THE PATIENCE OF GOD

by Arthur W. Pink

FAR LESS HAS BEEN WRITTEN UPON THIS THAN THE OTHER excellencies of the divine character. Not a few of those who have expatiated at length upon the divine attributes have passed over the patience of God without any comment. It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely the long-suffering of God is as much one of the divine perfections as is His wisdom, power, or holiness, and as much to be admired and revered by us. True, the actual term will not be found in a concordance as frequently as the others, but the glory of this grace itself shines forth on almost every page of Scripture. Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly pray that our hearts and ways may be more completely conformed thereto.

Most probably the principal reason why so many writers have failed to give us anything, separately, upon the patience of God was because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the divine goodness and mercy, particularly the latter. God’s long-suffering is mentioned in conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by consulting Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, etc. That the patience of God is really a display of His mercy, that it is indeed one way in which it is frequently manifested, cannot be denied. But that patience and mercy are one and the same excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot concede. It may not be easy to discriminate between them, nevertheless, Scripture fully warrants us in affirming some things about the one which we cannot about the other.

Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines God’s patience, in part, thus:
It is part of the divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both. God being the greatest goodness, hath the greatest mildness; mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek? God’s slowness to anger is a branch...from His mercy: “The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger” (Psa 145:8). It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the object: mercy respects the creature as miserable, patience respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery, and patience bears with the sin which engendered the misery, and is giving birth to more.

Personally, we would define the Divine patience as that power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them. In Nahum 1:3 we read, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,” upon which Mr. Charnock said: Men that are great in the world are quick in passion, and are not so ready to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a meaner rank. It is a want of power over that man’s self that makes him do unbecoming things upon a provocation. A prince that can bridle his passions is a king over himself as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger because great in power. He has no less power over Himself than over His creatures.

It is at the above point, we think, that God’s patience is most clearly distinguished from His mercy. Though the creature is benefited thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects Himself, a restraint placed upon His acts by His will; whereas His mercy terminates wholly upon the creature. The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself. He has a power of patience as well as a power of justice. Thus the Hebrew word for the divine long suffering is rendered “slow to anger” in Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, etc. Not that there are any passions in the divine nature, but that God’s wisdom and will is pleased to act with that stateliness and sobriety which is becoming to His exalted majesty.

In support of our definition above let us point out that it was to this excellency in the divine character that Moses appealed, when Israel sinned so grievously at Kadesh-Barnea, and there provoked Jehovah so sorely. Unto His servant the Lord said, “I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them.” Then it was that the mediator Moses, as a type of the Christ to come, pleaded, “I beseech Thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as Thou hast spoken saying, The LORD is long-suffering” (Num 14:17). Thus, His “long-suffering” is His “power” of self-restraint.

Again, in Romans 9:22 we read, “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” Were God to immediately break these reprobate vessels into pieces, His power of self-control would not so eminently appear; by bearing with their wickedness and forbearing punishment so long, the power of His patience is gloriously demonstrated. True, the wicked interpret His long-suffering quite differently—“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl 8:11)—but the anointed eye adores what they abuse.

“The God of patience” (Rom 15:5) is one of the divine titles. Deity is thus denominated, first, because God is both the Author and Object of the grace of patience in the saint. Secondly, because this is what He is in Himself: patience is one of His perfections. Thirdly, as a pattern for us: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering” (Col 3:12). And again, “Be ye therefore followers [emulators] of God, as dear children” (Eph 5:1). When tempted to be disgusted at the dullness of another, or to be revenged on one who has wronged you, call to remembrance God’s infinite patience and long suffering with yourself.

The patience of God is manifested in His dealings with sinners. How strikingly was it displayed toward the antediluvians. When mankind was universally degenerate, and all flesh had corrupted its way, God did not destroy them till He had forewarned them. He “waited” (I Peter 3:20), probably no less than 120 years (Gen 6:3), during which time Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5). So, later, when the Gentiles not only worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, but also committed the vilest abominations contrary even to the dictates of nature (Rom 1:19-26) and thereby filled up the measure of their iniquity, yet, instead of drawing His sword for the extermination of such rebels, God “suffered all nations to walk in their own ways,” and gave them “rain from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:16,17).

Marvelously was God’s patience exercised and manifested toward Israel. First, He “suffered their manners” for forty years in the wilderness (Acts 13:18). Later, when they had entered Canaan, but followed the evil customs of the nations around them, and turned to idolatry, though God chastened them sorely, He did not utterly destroy them, but in their distress, raised up deliverers for them. When their iniquity was raised to such a height that none but a God of infinite patience could have borne them, He spared them many years before He allowed them to be carried down into Babylon. Finally, when their rebellion against Him reached its climax by crucifying His Son, He waited forty years ere He sent the Romans against them, and that, only after they had judged themselves “unworthy of everlasting life” (Acts 13:46).

How wondrous is God’s patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with “much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”

And what of the writer and the reader? Let us review our own lives. It is not long since we followed a multitude to do evil, had no concern for God’s glory, and lived only to gratify self. How patiently He bore with our vile conduct! And now that grace has snatched us as brands from the burning, giving us a place in God’s family, and has begotten us unto an eternal inheritance in glory, how miserably we requite Him. How shallow our gratitude, how tardy our obedience, how frequent our back slidings! One reason why God suffers the flesh to remain in the believer is that He may exhibit His “long-suffering to us-ward” (II Peter 3:9). Since this Divine attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage to display it toward “His own.”

May our meditation upon this Divine excellency soften our hearts, make our consciences tender, and may we learn in the school of holy experience the “patience of saints,” namely, submission to the Divine will and continuance in well doing. Let us earnestly seek grace to emulate this Divine excellency. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48). In the immediate context of this verse Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us. God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sins, and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single injury?

Taken from the author’s own work entitled— The Attributes of God
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THE DISPOSITION OF GOD’S PEOPLE

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635)

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies, and the God of all comfort” — 2 Corinthians 1:3.

We see here the heart of the blessed apostle, being warmed with the sense and taste of the sweet mercy of God, stirs up his tongue to bless God; a full heart and a full tongue. We have here the [over-flowing fullness], the abundance of his thankfulness breaking forth in his speech. His heart had first tasted of the sweet mercies and comforts of God before he praiseth God. The first thing that we will observe hence is, that

It is the disposition of God’s children, after they have tasted the sweet mercy and comfort and love of God, to break forth into the praising of God and to thanksgiving. It is as natural for the new creature to do so as for the birds
to sing in the spring. When the sun hath warmed the poor creature, it shows its thankfulness in singing . . . it is natural for those creatures so to do, and we delight in them.

It is as natural for the new creature, when it feels the Sun of Righteousness warming the soul, when it tastes of the mercy of God in Christ, to show forth itself in thankfulness and praise; and it can no more be kept from it than fire can keep from burning or water from cooling. It is the nature of the new creature so to do.

The reason is, every creature must do the work for which God hath enabled it, to which God hath framed it. The happiness of the creature is in well-doing, in working according to its nature. The heathen could see that. Now all the creatures, the new creature especially, are for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. All the new creature, and what privileges it hath, and what graces it hath, all is, that God may have the glory of grace. Why then, it must needs work answerable to that which God hath created it for. Therefore it must show forth the praise and glory of God.

“Blessed be God,” saith the apostle (Eph 1:3); and the blessed apostle Peter begins his epistle, “Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us to an inheritance immortal and undefiled, which fadeth not away, reserved for us in heaven” (1Pe 1:3).

From “An Exposition of 2nd Corinthians Chapter One” in The Works of Richard Sibbes, Vol 3, reprinted by Banner of Truth.

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635): highly regarded early Puritan preacher, who greatly influenced John Cotton, Thomas Goodwin, Richard Baxter, and others. Author of The Bruised Reed, The Soul’s Conflict, and numerous other works.

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The Unchanging God

by C. H. Spurgeon (Taken from the Sermon "The Immutability of God", Delivered on January 7, 1855)

“I am the Lord, I charge not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”- Malachi. 3:6.

Yet again, God is unchanging in his promises. Ah! we love to speak about the sweet promises of God; but if we could ever suppose that one of them could be changed, we would not talk anything more about them. If I thought that the notes of the bank of England could not be cashed next week, I should decline to take them, and if I thought that God’s promises would never be fulfilled it I thought that God would see it right to alter some word in his promises-farewell Scriptures! I want immutable things: and I find that I have immutable promises when I turn to the Bible: for, “by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,” he hath signed, confirmed, and sealed every promise of his. The gospel is not “yea and nay,” it is not promising to-day, and denying to-morrow, but the gospel is “yea, yea,” to the glory of God. Believer! there was a delightful promise which you had yesterday- and this morning when you turned to the Bible the promise was not sweet. Do you know why? Do you think the promise had changed? Ah, no! You changed; that is where the matter lies. You had been eating some of the grapes of Sodom, and your mouth was thereby put out of taste, and you could not detect the sweetness. But there was the same honey there, depend upon it, the same preciousness “Oh!” says one child of God “I had built my house firmly once upon some stable promises; there came a wind and I said, O Lord, I am cast down and I shall be lost. Oh! the promises were not cast down; the foundations were not removed; it was your little “wood, hay, stubble” hut, that you had been building. It was that which fell down. You have been shaken on the rock, not the rock under you. But let me tell you what is the best way of living in the world. I have heard that a gentleman said to a negro, “I can’t think how it is you are always so happy in the Lord, and I am often downcast.” “Why massa” said he, “I throw myself flat down on the promise-there I lie; you stand on the promise-you have a little to do with it, and down you go when the wind comes, and then you cry, ‘Oh! am down’ whereas I go flat on the promise at once and that is why I fear no fall.” Then let us always say, “Lord there is the promise; it is thy business to fulfill it.” Down I go on the promise flat! No standing up for me. That is where you should go-prostrate on the promise; and remember, every promise is a rock, an unchanging thing. Therefore, at his feet cast yourself, and rest there forever.

But now comes one jarring note to spoil the theme. To some of you God is unchanging in his threatenings. If every promise stands fast, and every oath of the covenant is fulfilled, hark thee, sinner!-mark the word hear the death-knell of thy carnal hopes; see the funeral of the fleshy trustings. Every threatening of God, as well as every promise shall be fulfilled. Talk of decrees! I will tell you of a decree : “He that believeth not shall be damned.” That is a decree, and a statute that can never change. Be as good as you please, be as moral as you can, be as honest as you will, walk as uprightly as you may,-there stands the unchangeable threatening: “He that believeth not shall be damned.” What sayest thou to that, moralist? Oh, thou wishest thou couldst alter it, and say, “He that does not live a holy life shall be damned.” That will be true; but it does not say so. It says, “He that believeth not.” Here is the stone of stumbling, and the rock of offense; but you cannot alter it. You believe or be damned, saith the Bible; and mark, that threat of God is as unchangeable as God himself. And when a thousand years of hell’s torments shall have passed away, you shall look on high, and see written in burning letters of fire, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” “But, Lord, I am damned.” Nevertheless it says “shall be” still. And when a million acres have rolled away, and you are exhausted by your pains and agonies you shall turn up your eye and still read “SHALL BE DAMNED,” unchanged, unaltered. And when you shall have thought that eternity must have spun out its last thread-that every particle of that which we call eternity must have run out, you shall still see it written up there, “SHALL BE DAMNED.” O terrific thought! How dare I utter it? But I must. Ye must be warned, sirs, “lest ye also come into this place of torment.” Ye must be told rough things for if God’s gospel is not a rough thing; the law is a rough thing; Mount Sinai is a rough thing. Woe unto the watchman that warns not the ungodly! God is unchanging in his threatenings. Beware, O sinner, for ‘it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'

FIVE FACTS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW

Revealed in Romans 8:29,30

FACT #1, For whom He did foreknow — Before the foundation of the world, God determined who shall be the objects of his love (1 Peter 1:2; Eph. 1:4; Rev. 21:27).

FACT #2, He also did predestinate — Before the foundation of the world, God determined how the objects of His love shall be made to know their position (1 Thess. 5:9; Eph. 1:5,11; Phil. 2:13).

FACT #3, Them He also called — Before the foundation of the world, God determined when in their lives He would quicken them to spiritual life (Gal. 1:15,16; Eph. 1:10,13,18).

FACT #4, Them He also justified — Before the foundation of the world, God determined by what means the objects of his love would be reconciled to Himself (Rom 3:24; Eph. 1:6; Eph. 2:13).

FACT #5, Them He also glorified — Before the foundation of the world, God determined where the objects of His love should spend eternity (Rev. 21:24; Eph. 2:4-7; Col. 3:4). Consider that these five facts were established in time, before the foundation of the world and they cannot be completely fulfilled until after this present world passes away, yet, they are recorded in the Sacred Scriptures in the past tense, as though they had already been fulfilled. Such is the certainty of God”s purpose for you.

We also notice, that, whereas, these facts have to do with your personal and eternal salvation, none of them depend upon you for their fulfillment, but were determined long before you ever existed and are according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:5,6).

One thing that is very evident, is, that you are not a Christian today because of some twist of fate, or because the odds happened to be in your favor, or that you are just plain lucky. You are a Christian today because of some very deliberate planning on God”s part, that began before He created this world and shall continue long after this world is dissolved.

How may you know that these things pertain to you after all? Peter admonishes us to, “give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” First of all, you will know that you have been quickened or made spiritually alive by God, if you have a spiritual appetite. Do you truly hunger after the things of God? Do you seek to know and understand the Word of God? Is the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life? Do you have love, joy and peace within your own soul, longsuffering, gentleness and goodness towards others and faith, meekness and temperance before God? Have you confessed that Jesus is Lord and do you believe that God raised Him from the dead? Do you recognize that only the blood of Jesus Christ, God”s Son, can cleanse you from all sin?

If you can answer yes to these questions, this is evidence that God has wrought a miracle of grace in your heart and you have been born again.

These things are certain because they depend not on you, but on God the Father, who purposed your redemption, God the Son who accomplished your redemption and God the Holy Spirit who applies your redemption.

What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who shall be against us? (Romans 8:31) So, rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). —C.R.M. (Mount Zion)

GOD’S UNSPEAKABLE LOVE

Thomas Manton (1620-1677)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”—John 3:16.

IN these words, you have the sum and substance of the Gospel. In them, observe 1. The fountain and original of all that grace and salvation that is brought unto us, God’s unspeakable love to mankind: God so loved the world. 2. The way that God took to recover our lapsed condition or the effect and fruit that flows from this fountain: that He gave His only-begotten Son. 3. The end of it: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life . . .

FIRST, THE RISE AND BEGINNING OF ALL IS GOD’S INCONCEIVABLE LOVE: God so loved the world. Where observe 1. The object: the world; 2. The act: loved; 3. The degree: so loved . . . Observe from the words that the beginning and first cause of our salvation is the mere love of God. The outward occasion was our misery; the inward moving cause was God’s love.

1. Love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason of other things, but we cannot give a reason of His love. God showed His wisdom, power, justice, and holiness in our redemption by Christ. If you ask why He made so much ado about a worthless creature, raised out of the dust of the ground at first, had now disordered himself, and could be of no use to Him, we have an answer at hand: because He loved us. If you continue to ask, “But why did He love us?” we have no other answer but, “Because He loved us”; for beyond the first rise of things, we cannot go. And the same reason is given by Moses: “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you” (Deu 7:7, 8), that is, in short, He loved you because He loved you. The same reason is given by our Lord Jesus Christ: “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:26). All came from His free and undeserved mercy; higher we cannot go in seeking after the causes of what is done for our salvation.

