is
commensurate with, or measured by, the riches of His grace. Our forgiveness, our redemption,
our salvation is commensurate with, measured by, the riches
of His grace. Now, hearing that, hear this. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Grace, grace, marvelous grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin. Fourth, our effectual
calling by God the Holy Spirit is the gift and the gift of faith
in that call. That by which chosen, redeemed
sinners experience God's saving grace are mercies measured to
us by the power of God and the will of God. Look at verse 19.
And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe
according to the working of His mighty power? God ordained when
we should be called He ordained the time of our call. He ordained
the means by which we must be called, the preaching of the
gospel. And He ordained the time and the place and all the circumstances
that would make that call effectual to us by the power of His Spirit.
God then performed the call in the time of love. There's a purpose
in God's call. And the call is on purpose. None are called accidentally.
God meant to call us. He called us for the purpose
of making us like His dear Son, the Lord Jesus. And in calling
us, made us partakers of the divine nature. In calling us,
made us new creatures in Christ. Here's the fifth thing. Turn over to Titus chapter 3.
Titus chapter 3. Here we see that regeneration
and conversion, this new creation work of grace is performed in
God's elect according to the measure of his infinite mercy. Look at verse 4. After that the
kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration And by
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Go back to Ephesians now. Let's
look again at this blessed second chapter, Ephesians 2. and see how God works regeneration
in us according to the measure of his infinite mercy. And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins, wherein
in time past you 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 all had our conversation in time past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh, of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as others. You hath he made alive who were
by nature just like everybody else, dead living in the lust
of your flesh, spiritually dead, living in your vile lifestyle,
in your vile manner of life, your vile conversation, dead,
living in this world according to the lust of your own evil
hearts, yet you God has called to life. How's that? Look at this. But God, but God, Oh, thank you, my God, for stepping
into my life, for invading my soul, for knocking down the door
of my heart and invading my heart, taking possession of me by your
grace. Had God not stepped in, we would
never have known him. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us set
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace Are you saved through
faith? And that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God. I had a note from someone today. I've only heard from him twice.
He asked me, he said, does that gift refer to faith or grace?
He said, the preacher this morning told us it refers to the grace
but not to the faith. The fact is the construction
of the sentence is very clear. Article that refers to the salvation
package, grace and faith included. So that that single article refers
to all three things, salvation, grace and faith. And to make
that very clear, we're told plainly that faith is the fruit of the
spirit and that faith is the operation of God. This is God's
work in us. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." What kind of love chose us to
salvation in Christ? Free love. What kind of grace
contrived the scheme of salvation? Eternal grace. Why does God show
mercy to such sinful creatures of such abject misery as we are? Because of His great love wherewith
He loved us. God who is rich in mercy for
His great love and His great grace has saved us in Christ
Jesus. Now look at Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. Here's the sixth thing. The Lord
God in great mercy gives us strength for every day, strength for every
trial, strength for every trouble, strength for every burden as
we need it by the measure of his own glorious power. declaration. What a declaration. God gives us strength for every
burden, every labor, every trial, every heartache, every difficulty
as we need it according to His own glorious power. Look at verse
9, Colossians chapter 1, for this cause we also since the
day we heard it Do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. How is that? Strengthened
with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all
patience, and long-suffering with joyfulness. God's elect
are here assured. You and I who believe God are
here assured of His grace in Christ Jesus, of the absolute
sufficiency of His grace always and in all things. One of the
names by which God makes Himself known to us is El Shaddai. The word means God all sufficient. He is that one who speaks in
1 Corinthians chapter 12, 2 Corinthians 12, and says, My strength is
made, I'm sorry, My grace is sufficient for thee. And the
response of His servant is, My strength is, He speaks to His
servant and says, My strength is made perfect in weakness.
So that in our weakness, in our weakness, He, by His all-sufficient
grace, measured to us according to the riches of His power, sustains
us. Don't expect it ahead of time. Don't expect it ahead of time.
It's measured to us according to His power, the riches of His
power, as it is needed day by day. Sufficient grace it is because
it is effectual grace. His grace will carry you through. His grace will meet your need. His grace will sustain your soul. His grace will keep your heart. Let us ever remember that God's
grace in Christ is sufficient for us for everything and at
all times. sufficient to accomplish all
his purpose, sufficient to pardon, justify, regenerate, sanctify,
and preserve us, sufficient in every time of need, sufficient
in sickness and sufficient in health, sufficient in joy and
sufficient in sorrow, sufficient in life and sufficient
in death. and sufficient in judgment and
sufficient to present me faultless before the presence
of His glory. My grace is sufficient. My grace
is measured to you, He promises, according to the riches of my
power as God your Savior. The strength we have as believers
to walk worthy of the Lord and to all pleasing. The strength
we have to be fruitful in every good work, increasing in the
knowledge of God, is according to His power. We have no strength
in ourselves. We have no more strength to trust
Christ and serve Christ now than we did to save ourselves in the
beginning. He says, without me, ye can do
nothing. And then He declares, my grace
is sufficient for thee. And the one who heard him say
it declares, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth
me. Brother Don, I don't know how
I'm gonna get through this. I know how you'll get through it. You
do too. His grace is sufficient for you.
