The Power

of God

A. W. Pink
 The Power of God - Part One
A. W. Pink
We cannot have a right conception of God unless we think of
Him as all-powerful, as well as all-wise. He who cannot do what he
will and perform all his pleasure cannot be God. As God has a will
to resolve what He deems good, so He has power to execute His
will.
“The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can
bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite
wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will
may resolve . . . As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so
power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the
Divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if power
did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be
but feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a
mere scare-crow. God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal,
incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor
frustrated by the creature” (S. Charnock).
“God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power
belongeth unto God” (Psa. 62:11). “God hath spoken once;”
nothing more is necessary! Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
His word abides forever. “God hath spoken once;” how befitting
His divine majesty! We poor mortals may speak often and yet fail
to be heard. He speaks but once and the thunder of His power is
heard on a thousand hills.
“The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave
his voice; hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows,
and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited
them. Then the channels of waters were seen and the foundations of
the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of
the breath of thy nostrils” (Psa. 18:13-15).
“God hath spoken once.” Behold His unchanging authority. “For
who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among
the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?” (Psa. 89:6).
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto
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him, What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:35). This was openly displayed
when God became incarnate and tabernacled among men. To the
leper He said, “I will, be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy
was cleansed” (Matthew 8:3). To one who had lain in the grave four
days He cried, “Lazarus, come forth,” and the dead came forth. The
stormy wind and the angry waves hushed at a single word from
Him. A legion of demons could not resist His authoritative
command.
“Power belongeth unto God,” and to Him alone. Not a creature in
the entire universe has an atom of power save what God delegates.
But God’s power is not acquired, nor does it depend upon any
recognition by any other authority. It belongs to Him inherently.
“God’s power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The
mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased
power to the omnipotent One. He sits on no buttressed throne and
leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by His
courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendour from His creatures. He is
Himself the great central source and Originator of all power” (C. H.
Spurgeon).
Not only does all creation bear witness to the great power of God,
but also to His entire independency of all created things. Listen to
His own challenge: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations
of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the
measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line
upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened or who
laid the cornerstone thereof?” (Job 38:4-6). How completely is the
pride of man laid in the dust!
“Power is also used as a name of God, “the Son of man sitting at
the right hand of power” (Mark 14:62), that is, at the right hand of
God. God and power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated.
As His essence is immense, not to be confined in place; as it is
eternal, not to be measured in time; so it is almighty, not to be
limited in regard of action” (S. Charnock).
“Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard
of him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job
26:14). Who is able to count all the monuments of His power? Even
that which is displayed of His might in the visible creation is utterly
beyond our powers of comprehension, still less are we able to
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conceive of omnipotence itself. There is infinitely more power
lodged in the nature of God than is expressed in all His works.
“Parts of his ways” we behold in creation, providence,
redemption, but only a “little part” of His might is seen in them.
Remarkably this is brought out in Habakkuk 3:4; “and there was the
hiding of His power.” It is scarcely possible to imagine anything
more grandiloquent than the imagery of this whole chapter; yet
nothing in it surpasses the nobility of this statement. The prophet (in
a vision) beheld the mighty God scattering the hills and overturning
the mountains, which one would think afforded an amazing
demonstration of His power. Nay, says our verse, that is rather the
“hiding” than the displaying of His power. What does it mean? So
inconceivable, so immense, so uncontrollable is the power of deity,
that the fearful convulsions which He works in nature conceal more
than they reveal of His infinite might!
It is very beautiful to link together the following passages: “He
walketh upon the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8), which expresses
God’s uncontrollable power. “He walketh in the circuit of
heaven” (Job 22:14), which tells of the immensity of His presence.
“He walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psa. 104:3), which
signifies the amazing swiftness of His operations. This last
expression is very remarkable. It is not that “He flieth,” or
“runneth,” but that He “walketh” and that, on the very “wings of the
wind”—on the most impetuous of the elements, tossed into utmost
rage, and sweeping along with almost inconceivable rapidity, yet
they are under His feet, beneath His perfect control!
Let us now consider God’s power in creation. “The heavens are
thine, the earth also is thine, as for the world and the fullness
thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south thou hast
created them” (Psa. 89:11-12). Before man can work he must have
both tools and materials. But God began with nothing, and by His
word alone out of nothing He made all things. The intellect cannot
grasp it. God “spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood
fast” (Psa. 33:9). Primeval matter heard His voice. “God said, Let
there be . . . and it was so” (Gen. 1). Well may we exclaim, “Thou
hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand” (Psa.
89:13).
“Who, that looks upward to the midnight sky; and, with an eye of
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reason, beholds its rolling wonders; who can forbear enquiring, Of
what were their mighty orbs formed? Amazing to relate, they were
produced without materials. They sprung from emptiness itself. The
stately fabric of universal nature emerged out of nothing. What
instruments were used by the Supreme Architect to fashion the parts
with such exquisite niceness, and give so beautiful a polish to the
whole? How was it all connected into one finely-proportioned and
nobly finished structure? A bare fiat accomplished all. Let them be,
said God. He added no more; and at once the marvellous edifice
arose, adorned with every beauty, displaying innumerable
perfections, and declaring amidst enraptured seraphs its great
Creator’s praise. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens
made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth,” Psalm
150:1” (James Hervey, 1789).
Consider God’s power in preservation. No creature has power to
preserve itself. “Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag
grow up without water?” (Job 8:11) Both man and beast would
perish if there were not herbs for food, and herbs would wither and
die if the earth were not refreshed with fruitful showers. Therefore
is God called the Preserver of “man and beast” (Psa. 36:6). He
“upholdeth all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3).
The preservation of the earth from the violence of the sea is
another plain instance of God’s might. How is that raging element
kept confined within those limits where He first lodged it,
continuing its channel, without overflowing the earth and dashing in
pieces the lower part of the creation? The natural situation of the
water is to be above the earth, because it is lighter, and to be
immediately under the air, because it is heavier. Who restrains the
natural quality of it? Certainly man does not, and cannot. It is the
fiat of its Creator which alone bridles it: “And said, Hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed” (Job 38:11). What a standing monument of the power of
God the preservation of the world is!
Consider God’s power in government. Take His restraint of the
malice of Satan. “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). He is filled with hatred
against God, and with fiendish enmity against men, particularly the
saints. He who envied Adam in paradise, envies us the pleasure of
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enjoying any of God’s blessings. Could he have his will, he would
treat us all the same way he treated Job; he would send fire from
heaven on the fruits of the earth, destroy the cattle, cause a wind to
overthrow our houses, and cover our bodies with boils. But, little as
men may realize it, God bridles him to a large extent, prevents him
from carrying out his evil designs, and confines him within His
ordinations.
Too, God restrains the natural corruption of men. He suffers
sufficient outbreaks of sin to show what fearful havoc has been
wrought by man’s apostasy from his Maker. But who can conceive
the frightful lengths to which men would go were God to remove
His curbing hand? “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,
their feet are swift to shed blood” (Rom. 3:15) is the nature of every
descendant of Adam. Then what unbridled licentiousness and
headstrong folly would triumph in the world, if the power of God
did not interpose to lock down the flood-gates of it. See Psalm 93:3-
4.
Consider God’s power in judgment. When He smites, none can
resist Him (see Ezekiel 22:14). How terribly this was exemplified at
the flood! God opened the windows of heaven and broke up the
great fountains of the deep, and (excepting those in the ark) the
entire human race, helpless before the storm of His wrath, was
swept away. A shower of fire and brimstone from heaven, and the
cities of the plain were exterminated. Pharaoh and all his hosts were
impotent when God blew upon them at the Red Sea. What a terrific
word is in Romans 9:22: “What if God, willing to show His wrath,
and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” God is going to display
His mighty power upon the reprobate, not merely by incarcerating
them in Gehenna, but by supernaturally preserving their bodies as
well as souls amid the eternal burnings of the lake of fire.
Well may all tremble before such a God. To treat with disrespect
One who can crush us more easily than we can a moth, is a suicidal
policy. To openly defy Him who is clothed with omnipotence, who
can rend in pieces or cast into hell any moment He pleases, is the
very height of insanity. To put it on its lowest ground, it is but the
part of wisdom to heed His command, “Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a
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little” (Psa. 2:12).
Well may the enlightened soul adore such a God! The wondrous,
infinite perfections of such a Being call for fervent worship. If men
of might and renown claim the admiration of the world, how much
more should the power of the Almighty fill us with wonderment and
homage. “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods, who is
like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders” (Exod. 15:11).
Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit
confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. If God were stinted in
might and had a limit to His strength we might well despair. But
seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard
for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion
too strong for Him to subdue, no temptation too powerful for Him
to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve. “The Lord is
the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psa. 27:1).
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
The Power of God - Part Two
“Twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God” (Psa.
62:11). In our first article upon this glorious theme, we practically
confined our attention to the omnipotence of God as it is seen in and
through the old creation. Here, we propose to contemplate the
exercise of His might in and on the new creation. That God’s people
are much slower to perceive the latter than the former is plain from
Ephesians 1:19, where the apostle prayed that the saints might know
“what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” Very
striking indeed is this. When Paul speaks of the divine power in
creation, he mentions, “His power and Godhead” (Rom. 1:20), but
when he treats of the work of grace and salvation, he calls it,
“exceeding greatness of his power.”
God proportions His power to the nature of His work. The casting
out of demons is ascribed to His “finger” (Luke 11:20); His
delivering of Israel from Egypt to His “hand” (Exod. 13:9); but
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when the Lord saves a sinner, it is His “holy arm” which gets Him
the victory (Psa. 98:1). It is to be duly noted that the language of
Ephesians 1:19 is so couched as to take in the whole work of divine
grace in and upon the elect. It is not restrained to the past—“who
have believed according to,” nor to the time to come—“the power
that shall work in you.” But, instead, it is “the exceeding greatness
of his power to us-ward who believe.” It is the “effectual working”
of God’s might from the first moment of illumination and
conviction till their sanctification and glorification.
So dense is the darkness which has now fallen upon the people
(Isa. 60:2), that the vast majority of those even in the “churches”
deem it by no means a hard thing to become a Christian. They seem
to think it is almost as easy to purify a man’s heart (James 4:8) as it
is to wash his hands. That it is as simple a matter to admit the light
of divine truth into the soul as it is the morning sun into our
chambers by opening the shutters. That it is no more difficult to turn
the heart from evil to good, from the world to God, from sin to
Christ, than to turn a ship round by the help of the helm. And this,
in the face of Christ’s emphatic statement, “With men this is
impossible” (Matt. 19:26).
To mortify the lusts of the flesh (Col. 3;5), to be crucified daily to
sin (Luke 9:23), to be meek and gentle, patient and kind—in a word,
to be Christ-like—is a task altogether beyond our powers. It is one
on which we would never venture, or, having ventured on, would
soon abandon, but that God is pleased to perfect His strength in our
weakness, and is “mighty to save” (Isa. 63:1). That this may be the
more clearly evident to us, we shall now consider some of the
features of God’s powerful operations in the saving of His people.
1. In Regeneration
Little as real Christians may realize it, a far greater power is put
forth by God in the new creation than in the old, in refashioning the
soul and conforming it to the image of Christ than in the original
making it. There is a greater distance between sin and
righteousness, corruption and grace, depravity and holiness, than
there is between nothing and something, or nonentity and being.
And the greater the distance there is, the greater the power in
producing something. The miracle is greater according as the
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change is greater. As it is a more signal display of power to change
a dead man to life than a sick man to health, so it is a far more
wonderful performance to change unbelief to faith and enmity to
love, than simply to create out of nothing. There, we are told, “The
gospel of Christ…is the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth” (Rom. 1:16).
The Gospel is the instrument which the Almighty uses when
accomplishing the most wondrous and blessed of all His works, i.e.
the picking up of wretched worms of the earth and making them
“meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col.
1:12). When God formed man out of the dust of the ground, though
the dust contributed nothing to the act whereby God made him, it
had in it no principle contrary to His design. But, in turning the
heart of a sinner toward Himself, there is not only the lack of any
principle of assistance from him in this work, but the whole strength
of his nature unites to combat the power of divine grace. When the
Gospel is presented to the sinner, not only is his understanding
completely ignorant of its glorious contents, but the will is utterly
perverse against it. Not only is there no desire for Christ, but there is
inveterate hostility against Him. Nothing but the almighty power of
God can overcome the enmity of the carnal mind. To turn back the
ocean from its course would not be such an act of power as to
change the turbulent bent of man’s wicked heart.
2. In Convicting us of Sin
“For ye were sometimes darkness” (Eph. 5:8). Such was the
Christian’s fearful state before grace laid hold of him. He was not
only in darkness, but he himself was “darkness.” He was utterly
devoid of a single ray of spiritual light. The “light of reason” of
which men boast so much, and the “light of conscience” which
others value so highly, were utterly worthless as far as giving any
intelligence in the things of God was concerned. It was to this awful
fact that Christ referred when He said, “If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). Yes,
so “great” is that darkness that men “call evil good, and good evil…
put darkness for light, and light for darkness;…put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20). So “great” is that darkness that
spiritual things are “foolishness” unto them (1 Cor. 2:14). So
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“great” is that darkness that they are completely ignorant of it (Eph.
4:18), and utterly blind to their actual state. Not only is the natural
man unable to deliver himself from this darkness, but he has no
desire whatever for such deliverance, for being spiritually dead, he
has no consciousness of any need for deliverance.
It is because of their fearful state that, until the Holy Spirit
actually regenerates, all who hear the Gospel are totally
incapacitated for any spiritual understanding of it. The majority
who hear it imagine that they are already saved, that they are real
Christians, and no arguments from the preacher, no power on earth,
can ever convince them to the contrary. Tell them, “There is a
generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed
from their filthiness” (Prov. 30:12), and it makes no more
impression than does water on a duck’s back. Warn them that,
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), and
they are no more moved than are the rocks by the ocean’s spray.
No, they suppose that they have nothing to repent of, and know not
that their repentance needs “to be repented of” (2 Cor. 7:10). They
have far too high an opinion of their religious profession to allow
that they are in any danger of hell. Thus, unless a mighty miracle of
grace is wrought within them, unless divine power shatters their
complacency, there is no hope at all for them.
For a soul to be savingly convicted of sin is a greater wonder than
for a putrid fountain to send forth sweet waters. For a soul to be
brought to realize that, “Every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually,” (Gen. 6:5) requires the power of
omnipotence to produce. By nature, man is independent, self-
sufficient, self-confident. What a miracle of grace has been wrought
when he now feels and owns his helplessness! By nature, a man
thinks well of himself. What a miracle of grace has been wrought
when he acknowledges, “in me…dwelleth no good thing” (Rom.
7:18)! By nature, men are “lovers of themselves” (2 Tim. 3:2).
What a miracle of grace has been wrought when they abhor
themselves (Job 42:6)! By nature, man thinks he is doing Christ a
favour to espouse His Gospel and patronize His cause. What a
miracle of grace has been wrought when he discovers that he is
utterly unfit for His holy presence, and cries, “Depart from me; for I
am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). By nature, man is proud of his
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own abilities, accomplishments, attainments. What a miracle of
grace has been wrought when he can truthfully declare, “I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus…and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil.
3:8).
3. In Casting Out the Devil
“The whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), bewitched,
fettered, helpless. As we go over the Gospel narratives, and read of
different ones who were possessed of demons, thoughts of pity for
the unhappy victims stir our minds, and when we behold the
Saviour delivering these wretched creatures, we are full of
wonderment and gladness. But does the Christian reader realize that
we, too, were once in that same awful plight? Before conversion,
we were the slaves of Satan, the devil wrought in us his will (Eph.
2:2), and so we walked according to the prince of the power of the
air. What ability had we to deliver ourselves? Less than we have to
stop the rain from falling or the wind from blowing. A picture of
man’s helplessness to deliver himself from Satan’s power is drawn
by Christ in Luke 11:21, “When a strong man armed keepeth his
palace, his goods are in peace.” The “strong man” is Satan. His
“goods” are the helpless captives.
But blessed be His name, “The Son of God was manifested, that
He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). This, too,
was pictured by Christ in the same parable, “But when a stronger
than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from
him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth the
spoils” (Luke 11:22). Christ is mightier than Satan, He overcomes
him in the day of His power (Psa. 110:3), and emancipates “His
own” who are bound (Isa. 61:1). He still comes by His Spirit to “set
at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18), therefore is it said of
God, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13). The
Greek word for, “delivered,” signifies freeing by violence, a
plucking or snatching out of a power that otherwise would not yield
its prey.
4. In Producing Repentance
Man, without Christ, cannot repent, “Him hath God exalted with
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his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance” (Acts 5:31). Christ gave it as a “Prince,” and, therefore,
to none but His subjects, those who are in His kingdom, in whom
He rules. Nothing can draw men to repentance but the regenerating
power of Christ, which He exercises at God’s right hand. For the
acts of repentance are hatred of sin, sorrow for it, determination to
forsake it, and earnest and constant endeavour after its death. But
sin is so transcendently dear and delightful to a man out of Christ
that nothing but an infinite power can draw him to these acts
mentioned. Sin is more precious to an unregenerate soul than
anything else in heaven or earth. It is dearer to him than liberty, for
he gives himself up to it entirely, and becomes its servant and
slave. It is dearer to him than health, strength, time, or riches, for he
spends all these upon sin. It is dearer to him than his own soul.
Shall a man lose his sins or his soul? Ninety-nine out of a hundred
vote for the latter, and lose their souls on that account.
Sin is a man’s self. Just as “I” is the central letter of “sin,” so sin
is the centre, the moving-power, the very life of self! Therefore did
Christ say, “If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself” (Matt. 16:24). Men are “lovers of their own selves” (2
Tim. 3:2), which is the same as saying that their hearts are wedded
to sin. Man “drinketh iniquity like water” (Job 15:16). He cannot
exist without it—he is ever thirsting for it—he must have his fill of
it. Now, since man so dotes on sin, what is going to turn his delight
into sorrow, his love for it into loathing of it? Nothing, but
almighty power!
Here, then, we may mark the folly of those who cherish the
delusion that they can repent whenever they get ready to do so. But
evangelical repentance is not at the beck and call of the creature. It
is the gift of God, “If God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25). Then, what
insanity is it that persuades multitudes to defer the effort to repent
till their death-beds? Do they imagine that, when they are so weak
that they can no longer turn their bodies, they will have strength to
turn their souls from sin? Far sooner could they turn themselves
back to perfect physical health. What praise, then, is due to God if
He has wrought a saving repentance in us.
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 5. In Working Faith in His People
Saving faith in Christ is not the simple matter that so many
vainly imagine. Countless thousands suppose it is as easy to believe
in the Lord Jesus as in Caesar or Napoleon, and the tragic thing is
that hundreds of preachers are helping forward this lie. It is as easy
to believe on Him as on them in a natural, historical, intellectual
way, but not so in a spiritual and saving way. I may believe in all
the heroes of the past, but such belief effects no change in my life! I
may have unshaken confidence in the historicity of George
Washington, but does my belief in him abate my love for the world
and cause me to hate even the garment spotted by the flesh? A
supernatural and saving faith in Christ purifies the life. Is such a
faith easily attained? No, indeed! Listen to Christ Himself, “How
can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not
the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44). And again,
we read, “They could not believe” (John 12:39).
Faith in Christ is receiving Him as He is offered or presented to
us by God (John 1:12). Now, God presents Christ to us not only as
Priest, but as King—not only as Saviour, but as “Prince” (Acts
5:31)—note that “Prince” precedes “Saviour,” as taking His “yoke”
upon us goes before finding “rest” to our souls (Matt. 11:29)! Are
men as willing for Christ to rule as to save them? Do they pray as
earnestly for purity as for pardon? Are they as anxious to be
delivered from the power of sin as they are from the fires of hell?
Do they desire holiness as much as they do heaven? Is the
dominion of sin as dreadful to them as its wages? Does the
filthiness of sin grieve them as much as the guilt and damnation of
it? The man who divides what God has joined together when He
offers Christ to us has not “received” Him at all.
Faith is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). It is wrought in the elect by
“the operation of God” (Col. 2:12). To bring a sinner from unbelief
to saving faith in Christ is a miracle as great and as wondrous as
was God’s raising Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). Unbelief is
far, far more than entertaining an erroneous conception of God’s
way of salvation. It is a species of hatred against Him. So faith in
Christ is far more than the mind assenting to all that is said of Him
in the Scriptures. The demons do that (James 2:19), but it does not
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save them. Saving faith is not only the heart being weaned from
every other object of confidence as the ground of my acceptance
before God, but it is also the heart being weaned from every other
object that competes with Him for my affections. Saving faith is
that “which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6), a love which is evidenced
by keeping His commandments (John 14:23). But by nature, all men
hate His commandments. Therefore, where there is a believing heart
which is devoted to Christ, esteeming Him high above self and the
world, a mighty miracle of grace has been wrought in the soul.
6. In Communicating a Sense of Pardon
When a soul has been sorely wounded by the “arrows of the
Almighty” (Job 6:4), when the ineffable light of the thrice holy God
has shone into our dark hearts, revealing their unspeakable filthiness
and corruption; when our innumerable iniquities have been made to
stare us in the face, until the convicted sinner has been made to
realize he is fit only for hell, and sees himself even now on the very
brink of it; when he is brought to feel that he has provoked God so
sorely that he greatly fears he has sinned beyond all possibility of
forgiveness (and unless your soul has passed through such
experiences, my readers, you have never been born again), then
nothing but divine power can raise that soul out of abject despair
and create in it a hope of mercy. To lift the stricken sinner above
those dark waters that have so terrified him, to bestow the light of
comfort as well as the light of conviction into a heart filled with
worse than Egyptian darkness, is an act of Omnipotence. God only
can heal the heart which He has wounded and speak peace to the
raging tempest within.
Men may count up the promises of God and the arguments of
peace till they are as old as Methuselah, but it will avail them
nothing until a divine hand shall pour in “the balm of Gilead.” The
sinner is no more able to apply to himself the Word of divine
comfort when he is under the terrors of God’s law, and writhing
beneath the strokes of God’s convicting Spirit, than he is able to
resurrect the mouldering bodies in our cemeteries. To “restore the
joy of salvation” was in David’s judgment an act of sovereign
power equal to that of creating a clean heart (Psa. 51:10). All the
doctors of divinity put together are as incapable of healing a
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wounded spirit as are the physicians of medicine of animating a
corpse. To silence a tempestuous conscience is a mightier
performance than the Saviour’s stilling the stormy winds and raging
waves, though it is not to be expected that any will grant the truth of
this who are in themselves strangers to such an experience. As
nothing but infinite power can remove the guilt of sin, so nothing
but infinite power can remove the despairing sense of it.
7. In Actually Converting a Soul
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his
spots?” (Jer. 13:23). No, indeed, though he may paint or cover them
over. So, one out of Christ may restrain the outward acts of sin, but
he cannot mortify the inward principle of it. To turn water into wine
was indeed a miracle, but to turn fire into water would be a greater
one. To create a man out of the dust of the ground was a work of
divine power, but to re-create a man so that a sinner becomes a
saint, a lion is changed into a lamb, an enemy transformed into a
friend, hatred is melted into love, is a far greater wonder of
Omnipotence. The miracle of conversion, which is effected by the
Spirit through the Gospel, is described thus, “For the weapons of
our warfare [i.e. the preachers] are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of
God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
Well has it been said, “To dispossess a man, then, of his self-
esteem and self-sufficiency, to make room for God in the heart
where there was none but for sin, as dear to him as himself, to hurl
down pride of nature, to make stout imaginations stoop to the cross,
to make designs of self-advancement sink under a zeal for the glory
of God and an overruling design for His honour, is not to be
ascribed to any but to an outstretched arm wielding the sword of the
Spirit. To have a heart full of the fear of God, that was just before
filled with contempt of His wisdom; to have a hatred of his habitual
lustings that had brought him in much sensitive pleasure; to loathe
them; to live by faith in and obedience to the Redeemer, who before
was so heartily under the dominion of Satan and self, is a
triumphant act of infinite power that can ‘subdue all things’ to
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itself” (Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680).
8. In Preserving His People
“Who are kept by the power of God through faith…ready to be
revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5). “Kept from what? Ah, what
mortal is capable of returning a full answer? A whole article might
profitably be devoted to this one aspect of our subject. Kept from
the dominion of sin, which still dwells within us. Kept from being
drawn out of the narrow way by the enticements of the world. Kept
from the horrible heresies, which ensnare thousands on every side.
Kept from being overcome by Satan, who always seeks our
destruction. Kept from departing from the living God, so that we do
not make shipwreck of the faith. Kept from turning His grace into
lasciviousness. Weak as water in ourselves, yet, enabled to endure
as seeing Him who is invisible. This “is the Lord’s doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes.”
“Sin is a mighty monarch which none of his subjects can
withstand. There was more in Adam while innocent to resist sin
than in any other since, for sin has an ally within the fallen creature
that is ever ready to betray him into temptation from without. But
sin had no such advantage over Adam, nevertheless, it overwhelmed
him. The non-elect angels were yet better able to withstand sin than
Adam was, having a more excellent nature and being nearer to God,
yet, sin prevailed against them and threw them out of heaven into
hell. Then, what a mighty power is required to subdue it! Only He
who “led captivity captive” can make His people more than
conquerors.
“As the providence of God is a manifestation of His power in a
continued creation, so the preservation of grace is a manifestation of
His power in a continued regeneration. God’s strength abates and
modifies the violence of temptations, His staff supports His people
under them, His might defeats the power of Satan. The
counterworkings of indwelling corruptions, the reluctancies of the
flesh against the breathings of the Spirit, the fallacies of the senses,
and the rovings of the mind would quickly stifle and quench grace,
if it were not maintained by the same all-powerful blast that first
inbreathed it. No less power is seen in perfecting it, than implanting
it (2 Pet. 1:3)—No less in fulfilling the work of faith, than in
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ingrafting the word of faith (2 Thess. 1:11)” (Stephen Charnock).
The preservation of God’s people in this world greatly glorifies
the power of God. To preserve those with so many corruptions
within, and so many temptations without, magnifies His ineffable
might more than if He were to translate them to heaven the moment
they believed. In a world of suffering and sorrow, to preserve the
faith of His people amid so many and sore testings, trials,
buffetings, disappointments, betrayals by friends and professed
brethren in Christ, is infinitely more wonderful than if a man should
succeed in carrying an unsheltered candle alight across an open
moor when a hurricane was blowing. To the glory of God, the
writer bears witness that, but for omnipotent grace, he had become
an infidel years ago as the result of the treatment he had received
from those who posed as preachers of the Gospel. Yes, for God to
supply strength to His fainting people, and enable them to, “Hold
the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb. 3:14),
is more marvelous than though He were to keep a fire burning in the
midst of the ocean.
How the contemplation of the power of God should deepen our
confidence and trust in Him, “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in
the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Isa. 26:4). The
power of God was the ground of Abraham’s assurance (Heb. 5:7).
Oh, to bear constantly in mind that, “God is able to make all grace
abound toward us” (2 Cor. 9:8). Nothing is so calculated to calm the
mind, still our fears, and fill us with peace, as faith’s appropriation
of God’s sufficiency. “If God be for us, who can be against
us?” (Rom. 8:31). His infallible promise is, “Fear thou not; for I am
with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of
my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10). He who brought a nation through
the Red Sea without any ships, and led them across the desert for
forty years, where was neither bread nor water, still lives and
reigns!

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