Church discipline

Some people think if our righteousness and our good deeds cannot influence God that He should show His mercy upon us to our salvation, that He should for them forgive our sins, what good is this righteousness? Why may we not plead it? And as for those who speak of redemption from under the law, what rule of righteousness have they to walk by? I do not know how it is with others, but if there is any person I want to have the favour and friendship of, I like to please them. And if the God of all grace has our hearts, if ever He sheds abroad His love in the hearts of His people, if that is worth anything, we shall not want His frown. He will show His displeasure against sin, and withhold the light of His countenance - that everlasting love of His in its blessed effects and sweet influences will be withdrawn from us. God will be honoured and glorified; so Wisdom says: "I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me." And if God has ever shed His love abroad in our hearts, who that has ever tasted it can say it is nothing? If He opens up His grace in the Person of His Son, showing how that infinite, eternal, almighty God, the God of all grace, how He in infinite wisdom so contrived to show His grace to us unworthy creatures, and did it not only to forgive our sins, but to raise us up from our low estate far beyond what ever a creature was made. Adam in innocency was never raised so high as we are by Jesus Christ. Angels, though exalted high, are never raised so high as the bride of Christ is; whatever they may see, they have not union; whatever they may delight in, they are not heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ; they are not heirs of glory and one with the Son of God. The saints of God are said to inherit all things. Now when God sheds abroad this love, and shows its heights, and breadths, and lengths, and depths, is not that something to know? To find every need supplied, to find an Almighty Friend that is able and willing to save us from every foe, and One that will break every foe to pieces in His own time and in His own way, and show His righteousness and justice in so doing; that they were wilful and desperate in their enmity against Him and His elect, therefore He brings upon them the just reward of their ways and doings, but He bestows unmerited grace upon us - is it not enough to induce delight in Him who bestows unmerited mercy, all that we stand in need of, and more than heart can conceive? If that is not enough to produce love! If it is not thus, woe be to those who so judge of it! "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness?" Well, He says, "He retaineth not His anger for ever." But why - "Because He delighteth in mercy." It is His good pleasure, His delight, His joy. He delighteth in it, it shows forth the riches of His grace. In the destruction of the wicked we have God's holiness and justice shown forth; in the riches of His grace we have all the rich glory of Jehovah shown forth. In the one "a part," in the other "the whole." So we find when God executes His vengeance upon His enemies, He calls it His strange work, His strange acts which He brings to pass.
When He bestows His favours upon His own elect, they are called "the unsearchable riches of His grace." He says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." But in the exaltation of His grace, there His delight is shown. "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him." There is God's eternal goodwill and pleasure.
In the destruction of His foes righteousness and justice shine forth; God, a holy God, and His righteous execution of vengeance upon the transgressors of His holy law. Come to His own elect: we find there holiness, and justice, and truth; this righteousness of God shown forth in the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. He died for our sins - there God's justice, in His hatred of sin against His holy will, is shown forth.
But here comes in the unsearchable riches of His grace in His kindness towards us by Jesus Christ, where it opens a display for the special goodness and mercy of God to us. There are common mercies, which come to the world at large; and there are special mercies, which come to God's elect, and are peculiar to them. In the making of it known it is not merely being told of it, but actually displayed, actually done; and it is called, "the good pleasure of His will, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." (Eph. 1:6) We may show some natural faculties and gifts that God has given us, but they do not show our character fully - there wants other faculties drawn forth before it can be seen what we really are. So God would show forth the riches of His grace in Jesus Christ, for there is His glory. He created all things for His own glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." All creation shows forth a glory; but this glory of His grace shines forth through Jesus Christ, and it was His will, His pleasure, His delight. Therefore He says that whilst correction is not His pleasure, He does it for our good. "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us...after their own pleasure; but He for our profit." He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It is not His good pleasure to trample under foot any. He does it "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness." But in the midst of all this "He delighteth in mercy." There He shows forth His honour and glory. Therefore, in speaking of His own elect, we read they are saved "to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
"Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy."