There can be no shining Knight without a damsel in distress

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Sunday,
January 24, 2010

There can be no shining Knight without a damsel in distress

7. As a part of that calling we are called to share in His eternal glory, 1PE 5:10.
 

Because of our failures, all glory must be imparted solely to the mercy and goodness of God.
 

God allows certain human shortcomings to remain so that you might be humble in your own eyes.....
and also demonstrate His glory!
 

The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.

2TI 1:9 who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

The purpose and the plan of God has to do with God glorifying Himself!

ISA 43:20-21 “The beasts of the field will glorify Me; The jackals and the ostriches; The people whom I formed for Myself, Will declare My praise”

1PE 4:16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God,

The mercy of God is a very vital aspect of the call of God, as part of the Divine decrees.

1PE 4:16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God,

This complete indictment is the fact that He has placed all of us under total depravity and under the category of condemnation so that He may extend His mercy to all.

One of the principles missing when the calling of God in the divine decrees is being taught by theologians is the fact that the mercy of God is ignored.

EXO 33:18 - Moses said, “I pray Thee, show me Your glory!”

EXO 33:19 the Lord said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

Mercy is grace in action.

Grace comes from God in the form of gifts but it returns to God in the form of glory.

Mercy is, in effect, a byproduct of the essence of God in action toward the human race in history.

That is why there is a direct relationship between the mercy of God and the glory of God and between the grace of God and glory of God.

ROM 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Grace comes from God in the form of gifts but it returns to God in the form of glory.

God’s plan throughout all the ages is that He might be glorified by the grace that He dispenses to undeserving creatures.

There can be no demonstration of mercy until you have someone in the condition that requires mercy.

Therefore, God not only decreed to create all mankind and then to permit the fall of all mankind, but then in grace He provided salvation for all mankind so that all mankind could be the beneficiaries of mercy.

There can be no demonstration of mercy until you have someone in the condition that requires mercy.

Condemnation must precede salvation.

“Why did God choose to create this particular universe, knowing that human beings would abuse their freedom and sin?”

In order to demonstrate His mercy to the angels, God allowed the fall of man, and gave mankind His Son, so whosoever receives His Son receives God’s mercy.

COL 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

Grace comes from God in the form of gifts (PSD, invisible assets, etc) but it returns to God in the form of glory from the winner believer only living in God’s plan performing divine good, EPH 2:10.

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We still need the manifestation of the grace of God and when we are recipients of the grace of God, we are objects of His mercy = mercy is grace in action.

1CO 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

2CO 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not get discouraged.

Occupation with Jesus Christ is the greatest provision of the mercy of God in our post-salvation lives.

A doxology is an expression of praise to God, especially a short hymn sung as a part of Christian worship.
It comes from the Latin doxologia taken from the Greek doxa (glory) = glory through words.

Unfathomable = incapable of explanation in terms of human viewpoint.

ROM 5:16 - we are condemned through no demerit of our own so that God could justify us through no merit of our own.

In His grace, He gave us His Son and then in His mercy, He saved us.

Grace comes from God in the form of gifts, but it returns to God in the form of glory.

The glory of God is revealed in His mercy toward mankind.

Church age believers are the objects of the maximum mercy and grace of God.

There can be no demonstration of mercy until you have someone in the condition that requires mercy.

There can be no knight in shining armor until there is a damsel in distress.

He came to seek and save the lost. And He came to rescue for Himself a bride.

His bride is vulnerable, full of faults, facing powerful enemies, needing mercy - and needing a Champion to fight for her.

A Champion who knows all about her, knows her failures, her weakness and sinfulness.......... and fights for her anyway!

Jesus Christ is our Knight in shining armor for the church in her distress and weakness and shame.

The insults concerning your sinfulness bounce of you and land on the body of Christ on the cross, 1PE 2:24.

God in eternity past decreed it better to have sheep that stray than to have statues that stay put.

GAL 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"

The cross is my secret weapon for my sinfulness.

That is why Paul said he boasted in nothing but his weaknesses - and that cross!