Turning your scriptures to Galatians
Chapter 2, we go on a journey with our Lord,
don't we, as we travel through these books of the scriptures.
It's wonderful to see these pictures, these pictures of grace, these
pictures of what we are as children of Adam. But most of all we see
just remarkable pictures again and again against the dark backdrop of the sin that we are in Adam. We see these remarkable These
remarkable pictures of the hand of the sovereign God. I love
the frailty, I love the honesty of our brother Peter. A man just so much like us. It is remarkable, isn't it? He
chose the weak things of this world to confound the wise. and he uses them as vessels of
grace. Peter, no doubt, was deeply,
deeply deceived and Peter, no doubt, was deeply, deeply thankful,
forgiven much and loved much. we saw on that fall, that fall
of his that put him to a place where he was to be blamed or
he stood condemned and he was leading others in hypocrisy. And Paul steps in, steps in before
him and God uses his servant to set a limit, to set a limit
on the fall. of his people. We stumble and
fall in many ways, but our great God." We do often quote those
final words of David in 2 Samuel 23 verse 5. David looks around at his house whatever that house might be,
his family, his own life, even the house of Israel. For though
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." That's our sovereign
God. That's our sovereign God in covenant
love for His people. "'For this,' says David, This
is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not
to grow. It doesn't have to change. God's
eternal covenant is unchangeable, eternal, fixed in the heavens. That's the eternal covenant.
That is the eternal covenant, God, that saved you from sin,
from Satan, and from the falls that have gone before you and
the falls that lie ahead of you. And Paul was caused in a remarkable
way. He stood before him and spoke
boldly and clearly to him, and then he preached the Gospel to
him. It's wonderful, isn't it, that
Paul didn't lose sight of the fact that the Gospel is the power
of God under salvation. We think of the situations where
we see someone Stumbling and falling and we think the natural
reaction is what they need is a bunch of rules and regulations.
They need to be told this and told that. And there are no doubt
times when those things come along. But if Paul's example
is anything to go by, and I think it's a lot to go by, is the best
thing we can do is say what we have to do as straight as possible,
simply and clearly, and then preach the Gospel. That's what
he does, doesn't he? Verse 15. We who are Jews by
nature are not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. I spoke last week at length about
the glorious doctrine of justification and I just wanted, before we
moved on to these next remarkable verses, to talk again about our
union with the Lord Jesus. I just wanted to talk a little
bit more about justification. You see, it's an inheritance,
isn't it? It's the inheritance of all of
the children of God is to be justified. like the inheritances that we
have. It comes by right of birth and
by right of belonging. It doesn't come by in normal
course of events. It doesn't come by earning something. But we are blessed. We are blessed
along with Abraham. If you turn over to chapter 3,
we'll just have a look at a few words there and then we'll go
back and look at some of the aspects of justification that
the Lord's laid on my heart. Verse 6. Even as Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, you know therefore
that they which are of faith are the same, the same are the
children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, that's all of us here, unless
Cole's still claiming his Jewish heritage, that God would justify
the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel under Abraham
saying, in thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many are as of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them, literally to have done
them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident for the just. The just shall live by faith. So justification is the birthright,
isn't it? We are blessed with faithful
Abraham, as blessed as Abraham ever was. Abraham's a great example. Abraham was blessed Blessed in
two remarkable ways, wasn't he? And the two ways that I long
for those of us who know our God to appreciate again and again. He was blessed with righteousness. The just. That's God's declaration
of him, isn't it? The just. He was a just man in
the sight of God. He was blessed with righteousness.
and he was blessed with relationship. He's called twice in the scriptures,
a friend of God. It's so easy to skip over phrases
in the scriptures, isn't it? And not think and not allow the
gravity of them and the delight of them to sit upon ourselves. What a description of a sinner
like me, a friend of God. God considers His people, His
friends, His delight He carries His little ones close
to His heart. He watches over them jealously
and carefully. And that was David's blessing,
wasn't it? That he saw that in all things
God had ordered a covenant with him and it was secure in every
detail. God surrounds His people, doesn't
He, with His wings over us. He gathers us like chickens gathered
to another hen and He surrounds us and covers us. But His arms
underneath us, underneath are everlasting arms. With His heart
towards us, He's loved us, loved His people with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness. He's drawn us to himself and
his eyes upon us. What a great God. What a great
God. What a great God who brought the Apostle Paul to Peter
to say, this far will you go and no further. I'll draw you back to myself." Peter was in a situation that
should cause us to pause greatly. On Thursday evening we looked
at those verses in 2 Thessalonians 2 and we saw the subtlety of
Satan. Just turn there for a little
minute. He's talking about Satan and
his activities in this world. In verse 4 it
says, he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God,
or that is worship, so that he is God, sits in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God. He claims the prerogative
of God. And it talks about his comings.
Even him, verse 9, whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should
believe a lie, that all might be damned who believed not the
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Satan is a subtle enemy and he
is no more subtle and no more dangerous than when he comes
and masquerades as an angel of light. And where these Galatian
false brethren were that crept in privately to spy out the liberty
that they had in Christ. The same breed of men are the
ones that came to Antioch. and led Peter into deception,
led Peter to turn away from Christ and look to the flesh, and look
to the activities of men, to look to the works of the law. It's called, as we saw in 2 Thessalonians
2, it's called the deceivableness of unrighteousness. It's an extraordinary
phrase, isn't it? And obviously it doesn't mean
the deceivableness of unrighteous activities. No one is deceived
by murder. People are not deceived by the
wickedness of fornication or theft or those things. The deceivableness
of unrighteousness is the deceivableness of turning back to the law, turning
back to works, turning back to things that you can do, just
things that you can do in some way that will look good and that
might, in your mind, cause God to bless you in some way. will
cause you to feel like you are more sanctified. And certainly in the eyes of
men you will. We have all, I believe, been
in the company of righteous religious people. And how enticing, how
enticing their zeal, their apparent zeal, how challenging their seeming
remarkable knowledge of the scriptures can be. How subtle. It's called the deceivableness
of unrighteousness, because any righteousness outside of the
perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is unrighteous
in the sight of God. He will not accept it, for by
the works of the law, Avila says, shall no flesh be justified. by the works of the law, by the
works that you do shall no flesh be justified." Peter had gone
down a path where he had turned from Christ. and turned to works of the Law. He had broken fellowship in that
church in Antioch. He had joined with those who
came and said that obeying the Law of Moses, whether it's circumcision
or food laws, obeying the Law of Moses is a righteous thing
to do. Bewitched is what Paul says of
them. Bewitched in verse 1 of chapter
3. O foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you? The enemy is great. The enemy
is great in power, in wonders, and in deceit. He said to us
in the garden, and we took his poison and took his rewards,
he said, you shall be as gods. You can now, with your hands
and your will and your worth, you can now be saved. by your
choosing. You can now choose to believe. You can now rejoice. You can
now take Christ. You can now take His blood. You
can now be filled with His Spirit. You can now determine your destiny. You remember hearing that some
years ago? You can make a decision right now which will determine
your destiny on the Day of Judgement. Dear, oh dear. You can make yourself more righteous. You can receive more jewels in
your crown. The number of times I heard that
when I came back from India or on our journeys back here was
just horrifying. Isn't God going to bless you
now? Isn't God going to bless you
more now because you've done that? What a load of rubbish.
Someone said to Lisa, it's really, really wrong of God to give her
cancer after she'd done all that service for God in India. It's
extraordinary, isn't it? How pervasive. It's hardwired
into our DNA. It's why Peter fell so easily
into the deceivableness of unrighteousness. It's why we do the same. Peter's a great example, isn't
he? He's a great example of many things. He's a great example
of how prone we are to falling. He's a great example of how wonderfully
God will protect and preserve His own despite the things that
they do. I love what Jeremiah 50 says.
