Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. There is nothing that God should
ever desire to do that he cannot and will not do. David said it
like this, But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. Yet it is not in the character
of God to lie, nor could he who is unchangeable ever deny himself.
Neither would it be possible that he should or could be tempted
with evil, since he hates the wicked as well as wickedness.
He is right at all times simply because he is God. Nebuchadnezzar
found out this truth after eating grass as an ox and made this
testimony. I bless the most high, and I
praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all of the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? The true and living God is never
prevented from doing anything that he determines to do. All
things are a part of his ordained purpose, and nothing that he
undertakes can or shall ever fail. Remember the former things
of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Therefore, when we read that
he cannot do something, we understand that the reason that he cannot
is that he will not. He cannot deny himself. Upon
this very truth hangs all of the foundation of our hope. If
he has decreed a matter, then it is certain that his decree
must come to pass. The entire certainty of the salvation
of his elect rests in him and not in anything that they can
bring to him or fulfill. Some say that it is the faith
of God's people that saves them. Yet He says even when our faith
fails, He remains faithful and can in no wise cast us off. If
we believe not, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself.
Over 700 years before the Lord Jesus began His ministry, Isaiah
prophesied by the direct revelation of God that the Lord had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Because he hath poured out his soul unto death, he bore the
sin of many. This had to occur. He could not
deny his own purpose. He cannot lie. He who is the
embodiment of truth cannot be less than true. In hope of eternal
life, which God cannot lie, promised before the world began. Having
thus promised, He confirmed it with an oath. And since He could
swear by none greater than Himself, He who could not lie sealed His
promise with His own blood, and purchased that possession given
to Him before the foundation of the world. I, even I, am the
Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared and
have saved. He must be true to his own promise.
He cannot be tempted with evil. It is fearful even to entertain
the notion of men accusing God of evil. He was under no obligation
to give any law, nor could any have accused him of wrong had
he merely decreed the righteousness of his elect without any atonement
contrary to the law. Yet in order to demonstrate his
own righteous character, it pleased him to subject men to the law
and then to fulfill that law rather than disregard it. Then
having established this decree under which the whole human race
sank in condemnation, he demonstrated the immutability of his own law
by causing his only begotten son to bleed and die to satisfy
the claims of that law which rightly condemned those elect
sons which he loved in Christ from before the foundation of
the world. The Lord has declared that he would not disregard his
own law, which he saw fit to subject men to. He came not to
destroy it, but to fulfill it. This is described by Paul when
he said, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare
at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now who could call
God unjust in any wise? I declare that none could. Yet
God, willing to make his righteous character known, himself declared
that he would be unjust in acquitting the wicked without a proper atonement
to satisfy the law's demands. This atonement was made on Calvary's
hill upon that cross designed by a righteous God and raised
by the hands of wicked men according to his determinant counsel. He
would not save himself since he cannot be tempted with evil.
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