Not Unto Us

 

Not Unto Us

 

Psalm 115:1

 

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

 

The Apostle Paul while writing to the saints of the church of God at Thessalonica thanked God that He had from the beginning chosen them to salvation, as it is written: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 2:13). Notice that the Apostle gave no credit to the Thessalonians themselves for anything that they had done but his thanks were directed to God. Not because God had made salvation possible for them; but because God had chosen them to salvation, that is God had chosen to save those particular persons by His grace in Christ Jesus, not because they were worthy of His choice of them but because He determined in Himself to save them according to His own good pleasure (Ephesians 1:9). The Apostle did not thank the saints for making the right choice but He thanked God for choosing whomsoever He would save by His grace in Christ Jesus. The Apostle thanked God for the gift of His grace freely given to whomsoever He pleased, with no regard to their works, that is with no regard to the goodness or baseness of the individuals who were chosen. Salvation is not by the works of man; God’s salvation in by the grace of God and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  

 

The salvation of sinners is not a cooperative effort between the sinner and the Savior, NO! “salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). That means that salvation is brought about by the choice that God made to save sinners according to His mercy, grace and goodness before He made any of the creation that He has made (II Timothy 1:9). In the case of King David who is the penman of the fifty-first Psalm: To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (Psalm 51:1). King David did not ask God to forgive because of any goodness that was to be found in himself. King David asked forgiveness because God is good and because God is full of mercy and lovingkindness. The King had not taken notice of his offence until Nathan the prophet had been sent of God to warn him of his sin. God first instructed the King that he had sinned. And then by His grace, God freely gave repentance to the king to cause him to seek forgiveness for his awful sin against God, whose law the King had broken (II Timothy 2:25).

 

 

 “..The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3).  “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” blind the hearts and minds of the sons of men so that their hearts are full of madness while they live in this world, as it is written: “And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus” (Luke 6:11). It is madness in the creature that causes him to make war with his creator; but that is the usual behavior of the natural man. His mind is full of the lusts of this world so that he cannot see clearly that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22). It is in the heart of the natural man to fight against His God, as it is written: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3). And in the Revelation of Jesus Christ it is written: “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb (Jesus Christ: writer), and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

 

Sin in the nature of the old man is the source of madness and evil that is in the heart and mind of the natural man. And that indwelling sin in the heart of man had its beginning in the fall of Adam the covenant representative of the natural race of men. Adam’s original created condition was very good in God’s sight (Genesis 1:26-31); but Adam was  a mutable creature, as it is written: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). All the natural sons and daughters of Adam are inheritors of that original sin and sin nature (which had its rise through the work of Satan) so that “..the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). And according to the scriptures: “..the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

 

The Natural man is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). And because of the enmity of the carnal mind he is incapable of thinking of God without his stubborn rebellion interfering with and eradicating correct and reasonable thoughts of God and the gospel. In the unregenerate man his unrenewed mind is filled with spiritual insanity, evil and madness and for that reason he will not come to the Savior that he might be saved, as it is written: “..ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). The ancient moto of natural men has never changed, that moto being “we will not” as it is written: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken” (Jeremiah 6:16-17). Sin in the members, that is indwelling sin in our natural members, acts with the stable inflexibility of a law, as it is written: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23).

 

 

It is the God of Holy Scripture that breaks up the hard and stony heart, with its obdurate rebellion and gives a new heart that is willing to hear, and willing to obey the word of God, as it is written: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power..” (Psalm 110:3). God gives the ability to hear and obey as well as the willingness to hear and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ by giving eternal life to His children. Without that anointing of God the Holy Ghost (who is the spirit of wisdom and revelation [Ephesians 1:17-18] and the Spirit of life {Romans 8:2}), no man is able or willing to believe the Savior, as it is written: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45).

 

It is only the new heart that is capable of receiving the things of the Spirit of God. The old man with his hard and stony heart is totally incapable of such reception. Our Covenant God, Jehovah, has given a promise to His children of the everlasting covenant, saying: “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:7). And again our God has promised: “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:10-12). And by the Prophet Ezekiel, God has declared His promise: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

 

The children of God are saved in Christ Jesus with an everlasting salvation, as it is written: “But Israel (the Israel of God Galatians 6:16; Romans 9:6-11: writer) shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end” (Isaiah 45:17). For the LORD has said: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). The children of God are created in Christ Jesus, as it is written: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The children of God are created unto the praise and glory of God our Father, as it is written: “Jesus saith unto her (Mary Magdalene: writer), Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Believer, these things belong to you who are in Christ Jesus.

 

AJ Ison

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.