July 21

So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. — Rom 9:16 BSB

Anyone who is not involved in the eternal election of God the Father, in the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of God the Son, and in the work and witness of God the Holy Spirit—no matter their name, denomination, profession, outward conduct, or the doctrines they profess—will die like Esau, Balaam, Saul, Judas, or Ahithophel. They will never see the King in his beauty, the land far off, the new Jerusalem, or the blood of sprinkling “that speaks better things than the blood of Abel.”

But every soul who has been deeply aware of their lost condition, who has found a resting place in Christ, who has turned away from the world and even the professing church and gone toward Zion with tears in their heart, in whose soul the Holy Spirit has planted deep desires, and what I would call divine determinations, strengthened by God’s grace—not free will, but the inward work of grace—who has sought to join themselves to the Lord in a covenant never to be forgotten, so they may live in Christ and die in Christ, live unto Christ and in Christ, feel his power, know his love, taste his grace, and rejoice in his mercy—every such soul, like Israel of old, will be carried through this wilderness and valley of tears and into the presence of God. There, they will enjoy eternal bliss and glory, and they will see the One who is the source of all joy and blessedness. Every such tried and tempted soul will come into a deep experience of Christ here on earth and an endless delight in him above.