October 7

According to His mercy he, saved us. - Titus 3:5.

WE are here reminded of the source of our salvation. In common things we observe a distinction between mercy and grace. Mercy is exercised towards the miserable. Grace is favour bestowed upon the guilty and the undeserving. But in the Scriptures grace always includes mercy. When Pharaoh’s daughter saw the infant Moses in the ark of bulrushes, her compassion was excited towards him: this was pure mercy. When Joseph saw before him his brethren, who envied him, and hated him, and, in intention, murdered him, instead of punishing them he not only promised them supplies, but assured them of his forgiveness: this was pure grace. And how fully does this apply to ourselves!

We were not only miserable but guilty, and not only guilty but undeserving, yea, ill and hell-deserving creatures. Therefore to this source the sacred writers attribute our recovery from the beginning to the end. Thus Peter says, “According to his abundant mercy he hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection from the dead;” and Paul here says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” The whole design of our salvation originates in and is secured by the purpose and grace of God. The plan was formed and accomplished long before we had a being. His love was, therefore, “preventing and free.”

Thus, while it gives us abundant encouragement, it excludes boasting, and disposes the believer to exclaim, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, be all the praise.” Thus, in our approaches to God, we must come not as buyers, but as beggars, bringing nothing in our hands, but obtaining all we need of mercy and grace, for time and eternity, “without money and without price.” Thus the Publican sought and found mercy. Thus it was with the Prodigal: when he came to himself, he said, I will arise and go to my father, and say, Father, I have some claim upon you as a child, and you should overlook my youthful follies. No; but he says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy child: make me as one of thy hired servants.” And how is he received?

When the father “saw him a great way off he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him,” and we find he was not only clothed but adorned, not only fed but feasted, and the whole family was filled with ecstasy, and the house with joy and gladness. Indeed, the whole design of revelation is to encourage the hope of the penitent. Thus, “what things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”