“And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for it thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” (Exodus 20:25)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) Unhewn Help me not to hew the stones Let nothing in my hand be found Your atoning death is perfection The Cross most sacred, hallowed ground You alone have brought salvation You alone have ransomed me How dare I chisel on the altar On which You died to set me free? In my flesh there is no good thing It is Your Spirit that gives life I could not, cannot save myself No offering of mine would ever suffice You wrought salvation through Yourself For a man could not be found So you took on flesh, became a man Yet fully God, Your name renowned Nothing can be added, altered You have secured redemption’s deed You lived, and died, and rose exalted So from sin and wrath I might be freed… By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. True salvation occurs in no other way. God quickens, He makes alive, and it is only when we have been made alive (born again) that we can repent and believe. We are given new hearts, (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and new eyes, and new ears, and a desire to know Him the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (John 17:3) The altar was to be made with unhewn stones; man’s hands were not to chisel away anything, nor to attempt to make the altar look more pristeen/polished. The altar was to be a place of death/sacrifice which appeased God’s wrath, did away with man’s sin, and showed forth His holiness. It was God’s design. It was God’s plan to meet God’s purpose. As is our redemption in Christ Jesus. Our Rock unhewn, was taken to the altar of the Cross where He sacrificed Himself to appease God’s wrath, to put away man’s sin, and to show forth God’s holiness. And in like manner we are not to chisel away at what God has wrought in Christ. As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured. There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with thy tools, and fall upon thy knees in humble supplication; and accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of thine atonement, and rest in Him alone.” Written by Anne Marie Hawke August 2022 To subscribe to my blog or to find out more about my writing please visit my website at hawkewriter.com
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February 2022
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