God Loves… Himself

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. Micah is spiritually transported beyond himself in admiring this incommunicable prerogative of the God of Grace. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage &c.;” {Micah 7:18;} and who can think that he will part with this privilege, which is his delight? For so it followeth in the same verse, “he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

There is nothing that is such good news to sinners who are broken of heart and who see their sin than to see, know, and understand that God saves sinners by free-grace. The eyes that God have opened to see his or her own sinful hearts are hearts that now see how impossible it is for anything or anyone to save them according to merit. It is only if the omnipotent God is pleased to save them because of who He is rather than because of who they are and what they have done. Oh how an enlightened sinner sees that everything that s/he has done has been tainted with sin or simply full of sin. This soul begins to see itself as having a mountain of weight upon it because of its sin and it cannot see how God Himself can save it. Free-grace is the only comfort an enlightened sinner can ever have.

The enlightened soul sees itself as in horrible deformity by sin. In previous BLOGS on this subject we have seen how God considers man as less than nothing, but now we will see that sin makes a person an enemy of God and far worse than just being nothing. Man can moan in his sin and wish that he was nothing, but that can never be again. Man may even cry out to God to make him nothing and how he may wish he had never been born, but that can never be. The enlightened soul beings to see itself as nothing but a mass of deformity in its sin and it sees itself how it is an enemy of God and even begins to see its own enmity against God. A soul that has been shown a fair amount of light in this subject will know that it hates God and sees the wrath of God against it.

The enlightened soul sees its own vileness and pollution and knows that God sees that with even greater clarity. This soul knows that the Scripture commands it to be holy as He is holy and yet it now sees that it is as unholy as the devil is unholy. The soul knows that human beings were created in one sense as children of God, but now it is a child of the devil. The soul knows that unless it has its sin wiped away it will perish with the devil in the lake of fire. This soul knows that even if it could stop sinning, it could never make up for one of its numerous sins each hour of each day. Oh the weight of sin upon this soul.

The enlightened soul now begins to see itself as a sinner by nature. Not only does it sin, but it sins because it has a sinful nature. It begins to understand that all of its thoughts are sinful as they come from a sinful heart. It begins to see that its desires are sinful as they flow from a sinful heart. It begins to understand with sorrow that all of its motives, even if the outward act was thought to be good, were sinful and nothing but sinful. It begins to see that all of its actions flow from a sinful heart, but also all of the words that come from its mouth are flowing from that sinful heart. Oh the weight of sin because of the past, because of the present, and also each and every thing that soul will do in the future. This soul sees the utter impossibility for it to ever make up for one sin because even its righteous acts are as filthy rags.

Oh how this soul needs to see and understand the glory of free-grace. Nothing can prevent the free-grace of God if He decides to save a sinner. Regardless of how filthy the sinner is, God can show grace if He is pleased to do so. No matter the mountains of sin that stand against the sinner and no matter the sinners complete inability to do one thing to help self, God can show grace if He is pleased to do so. The glory of the Gospel of free-grace is that God saves for the sake of His own name and not for our merit or demerit. God is able to save sinners because He saves for the glory of His grace and for the glory of His own name. Oh how this must be set out to sinners and they should be encouraged to look to grace alone for faith and all aspects of salvation. God is jealous for His own glory and He will save sinners only for His own glory. This is the way of free-grace alone.

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. Micah is spiritually transported beyond himself in admiring this incommunicable prerogative of the God of Grace. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage &c.;” {Micah 7:18;} and who can think that he will part with this privilege, which is his delight? For so it followeth in the same verse, “he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

The first sentence in the paragraph above is an enormously important concept in grappling with and understanding grace. Man cannot earn the slightest merit in order to move God to obtain grace, but there is also nothing in man so powerful that God cannot save the person He sets His love upon. The glorious nature of grace sets the focus on God and not man’s abilities in any way. There is no obligation put upon God in any way outside of Himself to show grace. There is no necessity in man in any way for God to move God to save man. There is no merit in man at all, so there is no merit that would put an obligation on God to save man. What motive would God have to save man that can be found in man? This is to say that there is nothing in man or that man can do that would put the least obligation on God to save man. Grace is free of causation as found in man.
Salvation is free grace to man as there is nothing that man can be, do, or earn in any way the least part of his salvation or to move God to give any aspect of salvation. This grace that God saves with is freely given and nothing can be more freely given. But, in man’s way of thinking there are huge obstacles to the salvation of man. The biblical truth about man is that man is so weak and has no power at all in spiritual things. In fact, man is dead in spiritual things. In Isaiah 40:22 we are told that man is less than the grasshoppers. God did not save the angels when they sinned and they are greater than man. God does not save the grasshoppers either. There is nothing in man that can move God to save him, yet salvation comes to man and most gloriously to the glory of God.