It's a stark warning, isn't it? My people hath been lost sheep,
Jeremiah 50 verse 6. My people hath been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned
them away on the mountains, on the mountains of Zion. They have
gone from mountain to hill. They have gone down. They have
forgotten their resting place. They have forgotten who their
resting place is. They have forgotten what their
resting place has done for them. They led astray so much Do we
need, as we read these sorts of illustrations in there throughout
the scriptures, need to walk humbly before our God and be
thankful, be thankful for the Gospel, be thankful for the fellowship
of the Gospel because that was what was broken here. Be thankful
for this Word of God which stands true and sure. And beware, take the Lord's warnings
as seriously as he would allow. Beware, beware of false shepherds,
beware of those wolves that come in sheep's clothing and beware
of false Christs and false Gospels and other Jesus. Satan is a liar. Ezekiel 13.22
says, Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous
sad. With lies the righteous can lose
sight of their resting place. Because with lies you have made
the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and
strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return
from his wicked way by promising him life. lies, dishearten the righteous
and embolden the wicked in their rebellion against God." I love how the Lord Jesus describes
himself. It says in 2 Thessalonians, he
just destroys him with the brightness of his coming. He just effortlessly
destroys Satan. And he says, In the Gospels,
who can rob, who can plunder the strong man's house? We need
someone much, much stronger. Someone stronger and more powerful
and he's bound Satan and he's plundered his house. He's taken
his people out. And when he takes them out, he
takes his people out for good and forever. See, Peter, in a sense, was like
Esau, wasn't he? He turned from his birthright,
he turned from his inheritance for the sake of a bowl of beans. How often how often, how prone
we are to go back to the shadows, to go back to what Paul describes
the law as the weak and beggarly elements. I go back into the
shadows. They're all pictures and types
and prophecies of the Lord Jesus. The shadows are things that are
here just for a time. Shadows have no substance and
shadows leave no lasting effect. Peter was in grave danger. He was rescued by a great and
glorious God. A great and glorious God who
sent his servant Paul to him. And we have in these verses before
us such wonderful, wonderful instructive blessings from God. Justification, as I said, last
week It is the verdict, the judgement of the court of heaven about
people. It happens entirely outside of
us. Justification. It is not something
that happens in the conscience of men, that we place justification
where it purely is, and that is in Christ. It belongs to Him. It's His. He's performed it. He's achieved it. It is His. is to consider a person just,
taken away all of their sins, robed with a robe of righteousness. Who can do that? These people
that turn back to the law, these people that encourage people
to go back to the law, Paul says to them, don't you know what
the law says? Don't you know what the law demands?
I read again and again and I keep thinking how amazing it is to
live this side, to live not as a Jew and to live this side of
it. The people that we know who are Jews in Sydney, they have
to have two kitchens and two refrigerators because if a Gentile
comes in there, they can pollute their bit. So they can actually
pollute the Gentile bit, but they can't pollute the Jewish
bit. We had a friend who was a caterer down last week and
she was talking about what a pest it is to have been a caterer
in some of their houses as a Gentile. The law demands absolute perfection
100% of the time. You can wake up in the morning
and be defiled from what happened in your sleep at night, both
as a man and a woman. Just imagine, you could get up
without thinking about it and you could walk out and you could
sit on something and you could touch something and you could
touch someone else, and then you turn around and you find
that you're defiled, and you've defiled all of them. And they're
all defiled all day. I don't know how on earth they
managed it in those days, unless they had this sort of big corral
that they pulled the defiled people in. But you could be defiled
in your sleep. You could wake up defiled and
defile everything you touch. There is that strong, stark story,
isn't it, of a young man found picking up sticks on the Sabbath. Just picking up a few sticks
on the Sabbath. And he is caught and brought
before Moses and they have to say, what will we do? We'll wait
for God to tell us what to do with this man. And what was God's
judgement on him? You kill him. You take him outside
the camp right now and you kill him. Who would want to go back under
the law when you've been set free from it by Christ? Who would
want to go back and live under taste not, touch not, be not
with these people? Who would want to turn back,
as I said, those two blessings of Abraham, the blessing of righteousness
and the blessing of relationship? You see, justification and acceptance
are one, aren't they? The justified are accepted. Accepted in the beloved is God's
description of His people. So without justification there
is no exception, no acceptation, not accepted. We are accepted
in Him, therefore we are justified in Him. Our justification is
a spiritual blessing. The next book of the Bible over
in Ephesians gives us a wonderful, wonderful description. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places, according
as He has 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 according to
the good pleasure of his will." See, it's a spiritual blessing.
When did you get your spiritual blessing of justification, children
of God? You got it in Christ. You don't
have any spiritual blessings apart from Him and you got it
in eternity before the foundation of the world. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. See our redemption and our righteousness are in the same place as our
justification. Righteousness and justification
are two sides of the same coin, as it were, and we don't have
it in ourselves. That verse that we quote often
in 1 Corinthians 1.30 shows us where we have it. has chosen the things which are
not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence, but of him, of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption." Peter was taught that in the
Gospel. He preached that. He preached
it at the Jerusalem Council. He preached it on the day of
Pentecost. He preached it in those churches.
It just shows you how weak our flesh is and how gracious our
God is. Where our redemption and righteousness
are, that's where our justification is. We don't have it in ourselves. We have it in Him. in whom we
have redemption and our justification is part of our completeness. How complete are the children
of God in Him. How complete. I love how Colossians says in
verse 12 of chapter 1, we're giving thanks unto the Father
It's made us meet. It means we're qualified. Qualified
by God. I was told once that it's a carpentry
term where something, a piece of wood is pared down so it fits
perfectly, like a beautiful dovetail fits perfectly. We are made meet,
qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. We are complete. Justification
is part of our completeness. Colossians 2.10 says we are complete
in Him. Right now every child of God
is complete in Him. Accepted. Accepted in the Beloved,
why would you turn back? Why would you turn back to works
of the law, Peter? Why would you turn back? Why
would you turn back to a bowl of beans? The blessings of Abraham. Part
of that blessing is the justification from eternity. I'd just like
to ponder that with you for a little while. It's a wonderful concept,
isn't it? That we were blessed with all
spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. As Hebrews, we read in
Hebrews, we are together with Him, we are one with Him. So we were justified. God's children were justified
from before the foundation of the world. God is eternal. And all of his works were completed
before the foundation of the world. Is that what Hebrews 4
says? All the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. God is eternal. He's eternal
in His glorious being. He's eternal in all of His glorious
perfections. He's eternal in all of His wondrous
acts. He's eternal in His holy relationship. He's eternal in His faithful
promises. He's eternal in His position. We just read about that, didn't
we, in Hebrews 1. He sits on the throne, doesn't
He? The throne of this universe,
so big and great is our God that this universe that we can't measure. He says in Isaiah that it's actually
a hand breath to God. So when you think of how big
the stars are, the stars are that big so that you will understand
how big God is. And he says he can just pick
it up like a cloak and wrap it around himself. They have no
power apart from Him. They have their very being, their
very existence because of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is eternal in His exalted
position. He is eternal in His communications
to Zion. He speaks to the hearts of His
people. by taking His word and making
it alive for them. He is the same, yesterday, today
and forever. Whatever He does, He does forever. The counsel of His will stands. So God's children were always
accepted in the beloved. God's children were always perfectly
righteous and just before Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are justified from eternity because Christ is our eternal mediator
in that everlasting covenant, that covenant that David spoke
about that is ordered in all things and secure. He says in Hebrews 13.20, now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant. And read the next words with
me, brothers and sisters. Hebrews 13.21. the blood of that everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever." Christ is
the mediator of that eternal covenant. He's always the mediator
for his people. He is the eternal surety of that
covenant. So Peter, by moving his plate,
by joining with the legalists, by having fellowship with them
and breaking fellowship, he turned from all of these blessings and
he'd gone back to those weak and beggarly elements, that covenant. a covenant that
we love to speak about. Jesus was made the surety, Hebrews
7.22, of a better testament, a better covenant. As I said
a few weeks ago, a surety is not a guarantor. When a surety
shakes hands and enters into a covenant, At that moment the
surety takes 100% responsibility for all of the debts. What does
my bride owe? What does she owe? She owes perfect
obedience to the law of God. I'll pay it. What does she owe? She owes infinite, just, eternal
wrath upon every single one of her sins until the justice of
God, the holy justice of God, says satisfied. The shuri says,
I'll pay it. Every last little bit. You can just imagine A bridegroom
falls deeply, deeply in love with a bride, which is the story
of the Song of Solomon, isn't it? And she comes with her debt. Would he find it a burden to
pay her debt and set her free so she could be in a relationship?
It's not a burden to him. For the joy set before him, he
endured the cross and scorned the shame, didn't he? Despising
the shame. the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. By himself he purged our sins. Don't you dare try and do anything
to help him in that work. He's done it and he's sat down
at the right hand of God. Now justification is an eternal
justification. Isn't it wonderful that the things
that are set in eternity are not going to be affected by the
things of time, but the things of time are affected and changed
and moved by the decrees of eternity. They're safe hands to be in,
brothers and sisters. Don't go back to the law and
be enticed. All the spiritual blessings,
as we read in Ephesians 1, in Romans 8, you have those verses
that are famous, haven't we? We know that all things work
together. For good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called. What a great name. Who did the
calling? God called us into His grace,
called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified. He justified them. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then? It's
a good question, isn't it? What shall we say then to these
things? What is the response if God before
us Who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he, not with him, also
freely give us all things? In our Adam flesh, we are continually
told, isn't it, we do and live and we take and gain. And our great high priest, our
great covenant surety freely gives us all things. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. not by your works of doing anything. It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God and also makes intercession. Right now maketh intercession
for us. For who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
Paul was persuaded, I hope you're persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. No wonder he says, there is now. condemnation. It's justified,
brothers and sisters, justified by God. He is that Lamb that was slain
from the foundation of the world. And all of our saints, all of
the saints that came before the law was given were all justified. Abraham was a friend of God. God dealt with Moses as a man
does with his friend, face to face. It is a remarkable thing
to ponder. And they had no law. Job says in the midst of all
of his troubles, he says, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that my Redeemer lives,
and I will see Him. These very eyes will see Him. I will live beyond death, and
with these eyes I will see Him. And He shall stand. He shall
stand as a sovereign ruler upon the earth. He shall stand. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Justify. Justified, 2000 BC, perfectly
right with God. Justified before the cross. He was put to death because of
our sins. He was raised because of our justification. Where were
you 2000 years ago? You were justified, perfectly
just in the eyes of God. We are justified when we are
ungodly. We are justified before our conversion. But to him that worketh not,
that believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. We're justified by the free and
sovereign grace of God. We're called by grace. The Gospel
call is a Gospel of grace. It's a call of what He has done. It's a call of who He is, a just God and a Saviour. We are
justified when we are ungodly. We are justified by the free
grace of God without any addition of any of our works whatsoever.
