Part Six
Since
the doctrine of grace is a composite whole, and since it is constituted
of integral parts, we have been forced by the limitation of our finite
minds to seek to grasp the meaning of the several parts. We cannot comprehend
the whole, and yet, in order to have a clear portrait,
we must see the detail that each stroke that the Master Artist has painted
as He has presented His finished product as the absolute finest expression
of Himself.
In order for us to assimilate knowledge of the provisions and the benefits
of this marvelous purpose of an infinite and holy God, we must be made
to understand, if we are ever to understand at all. We cannot
know, nor can we discover even the
smallest aspect of an infinitely harmonious and
infinitely majestic order. Because God is orderly in all His purpose
and in all His work, understanding of any portion of who He is and what
He does demands qualities of perfect faculty that humankind does not possess.
Thus, we see that the task of knowing and understanding is hopeless for
the human creature.
One of the critics of ancient Job was convinced that the many calamities
that had befallen Job was brought about because of hypocrisy. He reasoned
that the things that had come upon this proclaimed servant of God, who
was said to be a just man and good, would not have been inflicted were
there no sin and hypocritical behavior in Job's life. He spoke many words
that are very instructive however, even though he did not comprehend the
whole matter at all.
Please remember, as you read the words that were spoken
by Zophar as criticism, that God had
already established, by His pronouncement, that
Job was indeed a righteous man. Here is what God
said, and not what
Zophar imagined: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job;
and that man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God, and eschewed
evil". (Job 1:1)
Now, read what Zophar said to Job, and what God caused to be recorded for
the learning of future generations of men. What Zophar said does
tell us that man cannot comprehend the
scope of an infinite Being, and that man should never imagine that
he can deal with God as His equal, on any matter. I am sure that Zophar's
motive was not in keeping with this truth however, for he sought to belittle
Job and to tell him that each difficulty is the direct result of
a particular failure in Job's life. But he was in error in his judgment,
for God had said that He would allow His archenemy, Satan, to have access
to every aspect of the life of Job, yet restricted to the circumstances,
and not to the life itself. Satan could not touch Job's
life, for God had disallowed him access to the life of His servant.
Zophar spoke scornfully to Job these, and many other words as well: "For
thou has said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. But oh
that God would speak, and open his lips against thee; And that he would
shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!
Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper
than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than
the earth, and broader than the sea. If he cut off, and shut up,
or gather together, then who can hinder him?" (Job 11:4-10)
There is such an abundance of instruction here, placed before us for our
learning, until we stand amazed and awe stricken. God, through His spokesman
has stated that man cannot find out God by the full use of his natural
capacities. Man cannot know God, for He is incomprehensible to the nature
that man, or any other creature has been endowed with. And besides this
creature limitation, there is also the matter of sin that has compounded
the incapacity of now sinful and fallen man to know God. And since man
cannot know God, how can he understand His ways?
Even the angels whom God kept from the sin of rebellion do not have full
knowledge of God. And the reason is simple. Angels too are but creatures,
and only God is infinite in any attribute, while God is infinite
in each and every attribute. The scope of difference between God and creatures,
be that creature angel or man, fallen or unfallen, is infinite. God is
infinitely higher in every aspect than any creature, and none can
know Him, except as He makes Himself known.
With the grandeur of God on our minds, is it any wonder that we stand amazed
in the contemplation of God and of His ways? And even when we are in perfected,
glorified bodies following our resurrection from death, or translation
into fuller life, we will forever stand amazed in Him, and in who He is.
We will never, even in eternity, have full and complete understanding of
God. We will ever be learning more and more about an infinite, incomprehensible
God. What an awesome and delightful future awaits God's children!
We must not forget, however, that God has made provisions, and gives divine
enablement that even now we can know Him and of Him in ways far, far above
what we may ask of think. He has made new creatures of us, and has given
us of His Spirit to seal us to Himself, and to teach us and to lead us
in the way that He has determined to lay before us. He has provided for
our present learning. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new". (II Cor. 5:17) "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come,
he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things
to come". (John 16:13)
Regeneration makes of us a new creature. And the progressive work
of the Holy Spirit in this new creature
is perfecting and sanctifying in nature, thus fashioning these
new creatures more and more into the perfect moral image and likeness of
God. That is the fruition of the doctrine of grace. That is the perfection,
or the point aimed at, when God in eternity purposed all things, even to
the glory and honor of Himself. The doctrine of grace is the full
teaching of what God has purposed, and in time brings to pass.
