The critical issue in the debate concerning freewill and predestination and God’s plan of salvation, in the final analysis, isn’t what a theologian describes, or what history demonstrates, or what intellect defines, but what does the Word of God declare?
There are BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
Adam took the initiative in sinning and secluded himself, while God took the initiative in saving and sought him. Abraham was minding his own business in Ur—a hotbed of heathenism—when God came calling and in sovereign grace decreed, “I am establishing my covenant with you.” The younger Isaac was preferred over Ishmael as the one to inherit the covenant blessing. Jacob was chosen instead of Esau. Now, explain that one!
Had I been God, I would have certainly picked Esau. I mean—he was a man’s man—rugged, the outdoor type, and Jacob—well, he was a “mama’s boy” and seemed more capable in the kitchen than around the campfire. Not only that—he was a scoundrel—a conniving, cunning character you couldn’t trust any farther than you could throw him. Yet, that’s what makes grace to be grace! God chooses the least deserving, the most unsavory—sinners like Zacchaeus and the Samaritan woman, and sinners like you and me!
Israel was chosen as the covenant people over other nations. God explained to them why—because He wanted to. He emphatically declared that it wasn’t because they were better and more deserving than other nations, but remarkably less so.
6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has
chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples
on the face of the earth.
7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
Then, we have the case of a man named Saul of Tarsus. How he hated Christ! He was determined to eradicate that name from human vocabulary and to obliterate those despised followers of His. It was in the middle of such a violent persecution he was leading that God stopped him in his tracks on the road to Damascus. Christ appeared to this avowed enemy, and brought the proud Pharisee to his knees—convicting him, calling him and converting him. He was transformed by sovereign grace—this one deserving retribution but receiving regeneration. The one who would become the Apostle Paul had one purpose at the time: to arrest Christians and imprison them, but it was he who was arrested by grace and became the prisoner of Christ Jesus.
Further, we have SCRIPTURAL DECLARATIONS.
There are so many Biblical references to the sovereignty of God in the salvation of man that it would take pages to list them. Let us just look into just a few references from John’s Gospel and our Lord’s teaching concerning this subject.
36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. (John 6:36-39)
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will
raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me
unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (John 6:65)
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should
go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the
Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)
But, now, here’s where people start going off base. They worry, well what if I’m not one of the elect? What if God doesn’t call me to salvation? If you have that concern and you want to be saved, it is because you can be saved. You would not care were God not calling you. There are many references to this as well. Consider this one, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev.22:17). I think of the Philippian jailer—quite a brutal fellow. He had no interest in the Gospel and abused two Gospel preachers. But, then he was shaken that very night and on his knees begged Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The answer wasn’t, “Well, let’s wait and see if you’re serious about this. How can we be sure you are one of the elect? If God is effectually calling you, then you are going to come to Him eventually, so let’s see what happens.” That wasn’t the answer! It was this, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (v.32). The promise was extended to his entire family that if they placed their faith in Christ they would be saved also. It was the sovereign grace of God that brought the evangelists there and caused the earthquake, but it was the responsibility of the jailer to exercise faith in Christ. D.L. Moody said it well: “The elect are the whosoever wills and the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts.” God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they turn from their sin and live.
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed,
keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live;
he shall not die.
22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall
be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he
shall live.
23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?”
says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
(Ezekiel 18:21-23)
Peter, in explaining the apparent delay of Christ’s return to earth and the judgment of sinners, expresses the heart of God for a lost world this way, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
This leads us to THEOLOGICAL TENSIONS.
God is sovereign and man is accountable—how can these seemingly contradictory things be reconciled? Spurgeon had the answer. Dr. Lewis Drummond made these comments:
Spurgeon was once asked how he could reconcile his stance between Calvinistic
theology and his fervent preaching of the gospel. He replied, "I do not try to
reconcile friends."
Spurgeon stood on the precarious razor's edge between High Calvinism and Arminianism and preached the Word of God as he understood it. Thus, The World Newspaper reported that "Mr. Spurgeon is nominally a Calvinist." He was rejected by many of the high Calvinistic churches. The pastor of the Surrey Chapel, for example, spent time every Sunday criticizing Spurgeon's previous sermon because it was not Calvinistic enough. At the same time, Spurgeon was certainly not admitted to Arminian circles because he was far too Calvinistic for them.
Why this paradox? Spurgeon preached what he found in the Word of God and was not overly concerned to systematize everything. A reading of just a scattering of his sermons makes it obvious that when Spurgeon took a text, he took it seriously. And he used it to point people to Christ—not to establish or reestablish a formal doctrinal system.
That, dear ones, is where I try to be. I am Calvinistic, but not a five-point Calvinist. I am certainly not an Arminian. It may be that neither group would have me. What I want to be is a Biblicist! Scripture teaches both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man as complimentary (not contradictory) truths—two sides of the same coin of salvation’s currency.
Again, it would be an exhausting study to do an exhaustive treatment, when a few Biblical texts set these theological teachings in tension with one another. Examine the following:
Peter was speaking of Christ in his Pentecostal preaching when he stated matter-of-factly:
“Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death…” (Acts 2:23) The determined purpose and foreknowledge of God directed Christ to the cross—God’s eternal plan of salvation, as Jesus would be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Yet, the people were guilty of the sin. It was their choice that by wicked hands they nailed Him there. That is the balance of truth standing on a razor’s edge.
The ship that was transporting Paul as a prisoner for trial in Rome was going to sink in a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, yet the Apostle gave these reassuring words as a promise from God in Acts 27, that not one passenger or crewman would lose their life:
22 And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,
24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.
Later, some conspired to try to lower a lifeboat and escape—they didn’t have enough faith to trust the preacher, and Paul gave them a stern warning,
30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had
let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the
prow,
31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay
in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
All would make it through the storm, but if some tried to save themselves, they would perish. That is the balance of truth standing on a razor’s edge.
Don’t lose your balance. Truth is a narrow road and there is a ditch on either side. The devil doesn’t particularly care which ditch he gets you in, just so he stops your spiritual progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment