Almighty God's Grace and Mercy unto His people in CHRIST JESUS

"And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." —Exodus 33:19 [KJV]

Carnal reason, pride, and unbelief, like a threefold cord, binds the soul under legal bondage; each of these mutually strengthens the other, and all combine to oppose the sovereign goodness and grace of our Lord. Instead of believing in, so as to be comforted by free-grace declarations from our God, how apt are we to consult flesh and blood! How prone to reject them, because we cannot reconcile them to our carnal reason! here is the grand source of that damning sin, unbelief. 

Marvel not, believer, though the pride of thy flesh rises and rebels against distinguishing grace and discriminating love. This, though sweet to the experience of faith, is bitter to the stomach of rebellious nature: but here is thy mercy; grace, which is sovereign in its nature, is saving in its operations; all must be resolved into this humbling acknowledgment, "I, a poor sinner, who could neither will nor run the way of salvation; the Lord wills to shew me His goodness, to proclaim His name, to bestow His grace, and comfort me with His mercy in Christ Jesus, to the salvation of my precious soul." 

Thus the Lord speaks in love; let all His children hear in faith, rejoice, and be humbled. Where, O soul, canst thou fix thy foot, but thou standest upon the ground of free grace? Hast thou faith? It is of grace. Dost thou find pardon of sin and consolation of heart in Christ Jesus? It is of grace. Dost thou "love God? It is because He has first loved thee." Dost thou hate sin as contrary to God's glory and thy soul's peace? What astonishing grace is this! Consider it on thy knees; reflect on it with meltings of soul. 

Why shouldst thou be singled out by the power of the word, marked by the grace of the Spirit for salvation, when many hundreds perish everlastingly? Why are thine eyes opened amidst a throng of blind sinners? Why art thou watered, like Gideon's fleece, while others are dry? Was thy nature better, thy desires holier? What conditions hadst thou performed to procure this? 

Grace has taught thy soul otherwise than so to think; all must be resolved into this soul-humbling, God-exalting truth, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." Here is an inexhaustible source of comfort; this a never-failing motive to love and obedience; that grace and mercy which God owes to no one sinner on earth, He has freely given to thee; it is thy privilege to rejoice in it, thy duty to confess it, and to lie in the dust and be humble. "If by grace, it is no more of works."—Romans 11:6.

-preacher William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)