Isaiah 40:14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

The Scriptures teach that God did not consult with anyone and no one has given Him understanding or taught Him anything. No one can even inform God of anything. Though an aside, this should be instructive about prayer. The nations, taken collectively, are said to be like a drop from a bucket. The nations, again collectively considered, are regarded as a speck of dust on a pair of scales. The nations taken together are as nothing in His presence and in His regard or estimation are as less than nothing and meaningless. When all the nations as a whole are regarded as less than nothing or meaningless, then what is a single individual? What could move God to save nations when they are less than nothing or meaningless? But even more, what can move God to save an individual out of those nations?

Clearly, and without any question, there is nothing in man that can possibly precede the grace of God and so the grace of God is given without any cause found in man. When men look to themselves as trying to find a reason in themselves for God to save them, how this must be a wicked and horrible thing in the sight and nostrils of God. Arminianism must be looked at in this light as well. The Arminian looks to his or her free-will to come up with faith, belief, or a choice in order that God would respond to him or her. This is an affront to God and His free-grace. That is simply human beings trying to find something in themselves to move God to save them. It is a denial of the depravity of man and the free-grace of God.

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. Micah is spiritually transported beyond himself in admiring this incommunicable prerogative of the God of Grace. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage &c.;” {Micah 7:18;} and who can think that he will part with this privilege, which is his delight? For so it followeth in the same verse, “he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

It seems as if the pride and self-sufficiency of man have swallowed up the biblical teaching of the free grace of God in the modern day. We have so many scholars, so many excuses, so many qualifications, and so many conditions that they have seemingly swallowed up the free grace of God. It was not always so. There were men, who though dead in body still live through their writings, believed and wrote about the free grace of God and fiercely opposed the adding of any qualifications to it at all. The Gospel of grace alone still shines through their writings, but in the pulpits of this land the doctrines of free grace are extremely rare in our day.
“Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God.” What a glorious statement that sets out the beauty and grace of God. There is nothing in man that comes before the grace of God. There is nothing in man that prevents the grace of God. These are twin truths that set out the one grand truth of the freeness of God’s grace. No work, merit, or anything that man is or can do will ever move God to show grace to man. There is no sin or sins in man that can prevent the grace of God if He chooses to save sinners. Oh how this should encourage men to seek the grace of God! The omnipotent God can save any sinner He is pleased to save. His grace is connected to His power and as such it is an omnipotent grace. Nothing in man can prevent the grace of God in saving sinners.
“Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins.” Again, what beauty and what comfort these words have for our souls as the glory of grace shines forth. It is grace toward sinners that God saves sinners for the glory of His own name. It is grace toward sinners that for the sake of the love of God for Himself that He saves sinners. It is for the sake of the glory and beauty of His own righteousness, holiness, wrath, and all other attributes that God saves sinners. The Gospel is the location of the fullest display of the character and attributes of God if we have eyes to see. The Gospel is all about His glory and it is as we behold the glory of Christ that we are changed from one degree to another in that glory.
“It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us.” Can weak and sinful man free himself from his own sin? Can man remove sin from himself and remove them far away? It is impossible for man to do what God alone can do. It is impossible for man’s will to do what only God’s will has the ability to do. Sin has power and the devil has power over his subjects, so we must see that no man can remove himself from sin or remove sin from himself. Sin is part of the very nature of man, so clearly it takes grace to change the nature of man by regenerating him by what is in God rather than what is within man.
When we see these things put together, we see the absolute impossibility for God to show grace unless it is a free grace. The three points about grace in this little BLOG shows the freedom that true grace has. Nothing in man can precede or prevent true grace, so grace is free. It is for the sake of His own name that He saves sinners by grace alone, so grace is without cause and as such free to men. It is God’s prerogative to free those whom He will free from their sin, so grace is without cause apart from within the triune God. The freeness of grace is set out and demonstrated by these three points. We should behold the beauty of God and bow in humility and thankfulness.

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

The glory of free-grace is that it puts the glory of the grace of God and therefore the beauty of God Himself on display. The glory of the Gospel is that it does not require man to come up with faith or anything else as such, but what it does is require man to look to Christ for faith and all things apart from any worth or work in self. The Lord Jesus Christ did not look across humanity from eternity past and choose to die for those who would choose Him. The Lord did not pick out those who had more worth than others and choose to die for those. Instead of that, grace teaches us that the Lord Jesus died for sinners who had no worth and no merit at all. Instead of having merit, they had an infinite amount of demerit that needed to be paid.