I don't know how he can stand up in that. I know how he stands
up in that, because he bows down there recognizing nothing but
weakness, but Christ is all-sufficient in His grace. And He measures
His grace to us, not according to our power, but according to
His power. All right, here's the seventh
thing. Turn to Philippians chapter 4 verse 19. Philippians 4 verse
19. God's mercy is measured to us
by the love of God, the will of God. and the purpose of God,
by the grace of God and the glorious power of God. Now here in Philippians
419, we see that our supply for the way is measured to us day
by day according to the riches of the glory of God in Christ
Jesus. These Philippian saints ministered
to Paul in his need came with their poverty and out of their
great poverty supplied his needs while he was a prisoner at Rome.
And he said, how can I express my gratitude to you for your
generosity? You deprived yourselves to take
care of me. But, now listen to what it says,
but my God shall supply all your needs. according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. Our daily supplies, all our temporal
needs, all our carnal needs, all our spiritual needs, all
our eternal needs are met and supplied to us according to the
riches of His glory by Christ Jesus. What a statement. What a promise. If I should promise
Sammy and Ruth Wall and their children, you don't have to worry
about anything from now on. I'll take care of all your needs
according to my riches. You better not bank on it, because
I can't supply it. I don't have pockets deep enough
to take care of it. But if my name were Rockefeller,
And I said, Sammy, you don't have to worry about anything.
I'll take care of you and your family from now on. Just look to me
for it. You could say, well, man, I got
to move Salem from now on, because he's got great wealth. Listen to me. Our God supplies
all our needs according to the riches of his glory by Christ
Jesus. I sometimes, not sometimes, I'm
often made aware of preachers you see on television, poor mouthing
all the time, poor mouthing. I made up my mind long ago, as
God's servant, representing God Almighty, the God of glory, no
man's ever gonna hear this preacher beg for anything, or poor mouth
about anything. It ain't gonna happen. It ain't
gonna happen. Well, how come? Don't you need anything? Nothing
God doesn't supply. Nothing God doesn't supply. My
God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. God's coffers are infinite and
God's coffers are always full. His riches untold. That means
no famine, no calamity, no depression, no panic, no disease, no discomfort,
no drought, no pestilence, no sickness, no sorrow shall ever
diminish his supply for his people. In the book of 1 Kings, you go
back and read the 17th chapter and you read about God's prophet
Elijah. The Lord God told him, By his
word, there'll be no rain in the land. And everything dried
up. And they went and ravens fed
him. And then the water dried up.
And he said to Elijah, he said, go down to Zarephath. There's
a widow there. I have commanded her to feed you and take care
of you. And that dear lady didn't have a clue God had commanded
her to do it. She was totally unaware of it. And Elijah went
down to Zarephath and he met her and he said, He said, pardon
me, ma'am, fetch me a little water. And she was gathering
some sticks to fix a little meal for her and her son. And she
brought him some water. And as she was doing that, he
said, now, you go and make me a little bit of bread to eat.
And she looked at him like, who on earth do you think you are?
Don't you have any idea you're talking to a poor woman I'm out
here gathering two sticks to make just a little fire so I
can take the last little dab of meal I've got in my barrel
and the last little bit of oil I've got in my cruise and make
a cake so my son and I can have one more bite of food and then
we're gonna die. Elijah said, make me a cake first. And God
commanded her to do it. She went and made him a cake,
brought it to him, And she went back to get some more meal. There it was. A little more oil. There it was. And she made a
cake for her. Went back and got some more. Made it for her son. Went back the next day and got
some more. Made some for Elijah and her and her son. Went back
the next day and got some more. Made it for her and Elijah and
her son. And it went on and went on. And the meal never wasted. And the oil never failed because
God kept filling the barrel according to her need and according to
his riches in glory. And God kept supplying the oil
according to her need and according to his riches in glory. This
is how God works for us. These boons of mercy are ours
by faith in Christ. But don't imagine that your faith
is the measure mercy. You remember our Lord met those
two blind men crying and saying, thou son of David have mercy
on us. And he met them and said, believe
ye that I am able to do this. And they said, yea Lord. Then
he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith be it
unto you. Not according to your strength
of your faith. If that were the case, we'd be
in mess all the time. If that were the case. Not according
to the greatness of your faith. If that were the case, we'd be
in trouble all the time. But according to the object of
your faith. He said, do you believe that
I am able to do this? Oh yes, Lord. I believe you're
able to do it. believe you're able to and he
said receive your sight and they did and they did. Thank God for
the boons of mercy that are ours in Christ Jesus. Oh may God grant
you the measure of his mercy. God give you faith in him, depend
on him, believe on him, Children of God, as ye therefore have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him. Come to him trusting him. Now,
walk in him trusting him. Meet every dark day and every
sorrow and every adversity and every trial, every heartache
and every burden, every opportunity and every command Meet everything
with this promise. His mercy is measured to us according
to the riches of his purpose, his grace, his will, his power,
and his glory in Christ Jesus. Some years ago, I don't remember
where I read it, I read about a Chinese woman who tried to
do something to merit, in the eyes of her heathen gods, salvation. trying to do so, she once dug
a well for someone with just her hands and a crude shovel,
25 feet deep, 15 feet wide. And when she was an old woman,
God saved her by his free grace. When she was 80 years old, she held up those crippled hands
with which she had labored all her life long, and this is what
she sang. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Not the labors of my hands can
fulfill thy law's commands. Could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone,
thou must save and thou alone, nothing in my hand I bring. Simply
to thy cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look
to thee for grace. Thou I to the fountain fly, wash
me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyes shall close at death, When I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee, O thy judgment throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. That's what I'm talking about.
God's mercy is measured to us according to the riches of his
grace, the riches of his power, the riches of his glory in Christ
Jesus. Trust Him, and you'll find it
so. God, give me grace to prove Your
Word every day by faith in You. Amen.