Such a wretch you would have been!

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have
drawn you with loving-kindness." Jeremiah 31:3

There are but few upon whom God bestows His saving love.

Tell me, are not the gifts which Christ has given you—rare
gifts? What would you have been—if Christ had not made
a difference between you and others—by those glorious gifts
which He has conferred upon you? You look upon some, and
see they are very ignorant of spiritual truth. O! What would
you have been—if God had not bestowed saving knowledge
upon you? You look upon others who are unclean, profane,
and filthy. Why! such a wretch you would have been—if
the Lord had not made a difference between you and them,
by bestowing Himself, His grace, and Spirit upon you.
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor
idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual
offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what
some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
By - Thomas Brooks


As I contemplate this article by Thomas Brooks, had it not been that God chose me before the foundation of the world as seen in Ephesians 1:4, I never would have repented of my sins and put my faith in Jesus Christ alone as my only hope of salvation for I was dead in my trespasses and sins as seen in Ephesians 2:1-9. I have experienced the new birth ( regeneration ) which is monergistic, which made me alive first and foremost as a completely sovereign act of God alone ( Not synergistic which would have required my cooperation by exercising my "free will" to "make a decision to accept Jesus" Today's gospel message leaves people dead in their sins, thinking they are going to heaven. ) Oh I thank my God for sovereignly saving my soul. All glory is due unto His holy Name. If He hadn't sovereignly saved me, I would still be in my sins, loving every one of them, but I have been justified and there is a struggle as seen in Romans 7:14-25, for my new nature hates sin and loves God and His law in the inner man, but there is another law or principle in my members which wars against me. I must wage war against my sin to mortify it and seek to walk in the Spirit that I might not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Rick Bates