I WILL and they SHALL

"I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." —Jeremiah 32:40 [KJV]

I WILL and they SHALL. Such is God's gracious way of saving His people: while proud legal hearts and self-righteous spirits, puffed up with notions of free-will, are ever contending for terms and conditions to be performed by dead sinners in order to be saved; or by creatures, insufficient of themselves to think a good thought, to secure and make effectual salvation to their own souls. But this fear of God is a blessing of the covenant of grace. 

Naturally the fear of God is not in our hearts. It is one black mark of an unregenerate person, "he has no fear of God before his eyes." How awful! how deplorable is this! Yet, naturally we fear not the power of the Lord, nor dread His wrath: nor are we at all sensible of our danger. What wonder of love! What matter of thankfulness, that the Lord hath put His fear in thy heart, O Christian! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is perfectly consistent with the strongest faith, the most inflamed love, and the highest spiritual joy. 

Though by faith in Jesus we are delivered from a servile, slavish fear of God, which fills us with legal terrors; yet we are possessed of a filial, loving fear towards Him, as to a tender and affectionate father. This fear shall dwell in the hearts of saints all their days. This fear keeps souls from sinning against the God of love. The blessed effect of it is, "that they shall NEVER depart from Me," saith the Lord. Thy soul, believer, being rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, expecting life and salvation, through faith in Him, shall NEVER DEPART from this good old way of the Lord, into bypaths of human errors and destructive ways of total apostacy and final unbelief. 

The Lord's fear shall preserve thee in thy Lord's truth. Though thine enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, should surprise thee into sin against thy Lord; should draw thee from sweet communion with Him; yet shalt thou fear to "lie down in thy shame, while confusion covers thee." Thou shalt remember, Jesus ever lives to save to the uttermost all sinners who come unto God by Him. Thou shalt fear to seek to any other object but Him; so shalt thou return by faith and repentance to Him. "Happy is the man that feareth always."—Proverbs 28:14.

Salvation is for ever nigh 

The souls that fear and trust the Lord; 

And grace descending from on high, 

Fresh hopes of glory shall afford.

Christ's righteousness is gone before, 

To give us free access to God; 

Our wand'ring feet shall stray no more. 

But mark his steps and keep the road.

 

-preacher 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