Dreadful Effects of the Fall of Man

"...and killed the Prince of life." -Acts 3:15 [KJV]

O dreadful effects of the fall of man! We are not only become enemies to God, and rebels against Him, but are also, so ignorant of ourselves, and so blind to our own state, that we do not see this: we will not own it. An enemy to God! What, to that good and gracious Lord, in Whom I live, move, and have my being? I cannot think, that any one upon earth can be so wicked, as to be an enemy to God. Such is the language of blind nature. 

Thou that utterest it, art the man. Yea, such is the enmity of thine, of every man’s nature against God, that were it possible and in our power we should kill God. Start not at the thought. Horrid as it is, here is proof of it. God was manifest in the flesh. How was He received? How was He treated by sinful man? Let the annals of His holy life, speak the base contempt and hellish treatment He met with from man. Let the history of His painful and agonizing death, proclaim the enmity of sinners’ hearts against Him. They killed—who? Jesus of Nazareth, a mere man, mighty in word and deed? a great prophet only? 

Infinitely more, O unparalleled mystery of iniquity! O inscrutable mystery of godliness! They killed the Prince of Life. Such the abominable wickedness of human nature: such the total blindness of the human heart, a murderer is preferred to an innocent man: a vile miscreant is spared, the Holy God, the Author of Life, is put to death. Here, O soul, behold the true, but the horrid picture of human nature. Such, its enmity to God, as to take away the life of the Son of God. Dost thou think in thine heart, surely my nature is not so dreadfully wicked, I could not have done so vile a deed? Thou dost not yet know thyself. 

Thy thoughts proceed from blindness and ignorance, of the depth of thy totally wicked nature. As yet, thou seest not the amazing heights of the Lord’s love. The Prince of Life dies, by the wicked hands of men of wicked hearts. To what end? That by His death, His very murderers should live, and not die eternally. O matchless love! Learn, O my soul, this night, to fathom the depth of the wicked enmity of the human heart, by the heights of the love of a dying Saviour. 

Sin has done its worst, slain the incarnate Messiah, that I might live. Satan, thou hast wreaked thy hellish wrath. But thou art conquered, in my Saviour’s death. Law, thou hast sheathed thy strongest sting, and spent the poison of thy dart, in the body of my God. But glory to my Prince of Life, He lives to love, and loves to save. I am safe. O may the Spirit make this faith kill legal hopes and self-righteous confidence. 

 

Amazing, wondrous mystery, 

That men the Prince of Life should kill; 

But God did suffer this to be, 

To save our souls from death and hell.

 

-preacher Wm. 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