We are justified completely outside of ourselves. We are justified
completely and perfectly. There is no such thing as partial
justification, that you can now be more justified by doing these
particular things, that you can be now more perfect or more holy. They're absolutes. They're absolutes
because they are determined by a God who deals in absolutes
always. And they're equally applied to
all of God's children. exactly the same way at the same
time. And they're unchangeable. Once
you've been justified, see Peter was told, wasn't he, he says,
you are clean. Because you've done lots of good
works, Peter? No, you read it in John 15, you are clean by
the word that I have spoken to you. And the Lord purified, Acts
15, who purified their hearts. Why would you want to go back
and worry about whether you're pure eating pork or prawns or
doing this or that or washing your hands this way or that way? The Lord Jesus has strong, strong
words to say. You can read about it in Matthew
23. But in Matthew 15 He's confronted with these people who are the
same people that dealt with Paul. In Matthew 15 He reminds us again
that defilement comes from within. He must be purified internally. He says in verse 11, He says,
That, hear and understand, not that which goes into the mouth
defiles a man, but that which comes out of the mouth, this
defiles a man. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended when
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, You
look where the Lord Jesus put His confidence always. Every
plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted
up and see His wise instruction. We often think we have to go
and debate with them and argue with them. What does He say in
verse 14? Let them alone. They be blind
leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall into the ditch. from within. From within proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, faultlessness
and blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." We
are justified. We need to be justified internally. perfectly, eternally, unchangeably,
forever. That faith that we hear about,
that faith is the fruit, isn't it? Saving faith is the fruit. that looks away from ourselves
and looks away from our doing, and looks to He who is the object
and the perfecter of faith. It looks alone to Him. And despite the trials and tribulations
of our flesh, it continues to look to Him. I love what Joseph
Hart wrote. I handed it out some time ago.
I can make more available if you like. He says in his testimony
at the beginning of his hymn book, he says, I am daily more
and more convinced that the promises of God to His people are absolute. and desire to build my hopes
on the free electing love of God in Christ Jesus to my soul
before the world began, which I can experimentally and feelingly
say He hath delivered me from the lowest hill. He hath plucked
me as a brand out of the fire. Though my ways were dreadfully
dangerous to the last degree, His eye was all along upon me
for good. He has excited me to love much
by forgiving me much. He has shown me and still daily
shows me the abominable deceit, lust, enmity and pride of my
heart and the inconceivable depths of His mercy. how far I was fallen,
and how much it cost Him of sweat and blood to bring me up. He
has proved Himself stronger than I, and I and His goodness superior
to all my unworthiness. He gives me to know and to feel
too that without Him I can do nothing. He tells me and He enables
me to believe it that I am all fair and there is no spot in
me. Though an enemy, He calls me
His friend. Though a traitor, his child. Though a beggared prodigal, he
clothes me with the best robe and has put a ring of endless
love and mercy on my hand. And though I am often sorely
distressed by spiritual internal foes, afflicted, tormented, and
bowed down almost to death, with the sense of my own present barrenness,
ingratitude, and proneness to evil, He secretly shows me his
bleeding wounds and softly but powerfully whispers to my soul,
I am thy great salvation. His free distinguishing grace
is the bottom on which is fixed the rest of my poor weary tempted
soul. On this ground My hope, on this
I ground my hope, oft times when unsupported by any other evidence,
only by the spirit of adoption received from Him. He has chosen
me out from everlasting, in whom to make known the inexhaustible
riches of His free grace and long-suffering. Though I am a
stranger to others and a wonder to myself, yet I know him, or
rather am known of him. Though poor in myself, I am rich
enough in him. When my dry, empty, barren soul
is parched with thirst, he kindly bids me come to him and drink
my fill at the fountainhead, in a word. He empowers me to
say, where sin abounded, grace does much more abound.