THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION

"...and experience worketh hope." —Romans 5:4 [KJV]  

We are ever to consider the gospel as a proclamation of grace to rebels; a declaration of mercy to the profligate and abandoned; glad tidings of salvation to lost, desperate, hopeless sinners. It finds the soul destitute of any one encouraging symptom: it brings all hope and encouragement with it. When the gospel becomes the "power of God to salvation" to any sinner, it works a mighty change in his state and practice. In the sweet experience, proof, or the trial of this, the soul is comforted. Hope concerning his state is confirmed. Experience worketh hope of one's own interest in Jesus, and salvation by Him. It works not by legal terrors and dreadful horrors, as was Judas; nor by working up the animal passions to a flash of joy, just as the stony ground hearers were affected by the word. But it powerfully enlightens the soul to see the evil of sin, and the infinite preciousness of the Lord Jesus, so as to loathe and detest the former, and cleave to and trust alone in the latter.  

Hence Jesus becomes the tried stone, the sure foundation of the soul. Upon the finished work of Jesus, all hope, in time and for eternity, is laid. All other foundations are rejected as sandy; all other hopes as vain. Faith in God's word, relying on His promises in Christ, begets resignation to His will, and patience under His dispensations, being assured, that "all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."—Romans 8:28.  

We first experience His power in effectual calling, and then His love in keeping us close to Himself, and obedient to His will. So we enjoy peace from Him, and our hearts are cheerfully devoted to Him. But how oft doth the believing soul find coolness of affection, heaviness of heart, and dejection of mind? Doth not this destroy his hope? No: even this experience, sad as it seems, worketh hope: hereby pride and self-confidence are slain, sin embittered; the soul humbled at the feet of Jesus, with 'Thou, even Thou alone art my hope, I dare not trust in any other; my soul shall make her boast of Thee, and Thee only.'  

We have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves: and the more we live upon, and trust in the Lord, so shall we experience hope spring up, love flourish, and holiness abound. Praised be the Lord our God, Who is "the God of hope, and Who fills us with joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost."—Romans 15:13.  

Long did my Lord in patience wait, Till I return'd to Him. Let patience prove Thy tried word, And thereby hope confirm. 

-William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS - Rock of Ages

Jesus remains the same in all ages. He is the One who is constant when everything and everyone else fails. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our R ock [I SAMUEL 2:2 ] . In the Old Testament, in Exodus 33, Jesus is pictured as the Cleft Rock. In that chapter, verse 18 and following, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, but was told, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see My face and live.” And the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and you shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." Notice that as Moses stood upon the rock, the Lord hid him in the cleft. This wonderfully applies to us today! Believers are both standing on and hidden in Christ [COLOSSIANS 3:3 ] . We are both in and on the Rock. As life with its many bitter events presses upon us, ...
Read more

CHRIST OUR ONLY AND PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." —Galatians 5:17 [KJV] Christian experience fully proves this apostolic truth. Hence the children of God cannot do the things that they would: nor have we any authority from God's word to conclude this lusting ever ceased in any of the saints till they got to glory; none are delivered from it while in the flesh. For, as the renewed soul or spirit loves to enjoy spiritual and heavenly objects, so the flesh, or unrenewed part, lusts after those objects it is naturally conversant with, and from which it derives its happiness.  Here is thy conflict, O Christian. Hence the necessity of thy Lord's command, "Watch always." This is the use of the doctrine. What woeful effects have fulfilling the lusts or desires of the flesh produced in eminent saints! Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. The conceptions of lust are the productions of sin.— see James 1:15 . The commission of sin contracts fresh s...
Read more

GLORY ALONE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi...
Read more