“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
The problem is not the Lord’s inability or unwillingness to save; it is men’s REFUSAL to be saved by the grace of God unto good works. People refuse cleansing by the blood of the Lamb, and so we die in sinful religion, exalting ourselves, and not obeying. When God cursed mankind, He left us
spiritually dead, both INEXCUSABLE and unwilling: we WILL NOT come to Christ.
Therefore, salvation is by absolute grace from start to finish. We do not start “by God”, and then move into “by us”. God gives us faith in His grace to save us, the sinner. He will save us according to the word, and we come to Him because we believe both the warning, “your house is left unto you desolate”, and we believe the promise, “How often would I have gathered you”. For the believer, there is no time when we’re REJECTED of God, no matter what preceded our need. I may have sinned horribly, but Christ’s OPEN ARMS to the perishing not only warns me against NOT coming, but it bids me to come saying, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). Therefore, let every sinner come to Christ, knowing that you could not have come, except God saved you in love and opened your eyes to what others just like you cannot see. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
Salvation by grace is God SAVING people who despise Him more than anything, a people who hate holiness, who He changes into WILLING comers to Christ, willing bathers in the blood of acceptance, and thereby willing servants to do His will.
We come because Christ says, “Come”, we come because have GREAT need, and we come to be made obedient by the grace of God.
spiritually dead, both INEXCUSABLE and unwilling: we WILL NOT come to Christ.
Therefore, salvation is by absolute grace from start to finish. We do not start “by God”, and then move into “by us”. God gives us faith in His grace to save us, the sinner. He will save us according to the word, and we come to Him because we believe both the warning, “your house is left unto you desolate”, and we believe the promise, “How often would I have gathered you”. For the believer, there is no time when we’re REJECTED of God, no matter what preceded our need. I may have sinned horribly, but Christ’s OPEN ARMS to the perishing not only warns me against NOT coming, but it bids me to come saying, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). Therefore, let every sinner come to Christ, knowing that you could not have come, except God saved you in love and opened your eyes to what others just like you cannot see. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
Salvation by grace is God SAVING people who despise Him more than anything, a people who hate holiness, who He changes into WILLING comers to Christ, willing bathers in the blood of acceptance, and thereby willing servants to do His will.
We come because Christ says, “Come”, we come because have GREAT need, and we come to be made obedient by the grace of God.
