Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. 98% of all of the books in so-called
Christian bookstores are essentially worthless because they are written
with the premise that man has within himself the ability to
come to the Lord and to please Him and to earn His favor and
blessing. Most of these books are written
for the purpose of stirring men up to action and activity in
the name of the Lord. To say that they are man-centered
would be an understatement. If you want to find an easy one-two-three-step
method for getting crowds, building churches, understanding the necessary
psychology of dealing with different age groups and ethnicity, how
to balance your life, have a happy marriage, or any number of religious
activities which seem to be a good idea, then the shelves are full.
All of them are instruction manuals about pleasing God and doing
good deeds, both of which men are assured that they can do.
The message that Paul preached, which is the true gospel, takes
away all hope that any man may ever entertain that he could
please God through some deed of the flesh. He taught that
the Lord chose some upon which he would bestow the gift of eternal
life, based not on any merit or good seen in them, but simply
because of his free choice and grace. The natural man hates
the doctrine of unconditional election, because it totally
strips away any place that a man might find to glory in before
Almighty God. When God is pleased to show a
man that all men without exception are worthy of destruction, and
that the only reason that any of them are rescued from it is
the sovereign mercy of God, then that man's mouth will be shut
before God, and all glorying in the flesh will cease. The
only difference between the man who perishes and the man who
is given eternal life is the distinguishing grace of God.
As Paul said, lest any man should boast. Religion, morality, and
boasting go hand in hand. They are peas in a pod. It is
impossible for men to consider the value of their religion and
good deeds without taking some measure of pride in them, even
some credit for reaching a lofty plateau in contrast to others.
Just like the Pharisee who stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as a publican. I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all that I possess."
He honestly assessed himself in this fashion just as many
do today, some who even claim to believe in salvation by grace.
Most religious and moral men are sure that they are more acceptable
in the sight of God than those who are less religious and moral,
such as his publican, that is, a government tax collector or
an IRS agent, if you will, which the Pharisee compared himself
to. There is no difference between the man who considers that he
can earn God's favor and merit blessings in this life by his
good deeds and religious faithfulness and the one who is persuaded
that he can earn eternal glory by the same method. All moralists
and religious men of whatever type consider that by their observances
and law-keeping that they can indeed curry favor with God.
Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. When men are awakened by
grace to see the true nature of their own heart and the perfections
of God and His law, they will truly despair of ever pleasing
Him by any deed of the flesh, and they will abandon all hope
of merit based on human endeavor. The gift of God, salvation by
His grace, is the absolute end of all glory in the flesh for
those made aware of their need of such a gift. The average religionist
figures that they can operate in faith and of faith by their
own effort. Yet that faith which is mentioned
here is the gift of God as a result of His grace. It is bestowed
by His hand according to His sovereign mercy. This faith spoken
of is purely objective. It is the faith of Christ. Just
as Abraham believed God and was justified, so are the sons of
God. We are not justified by our act
of faith, but by the object of faith, which is Jesus Christ.
We have been given eyes to see that He alone is our righteousness
before a holy God. He is our sanctification. He
has obeyed the law for us. He has purchased eternal redemption
and temporal blessings for us. We believe and are sure that
He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood
has not revealed this to us, but our Father which is in heaven.
This gift of faith is the revelation to men of the absolute sufficiency
of Jesus Christ to meet all their needs and heal all of their diseases.
He is our mediator, our physician, our help in time of trouble,
our prophet, our priest, and our king. But God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. In what
do you glory? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.