The Sovereignty Of God # 3

 The Sovereignty Of God # 3

Certain conditions were set before the Mediator. He was to be made in the likeness of sin's flesh; He was to magnify the law and make it honorable; He was to bear all the sins of all God's people in His own body on the tree; He was to make full atonement for them; He was to endure the outpoured wrath of God; He was to die and be buried. On the fulfillment of those conditions, He was promised to reward: (Isaiah 53:10-12.) He was to be the Firstborn among many brethren; He was to have a people who would share His glory. Blessed be His name forever, He fulfilled those conditions, and because He did so, the Father stands pledged, on solemn oath, to preserve through time and bless throughout eternity, everyone of those for whom His incarnate Son mediated.

Because He took their place, they now share His. His righteousness is theirs, His standing before God is theirs, His life is theirs. There is not a single condition for them to meet, not a single responsibility for them to discharge in order to attain their eternal bliss. "By one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified (or set apart)" (Hebrews 10:14). Here then is the sovereignty of God openly displayed before all, displayed in the different ways in which He has dealt with His creatures. Part of the angels, Adam and Israel, were placed upon a conditional footing, continuance in blessing being made dependent upon their obedience and fidelity to God. But in sharp contrast from them, the "little flock" (Luke 12:32), have been given an unconditional, an immutable standing in God's covenant, God's counsels, God's Son; their blessing being made dependent upon what Christ did for them. The foundation of God stands sure, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Timothy 2:19). The foundation on which God's elect stand is a perfect one; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

Here, then, is the highest and grandest display of the absolute sovereignty of God;. Truly, He has "mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens" (Romans 9:18).

~A. W. Pink~

(The End) 

The Sovereignty Of God # 2

 The Sovereignty Of God # 2

So too, God sovereignly placed Adam in the garden of Eden upon a conditional footing. Had He so pleased, He could have placed him upon an unconditional footing. He could have placed him on a footing as firm as that occupied by the unfallen angels. He could have placed him upon a footing as sure and as immutable as that which His saints have in Christ. But, instead, He chose to set him in Eden on the basis of creature responsibility, so that he stood or fell according as he measured up or failed to measure up to his responsibility - obedience to His Maker. Adam stood accountable to God by the law which his Creator had given him. Here was responsibility, unimpaired responsibility, tested out under the most favorable conditions.

Now God did not place Adam upon a footing of conditional, creature responsibility, because it was right He should so place him? No, it was right because God did it. God did not even give creatures being because it was right for Him to do so, that is, because He was under any obligations to create; but it was right because He did so. God is sovereign, His will is supreme. So far from God being under any law of "right," He is a law unto Himself, so that whatever He does is right. And woe be to the rebel that calls His sovereignty into question: "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands?" (Isaiah 45:().

Again, the Lord God sovereignly placed Israel upon a conditional footing. The 19th and 24th chapters of Exodus afford a clear and full proof of this. They were placed under a covenant of works. God gave to them certain laws, and made national blessing for them depend upon their observance of His statutes. But Israel was stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. They rebelled against Jehovah, forsook His law, turned unto false gods, and apostatized. In consequence, divine judgment fell upon them, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies, dispersed abroad throughout the earth, and remain under the heavy frown of God's displeasure to this day.

It was God in the exercise of His high sovereignty which placed satan and his angels, Adam and Israel in their respective responsible positions. But so far from His sovereignty taking away responsibility from the creature, it was by this exercise thereof that He placed them on this conditional footing, under such responsibilities as He thought proper; by virtue of which sovereignty, He is seen to br God over all.

Thus, there is perfect harmony between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of the creature. Many have most foolishly said that it is quite impossible to show where divine sovereignty ends and creature accountability begins. Here is where creature responsibility begins - in the sovereign ordination of the Creator. As to His sovereignty; there is not and never will be any "end" to it! 

