God Is Just And He Ordains Evil

His justice cannot be impeached, because he infuseth no evil, enforceth to no evil, only ordaineth what shall be; his goodness cannot be impeached for suffering things which he can turn to such advantage for his own glory and the creature’s good. And, therefore, as the sun shineth upon a dunghill without having his beams polluted by it, so God’s ordination taketh in the sin of the creatures without any blemish to itself. God’s decrees are immanent in himself, working nothing that is evil in the creatures. Other things might be said, but I would not perplex the matter.

-Thomas Manton; works, volume 3, page 374

Armchair Sermons: M’Cheyne’s Last Sermon, The Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction, part 2

Before You Get Started…

If you haven’t read the first post in this series, I would strongly recommend that you start there. What I am hoping is that you will get so enthralled with the sermon that you will want to go and read the whole thing here. At any rate, I hope you find this series to be helpful in your gaze at the glory of God.

Previously…

In part 1, M’Cheyne’s introduction begins with addressing, Where does the wrath of God flow from? Using Psalm 11 he shows us that God’s everlasting judgement and wrath flow from His love of righteousness, not His longing for human pain. God loves righteousness! Therefore He hates sin. Love never fails and because Love never fails, neither will His hatred of unrighteousness. His wrath is constant because His love is endless. God is Love! This is why Hell is eternal, endless….and perfect.

The Question To Answer…

The question that M’Cheyne takes time to answer in this sermon is, Why are not all saved? M’Cheyne answers this question in three points on why man is allowed to perish by expositing the words of Paul in Romans 9:22,23.

The three points M’Cheyne uses and explains to answer the question are as follows:

1. That God may show His wrath
2. That God may show His power
3. That God may show the riches of His glory

The end of the sermon is where everything I am posting on ties together in a way that just blows me away. I am thoroughly a sovereignty of God guy. But knowing something in my mind and sensing the earnestness of God’s ultimate glory in the eternal damnation of the lost and the glorification of His saints, still leaves me with a sense of dread. Both the damned and the saved will glorify God, for that is there purpose.

Here’s M’Cheyne…

Let us enter into this subject a little more deeply. There are three reasons set down here why men are allowed to perish.

I. The first is, that God was willing to show His wrath. These words are terrible. We are told frequently in the Bible of the wrath of God. It is not like human wrath: it is calm, settled – it consists principally in a regard to what is right. This is the wrath of God. We are told a great deal about it in the Bible. It is revealed against all sin. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” – Romans 1:18 Observe the word “all” – it is against all sin. Then Colossians 3:6, “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” We are told also, brethren, that this anger is constant. “God is angry with the wicked every day.” – Psalms 7:11. The bow of God’s justice is, as it were, already bent against the wicked, the arrow of God’s is already on the string against the wicked. And then we are told that His wrath is intolerable. In the Psalm which we were singing (Psalms 90:11), it is said, “Who knows the power of thy wrath?” And we are told in Revelation, “The great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”

But we learn more by example than even by these declarations. We have many examples of God’s wrath and its consequences. The first example we have is, his casting the angels out of heaven. We are told by Jude, “That the angels which kept not their first estate, He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.” And we are told by Peter, “That God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Now, brethren, in several respects this was one of the greatest examples of divine wrath we have, for it seems to have happened in one day. One day these angels were in heaven – the next in hell. One day they were angels of light – the next fiends of darkness. And then this made it fearful, when the Lord left them no room for repentance. One thing the universe might have learned from this was, that God will certainly punish sin.

Pause for a Moment…

I have to pause here and comment on this last part, “when the Lord left no room for repentance.” What a gift, that we are even given the opportunity to repent. God did not give this opportunity to the angels, only humans.

Back To It…

Another example of God’s punishing sin was not in heaven, but one earth, when He sent the deluge upon it. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.” And so it came to pass: “The flood came, and carried them all away;” and it has left traces on our world still, to show that God will not fail to punish sin.

