The scriptures indicate that
the one true and living God is beyond the comprehension of men,
telling us that he is the one who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto. whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting.
Amen. He is the high and lofty one
that inhabiteth eternity. He alone is eternal and immortal,
having no beginning and no ending. Thus he says of himself, I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last. When Moses asked to see his glory,
he replied, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. Yet he did hide Moses in a cliff
of the rock, in order that he might show him the backside of
his glory as he passed by. Thus he manifested himself as
a God of sovereign mercy, saying, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
He revealed that his glory is in his sovereign mercy, which
is the exact characteristic of the true and living God which
the naturally religious man hates the most. Men will line up to
speak about the general mercy and love of God. Yet when the
Lord reveals that He dispenses mercy, not to every individual,
but to those whom He wills, then rebellion begins to simmer, and
the carnal understanding of man recoils at the thought, and men
grow angry and are ready to cast those who would so proclaim that
truth off of the nearest cliff. Natural religious men love to
speak of God and His love and mercy as long as they can do
so in a sort of generic sense. where all men get a fair chance
and a square deal. Yet the declaration that God's
mercy is dispensed to whom He will and withheld from whom He
wills will usually generate paroxysms of bitter rage among them. Since
men cannot comprehend Him who is incomprehensible, they do
often make the mistake of thinking that He is just like them. Yet
he is not like men, as we read in Isaiah, for my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. Because of man's innate rebellion
against the absolute authority and power of God, he often imagines
that there are some limitations which he, being a creature, is
able to impose upon him who is the Creator. The trump card which
he always believes that he holds and can play at any time is that
of free will. Some men honestly believe that
God is powerless to do anything unless they will to allow him
to do so. The God who reveals himself in
the Bible is an absolute God whose will and way cannot be
overturned or even questioned. Rather than men making God willing,
God is the one who makes man willing to do according to his
own purpose. As David has said, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. The only men who will
believe the truth of God and willingly embrace it are those
in whom he is pleased to will and to do of his good pleasure.
No man will seek the Lord otherwise. Even as the Lord plainly said
in John 6.44, No man can come to me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
This God who makes His people willing is the same One who has
obtained eternal redemption for them by the shedding of His blood
on Calvary's cross. This is a good message which
shall ring true to those in whom the Lord is pleased to perform
His perfect work of calling them by His everlasting gospel. Thus
the gospel of free grace is to be proclaimed without reservation
to every creature, and out of the multitudes of mankind the
Lord shall draw His elect unto Himself, and they shall gladly
believe His truth, because He has shown it unto them, and given
them faith to believe it. He is indeed an unlimited God,
a mighty Savior, and a reigning King. If you would like a free
transcript of this broadcast, email us at for the poor at windstream.net.