2. The most remarkable thing that is visible in the progress and perfection of our salvation by Christ is love. And it is [fitting] that the beginning, middle, and end should suit. Nay, if love be so conspicuous in the whole design and carrying on of this blessed work, it is much more in the rise and fountain. God’s great end in our redemption was the demonstration of His love and mercy to mankind, yea, not only the demonstration, but the commendation of it. That is the Apostle’s word: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). A thing may be demonstrated as real that is not commended or set forth as great. God’s design was that we should not only believe the reality, but admire the greatness of His love. Now, from first to last, love is so conspicuous that we cannot overlook it. Light is not more conspicuous in the sun than the love of God in our redemption by Christ.

3. If there were any other cause, it must be either the merit of Christ or some worthiness on our part.

(1) The merit of Christ was not the first cause of God’s love, but the manifestation, fruit, and effect of it. The text telleth [us that] He first loved the world and then gave His only-begotten Son. It is said, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us” (1Jo 3:16). Look, as we perceive and find out causes by their proper effects, so we perceive the love of God by the death of Christ. Christ is the principal means whereby God carrieth on the purposes of His grace, and therefore is represented in Scripture as the Servant of His decrees.

(2) No worthiness in us: For when His love moved Him to give Christ for us, He had all mankind in His prospect and view, as lying in the polluted mass, or in a state of sin and misery, and then provided a Redeemer for them. God at first made a perfect law, which forbade all sin upon pain of death. Man did break this law, and still we break it day by day in every sin. Now when men lived and went on in sin and hostility against God, He was pleased then to send His Son to assume our nature and die for our transgressions. Therefore, the giving of a Redeemer was the work of His free mercy. Man loved not God, yea, was an enemy to God, when Christ came to make the atonement: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jo 4:10). “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled” (Col 1:21). We were senseless of our misery, careless of our remedy, so far from deserving that we desired no such matter. God’s love was at the beginning, not ours. USE 1: Is to confute all misapprehensions of God. It is the grand design of Satan to lessen our opinion of God’s goodness. So he assaulted our first parents, as if God (notwithstanding all His goodness in their creation) was envious of man’s felicity and happiness. And he hath not left off his old wont. He seeketh to hide God’s goodness and to represent Him as a God that delighteth in our destruction and damnation, rather than in our salvation, as if He were inexorable and hardly entreated to do us good. And why? That we may stand aloof from God and apprehend Him as unlovely. Or if he cannot prevail so far, he tempteth us to poor, unworthy, mean thoughts of His goodness and mercy. Now we cannot obviate the temptation better than by due reflections on His love in giving His Son for the world. This showeth that He is fuller of mercy and goodness than the sun is of light or the sea of water. So great an effect shows the greatness of the cause. Wherefore did He express His love in such a wonderful, astonishing way, but that we might have higher and larger thoughts of His goodness and mercy? By other effects, we easily collect the perfection of His attributes: that His power is omnipotent (Rom 1:20), that His knowledge is omniscient (Heb 4:12, 13). And by this effect, it is easy to conceive that His love is infinite or that God is love. USE 2: Is to quicken us to admire the love of God in Christ. There are three things that commend any favor done unto us: (1) The good will of him that giveth; (2) The greatness of the gift; (3) The unworthiness of him that receiveth. All concur here. (1) The good will of Him that giveth: Nothing moved God to do this but His own love. It was from the free motion of His own heart, without our thought and asking. No other reason is given or can be given. We made no suit for any such thing; it could not enter into our minds and hearts; into our minds to conceive or into our hearts to desire such a remedy to recover the lapsed estate of mankind. Not into our minds, for it is a great mystery: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness” (1Ti 3:16). Not into our hearts to ask or desire, for it would have seemed a strange request that we should ask that the eternal Son of God should assume our flesh and be made sin and a curse for us. But grace hath wrought “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20), above what we can imagine, and above what we can pray for to Him. (2) The greatness of the Gift: Great things do even force their way into our minds, whether we will or no. The gift of Jesus Christ is so great that the love of God is gone to the uttermost in it. He hath not a better Christ, nor a more worthy Redeemer, nor another Son to die for us; nor could the Son of God suffer greater indignities than He hath suffered for our sakes . . . So now we may know God loveth us; here is the manifest token and sign of it. (3) The unworthiness of him that receiveth: This is also in the case. We were altogether unworthy that the Son of God should be incarnate and die for our sakes. This is notably improved by the Apostle: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:7, 8). The Apostle alludeth to the distinction familiar among the Jews: they had their good men or bountiful; their righteous men, zealous for the Law; and their wicked men, obnoxious to judgment. Peradventure one would venture His life for a very merciful person, but you shall hardly find any to be so liberal and friendly as to venture His life for a righteous and just man, or a man of rigid innocence. But mark, there are abating terms—scarcely and perhaps. The case is rare that one should die for another, be he never so good and righteous. But God’s expression of mercy was infinitely above the proportion of any the most friendly man ever showed. There was nothing in the object to move Him to it, when we were neither good nor just, but wicked. Without respect to any worth in us, for we were all in a damnable estate, He sent His Son to die for us, to rescue and free us from eternal death, and to make us partakers of eternal life. God so loved the world, when we had so sinned and willfully plunged ourselves into an estate of damnation.

Thomas Manton (1620-1677): prolific Non-Conformist Puritan preacher whose works fill twenty-two volumes. Born in Lawrence-Lydiat, Somerset, England.

From Sermon XVI, “Sermons upon John III.16” in The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, D.D., Vol. II, reprinted by Maranatha Publications.

May we praise our God continually for his Unspeakable Love! Let us give Him all the glory, that He is due, for this great salvation, that He has bought for us!

Rev. 4:11 - Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Bro. Pat

God's Glory Part 2

God's Glory

Ruin Redemption Regeneration

W.F. Bell

These are the three R's of the Christian Faith: Ruin, Redemption, and Regeneration . A proper understanding of these terms is essential to a proper understanding of the true Gospel. Man's “ruin” is the malady; “redemption” and “regeneration” are the remedy for man's sinful condition.

Ruin by Sin
Before one can ever come to appreciate and magnify God's grace in salvation, there must first be some realization of the awful fact of man's complete and entire ruin by his own sin. It is absolutely necessary, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, to see oneself as horribly, hopelessly, and helplessly lost!

The first major concern of the Gospel is to reveal man's need of salvation. This need arises from the fact that sinners are under God's judgment and condemnation, due to the fall of man in the person of Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). There is a world of deep theology in this one verse! How often preachers are guilty of not declaring with clarity the truth of man's total and complete fall. Men are sinners because of Adam's sin! Men are sinners because there is a sin nature in every son of Adam! The entire human race has been ruined by man's fall in Genesis 3.

Men are now by nature dead, lost and blind. Our condition by nature is indeed incurable, at least from the standpoint of Man! “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). There is no hope for any sinner within himself; there is no hope for any sinner in another human; there is no hope for any sinner apart from the God of glory in the person of the God-Man, Christ Jesus.

We are in ruin by our own sin, by the association we have with other sinners, by the work of Satan, and by the power of deceit of self.

Redemption By The Savior
With this deplorable background, we now come to the good news of the glorious Gospel. The good news out of heaven is that the infinite and eternal God (Yahweh or Jehovah) has come to man's rescue! “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). What mystery! What condescension! God Almighty, the mighty Sovereign, has willingly and graciously come down to the level of His inferiors, in that He sent His very Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world! All glory to this great God!

Here, dear reader, is our only hope: it is in the good news that Christ has come to redeem sinners by the giving of Himself on the cross. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Redemption means to buy back, to purchase by payment. So, the God of heaven has come to rescue a great multitude of Adam's fallen race, by the bloodshedding of His dear Son at Calvary. Redemption is only possible by the blood of Christ. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Christ's blood has actually procured redemption for all the elect of God, which assures the victory of the Saviour over all the efforts of Satan and sinners (Isaiah 53:11,12; Revelation 5:9).

Christ came to the manger; He lived a sinless life; He performed mighty miracles; He died a vicarious (substitutionary) death; He arose and ascended back to His Father; He is now exalted and intercedes for His own; some blessed day this Redeemer will come again to redeem the bodies of all His chosen, and bring retribution on the ungodly. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

Regeneration By The Spirit
Men who are ruined by sin can only be regenerated by the Spirit of God. “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Regeneration means the making new of sinners by a sovereign act of God the Holy Ghost (John 3:8; Titus 3:5). As man could not redeem himself, so neither can man regenerate himself. This is all in the good pleasure of our glorious God: He alone must quicken the dead, and give life to whom He will (John 5:21; 6:63).