Another example of divine vengeance was, when God destroyed Sodom. “Now, the men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” The cry of its wickedness went up to heaven, and God sent down two angels, to see if it was according to the cry that came up; and they found it even so; and, when they had taken out just Lot, God rained fire and brimstone upon the devoted city; and he has left traces of it there to this hour.

There was yet another exhibition of divine wrath on earth - it was the death of God’s dear Son. If ever there was a time when God could have said that he would forego his wrath it was surely this. It was this for two reasons. First, because the object of that wrath was dear to God. There never was on in the universe so dear to God as his Son. And another reason was, Christ had no sin of his own. Just as his robe was seamless, so was his soul sinless. Nay, brethren, that one act of his – laying down his life, was so glorious, as an exhibition of God’s justice, that the universe never saw its “marrow”. “Yet it pleased God to bruise him.” These words do not give the least shadow of his suffering from God on account of our sin. Brethren, if any thing in the world can show that God will punish sin, it was the death of his dear and sinless Son.

There is one exhibition of his wrath yet to come. Verse 22 – “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?” God is yet to destroy the souls that he has made–not the angels that fell, for he has done that already, when he cast them into hell, but the souls on which he has waited. There is to be a new exhibition of wrath that the world never saw the like of before. He is going to show what he will do to the despisers of his Son – to those who despise his gospel. it will be a new thing when “God will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know him not, and that have not obeyed the gospel.” God waits to show his wrath. Ah, brethren! it will be fearful to feel it – it is fearful even to think of it. so I believe it will be with the wicked: they will be beacons, to show how God will punish sin.

I hope these words are stirring you as they have stirred me, God Bless.

Armchair Sermons: M’Cheyne’s Last Sermon, The Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction, part 1

What We’re Going To Be Doing…
I am newly acquainted with Robert Murray M’Cheyne and I already love him! This is the first full sermon of his that I have read and it is fantastic. I was drawn to read it first because of the text of Scripture he preaches on, Romans 9:22,23. I did not realize it was the last sermon he ever preached until after I read it. Even more remarkable to me was the footnote at the bottom of the page that said:

The following sermon preached on the afternoon of March 12, 1843, was the author’s last in St. Peter’s. “It was observed, both then and on other occasions,” says Andrew Bonar, “that he spoke with peculiar strength upon the sovereignty of God.” The following evening McCheyne’s illness commenced and on Saturday, March 25, he went to the Saviour whose glory he lived to proclaim.

If you do the math, M’Cheyne died thirteen days after he preached this sermon in which “he spoke with peculiar strength upon the sovereignty of God.”

For Me Personally
On a personal note, when my father died last October, I could tell that his death was near. Not because of any special insight I had. But because of the fruit of his Christian walk. Let me explain. The last few months of his life were wrought with the most stress I think he had ever been under in his whole life. There was a solemn gravity to his perseverance. He had not the vitality of life any longer that seemed to fade as though God had decided not to restore it. With quiet and reserved patience he continued  through the trials until ultimately, he died. His whole life, my father had had a tremendous amount of energy with a tenacity to accomplish his work whether at work or home, so when the end came, I could tell his death was close. Why am I telling you all of this? Because up until now, I had felt as though I missed something. I was looking for something in my Dad’s death that would be an encouragement about death, his last words, which there weren’t any, some glimpse that he was seeing glory as he was passing, something, anything, but there was absolutely nothing, no signs at all. I felt cheated by this as much as by the fact that his death was out of the blue and as seemingly untimely as it was. But after I read this sermon and even after that, when I read the footnote about this being M’Cheyne’s last sermon just thirteen days before he died, there certainly was a peculiar strength toward the end. Then I realized that the encouragement was not in the dieing but in the living with a peculiar strength up until he died. This was the sign I was given but did not see, could not see until now. Oh the glory of Christ that is seen in the way we have lived, especially in the trials that God may take us through in order to bring us home. It is as though God is reaping His harvest by pulling us up to Him and as He is pulling, His glory is seen even more vibrantly than ever because it is being seen by a thinned, worn out veil of human flesh which must needs be shed. I hope you enjoy this sermon and are blessed. I will make several posts on this as I will be posting it in segments in its entirety with commentary. God Bless!

The Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction

“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?” – Romans 9:22,23

In a former discourse, brethren, I attempted to show you that the reason why God will punish the wicked eternally is, because he loveth righteousness. It is said in the eleventh Psalm, “Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” I then tried to show you, that God has created hell, and will maintain it for ever, not because He loves human pain – I believe it is not so, nor is it because He is subject to passion, as men speak of passion – but because the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.

And I showed you, as you will remember, what a certainty hell is to the wicked. If it had its origin in the love of human pain, then you might have hoped that it would have an end; or, if it proceeded from passionateness, then it might cool; but ah! when it proceeds from Jehovah’s love of righteousness, I see, brethren, in that a reason why “the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

There is a second question which no doubt has occurred to you: why are there any left unpardoned at all? Why was Adam left to fall? Could God not have held him up? Or, if it was necessary that Adam should fall, in order that Christ might die, why are not all saved? Surely there is efficacy in the blood of Christ to pardon all – why, then, are not all saved? There are many answers to that question which we will know in a higher state of being; but here is one; “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory?” You will notice, brethren, that in these words the apostle Paul tries to give an answer to that question. He does not answer it directly, he employs a “what if”.

If you would like to the read the entire sermon now, click here.

Fuller on The Consistency of Providence & Human Agency

In one of his letters on the importance of Systematic Divinity, Andrew Fuller deals with the seeming inconsistency between Divine predestination and human responsibility. He points out the difference between the reasoning of the fleshly mind versus the Christian.

A fleshly mind may ask, “How can these things be?” How can Divine predestination accord with human agency and accountableness?  But a truly humble Christian, finding both in his Bible, will believe both, though he may be unable fully to understand their consistency; and he will find in the one a motive to depend entirely on God, and in the other a caution against slothfulness and presumptuous neglect of duty. And thus a Christian minister, if he view the doctrine in its proper connexions, will find nothing in it to hinder the free use of warnings, invitations, and persuasions, either to the converted or the unconverted. Yet he will not ground his hopes of success on the pliability of the human mind, but on the promised grace of God, who (while he prophesies to the dry bones, as he is commanded) is known to inspire them with the breath of life.

- Andrew Fuller

I quoted Spurgeon here in a similar post a while back.

Teachers

Do We Need Teachers?

In 1 John 2:27 we are told, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone  teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

This is as significant as the Lord saying , “I will never leave you nor for sake you”

In fact Jesus tells us in Matthew 23:10, And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

God wants us to constantly be dependent upon Him.

God in Christ is our Teacher!

So, If God is Our Teacher, Why Do We Have Teachers Given To Us By God?

This question is not unlike the question of, “If God has elected whom He will save, then why do we need to evangelize and preach and share the gospel?” It’s not that we are needed in this endeavor, it’s that we get to help by being involved. God makes it a special part of our being His people that we are blessed with the command and labor of being about our Fathers business. It is His business and we are His employees, His servants, indeed, even His slaves. We get to teach! We get to be involved! We get to work with Him!

God, The Completer

Do you think that the hand of divine wisdom will sketch the Christian and not fill up the details? Hath God taken us as unhewn stones out of the quarry, and hath he begun to work upon us, and show his divine art, his marvellous wisdom and grace, and will he afterwards cast us away? Shall God fail? Shall he leave his works imperfect? Point, if you can, my hearers, to a world which God has cast away unfinished. Is there one speck in his creation where God hath begun to build but was not able to complete? Hath he made a single angel deficient? Is there one creature over which it cannot be said, “This is very good?” And shall it be said over the creature twice made—the chosen of God, the blood-bought—shall it be said, “The Spirit began to work in this man’s heart, but the man was mightier than the Spirit, and sin conquered grace?” Oh, my dear brethren, the prayer shall be fulfilled. After that ye have suffered awhile, God shall make you perfect if he has begun the good work in you. But, beloved, it must be after that ye have suffered awhile. Ye cannot be perfected except by the fire. There is no way of ridding you of your dross and your tin but by the flames of the furnace of affliction.

