Made Alive Together with Christ JESUS

"But GOD, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with CHRIST (by grace ye are saved.)" -Ephesians 2:4, 5 [KJV]

My dear brethren in Christ, and thou, O my soul, one chief reason why, at any time, we have so little comfort, and are so low in joy, is, we do not enough believe and live upon the love of God. Let us never think of, or look for any mercy from God, without considering that it flows from love. Is God rich in mercy to any? It is because He loves them. Great love, everlasting, unchangeable love, is the source and spring of rich mercy. It was rich mercy, for God to give us His beloved Son to be our Saviour in time. 

This was because of His great love to us before time. He loved us from eternity in His Son. He loves us invariably the same through time, and under all states and circumstances. Yea, when we were forlorn, hopeless, helpless, loathsome, and desperate, even dead in sins, He loved us with great love; too great to be conceived or expressed. He manifested it, by bestowing rich mercy upon us; mercy, so rich, so free, so liberal, that it came to us unsought, unasked, undeserved. His great love to us, was the parent of His rich mercy to us. 

Mercy without love may be exercised by an enemy: but the mercy of God flows from the loving heart of a father. He saw our souls dead in sin; dead under His law; dead to Himself. Did He leave us? No. He loved us with great love; therefore, in rich mercy, He quickened us. Quickened us! is that all? A quickened soul, some think, is in a very inferior degree of grace. It is neither justified nor sanctified. But such are great strangers to the rich mercy and great love of God; and they do not consider that souls are quickened together with Christ. 

There is the sweetness of quickening mercy enjoyed. Quickening souls see their sinfulness, know their poverty, feel their misery and wretchedness, and groan under a body of sin and death: but here is their glory, joy, and comfort—they are one with Christ. His life is theirs, His death is theirs, His righteousness is theirs, His holiness is theirs, His fulness is theirs. Though sin is not dead in us, yet being one with Christ, we are dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God. 

By grace are ye saved. Neither you nor your works have the least hand in salvation. Therefore, rejoice. It is not precarious and uncertain, whether you shall be saved. For quickened souls may be as sure of it, as if they were now before the throne. O may love, mercy, and grace be the constant theme of our souls! 

 

We’ll sing rich mercy and great love, 

To us so freely giv’n 

By God our Father from above, 

Whereby we’re heirs of heav’n.  

Then let as live like saints on earth, 

Tho’ we are sinners poor, 

That we may prove our heav’nly birth, 

And Christ our Lord adore.

 

-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