Walkington's Works

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Love Of God

It is sovereign . This also is self-evident . God Himself , acting always according to His own imperial pleasure . Since God is sovereign , and since He is love , it necessarily follows that His love is sovereign . Because God is God , He does as He pleases ; because God is love , He loves whom He pleases . Such is His own express affirmation : " Jacob have I loved , but Esau have I hated " ( Romans 9:13 ) . There was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of divine love than there was in Esau . They both had the same parents and were born at the same time , being twins , yet God loved the one and hated the other ! Why ? Because it pleased Him to do so .
...He loves whom He pleases . For a moment , assume the opposite . Suppose God's love were regulated by anything else than His will ; in such a case He would love by rule , and loving by rule He would be under a law of love ; and then so far from being free , God would Himself be ruled by law . "In love : having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself , according to" -- what ? Some excellency which He foresaw in them ? No . What then ? "According to the good pleasure of his will" ( Ephesians 1:4-5 ) .

 

So that His purpose in election might stand. ;)

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Love Of God

It is infinite . Everything about God is infinite . His essence fills heaven and earth . His wisdom is unlimitable , for He knows everything of the past , present , and future . His power is unbounded , for there is nothing too hard for Him . So His love is without limit . There is a depth to it which none can fathom ; there is a height to it which none can scale ; there is a length and breadth to it which defies measurement by any creature standard . Beautifully this is intimated in Ephesians 2:4 , "But God who is rich in mercy , for his great love wherewith he loved us." The word 'great' there is parallel with the "God so loved " of John 3:16 . It tells that the love of God is so transcendant it cannot be estimated .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Love Of God

It is holy . God's love is not regulated by caprice , passion , or sentiment , but by principle . Just as His grace reigns not at the expense of it , but "through righteousness" ( Romans 5:21 ) , so His love never conflicts with His holiness . "God is light" ( 1 John 1:5 ) is mentioned before "God is love" (4:8 ) . God's love is no mere amiable weakness or effeminate softness . Scripture declares , "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth , and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" ( Hebrews 12:6 ) . God will not wink at sin , even in His own people . His love is pure , unmixed with any maudlin sentimentality .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Love Of God

Here then is abundant cause for trust and patience under divine affliction . Christ was beloved of the Father , yet He was not exempted from poverty , disgrace , and persecution . He hungered and thirsted . Thus , it was not incompatible with God's love for Christ when He permitted men to spit upon and smite Him . Then let no Christian calll into question God's love when he is brought under painful afflictions and trials . God did not enrich Christ on earth with temporal prosperity , for "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head " ( Matthew 8:20 ) . But He did give Him the Spirit without measure ( John 3:34 ) . Learn that spiritual blessings are the principle gifts of divine love . How blessed to know that when the world hates us , God loves us !

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Wrath Of God

A study of the concordance shows that there are more references in Scripture to the anger , fury , and wrath of God than there are to His love and tenderness . Because God is holy , He hates all sin ; because He hates all sin , His anger burns against the sinner ( Psalm 7:11 ) .

 

You'd think with all those references to the wrath of God, He probably wants us to know it's important.

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Wrath Of God

The wrath of God is as much a divine perfection as is His faithfulness , power , or mercy . It must be so , for there is no blemish whatever , not the slightest defect in the character of God . Yet there would be if "wrath" were absent from Him ! Indifference to sin is a moral, blemish , and he who does not hate it is a moral leper . How could He who is the sum of all excellency look with equal satisfaction upon virtue and vice , wisdom and folly ? How could He who is infinitely holy disregard sin and refuse to manifest His "severity" ( Romans 11:22 ) toward it ? How could He who delights only in that which is pure and lovely , not loathe and hate that which is impure and vile ? The very nature of God makes hell as real a necessity , as imperatively and eternally requisite , as heaven is . Not only is there no imperfection in God , but also there is no perfection in Him that is less perfect than another .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Wrath Of God

The wrath of God is a perfection of the divine character upon which we need to frequently meditate . First , so that our hearts may be duly impressed by God's detestation of sin . We are prone to regard sin lightly , to gloss over its hideousness , to make excuses for it . But the more we study and ponder God's abborrence of sin and his frightful vengence upon it , the more likely we are to realize its heinousness .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Wrath Of God

Our readiness or our reluctance to meditate upon the wrath of God becomes a sure test of how our hearts are affected toward Him . If we do not truly rejoice in God , for what He is in Himself , and that because of all the perfections which are eternally resident in Him , then how dwelleth the love of God in us ? Each of us needs to be most prayerfully on guard against devising an image of God in our thoughts which is patterned after our own evil inclinations .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Contemplation Of God

But the incomprehensibility of the divine nature is no reason why we should desist from reverent inquiry and prayerful striving to apprehend what He has so graciously revealed of Himself in His Word . Because we are unable to acquire perfect knowledge , it would be folly to say we will therefore make no efforts to attain to any degree of it .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Contemplation Of God

He created all things , and that for Himself ( Colossians 1:16 ) , yet it was not in order to supply a lack , but that He might communicate life and happiness to angels and men and admit them to the vision of His glory . True , He demands the allegiance and services of His intelligent creatures , yet He derives no benefit from their offices ; all the advantage redouds to themselves ( Job 22:2-3 ) . He makes use of means and instruments to accomplish His ends , yet not from a deficiency of power through the feebleness of the instruments .
The all-sufficiency of God makes Him the Supreme Object which is ever to be sought . True happiness consists only in the enjoyment of God . His favor is life , and His loving-kindnesss is better than life .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Bounties Of God

If we were more occupied with God's riches than with our poverty , Christ's fulness than our emptiness , the divine bounties than our leaness , on what a different plane of experience we would live !

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Bounties Of God

These blessings are based upon God's estimate of the value of Christ's sacrifice of Himself . The abiding worth of that sacrifice is immeasurable and illimitable ; as the personal excellency of the Son , as illimitable as the Father's delight in Him . The natue and extent of those blessings , which accrue to God's elect on the ground of Christ's finished work , are intimated by the substantives and adjectives employed by the Holy Spirit when He describes the profuseness of the divine bounties already bestowed upon us , and which we shall enjoy forever !

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Bounties Of God

But it is one thing to know , intellectually , of these bounties of God ; it is quite another , by faith , to make them our own . It is one thing to be familiar with the letter of them ; it is another to live in their power and be the personal expression of them .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Gifts Of God

A giving God ! What a concept ! To our regret , our familiarity with it often dulls our sense of wonderment at it . There is nothing that resembles such a concept in the religions of heathendom . Very much to the contrary ; their deities are portrayed as monsters of cruelty and greed , always exacting painful sacrifices from deluded devotees . But the God of Scriptue is portrayed as the Father of mercies , "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy" ( 1 Timothy 6:17 ) . It is true that He has His own rights -- the rights of holiness and proprietorship . Nor does He rescind them , but rather enforces them . But what we would contemplate here is something which transcends reason and had never entered our minds to conceive . The Divine Claimer is at once the Divine Meeter . He required satisfaction , of His broken Law , and Himself supplied it . His just claims are met by His own grace . He who asks for sacrifices from us made the supreme sacrifice for us ! God is both the Demander and the Donor , the Requirer and the Provider .

 

I didn't even realize that this was A.W. Pink you were dealing with all the time. I have his attributes of God. I just think it is so concise and yet powerful. Really good stuff.

In fact, I did a series at my church using this little book as my outline, along with Thomas Watson's A Body of Divinity, which I think is unmatched, the ol' Puritan.

 

Walkington Was Arthur Pink's Middle Name

Thanks , TC-G . I guess many folks who have viewed this thread have not been aware that I have been quoting Pink . I did identify him in my first post and in some "conversions" on this thread . But perhaps many have not picked-up on the fact .

So yes, Walkington is none other than A.W.Pink !

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Gifts Of God

The gift of life . "For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord " ( Romans 6:23 ) . There is a double antithesis between those two things . First , the justice of God will render unto the wicked what is due them for their sins , but his mercy bestows upon His people what they do not deserve . Second , eternal death follows as a natural and inevitable consequence from what is in and done by its objects . Not so eternal life , for it is bestowed without any consideration of something in or from its subjects . It is communicated and sustained gratuitously . Eternal life is a free bounty , not only unmerited but also unsolicited by us , for in every instance God has reason to say,"I am sought of them that asked not for me" ( Isaiah 65:1 ; cf. Romans 3:11 ) . The recipient is wholly passive . He does not act , but is acted upon when he is brought from death unto life . Eternal life -- a spiritual life now , a life of glory hereafter -- is sovereignly and freely bestowed by God . Yet it is also a blessing communicated by Him unto His elect because the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price of redemption . Yes , it is actually dispensed by Christ . "I give unto them [ not merely "offer" ] eternal life" ( John 10:28 ; see also 17:2-3 ) .

 

Gleanings In The Godhead

The Gifts Of God

The gift of spiritual understanding . "And we know that the Son of God is come , and hath given us an understanding , that we may know him that is true " ( 1 John 5:20 ) . What is communicated to the saint when he is born again ... consists of an eternal illumination , a divine light that shines in our hearts , enabling us to discern the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ ( 2 Corinthians 4:6 ) ... By this divine renewing of the understanding we can now perceive the peerless excellency and perfect suitability of Christ . The knowledge we have of Him is seated in the understanding . That fires the affections , sanctifies the will , and raises the mind into being fixed upon Him . Such a spiritual understanding is not attained by any efforts of ours , but is a supernatural bestowment , a divine gift conferred upon the elect , which admits them into the secrets of the Most High .