-Charles Spurgeon, from a sermon entitled A New-Years Benediction preached on Jan 1, 1860

Mean Thoughts of God

It is from mean thoughts of God that you are not convinced that you have by your sins deserved his eternal wrath and curse. If you had any proper sense of the infinite majesty, greatness, and holiness of God, you would see, that to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and there to have no rest day nor night, is not a punishment more than equal to the demerit of sin.-You would not have so good a thought of yourselves; you would not be so clean and pure in your own eyes; you would see what vile, unworthy, hell-deserving, creatures you are. If you had not little thoughts of God, and were to consider how you have set yourselves against him-how you have slighted him, his commandments and threatenings, and despised his goodness and mercy, how often you have disobeyed, how obstinate you have been, how your whole lives have been filled up with sin against God-you would not wonder that God threatens to destroy you for ever, but would wonder that he hath not done it before now.

-Jonathan Edwards, The Works of, Volume 2, From a sermon on divine sovereignty

Edwards’ sharp reproof cuts to the heart. Too often, most often, we think highly of ourselves while our perspective on God waxes cold with contempt because of our little thoughts of God. While it is true that we need to be saved, we need to be saved by God, not from ourselves, but from God Himself.

Sovereignty Over Intent

What will the use of means and second causes do without God? When we have prepared best, and consulted best, the intentions we travail with may miscarry, for the event is wholly in God’s hands: Prov. xvi. 1, ‘The preparations of the heart are from man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.’  Man propoundeth, intendeth, purposeth; but the success cometh from God.
When we have done our duty, and used such good means as God affordeth, then we may quietly refer the success to God, in whose hands are all the ways of the children of men, and upon whose good pleasure the issues of all things depend, Prov. xvi. 13.

-Thomas Manton

The All-ness of God

The nothingness of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of God. That is a great lesson indeed, and mightily useful to us throughout the whole spiritual life. First, It is a notion which the scripture much delighteth in, to represent God as all and the creature as nothing. At first, when Moses inquired God’s distinctive name, God giveth him no other but I AM : Exod. iii. 14, ‘And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and I AM hath sent me unto you.’  What thing is there under the cope of heaven that cannot say ‘I am that I am’ ? The least worm hath its own being; but this, as God’s distinctive name, implieth that he encloseth all being within himself. Secondly, The creature is nothing: Isa. xl. 17, ‘All nations before him are nothing ; they are accounted less than nothing, and vanity;’ Dan. iv. 35, ‘ The inhabitants of the world are reputed before him as nothing.’ All created beings must vanish out of our sight when we think of God.

-Thomas Manton

Do You Believe In Fate?

In The Matrix, Thomas A. Anderson (Neo) answers “No” to the title question with the qualification that he does not like the idea that he is not in control of his life. But there is another Thomas A. (Aquinas, that is) that answers this question differently:

I answer that, In this world some things seem to happen by luck or chance. Now it happens sometimes that something is lucky or chance-like, as compared to inferior causes, which, if compared to some higher cause, is directly intended. For instance, if two servants are sent by their master to the same place; the meeting of the two servants in regard to themselves is by chance; but as compared to the master, who had ordered it, it is directly intended.

Further, Augustine says that fate is something real, as referred to the Divine will and power. But the Divine will is cause of all things that happen, as Augustine says. Therefore all things are subject to fate.

We must therefore say that fate, considered in regard to second causes, is changeable; but as subject to Divine Providence, it derives a certain unchangeableness, not of absolute but of conditional necessity. In this sense we say that this conditional is true and necessary: If God foreknew that this would happen, it will happen. Wherefore Boethius, having said that the chain of fate is fickle, shortly afterwards adds, which, since it is derived from an unchangeable Providence, must also itself be unchangeable.

-Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica