Your Unworthiness and Unfitness
God's mercy is available to all, regardless of their unworthiness, and He can justify anyone through the free grace of Christ.
Thomas Brooks emphasizes that even the most unrighteous individuals, as described by the Apostle Paul, can receive God's infinite grace and mercy. He reassures despairing souls that their unworthiness does not hinder God's ability to forgive and justify them through Christ. Brooks encourages listeners to trust in God's free grace, reminding them that if God can pardon the most wretched, He can certainly extend that same mercy to them. The sermon calls for a rejection of despair and an embrace of hope in God's redemptive power.
Text
The apostle Paul tells you of some monstrous miscreants who were unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners; and yet these monsters of mankind, through the infinite goodness and free grace of God, are washed from the filth and guilt of their sins, and justified by the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, and decked and adorned with the precious graces of Christ, 1 Cor. 6:9-11. Therefore do not say, O despairing soul, that you shall die in your sins, and lie down at last in everlasting sorrow.
Did it make for the honor and glory of His free grace to pardon them, and will it be a reproach to His free grace to pardon you?
Could God be just in justifying such ungodly ones, and shall He be unjust in justifying of you? Did not their unworthiness and unfitness for mercy turn the stream of mercy from them? No! Why then, O despairing soul, should you fear that your unworthiness and unfitness for mercy will so stop and turn the stream of mercy, as that you must perish eternally for lack of one drop of special grace and mercy?
Sermon Outline
- The Unworthiness and Unfitness of Sinners
- The Justice of God in Justifying Sinners
- The Stream of Mercy
- The Stream of Mercy for All
- The Stream of Mercy for You
Key Quotes
“Did it make for the honor and glory of His free grace to pardon them, and will it be a reproach to His free grace to pardon you?” — Thomas Brooks
“Could God be just in justifying such ungodly ones, and shall He be unjust in justifying of you?” — Thomas Brooks
Application Points
- Recognize that God's mercy is free and not based on our worthiness.
- Understand that God can justify anyone, regardless of their unworthiness.
- Trust in God's free grace and mercy, which is available to all.