Wonderfully blessed. We hope to meet at Union this fifth weekend.
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On Fri, Jan 7, 2022 at 7:17 AM, mike mcinnis<ratmotor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
GRACE GAZETTE
Volume XX Issue 1
Published occasionally for mourners in Zion
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make
straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the
way; but let it rather be healed.
Hebrews
12::12-13
MERCY, MOST ASTOUNDING
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Psalm 130:4
The scripture hints that before the creation of man in the Earth, Satan and
one third of the angels were cast out of the presence of the LORD. “And he
said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6) “And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:
he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev
12:9) We have little information about this event and so we tread lightly in
even discussing it. One thing that we are certain of is that all of the events
surrounding and resulting in this outcome were ordered according to the purpose
of the Sovereign GOD who rules in the army of Heaven as well as among the
inhabitants of the Earth.
The judgment of the LORD upon the wicked is demonstrated quite clearly here
as HE will not acquit the wicked nor by any means clear the guilty. The
angelic creatures that inhabit Heaven have witnessed these terrifying
happenings which demonstrate the unchanging nature of the KING of Heaven’s
resolve to destroy all transgressors be they heavenly or earthly creatures.
Imagine their consternation when they have beheld this same KING determining to
deliver those elect sons of flesh and blood who are rebels against HIM, and
sending HIS own SON into the world to cancel their debt of sin and erase their
rebellion by the shedding of HIS blood. Is it any wonder that they should
marvel at the gospel and be exceedingly curious about these matters, so that
Peter might say, “which things the angels desire to look into.” (1Pet 1:12)
The justice and judgement of GOD form the very foundation of HIS revelation
of HIMSELF to the understanding of men, and I might add, the angels. If a man
fails to understand HIS immutable justice, then all else that he might consider
about HIM will be skewed. When Isaiah was given his vision “in the year that
King Uzziah died’, he was humbled in the dust as the HOLINESS of GOD was
displayed to his sight. The same was true of Daniel and later, of John. They
trembled before HIM, desiring to be hidden from HIS view, falling as dead men
in HIS awesome presence.
This is the very substance that is missing from preaching in the era in
which we live. The absolute unbending justice of a Holy GOD is quite a foreign
consideration in the minds of the multitude who profess faith in CHRIST. It
has been replaced with a consideration of the LORD of heaven as being something
of a pathetic would-be benefactor who desires to do more than HE is allowed to
do by the creation which HIS own hands have made. HE is presented as ONE who
is helplessly standing by as men determine whether or not HE can save them and
bless them or even be their LORD, apart from their permission. HE is believed
by many to have HIS hands completely tied by the free will of HIS own creation.
Yet HE is that ONE whom the singers of the song of Moses and the LAMB,
describe, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only
art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments
are made manifest.” (Rev 15:4) HE is that ONE who John saw and testified, “And
I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.”(Rev 20:11)
“Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the
earth.” (Psa 46:8) “He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the
earth.” (Psa 105:7) GOD is fundamentally just, will not wink at sin, hates the
workers of iniquity, and will uphold HIS justice in the destruction of the
wicked. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of
the holy is understanding.” (Pro 9:10)
Moses was called by the LORD to behold a BURNING BUSH which was not
consumed and was inhabited by HIM who is a CONSUMING FIRE. Later on, HE
appeared to Moses on a mountain that was filled with fire and smoke, giving to
Moses a law which promised cursing and destruction upon all who would stray
from it. Moses asked the LORD for a glimpse of HIS glory. Surely Moses must
have expected some conflagration of terror to be set forth. We can only
imagine the consternation that must have gripped him in heart and mind when the
LORD responded to his request with a display of HIS goodness and mercy. “And
he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my
goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before
thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on
whom I will shew mercy.” (Exo 33:18-19)
Thus, we are made to understand that the “glory” of the LORD is in HIS
goodness and mercy which HE is pleased to shew to the sons of men in the LORD
JESUS CHRIST who is the FULNESS of the GODHEAD bodily, the express IMAGE of HIS
PERSON. It is in CHRIST that all of the knowledge of GOD which is possible for
men to grasp, is found. Even as HE said to HIS disciples, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
But it is impossible that sinful men could begin to have a true appreciation
of this revelation until they are made to see the dire condition they are in as
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, being rebel sinners, whose fists are
raised against the LORD of GLORY. By nature, men will not bow the knee to a
Sovereign GOD who dispenses mercy as HE, alone, sees fit. They will worship
the god(s) of their imagination, thinking that HE is altogether such a one as
themselves. (see Ps.50:21) They will assume that HE can be reasoned with
according to their own standard of justice and righteousness. The natural man
finds no wonder in the mercy of GOD, because he thinks that GOD should show
mercy to him, and that the LORD regards sin as lightly as he does.
Yet when a man is born again by the SPIRIT of GOD in the time and place of
GOD’s own choosing, he is made to shudder before a broken law, and to tremble
at the prospect of standing before the JUDGE of all the earth covered from head
to foot in filthy rags. The work of the SPIRIT is to convince men of sin
(their own), righteousness (perfection revealed in CHRIST), and judgment (by
HIM who destroys sinners). He is slain before GOD as Paul describes, “For I
was alive without the law once (i.e.; in ignorance of the true holiness of the
law): but when the commandment came,(i.e.; a true revelation of that Law and
the LAWGIVER) sin revived (i.e.; I saw myself to be condemned sinner), and I
died. (i.e.; I fell at HIS feet as a dead man) And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death.” (Rom 7:9-10)
That same SPIRIT, granting the gift of FAITH, to those so slain, overwhelms
them with the wonder of HIS mercy and the taste of HIS forgiveness, striking in
them an abiding sense of awe that HE would take them in HIS arms and love them
who had willingly disobeyed HIM without true regard to HIS holiness. As the
Psalmist says, “there is forgiveness with THEE that THOU mayest be feared.”
This fear of GOD causes them to desire to depart from evil, which thing the
terrors of the law could never do. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and
by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” (Pro 16:6) “For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh.” (Rom 8:2-3) Do you fear HIM? mam