The Gospel comes to us as lost, guilty sinners, in need of salvation. The Holy Ghost accompanies the Gospel for many, and opens their eyes to see the Lord Jesus as the only suitable and sufficient Saviour. When we see Christ we gladly repent of our sins, and trust the matchless Lord. When God Almighty acts upon man, then man can and will act! When the Holy Spirit regenerates us, then we are given repentance and faith (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 14:27). Thus, from start to finish, salvation is all of God's free and superabounding grace! All glory to God and the Lamb forever. “Worthy is the Lamb” (Revelation 5:12). This is the song of the redeemed both now and in glory!

He Lives
I know that my Redeemer lives; What joy the blest assurance gives! He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He lives, my everlasting Head!
He lives, to bless me with His love; He lives, to plead for me above; He lives, my hungry soul to feed; He lives, to help in time of need.
He lives, to grant me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death; He lives, my mansion to prepare; He lives, to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to His Name; He lives, my Saviour, still the same; What joy the blest assurance gives,
I know that my Redeemer lives! — Samuel Medley

Praise God Almighty! He Lives! May God receive all the Glory for setting His elect free!
Bro Pat

The Little Things God Uses

I recently read a sermon by D L Moody that has got me thinking about the little things that God uses. So many times we are looking for the mighty in this world to accomplish great things. But it is The Lord's way to use the weak to accomplish great things for HIM (1Cor. 1:27). Let us remember that as the word of God says," His ways are past finding out." Here is a short list of those small things that God has used in scripture to bring about His purposes;

• He used trumpets to bring down the walls of Jericho (Jos. 6:20)
  
• He used a smooth stone to bring down a giant. (I Sam. 17:49-50)
  
• He used a shepherd boy to become a great king in Israel. (1 Sam. 16:12)
  
• He used one woman to preserve the nation of Israel. (Ester 7:6)
  
• He used the rod of Moses to accomplish many miracles. (Exod. 14:16)
  
• He used a boy's gift of food to feed five thousand. (John 6:9)
  
• He used a jawbone to defeat a thousand men. (Jud. 25:15)
  
• He used a widow to demonstrate we are called to give our all. (Luke 21:3)
  
• He used a wooden cross to bring redemption to the elect of God. (Col. 1:20)
  
• He used an hundred and twenty in an upper room to start his church. (Acts 2)
  

As the old song says, "little is much when God is in it". Do you view yourself as weak? Do you view the Lord Jesus Christ as one that can do the impossible through your weakness? Let us not forget the Lord's parable of the talents (Matt. 25:15-30) we are called to use them for the Glory of the Lord and not to profit ourselves. Do you only have one talent or gift? Use it to the Glory of God! Many times we believe that God can use us for his purposes, but we do not believe that He WILL use us. What state do you find yourselves in today? Are you a mother raising up Godly children? Are you a father leading a family? Are you a young child? Do you have a lot that you never thought that you would have? Then go forth and do work for God Almighty, in his strength and in His power. He so wants to use you to accomplish his will in this lost and dying world.

D. L. Moody said this about our talents:

"My experience has been as I have gone about in the world and mingled with professing Christians, that those who find most fault with others are those who themselves have nothing to do. If a person is busy improving the talents that God has given him he will have too much to do to find fault and complain about others."

If we are true Christians we will be missionaries. Christ came down from heaven on a mission (to seek and saved that which was lost), and if we have his Spirit in us we will be missionaries too. Do you desire to use your talents and gifts, no matter how small they may seem, to bring glory and honor God?

