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Prevenient Grace and the Salt of the Earth

Matthew 5:13

 

In GodÕs prevenient grace his elect remnant are Òthe salt of the earth.Ó His elect remnant is the blessing in AdamÕs fallen race for which reprobate sinners are temporarily preserved in life (2 Peter 3:9).

 

A Vine Preserved

Though in ourselves we were but worthless, dead, dried vines, fit only to be cut down and cast into the fire, the God of Glory, the God of all grace saw something else in us, something he alone could produce. He says, concerning a world lost in sin, ÒDestroy it not; for a blessing is in itÓ (Isaiah 65:8).

      The picture Isaiah gives is of a gardener about to cut down a dried up vine or prune away some of its unfruitful branches. The owner of the vineyard passes by and notices a cluster of new grapes on it. When he does, he cries out to the vine dresser, ÒDestroy it not; for a blessing is in it!Ó It looked worthless. It appeared to be needlessly occupying space. Ugly and dried up, the gardener would have cut it down, and would have thought that was the only thing to be done with it. Nothing in the field is uglier than a dried up vine. But the owner saw a blessing in that which appeared to be worthless.

 

The Parallel

The Holy Spirit gives us the parallel. — ÒSo will I do for my servantsÕ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.Ó Both the chosen and the reprobate are referred to as Òmy servantsÓ because all men, indeed all things are the servants of our God (Proverbs 16:4).

      GodÕs elect in this world are the blessing hidden among the nations of the world for which He preserves them. It is written, ÒThe Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentanceÓ (2 Peter 3:9).

 

GodÕs Longsuffering

The only reason God does not destroy this world right now is the fact that there is yet a remnant according to the election of grace who must be saved. Everything God does in this world is for the electÕs sake. Every benefit of providential mercy that reprobate men enjoy in time is because there lives among them GodÕs elect, of whom he says, ÒDestroy it not; for a blessing is in it.Ó This is not my opinion. This is what God says. — ÒSo will I do for my servantsÕ sakes.Ó

      Once Noah (the blessing) was safely in the ark, God destroyed the rest of the world. Once Lot (the blessing) was delivered unto Zoar, God destroyed Sodom. Joshua and Caleb (the blessings) entered into the land of promise, though all those who came out of Egypt with them perished under the wrath of God. The rest of the world exists and is used by God for his elect, the blessing in it (Isaiah 43:1-6). In a word, as God the Holy Ghost tells us in 2nd Peter 3:15, the longsuffering of God with the world is the salvation of his elect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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