KenH
Well-Known Member
What a wonderful expression from Grace Gems of the path being open for the sinner to come to God. You see as a Calvinist I believe that no one who repents and believes the gospel will be turned away. The natural man refuses to come. But the God-enabled man does come - always. I thank God that He never fails to draw effectually. How awful it would be if He did fail.
Ken
Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!
(Octavius Winslow "Evening Thoughts")
"I tell you the truth, you can go directly to the
Father and ask Him, and He will grant your
request because you use My name." John 16:23
That God should have erected in this lower world
a throne of grace, a mercy-seat, around which may
gather, in clustering and welcome multitudes . . .
the helpless,
the burdened,
the friendless,
the vile,
the guilty,
the deeply necessitous—
that no poor comer, be . . .
his poverty ever so great,
his burden ever so heavy, or
his case ever so desperate,
should meet with the refusal of a hearing
or a welcome, does greatly develop and
magnify the riches of . . .
His grace,
His wisdom, and
His love to sinners.
What a God our God must be, thus to have
appointed a meeting-place, an audience-chamber,
for those upon whom all other doors were closed!
But more than this—that He should have appointed
Jesus as the door of approach to that throne—that
He should have given His only-begotten and well
beloved Son to be the "new and living way" of access,
thus removing all obstruction in the path of the soul's
coming, both on the part of Himself, and on the part
of the sinner; that the door should be a crucified Savior
—the wounds of the Son of God—that through blood,
and that blood, the blood of the incarnate Deity,
the guilty should approach—wonder, O heavens,
and be astonished, O earth!
Shall we say even more than this?
For there is a yet lower depth in this love and
condescension of God—that He should have sent
His Spirit into the heart, the Author of prayer . . .
dictating the petition;
breathing in the soul;
implanting the desire;
convincing of the existing necessity;
unfolding the character of God;
working faith in the heart; and
drawing it up to God through Jesus;
seems the very perfection of His wisdom,
benevolence, and grace! Wonder, O
heavens, and be astonished, O earth!
[ November 30, 2002, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Ken Hamilton ]
Ken
Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!
(Octavius Winslow "Evening Thoughts")
"I tell you the truth, you can go directly to the
Father and ask Him, and He will grant your
request because you use My name." John 16:23
That God should have erected in this lower world
a throne of grace, a mercy-seat, around which may
gather, in clustering and welcome multitudes . . .
the helpless,
the burdened,
the friendless,
the vile,
the guilty,
the deeply necessitous—
that no poor comer, be . . .
his poverty ever so great,
his burden ever so heavy, or
his case ever so desperate,
should meet with the refusal of a hearing
or a welcome, does greatly develop and
magnify the riches of . . .
His grace,
His wisdom, and
His love to sinners.
What a God our God must be, thus to have
appointed a meeting-place, an audience-chamber,
for those upon whom all other doors were closed!
But more than this—that He should have appointed
Jesus as the door of approach to that throne—that
He should have given His only-begotten and well
beloved Son to be the "new and living way" of access,
thus removing all obstruction in the path of the soul's
coming, both on the part of Himself, and on the part
of the sinner; that the door should be a crucified Savior
—the wounds of the Son of God—that through blood,
and that blood, the blood of the incarnate Deity,
the guilty should approach—wonder, O heavens,
and be astonished, O earth!
Shall we say even more than this?
For there is a yet lower depth in this love and
condescension of God—that He should have sent
His Spirit into the heart, the Author of prayer . . .
dictating the petition;
breathing in the soul;
implanting the desire;
convincing of the existing necessity;
unfolding the character of God;
working faith in the heart; and
drawing it up to God through Jesus;
seems the very perfection of His wisdom,
benevolence, and grace! Wonder, O
heavens, and be astonished, O earth!
[ November 30, 2002, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Ken Hamilton ]
