Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 25– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“[God said to Moses], I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.'”

—Romans 9:15  (quoting Ex 33:19)

In these words, the Lord in the plainest manner possible claims the right to give or to withhold his mercy according to his own sovereign will. As the prerogative of life and death is vested in earthly kings, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to spare or condemn the guilty as it seems best in his sight.

By our sinful actions, all of us have forfeited all claims upon God, and we all deserve to die for ours sins. Gladly, the Lord, in his mercy, steps in to save some, but if he judges it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence for their sins, no one can rightly accuse him of wrongdoing. Foolish and disrespectful are those arguments about the rights of all men to be placed on the same footing. Ignorant, if not worse, are those accusations against a grace that would discriminate between subjects. Such arguments are but the rebellions of proud human nature against the Great King.

When we are brought to see our own eternal ruin incurred by the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer insist that the Lord is somehow obligated to save us. We do not complain if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing us an injustice. Instead, we feel that if he stoops down to look upon us, it will be his own free act of undeserved goodness for which we will forever bless his name.

How is it possible to sufficiently appreciate the grace of God? Because of his sovereign choice, we have no room for boasting. The Lord’s will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human merit is cast out with everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none that promotes more gratitude, and, consequently, none more sanctifying to those who trust in Christ. Believers should not be afraid of it but adoringly rejoice in it. [M&E]