Category: Total Depravity

Do we really understand the mercy of God?

Posted on by Michael Wine

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

This is the prophet’s conclusion when considering all of the works of God. Immediately before this often quoted verse, the prophet Jeremiah lists some of God’s deeds:

  1. God has afflicted him with a rod of wrath (vs 1).
  2. Driven him into darkness with no light (vs 2).
  3. Been against him all day long (vs 3).
  4. God has wasted away Jeremiah’s skin and broken his bones (vs 4).
  5. Besieged him with bitterness and tribulation (vs 5).
  6. Has made him live like a dead man in the dark (vs 6).
  7. God has trapped Jeremiah in walls without escape (vs 7).
  8. Has ignored all Jeremiah’s prayers for help (vs 8).
  9. Made all his plans crooked (vs 9).
  10. God acts like a vicious wild animal toward the prophet (vs 10).
  11. God has torn Jeremiah into pieces (vs 11).
  12. God uses Jeremiah for target practice (vs 12-13).
  13. God has made the prophet forget what happiness means (vs 16-17).

The result of all of this is that Jeremiah despairs saying, “…so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord” (vs 18).

If anyone could question God’s love, his goodness, his faithfulness, it would be Jeremiah. And yet he does not. Instead he says:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve. Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!

Lamentations 3:21-40

God’s mercy and faithfulness, wrath and justice, towards us, must never be divorced in our minds from our sin and rebellion against him. Notice how Jeremiah mentions man’s sin, and how it leaves him no excuse or defense.

“Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?“

When we forget the magnitude of the offense we have given to God with our wicked ways, we cheapen his mercy, and run the risk of not accepting it from his hand. When that happens we must take his wrath. God will give one thing or another. He will give either his great wrath because of our sin, or he will give his great mercy and grace to cover our sin and accept us when we return to him.

The mercy of God is not a free pass. It is not sparkly fairy dust sprinkled on your life to make your dreams come true. It is the only thing that will keep you safe from the mighty wave of God’s wrath. Let us not complain when that wrath is manifested in our world.

Earthquakes, plagues, buildings falling, fires eating away homes and lives, panic and riots and hate – these are all results of our sin, and God’s wrath towards that sin. They are signs that we must return to God, and receive the mercy He freely offers to us in the cross of his Son Jesus.

Around the Wicket Gate by Charles Spurgeon

Posted on by Michael Wine

If you would like a solid dose of pure gospel, I highly recommend Around the Wicket Gate by Charles Spurgeon. Find for free as an eBook here at Project Gutenberg.

To give you a taste of it, here is a quote:

To suppose that the Lord Jesus has only half saved men, and that there is needed some work or feeling of their own to finish his work, is wicked. What is there of ours that could be added to his blood and righteousness? “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Can these be patched on to the costly fabric of his divine righteousness? Rags and fine white linen! Our dross and his pure gold! It is an insult to the Saviour to dream of such a thing. We have sinned enough, without adding this to all our other offences.

Even if we had any righteousness in which we could boast; if our fig leaves were broader than usual, and were not so utterly fading, it would be wisdom to put them away, and accept that righteousness which must be far more pleasing to God than anything of our own. The Lord must see more that is acceptable in his Son than in the best of us. The best of us! The words seem satirical, though they were not so intended. What best is there about any of us? “There is none that deoth good; no, not one.” I who write these lines, would most freely confess that I have not a thread of goodness of my own. I could not make up so much as a rag, or a piece of a rag. I am utterly destitute. But if I had the fairest suit of good works which even pride can imagine, I would tear it up that I might put on nothing but the garment of salvation, which are freely given by the Lord Jesus, out of the heavenly wardrobe of his own merits.

It is most glorifying to our Lord Jesus Christ that we should hope for every good thing from him alone. This is to treat him as he deserves to be treated; for as he is God, and beside him there is none else, we are bound to look unto him and be saved.

Around the Wicket Gate, C.H. Spurgeon

I’ve never been more encouraged by someone telling me I have no shred of goodness in me!