The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 3

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 3

Augustine says: "To justify a sinner, to new create him from a wicked person to a righteous man, is a greater act than to make a new heaven and earth!" Nevins says, "Some think it easy to save a soul, to bend a will, to change a heart. But it is God's greatest work. Creation is not so hard. It is the most wonderful species of resurrection. With men it is impossible, with God it is possible. In saving a soul He puts forth a mightier energy than in making many worlds." In his "Views in Theology" Beecher admits that "the power of God in regeneration is represented as among the greatest displays of his omnipotence ever made,k or to be made in the history of the universe. When the fair creation rose fresh in beauty from the hand of God, the morning stars sang together; and all the sons of God shouted for joy; but sweeter songs will celebrate, and louder shouts will attend, the consummation of redemption by the power of God's Spirit; and such brighter glories of God, and illustrations of His power will be manifested to principalities and powers by the Church, as will cause the light of His glory in physical creation to go out and be forgotten, as the stars fade and are lost amid the splendors of the sun." Hervey says, "Without the powerful agency of the blessed Spirit to enlighten our understandings, and to apply the doctrine of the Bible to our hearts, we shall be, even with the word of light and life in our hands, somewhat like blind Bartimeus, sitting amidst the heat of the day; or like the withered arm, with invaluable treasure before it."

Left to the freedom of his own will, man easily destroyed himself; but omnipotence alone can save him. In physical, as in spiritual things, destruction is easy, and restoration difficult. The first Adam though earthy could ruin all whom he represented. But the second Adam must needs to be the Lord from heaven, as His work was to save the lost. Our second birth is the result of the almighty energy of God's Holy Spirit.

This new birth we must all undergo - or be forever undone. "All hangs upon this hinge. If this is not done, you are undone - undone eternally. All your profession, civility, privileges, gifts, and duties are ciphers, and signify nothing - unless regeneration is the figure put in front of them." This great change is a passing from death unto life. Nor can that transition ever be made in any other way. Better to have been born a heathen, a beast or a monster, yes, better never to have been born at all - than not to be born again!

For consider: Of all mercies,  this comes through most and greatest difficulties (Ephesians 1:19-20). This is a spiritual mercy, excelling in dignity of nature all others more than gold excels the dirt under your feet (Rev. 3:18). This is a mercy immediately flowing out of the fountain of God's electing love (1 Thess. 1:4, 5). This is a mercy that infallibly secures salvation (Hebrews 6:9). Lastly, this is an eternal mercy (John 4:14).

In due time the regenerate experience their third birth, which is into glory, but of this more hereafter. The first of these births is natural, the second and third are supernatural; the first is carnal, the others are spiritual; the first inclines to sin; the second inclines to holiness; the third forever perfects both holiness and happiness. Each of these births proves that God is almighty, wise and good. 

We cannot be too grateful for any of these births; but the pious heart loves to dwell on the first as the beginning of natural life, on the second as the beginning of spiritual life, and on the third as the beginning of everlasting life.

None of these births is the cause of the other, but God is the author of them all. To Him belongs all the glory of our being, of our well-being, of our unfading bliss. In our spiritual regeneration the grace of God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is very illustrious. Redemption devised by God, and purchased by Christ, is in the new birth applied by the Spirit.

One of the most admirable effects of divine grace in regeneration is the victory gained over the strongest evil inclinations. Many a time the bitterest foes to the gospel, have by the power of the new birth become the warmest friends of truth and righteousness. As David displayed his prowess by slaying Goliath, so the grace of God gains the victory over sins. The jailer at Philippi practiced undeserved cruelty towards his prisoners - but as soon as his heart was changed, he washed their stripes. In particular does the new birth bring a sinner out of himself, and lead him to exalt the Saviour, and glorify God with all his powers. So that the soul rests in God, is satisfied with Him as its chief good, and glories even in shame and reproach for the advancement of His cause. "All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by His boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond, beyond the reach of change and decay!" (1 Peter 1:3-4).

~William S. Plumer~

(The End)