By Nature and By Grace

By Nature and By Grace

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Psalm 51:5-6

David understood human depravity in the first person. Our text for today lies in two distinct parts. David declared what he was by nature and what he would be by Free and Sovereign Grace. When he says, ‘Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me,’ he is not insulting his mother’s morality, but alluding to the universal human condition of utter depravity. As the old saying goes, ‘In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.’ We are sinners by nature and by choice. David’s sin was the outgrowth of his natural depravity and his own lustful choice. He owns it and identifies the source of it. By contrast, he understands what God desires. We see in the second portion of our text, ‘Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.‘ David recognizes what God wants and that it is utterly beyond human ability to render it. This brings us to the fact that salvation is from start to finish, the work of God. Justification is an act of God’s free grace. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace. Sanctification is a work of God’s free grace. All of these are inextricably related to the Person and Work of Christ. The ‘truth’ that God desires is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in making us like Christ. The wisdom we ‘know’ is what the spirit shows us of Christ. This makes the difference between what we are by nature and what we become by Grace.

Our Wonder-working God,
we praise You that You reach us in our depravity
and transform us by Your Power.
We rejoice that You will utterly transform us
and make us like Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning