Wednesday, August 09, 2006
"Man’s Total Depravity" by A. W. Pink
"The depravity of mankind makes evident the infinite patience of God. “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power” (Nahum 1:3). How significant is the conjunction of those divine perfections! It is not because God is indifferent to men’s wickedness that He does not speedily take vengeance on them; still less because He lacks the ability to do so God is not at the command of His passions as men are. He can restrain His anger when under great and just provocation to exercise it. His power over Himself is the cause of His slowness to execute wrath; nevertheless, His might to punish is as great as His patience to spare. What fearful provocations, insults and injuries God meets with daily from mankind. Charnock well states:
How many millions of practical atheists breathe every day in God’s air and live upon His bounty, who deserve to be inhabitants of hell rather than possessors of earth! An infinite holiness is opposed, and infinite justice provoked, yet an infinite patience forbears the punishment, and infinite goodness relieves our wants.
What a wonder it is that God has protracted human history until now, and that He still “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust.” Patience is as truly a divine attribute as are holiness, wisdom and faithfulness.
What a mercy that God does not strike dead those who brazenly defy Him and take His holy name in vain! Why does He not suddenly cut off every blatant infidel, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open her mouth and swallow the persecutors of His people, as He did when Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and Aaron? ‘Why does He tolerate the countless abominations in Christendom which are being perpetrated under the holy name of Christ? Only one answer is
possible: Because He endures “with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22)."
What Pink wrote is good. We should be thankful God has mercy on us when we sin. God is more patient with us than we would be towards others.
Related Tags: A. W. Pink, Man’s Total Depravity, God, mercy, grace, sin, wrath, Stehpen Charnock, practical atheists
How many millions of practical atheists breathe every day in God’s air and live upon His bounty, who deserve to be inhabitants of hell rather than possessors of earth! An infinite holiness is opposed, and infinite justice provoked, yet an infinite patience forbears the punishment, and infinite goodness relieves our wants.
What a wonder it is that God has protracted human history until now, and that He still “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust.” Patience is as truly a divine attribute as are holiness, wisdom and faithfulness.
What a mercy that God does not strike dead those who brazenly defy Him and take His holy name in vain! Why does He not suddenly cut off every blatant infidel, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open her mouth and swallow the persecutors of His people, as He did when Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and Aaron? ‘Why does He tolerate the countless abominations in Christendom which are being perpetrated under the holy name of Christ? Only one answer is
possible: Because He endures “with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22)."
What Pink wrote is good. We should be thankful God has mercy on us when we sin. God is more patient with us than we would be towards others.
Related Tags: A. W. Pink, Man’s Total Depravity, God, mercy, grace, sin, wrath, Stehpen Charnock, practical atheists