The teaching of Scripture on redemption is that Christ paid a ransom price for sinners, but it was not because they had the slightest bit in them to deserve the slightest price to be paid. There is nothing at all in sinners that would move Christ to make the redemption price even slightly less because there was something of value found in them, but instead the whole of redeeming grace was moved by God within the Trinity. For grace to be really grace it must be a grace apart from anything in the sinner that would make one sinner more or less likely to be died for. No, no, and no a million times! Grace points to the Redeemer which points to the sovereign and electing grace of God as self-loved rather than any other reason. Grace points to the all-sufficiency of God for all causation and for all merit and for any and all things necessary to save sinners.

Christ came as a Redeemer and as such pay a ransom price for sinners. While we normally think of things we pay a price for as having a value, this is not the case with sinners. There was a price that had to be paid if the sinners were to be released, but it was not a value they had of themselves. It was of a debt that they had incurred as a result of sin and more sin. This debt was enormous and the sinners themselves were entirely helpless to pay it, so if the payment was to be paid it had to be paid by Christ. There was no other. There was nothing in them or about them to move the Father to send the Son to pay the debt, and there was nothing in them or about them to move the Son to come and pay the debt. What moved God as triune to pay the debt was His own glory and the love that God has within Himself as triune. The Redeemer could come if moved by love for the Father and His glory. It was love for the Father indeed that moved the Redeemer to take the sins of sinners upon Himself and pay that debt.

What is seen in Redemption, then, is a free and uncaused grace to sinners because God was moved by Himself to save sinners as there was nothing in them or about them that would move Him. God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace. In Christ the Father shone forth and manifested His glory and as He beheld Himself in Christ He was delighted and pleased. His perfect justice was satisfied with the ransom price and the Son loved the Father perfectly in perfect obedience and holiness in what He did. In this great love within the Trinity and the love for holiness of and for the Trinity we can see the glory of God and grace that moved them to save sinners apart from anything found in the sinner.

The glory of free-grace shines and is magnified in saving sinners because of who God is rather than anything found in sinners. This also gives the Gospel a far greater basis for saving sinners and a far greater comfort for sinners when they die to all hope in self and find hope in Christ alone. Since God saved and saves sinners apart from any motive, reason, or cause found within them, it only follows that all the true hope that they will have is found in Christ alone. It was Christ who fully paid the ransom price and did so out of love for the Father. It was Christ alone who perfectly glorified the Father in the place of sinners. It was Christ who paid the price and was resurrected to be the only hope. The Gospel of free-grace is full of hope in God, but the false gospel of free-will is full of hopelessness in the sinner trusting in self. A free and causeless grace is the Gospel of the glory of God.

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

The Gospel of grace alone should drive our minds to the biblical concept of free-grace. One very clear text on free-grace is Romans 3:24-28. In many modern minds the idea of free-grace is simply that there is no cost to the sinner involved, but that is not what the teaching really means. The concept of free-grace is that grace is free of any and all causation from the sinner and that the motivation for grace is found in God alone. There is no cause found in the sinner for what God would show grace and as such grace can only come to the sinner from a cause or motive that is found in God Himself. God shows grace because of Himself rather than because of something found in the sinner. This is not some harsh teaching, though it may ring in the ears that way to some, but this is the greatest hope that a sinner can find. The sinner must not look for any hope in self, but is to look to Christ alone for all grace and He is the only hope for the sinner.

The freedom of God to show grace must be stressed to sinners or they will always look to themselves for some reason that God will show them grace. They will try to improve themselves in order to obtain grace or they will try to come up with a belief or act of faith in order to move God to save them. Grace is either free of causation within the human or it is not. If grace is moved by even one of the smallest causes found in the human, then it is no longer free-grace and as such is not a pure grace at all and is a flat out denial of grace alone. Many denominations use the word “grace” while they stress a meaning that is far from the teaching of free-grace.

Romans 3:24 speaks of justification “as a gift by His grace” (NAS). The KJV and the NIV translate it as “justified freely by His grace.” The word for “gift” can mean freely or without cause. For example, John 15:24 uses the same word (dorea) and is translated as “without reason” (NIV) and “without a cause” (NAS). “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'” In other words, the people who hated Christ had no reason in Christ to hate Him. In salvation God has no reason in us to save us. All the causes and reasons are in Him. That is why grace is really grace and salvation is all by and of grace. Grace points to the causal factor being within God and not man. Grace points to the work of God and the unworthiness of man, which is to say that there are no causes in man for God to save man.

It is of interest to notice how the way “gift” is used in the contexts of the following passages (Matt. 10:8; Jn. 4:10; 15:25; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:20; Acts 11:17 Rom. 3:24; 2 Co. 11:7; Gal. 2:21; Eph. 3:7; 2 Thess. 3:8). We have to get past the way modern Americans and others use the word “gift” and why we give gifts these days (holidays and birthdays) and see that a gift in the biblical sense really reflects on the giver and not the receiver. The giver looks upon a needy person and without cause within the needy person, but because of reasons within the giver, a gift is given. Thus, the gift can be said to be given freely (free of causation of merit or worthiness in the receiver of the gift). If there is a cause within the receiver, then it is not truly a gift and it is not fully and completely free.

For grace to be grace, it must be given without a work done by or merit in the person receiving grace. Romans 11:6 sets this out for us with great clarity: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” For grace to be grace and to stay grace there can be no works done or any merit in the person. If there is a work done or merit found in the person, then grace is no longer grace. For the Gospel of grace alone and the Gospel of Christ alone to be in accordance with biblical grace, all the merit and causes have to be found in the Father, purchased by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. The Father does not decide to give grace based on any reason other than the Trinity, the Son does not purchase grace for sinners for any reason other than the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit does not apply grace for any reason other than the Trinity. The Gospel is by grace alone from beginning to end and it is a free-grace and a sovereign grace apart from any merit or worth in the human recipient. This is a non-negotiable to the Gospel of grace alone and it is glorious in how it shines the beauty of God I the face of Christ.

The biblical concept of grace is not found with study alone. As with most doctrines, one has to experience life in the light of doctrine and God has to teach it to the person in the depths of his or her soul. God is the true Teacher in all things and as one must come to Christ burdened with sin in order to learn humility (Matthew 11:25ff), so in order to understand the biblical teaching of grace God must teach the soul various things about Himself and then about the soul for the teaching of grace to take root in the inward man. The teaching of grace, though indeed grace is an attribute of God, is not learned by the communication of information alone. Indeed there is much that can be learned by communicating information about it, but until the soul has been taught grace in the depths of it the soul will not understand the true nature of grace.

While Roman Catholicism and Arminianism (not to mention Pelagianism) use the word “grace” and have concept of grace, they do not use the word in its full biblical meaning. Just because a person calls himself and thinks himself to be Reformed or a Calvinist or whatever is also no guarantee that the person truly understands grace. One can repeat catechisms and creeds which teach true information about grace and yet not be taught of God in the inner man.

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

The text above is quite clear as to the absolute and utter need of God to teach men in the inner man. We speak of efficacious grace as that which draws man to God, yet we also must understand that efficacious grace is not some power apart from the Father who draws men to Christ by His teaching. The people of God are said to be willing in the day of His power, which can also be understood as another instance of God working in and drawing His people. God does not draw people to Christ in any other way than by grace. God does not teach people for any reason that is not in accordance with grace and grace alone.

This is a point about true grace that must be pointed out. The very nature of grace demands that it always be grace alone. If anything is by grace, it will always be by grace alone. Grace will not have any rivals since God will not have any rivals in what He does. Grace will not have any help from man since by definition grace cannot have help in what it does. Grace works alone and will only work alone in terms of motivation and power. When grace works in man and man then works, it is not that man enables grace or assists grace in any way, but it is grace working in man moved by God’s self-motivation and self-sufficiency to enable man to work. In this way it is truly grace but it is then enabling grace. It is not man assisting or helping grace, but it is grace working in and through man.

The Reformation was a battle over many things, but some think of it as primarily being a battle over free-grace or sovereign grace. That same battle continues today, but the battle is not always fought over the same terms and it is not fought among the same people. During the time of the Reformation the real issue was over God’s sovereignty and grace. Shortly after, there was a counter-Reformation among Roman Catholics. The counter-Reformation, however, was not as intensely theological as the Protestant Reformation as the counter-Reformation was more or less morally focused.

In our own day Protestantism has great need of a doctrinal and a moral Reformation. It seems as if the driving issue and utter necessity of grace alone and the only type of real grace as sovereign grace has been lost. We treat grace as if it is a handmaiden to our own wills, works, and choices. We are ashamed to speak of the only type of grace as sovereign grace. We are afraid to step out of the shadows of Arminianism and Roman Catholicism and speak with clarity and power in asserting that there is no ability in man to obtain or assist grace at all. God is free and God is sovereign in giving grace or it is no longer grace. We have men who seem to be more afraid of being called hyper-Calvinists than they are of being at odds with Arminian teaching. But it must be understood that grace is always bound to God and His will and it is never bound to the choices of man and his will. Grace must always be free of causation in its relation to man and always bound in its relation to God and His glory. Men can speak much of the word “grace” and how it is for man, but until they show how God freely (without causation coming from man) shows grace apart from the worth, works, and merit of man they are not preaching biblical grace.