To see how the doctrine of grace is to go on to continuance, with assurance
that it will not go from God's throne weak, listless, or impotent, we need
only to look retrospectively to where that grace has already brought us.
To see where God will deliver us, we must look to where we have been, and
be made to know that the only reason we do not presently reside where we
were is that God in His wisdom and omnipotent power has already delivered
us from that beginning point.
Are we what we will one day be? No! Are we what we should be, even now,
as redeemed children? No! Are we what we once were prior to His making
new creatures of us? NO! NO! NO! We are not what we were. We are
sinners still, but now we are saved
sinners, and the future deliverance from sin's
vanquished presence still awaits us, and the promise of this final
deliverance is just as sure as that which we have already received. Listen
to Paul, as he speaks assurance to the saints of God in His church at Corinth:
"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom
we trust that he will yet deliver us;" (II Cor. 1:9-10)
How is it possible for rational, thinking man to arrive at the conclusion
that God who is proven to be
the only source of the deliverance that man has
received, would now desert those delivered to their own keeping? When the
doctrine of grace has shown that the only way in which man can know of
God, and to experience the saving of his soul form the penalty of sin is
by God's grace, how can man arrive at a position that despises the omnipotent
God who has brought him safe thus far, as if He will not, or
can not take him all the way home? Only depravity can explain such total'
irrationality. Only depravity!
To even suggest that God will allow His children to cease to remain His
child is to bring an awful accusation against Him. But when the position
that some hold relative to the eternal security of each and every
believer is reduced to it's bottom
line, that is the only conclusion that such argument
leads to. This position that says that man, once saved, must then
maintain son ship is ludicrous, and it is the grossest of accusation against
a Holy God.
Recalling the murmuring against God that the sons of Israel spoke
against the same God who had carried them safely from the dangers of the
approaching armies of an enraged Pharaoh at the Red Sea, we are reminded
of present day deniers of eternal security, even today. The fact
is that man is no different in his basic nature today than he was almost
four thousand years ago. Children murmured and doubted then, and some duplicate
that foul behavior today.
The children of Israel cried out in their frustration, doubt, and disbelief
against God and His intent to deal favorably with them. And some who are
probably children of God today do the same. Why is this? Depravity then,
and the same depravity now.
Can you imagine? God had, in the very presence of more than two million
Hebrews held back the advancing armies of Egypt. He miraculously parted
the waters of the Red Sea and piled the waters upon the waters, in absolute
defiance of His own laws of gravity, and made safe passage on dry ground
for each and every being that He brought up out of Egypt. Each and every
one of the Hebrews, and their herds, and their flocks, and all the massive
and wonderful substance that He gave them when He took it from the Egyptians
and gave it to His people. All, of everything was, by God alone, delivered
across an impossible obstacle to safety on the other side. Not one thing
or being was left behind. No failure to deliver could ever be charged to
God, and no delivered being was allowed to remain in Egypt. God delivered
them all, and not one was lost.
Then, this same One and only God caused the same waters that He had stacked
upon themselves to cascade down upon Pharaoh and his hordes to their utter
destruction. God drowned them all in these particular judgmental
waters. It didn't matter how the Egyptians had reasoned
within themselves as to their probability of safe passage as they had seen
the Hebrews accomplish in their safety. It didn't matter at all. God was
in absolute and righteous control of both these circumstances.
The Hebrews were more than witnesses to these great and mighty works of
God. Yea, they, every one of them was a beneficiary of such kindness
that God manifested that day. He showed them His will and His ability to
carry out that will. He saved Israel because He wanted to do so, and was
able to do so. He slew the Egyptians because He wanted to do so, and was
able to do so. There is absolutely no difference in God in these two actions
that He took. He did as He chose to do, in both cases.