Let us give further proofs that the responsibility of the creature is based upon God's sovereignty. How many things are recorded in Scripture which were right simply because God commanded them, and which would not have been right had He not so commanded! What right had Adam to eat of the trees of the Garden? The permission of his Maker, without which he would have been a thief! What right had Israel to borrow of the Egyptians' jewels and clothing? None, unless Jehovah had authorized it. What right had Israel to slay so many lambs for sacrifice? None, except the God commanded it. What right had Israel to kill off all the Canaanites? None, but as Jehovah had bidden them. What right has the husband to require submission from his wife? None, unless God had appointed it. And so we might go on. Human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty.

God placed His elect upon a different footing from Adam or Israel. He placed His elect upon an unconditional footing. In the Everlasting Covenant Jesus Christ was appointed their Head, took their responsibilities upon Himself, and wrought out a righteousness for them which is perfect, indefeasible, and eternal.

Christ was placed upon a conditional footing, for He was "made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law," only with this infinite difference; the others failed; He did not and could not. And who placed Christ upon that conditional footing? The Triune God.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 3)

The Sovrereignty Of God # 1

 The Sovereignty Of God # 1

The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His supremacy. Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High God, Lord of Heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him.

So His own Word expressly declares: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." (Isaiah 46:10); "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35).

Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things "after the counsel of His own will." (Eph. 1:11).

Rightly did the late Charles Spurgeon say in his sermons on Matthew 20:15, "There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty had ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend then the doctrine of their Master over all creatures, the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne.

"On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of Heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth!

"And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter. Then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust." (Spurgeon).

"Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever He pleases." (Psalm 115:3). "I know that You can do anything, and no plan of Yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2). "The Lord does whatever He pleases in Heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths."

Yes, dear reader, such is the imperial Potentate revealed in Holy Writ. Unrivaled in majesty, unlimited in power, unaffected by anything outside Himself. But we are living in a day when even the most "orthodox" seem afraid to admit the proper Godhood of God. They say that to press the sovereignty of God excludes human responsibility; whereas human responsibility is based upon divine sovereignty, and is the product of it.

God sovereignly chose to place each of His creatures on that particular footing which seemed good in His sight. He created angels - some He placed on conditional footing; others He gave an immutable standing before Him (1 Timothy 5:21), making Christ their head. Let it not be overlooked that the angels whicxh sinned, were as much His creatures as the angels that sinned not. Yet God foresaw they would fall, nevertheless He placed them on a mutable, creature, conditional footing, and allowed them to fall, though He was not the Author of their sin.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)

The Solitariness Of God

 The Solitariness Of God

The title of this article is perhaps not sufficiently explieit to indicate its theme. This is purily due to the fact that so few today are accustomed to meditqte upon the personal perfections of God. Comparatively few of those who occasionally read the Bible are aware of the awe-inspiring and worship-provoking grandeur of the divine character. That God is great in wisdom, wondrous in power, yet full of mercy, is assumed by many to be almost common knowledge; but, to entertain anything approaching an adequate conception of His being, His nature, and His attributes, as these are revealed in Holy Scripture, is something which very, very few people in these degenerate times have attained unto. God is solitary in His excellency. "Who is like unto You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders"" (Exodus 15:11).

"In the beginning God" (Genesis 1:1). There was a time, if "time" it could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine persons), dwelt all alone. "In the beginning God." There was no Heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angles to hymn His praises, no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but "from everlasting."

During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing. Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also would have been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Malachi 3:6), therefore His essential glory can be neither augmented nor diminished.

God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That He chose to doso was purely a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside Himself, determined by nothing but His own mere good pleasure; for He "works all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11). That He did create was simply for His manifestative glory.

Do some of our readers imagine that we have gone beyond what Scripture warrants? Then our appeal shall be to the Law and the Testimony. "Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever; and blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (Nechemiah 9:5). God is no gainer even from our worship. He was in no need of that external glory of His grace which arises from His redeemed, for He is glorious enough in Himself without that. What was in that moved Him to predestine His elect to the glory of His grace? It was, as Ephesians 1:5 tells us, "according to the good pleasure of His will."

We are well aware thqat the high ground we are here treading is new and strange to almost all of our readers, for that reason it is well to move slowly. Let our appeal again be to the Scriptures. At the end of Romans 11, where the apostle brings to a close his argument on salvation by pure and sovereign grace, he asks, "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, that God should repay him?" The force of this is, it is impossible to bring the Almighty under obligations to the creature; God gains nothing from us!  "If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men" (Job 35:7-8), but it certainly cannot affect God, who is all-blessed in Himself. "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." (Luke 17:10). Our obedience has profited God nothing!

Nay, we go further; our Lord Jesus Christ added nothing to God in His essential being and glory, either by what he did or suffered. True, blessedly and gloriously true, He manifested the glory of God to us, but He added nothing to God. He Himself expressly declares so, and there is no appeal from His words: "My goodness extends not to You" (Psalm 16:2). The whole of that Psalm is a Psalm of Christ. Christ's goodness or righteousness reached unto His saints in the earth, but God was high above and beyond it all. God alone is "the Blessed One" (Mark 14:61).

It is perfectly true that God is both honored and dishonored by men; not in His essential being, but in His official character. It is equally true that God has been glorified by creation, by providence, and by redemption. This we we dot and dare not dispute for a moment. But all of this has to do with His manifest glory and the recognition of it by us. Yet had God so pleased He might have continued alone for all eternity, without making known His glory unto creatures. Whether He should do so or not was determined solely by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in Himself before the first creature was called into being.

That is the God of Scripture; alas, He is still the unknown God to the heedless multitudes.

How vastly different is the God of Scripture from the "god" of the average pulpit!

Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be known only as He is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word. It seems trifling to ask such a question, but is the eternal and infinite God so much more within the grasp of human reason? No, indeed The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes Himself known. God is "spirit" and can only be known spiritually, and unless a person is born again, he is dead to the spiritual.

The principle prayer and aim of Christians should be that we "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10).

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)

Foundation Truths # 5

 Foundation Truths # 5

And thanks be to God, this blessed victory over death and the grave has not been won by Christ for Himself alone. For eighteen centuries He has enabled thousands of Christian men and women, believing and trusting themselves to Him, to face the king of terrors without fear, and to go down the valley of the shadow of death in the sure and certain hope that they will yet come forth victorious, and in the flesh see God.

Read the story of the deaths of the early Christians under heathen persecutions. Mark the dying experience of those who suffered at Oxford and Smithfield, under bloody Queen Mary, for the gospel. Find, if you can, in the whole range of biography any death beds of non-Christians which will bear comparison with the death beds of Christians in the matter of peace, and hope, and strong consolation. You may search forever and not find them. You will find yourself shut up to the conclusion that the old Scriptural truth of Christ dying and rising again, is exactly the truth that fits human nature, and must have come down from God. This, and this only, will enable natural man to meet the last enemy without fear, and to say, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).

What shall we say to these things? I know well that the human heart and its necessities are a deep and intricate subject. But, after studying men's hearts attentively for many years, I have come to one decided conviction. That conviction is, that the true reason why Paul preached first and foremost what he preached at Corinth, is to be found in his right knowledge of the nature, moral conditions, and position of man. He was taught by the Holy Spirit, that it was the only medicine that was suited to the disease. What human nature requires, is a religion for dying sinners - a mighty remedial system and a personal Redeemer; and the work of Christ is marvelously fitted to meet its requirements. We are sick of a deadly sickness, and our first need is a living physician.

It would have been worse than useless if Paul had begun his work at Corinth by telling men to be virtuous and moral, while he kept back Christ. It is just as useless now. It even does positive harm. To awaken human nature, and then not show it God's only remedy, may lead to more mischievous consequences. I know no case so pitiable as that of the man who sees clearly sin, sorrow, and death on one side - and does not see clearly Christ dying for sins, and rising again for sinners, on the other. Such a man is just the person to sink into flat despair, or to take refuge in the delusive theology of the Church of Rome.

III. And now let me wind up this paper with some words of ADVICE to all who read it.

Let me, then, advise you most strongly not to be ashamed of holding decided views about the first things, the foundation truths of religion. There is widespread dislike to doctrinal decision and what is called dogmation, and none perhaps are so exposed to its influence as the young. The natural generosity, unsuspiciousness, and love of fair play, of a young man's heart, make him shrink from taking up very positive theological views, and holding opinions which may even seem to be narrow, party-spirited, or illiberal. The temptation of the present day is to be content with a vague earnestness; to abstain from all sharply cut and distinct views; to be an honorary member of all schools of thought, and to maintain that no man can be unsound in the faith - if he exhibits zeal and works hard.

But, after all, your religion must have roots, if it is to live and bear fruit in this cold world. Earnestness, and zeal, and work, are brave words; but, like cut flowers stuck in a garden, they have no power of continuance, if they have no hidden roots below. Admitting to the full that there are secondary things in religion, about which those who are young may fairly suspend their judgment and wait for light - I charge you to remember that there are primary things about which you must be decided and make up your minds. You must, I say - if you want peace within, and desire to be useful. And among these first things stand forth like mountains in a plain, the two great truths which are laid down in the text which heads this paper - Christ's death for our sins, and Christ's miraculous resurrection. Grasp tightly these two great truths. Live on them. Die on them. Never let them go. Strive to be able to say, "I know whom I believe," - not what, but whom I live by faith in One who died for me, and rose again. Be decided about this at any cost, and in due time all other truths shall be added to you.

Remember one chief problem you will have to be continually solving is how to help souls who are laboring under the burden of sin, crushed down with sorrow, or oppressed with the fear of death. The only way to do good is to walk in Paul's steps, and to tell men first, foremost, continually, repeatedly, publicly, and from house to house - that Jesus Christ died for their sins, rose again for their justification, lives at the right hand of God to receive, to pardon, and to preserve, and will soon come again to give them a glorious resurrection.

These are the truths which the Holy Spirit has always blessed, is blessing, and will bless until the Lord comes. These were Paul's first things." Resolve and determine that by God's grace, that they shall be yours in this generation.

~J. C. Ryle~

(The End)

Foundation Truths # 4

 Foundation Truths # 4

A believing view of Christ dying for our sins is God's appointed remedy for man's spiritual need. It is the Divine remedy for that deadly plague which infects the whole family of Adam, and once seen and felt makes men and women miserable. If Paul had not proclaimed this grand remedy at Corinth, he would have shown great ignorance of human nature, and been a physician of no value. And if we ministers do not proclaim it, it is because our eyes are dim, and there is little light in us.

(b) Let us consider, in the next place, the universal Hability of man to SORROW. The testimony of Scripture, "that man is born to trouble," is continually echoed by thousands who know nothing of the Scriptures, but simply speak the language of their own experience. The world, nearly all men agree, is full of trouble. It is a true saying, that we come into life crying, pass through it  complaining, and leave it disappointed.

For what shall best help man to meet and bear sorrow? That is the question! If our condition is such, since the Fall, that we cannot escape sorrow - than what is the surest remedy for making it tolerable? The cold lessons of Stoicism have no power in them. Resignation and submission to the will of God are excellent things to talk about in fine weather. But when the storm strikes us, and hearts ache, and tears flow, and gaps are made in our family circle, and friends fail us, and money makes itself wings, and sickness lays us low - then we need something more than abstract principles and general lessons. We need a living, personal Friend - a Friend to whom we can turn with firm confidence that He can help and sympathize with us.

Now it is just here, I maintain, that Paul's doctrine of a risen Christ comes in with a marvelous power, and exactly meets our necessities. We have One sitting at the right hand of God, as our sympathizing Friend, who has all power to help us, and can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, even Jesus the Son of God. He knows the heart of a man and all his condition, for He Himself was born of a woman, and took part of flesh and blood. He knows what sorrow is, for He Himself in the days of His flesh wept, and groaned, and grieved. He has proved His love towards us for thirty-three years in this world, by a thousand acts of kindness, and ten thousand words of consolation, and by finally dying for us on the Cross.

I can imagine no truth more suited to man's needs than this. Rules, and principles, and prescriptions, and instructions in times of sorrow are all very well in their way - but what the human heart craves is a personal friend to go to, to talk to, to lean upon, and commune with. the risen Christ, living and interceding for us at God's right hand, is precisely the Person that we need.

No religion will ever satisfy man which does not meet the legitimate needs of his nature.

(c) Let us consider, lastly, the certainty of DEATH and it's consequence, which every child of Adam must make up his mind to face one day. The end of each individual is still a very momentous circumstance in his history, and most men honestly confess it. To leave the world and shut our eyes on all among whom we have played our part - to surrender our bodies, whether we like it or not, to the humiliation of disease, decay, and the grave into be obliged to drop all our schemes and plans and intentions - all this is serious enough. But when to this you add the overwhelming thought that there is something beyond the grave, an undiscovered and unknown world, and an account of some sort to to rendered of our life on earth - the death of any man or woman becomes a tremendously serious event.

The dread of something after death, is a dread which many feel far more than they would like to confess. Few are ever satisfied with Mohammedan fatalism. Not one in a thousand will ever be found to believe the doctrine of annihilation.

But just at the point where all man-made systems are weakest, and fail to satisfy the needs of human nature - there the gospel which Paul proclaimed at Corinth is strongest. For it shows us an Almighty Saviour who not only died for our sins, and went down to the grave - but also rose again from the grave with His body, and proved that He had gained a victory over death. Christ has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 5)

Foundation Truths # 3

 Foundation Truths # 3

II. Let us now try to grasp and examine the REASONS why he was led to assign them such a promised position.

The inquiry is a very interesting one. I cannot hold, with some, that Paul adopted this course only because he was commissioned and commanded to do so. I think the reasons lie far deeper than this. The reasons are to be sought in the necessities and condition of fallen human nature. I believe that man's needs could never have been met and satisfied by any other message than that which Paul brought to Corinth; and if he had not brought it, he would have come there in vain.

For there are three things about man in every part of the world which force themselves on our notice, whenever we sit down to examine his nature, position, and constitution. He is a creature with a sense of sin and accountableness at the bottom of his heart, continually liable to sorrow and trouble from his cradle to his grave, who has before him the certainty of death, and a future state at last.

These are three great facts which stare us in the face everywhere, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Travel all over the world, and they meet you, both among the most highly educated Christians and the most untutored savages. God about our own country, and study the family life of the most learned philosophers and the most ignorant peasants. Everywhere, in in every rank and class, you will have to make the same report. Everywhere you will find these three things, sorrow, death, and the sense of sin. And the position I boldly take up is this, that nothing can be imagined or conceived mere admirably suited to meet the needs of human nature than the very doctrine which Paul begins with at Corinth - the doctrine of Christ dying for our sins and rising again for us from the grave.

It fits the needs of man - just as the right key fits the lock.

Let me glace for a few minutes at the three things which I have just named, and try to show the strong light which they throw on Paul's choice of subjects when he began his ministry at Corinth.

(a) Consider first and foremost, the inward sense of SIN and imperfection which exists in every member of the human family. I grant freely that it differs widely in different persons. In thousands of people it seems completely gone, effaced, and dead. Early lack of education, habitual sin, constant neglect of all religion, inveterate indulgence in fleshly lusts - all these things have an astonishing power to blind the eye and sear the conscience. But where will you ever find a man, except among high-caste Brahmins, or half-crazy Christian fanatics, who will boldly tell you that he is perfect and faultless, and who will not confess, if you drive him into a corner, he is not exactly what he ought to be, and that he knows better than he does? Oh, no! The vast majority of mankind have a conscience of sin, which every now and then makes them miserable. The self-imposed austerities of Hindus, the trembling of rulers like Herod and Felix, are proofs of what I mean. Wherever there is a child of Adam - there is a creature that has in his heart of hearts a conscienceness of sin, guilt, defectiveness, and need.

And when this sense of sin is really awakened and stirs within us, what can cure it? That is the grand question. Some talk vaguely of God's mercy, and to show what title man has to them. Others flatter themselves that their own repentance, and tears, and prayers, and active and diligent use of the ceremonials of religion, will bring them peace with God. But what child of Adam ever found relief in this way? What more certain than the recorded experience of thousands, that medicines like these never healed inward misgivings and mental fears? Nothing has ever been found to do good to a sin-stricken soul, but the sight of a Divine Mediator between God and man, a real living Person of almighty power and almighty mercy, bearing our sins, suffering in our stead, and taking on Himself the whole burden of our redemption.

~J. C. Ryle~