Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. The first lie that Satan told
Eve was, ye shall not surely die. Of course, God had plainly
told Adam that the opposite of that was true. Satan then further
tried to impugn the glory and purpose of God by accusing him
of some ill design, as if God could be accused of wrong. For
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and
evil. The reality was that when they ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, they were plunged into blackness, and the innocence
into which they were created was taken away. The knowledge
of good and evil has forever been a destructive force in the
earth, as is demonstrated by their vain attempts to cover
their own nakedness with fig leaves. Ever since that time,
men have been going about to establish their own righteousness
and averse to the righteousness of God. One of the manifestations
of this is seen in Paul's description of men in Romans. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore,
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own
hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who
changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. The natural
man in the darkness of his mind will pursue all sorts of avenues
by which he thinks that he might justify himself. That may be
the denial that there is a God, a desire to impugn the glory
of God by exalting the creature, making idols or falling at the
shrine of free willism, wherein men are viewed as the controllers
of their own destiny. The result of that desire propels
men to pervert the truth of the scriptures and make the atoning
work of Christ, wherein he has purchased eternal redemption
for his elect, to be effectual only if agreed to by men, or
as they define it, believed and received. Nothing that God has
done or intends to do is in any way affected by any decision
that men might make. The preparations of the heart
in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. But
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. The work of Christ in the behalf of his elect is an
absolute and definite work of atonement, whereby all of their
sin debt is completely cancelled forever, without any action on
their part. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Not only did
he justify his own by his work alone, but he purchased and delivered
gifts unto them by his power and applies them according to
his purpose for their benefit. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in
the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. In order to accomplish his purpose
of making us perfect or complete men, he first descended to the
earth. This is the exact reverse of
the course of man's natural religious tendencies. The God who alone
hath immortality and inhabits eternity made himself of no reputation
and took upon himself the likeness of human flesh and dwelt among
men in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
revealed that his purpose in this endeavor is to conform us
to the image of his Son as perfect men. The gifts he has bestowed
on his church are given so that by speaking the truth in love
we may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ. We cannot raise ourselves to
God, but by his grace and abundant mercy he has come down to us,
purchased our redemption, and given gifts, whereby we might
be made conformable to his perfect humanity, wherein he has forever
left us a perfect example of what he has created us to be.
For hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes ye were healed. And so in the ages to come we
shall bear witness and testimony as glorified men, upon whom the
blessing of immortality has been visited, to the grace and mercy
of him who has come down that he might raise us up out of the
mire of sin which has had us bound, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.