Bro. Pat

The Purpose of God’s Decrees

by Thomas Boston

And this is no other than his own glory. Every rational agent acts for an end; and God being the most perfect agent, and his glory the highest end, there can be no doubt but all his decrees are directed to that end. #Rom 11:36, "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever." "that we....should be to the praise of His glory," #Eph 1:12 In all, he aims at his glory; and seeing he aims at it, he gets it even from the most sinful actions he has decreed to permit. Either the glory of his mercy or of his justice is drawn from them. Infinite wisdom directs all to the end intended. More particularly,

God Glorified in the Creation of the World

1. This was God's purpose in the creation of the world. The divine perfections are admirably glorified here, not only in regard of the greatness of the effect, which comprehends the heavens and the earth, and all things in them; but in regard of the marvellous way of its production. For he made the vast universe without the concurrence of any material cause; he brought it forth from the womb of nothing by an act of his efficacious will. And as he began the creation by proceeding from nothing to real existence, so in forming the other parts he drew them from infirm and inert matter, as from a second nothing, that all his creatures might bear the signatures of infinite power. Thus he commanded light to arise out of darkness, and sensible creatures from an insensible element. The lustre of the divine glory appears eminently here. Hence David says, #Psalm 19:1. "The heavens declare the glory of God." They declare and manifest to the world the attributes and perfections of their great Creator, even in his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. All the creatures have some prints of God stamped upon them, whereby they loudly proclaim and show to the world his wisdom and goodness in framing them. Hence says Paul, #Rom 1:20, "The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead."

God Glorified in the Creation of Men and Angels

2. The glory of God was his chief purpose and design in making men and angels. The rest of the creatures glorified God in a passive way, as they are evidences and manifestations of his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. But this higher rank of beings are endowed with rational faculties, and so are capable to glorify God actively. Hence it is said, #Pr 16:4, "The LORD has made all for Himself" If all things were made for him, then man and angels especially, who are the masterpieces of the whole creation. We have our source and being from the pure fountain of God's infinite power and goodness; and therefore we ought to run towards that again, till we empty all our faculties and excellencies into that same ocean of divine goodness.

God Glorified in Election and Predestination

3. This is likewise the end of election and predestination. For "having predestined us....to the praise of the glory of His grace," #Eph 1:5,6. That some are ordained to eternal life, and others passed by, and suffered to perish eternally in their sin, is for the manifestation of the infinite perfections and excellencies of God. The glory and beauty of the divine attributes is displayed here with a shining lustre; as his sovereign authority and dominion over all his creatures to dispose of them to what ends and purposes he pleases; his knowledge and omniscience, in beholding all things past, present, and to come; his vindictive justice, in ordaining punishments to men, as a just retribution for sin; and his omnipotence, in making good his word, and putting all his threatenings in execution. The glory of his goodness shines likewise here, in making choice of any, when all most justly deserved to be rejected. And his mercy shines here with an beautiful lustre, in receiving and admitting all who believe in Jesus into his favour.

God Glorified in the Work of Redemption

4. This was the purpose that God proposed in that great and astonishing work of redemption. In our redemption by Christ, we have the fullest, clearest, and most delightful manifestation of the glory of God that ever was or shall be in this life. All the declarations and manifestations that we have of his glory in the works of creation and common providence, are but dim and obscure in comparison with what is here. Indeed the glory of his wisdom, power, and goodness, is clearly manifested in the works of creation. But the glory of his mercy and love had lain under an eternal eclipse without a Redeemer. God had in several ages of the world pitched upon particular seasons to manifest and reveal one or other particular property of his nature. Thus his justice was declared in his drowning the old world with a deluge of water, and burning Sodom with fire from heaven. His truth and power were clearly manifested in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptian chains, and bringing them out from that miserable bondage. His truth was there illustriously displayed in performing a promise which had lain dormant for the space of 430 years, and his power in quelling his implacable enemies by the meanest of his creatures. Again, the glory of one attribute is more seen in one work than in another: in some things there is more of his goodness, in other things more of his wisdom is seen, and in others more of his power. But in the work of redemption all his perfections and excellencies shine forth in their greatest glory.

This is the goal that God proposed in their conversion and regeneration. Hence it is said, #Isa 43:21, "This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise." Sinners are adopted into God's family, and made a royal priesthood according to this very design, #1Pet 2:9, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light."