Now, a few days later, the Hebrews, in their depravity, began to murmur
and complain against Moses and against their God. "And they took their
journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel
came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the
fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land
of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land
of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the
full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill the whole
assembly with hunger." (Ex. 16:1-4)
God did not kill them with hunger, however. Rather, He fed them daily with
daily supply of sweet and wonderful manna from heaven. God did not intend
to forsake them, nor to require of them that they produce their food. His
intent was, and He performed this thing in order to teach them to
depend upon Him, and not upon themselves. This is exactly the opposite
of what they reasoned, and what the skeptics and deniers of God's security
measures for His people declare today.
"And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from
the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according
to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim:
and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the
people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.
And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the
LORD? And the people thirsted for water; and the people murmured against
Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of
Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" (Ex.
17:1-3)
Oh, Israel! Oh, slow and foolish professors then, and today! How slow are
we all to learn. How sadly do we belittle our God, and how we despise His
name. When He blesses, we receive, and then quickly forget. Our minds,
being depraved, and our hearts, being feeble, we see what God did yesterday,
and then we say, "What have you done for me today?" Why do you not undertake
for me today? Have you forgotten me? Have you left me to my own devices
and wisdoms to see myself safely on? Does it make any sense, at all, that
God would do so much as to open the Red Sea and then allow His people to
die in the wilderness for lack of water to drink? Did He deliver them to
now abandon them? I shudder to think how we all fit into this same pattern
of reasoning and conduct, even today. We imagine that if we do not keep
ourselves, then we will not be kept. We ignore what God has done, and suppose
that He no longer cares for us to keep us.
I hear men and women declare, "I know that God saves His people by grace,
BUT, you must now do this, or that, in order to keep yourself in His love."
How horrible such a thought. How totally blasphemous that men would think
that God loved enough to save them, but then would allow that great love
that cost His dear Son's life to be defeated by the very creature for whom
the Son died. How awful!
How many texts of Scripture have we called attention to that assure the
believing child of God that He will not forget - will not forsake? How
often do we read in the Bible such expressions as: "It is I, be not afraid";
"Fear not, it is I"; "Peace be unto you". So many times Jesus assured
and reassured His disciples of His continuing love and care for them, and
for their needs.
When He spoke to His disciples as is recorded in the gospel according to
John's record, we hear Him say, "Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
He also said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:1-3)
With all these many direct promises, how can man still doubt that
God saves AND that God keeps? Is. it that Jesus did not tell His own?
Did not God demonstrate His eternal
love for His people by providential dealings for
them, and by sacrificial offering in their behalf? Did not He deliver
them from danger and from servitude to sin? Did not He supply
their substance? their food? their water?
their clothing? their health? their all? Did not He do all this?
Listen again as Jesus speaks: "All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out". (John
6:37) Did you note: ..... I will in NO WISE cast out". How can man,
or woman now say, "But you must keep yourself". To which I ask, "How"?
The facts are in. The Bible has spoken, and the issue is forever settled.
The teaching of the Bible, the inerrant, infallible mind of
God, as He has expressed Himself will not
permit man to dispute, declares that it's all a matter of grace.
God's grace that He freely and in full agreement with Himself bestows upon
His people to deliver them ultimately and finally to Himself as perfected
objects of His love, mercy, and grace. It's all of grace,
and the teaching is always the same, and always harmonious with that lasting
precept, the grace of God. Grace, grace, God's grace, in all its splendor
and majesty. Grace to the undeserving and undesiring Grace
to those vessels that He has sovereignly
chosen to be its recipient and beneficiary. Grace to men who, being
no better or more deserving than others are those who God has determined
to love and to shower with His blessings.
As we seek to summarize and conclude these many integral parts of this
compound and profound doctrine, we see just one Being throughout it all.
And that is God; THE God; the ONLY God who has created all, and who regulates
all, and administers all.
There is no more that this feeble one can say than to remind myself, and
each of you that it is God who has purposed, and it is God that performs
the doing of all that He has purposed. And so, we conclude with the word
that God caused to be written, preserved, and relied upon,
even down to this present time, and forever. "Then saith Jesus unto
him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve". (Matthew 4:10)
(The
Baptist Herald)
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