If I cannot lose my salvation, why does God warn me about falling away?

If I cannot lose my salvation, why does God warn me about falling away?  This is a puzzling question isn’t it?  Many have tackled this question and completely missed the point.  Most people have gone one of two ways with this.  The first group believes that the presence of a warning in the Bible means that it is possible to fall away and therefore abandon the doctrine of eternal security as false.  Others believe so firmly in the doctrine of eternal security that they twist and finesse the Scriptures to make it look like it is only warning those who are not Christians.  Both of these sides are wrong.  What?  Let me explain.

The Bible says that we cannot lose our salvation (Phil. 1:6, Rom. 8:28-39, 2 Pet. 1:3, John 10, Deut. 10:14-15, etc.) that is clear.  The Bible also warns people from falling away from God (Heb. 3:12-13, 6:4-6, John 15:6, Matt. 24:13, etc.) that is also clear.  How do these two doctrines mesh?  Rather than taking one over the other, like the previous groups do, we should affirm them both, as the Bible does.  How do we do that?  By believing that one of the ways God causes His people to persevere in faith (Matt. 24:13) and be saved, is by warning us that we could fall from faith and be tossed into the fire (John 15:6).  God is honored this way, because His power in keeping His people (Jude 24) is held up and believed, while God’s warning is seen as it is, a warning.  We should always aim to never soften anything to make us feel more comfortable with what God says.

David Helm and John Piper on Charles Simeon

Today Charles Simeon (the great preacher) turns 250 years old.  Here are two excerpts for you about his life:

First, these are David Helm’s thoughts (from Between Two Worlds)

Simeon’s Life and Ministry

Born on September 24, 1759, Charles Simeon’s only distinction in childhood was that he was considered to be the ugliest boy in his school. After completing his education at Cambridge and being ordained, he accepted an appointment to Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge in 1782. The response to Simeon’s selection was one of strong opposition from the members of the church. For nearly ten years the congregation refused to listen to Simeon’s sermons by locking their pews so that even visitors would not have a place to sit. When Simeon rented chairs at his own expense and placed them in the aisles, the churchwardens threw them out into the street, forcing visitors to stand while he preached. Opposition to Simeon continued for another 20 years and even included incidents of student’s hurling bricks through his windows while he was preaching. He remained at Holy Trinity Church until his death, having preached there for 54 years.

Simeon’s Preaching

Simeon was an enthusiast, an evangelical. And for him, this meant a radical commitment to the rigorous study and proclamation of God’s Word—and God’s Word alone. This commitment is probably most evident in a statement he made in a letter to the publishers of his Horae Homileticae (his sermon outlines): “My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there and not thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head, never to speak more or less than I believe the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.”

Simeon’s Legacy

Bubbling below Simeon’s commitment to preaching the Word to the people of Cambridge was a devotion to training young men for Gospel ministry. He gathered a small group of men into his quarters twice per month to share some of his thoughts on preaching. Then one of them would preach a sermon that he had prepared and Simeon would give feedback. Simeon described this commitment to training this way: “I have, as my work, undertaken to provide ministers for eternal souls.” Recognizing that the anti-evangelical climate of the church in England at that point would make it difficult, if not impossible, for these young trainees to get parish appointments, Simeon established a Trust to purchase patronages (or the right to appoint the priest-in-charge) across England.

To this day, the legacy of Charles Simeon is carried on by at least two trusts bearing his name. Some of the patronages that Simeon left are still managed by the Simeon’s Trustees in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Charles Simeon Trust is committed to the ongoing training of preachers through several Workshops on Biblical Exposition in North America an online training program called the Simeon Course on Biblical Exposition. The course offers a an elevated quality and breadth of instruction (video lectures from D.A. Carson, John Woodhouse, David Jackman, Kent Hughes, and others), adaptability to any context (it can be done by anyone anywhere), and a practicality of content (the tools for studying and teaching the Bible). The Simeon Course is publicly launching today in honor of Simeon’s Birthday.

Second, these are John Piper’s thoughts (from the Desiring God Blog)

Today, 250 years ago a great pastor was born, Charles Simeon. He was called to Trinity Church, Cambridge in May of 1782. And he endured fruitfully there through much fire for 54 years until his death November 13, 1836. Simeon never married. He “had deliberately and resolutely chosen the…celibacy of a Fellowship that he might…better work for God at Cambridge” (Moule, Charles Simeon, 111). His greatest influence was probably through sustained biblical preaching for 54 years. This was the central labor of his life. In 1833, he placed into the hands of King William IV the completed 21 volumes of his collected sermons. He tried to be conciliatory in doctrinal disputes. Here is an example of how he conversed with the elderly John Wesley:

Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions. Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?

Yes, I do indeed.

And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?

Yes, solely through Christ.

But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?

No.

What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?

Yes, altogether.

And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?

Yes, I have no hope but in Him.

Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things where in we agree. (Moule, 79ff.)

“The New Calvinists”

This was on the Desiring God blog this past week.  Collin Hansen, John Piper, and Carolyn James explain their thoughts on “The New Calvinists”.  Rather than watching TV during your lunch break or any break in your day, watch these videos; your time will not have been wasted.  Enjoy!

Does God Ordain Condemnation from His Word?

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

This verse is stunning is it not?  Everytime we speak God’s Word it will never return to Him void, but will always accomplish His purpose!  When you think about this, it does not say what God’s purposes are does it?  We can say that all people will have one of two responses to God’s Word upon hearing it.  How can we say that?  2 Cor 2:15-16 says, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” Therefore one response is salvation and the other response is condemnation.  All people will respond in one of the two ways.  My question therefore becomes: Does God ordain (purpose) condemnation through His Word?  Or to put it another way: When God’s Word goes out of my mouth, will God act so a person hears His Word as the aroma of death; so that my sharing the gospel to them would actually be the means God uses to condemn them?  The answer is simple, but hard to swallow.

Yes, God does do this.

To whom?  All those who are not elect.  But, we ought to make it clear that we do not know who the elect are and who they are not, so we preach to everyone, hoping for salvation and praying that God’s Word would be the aroma of life to them.  Far be it from us to pray and hope that God’s Word would be the aroma of death to someone upon leaving our mouths!

Subdued by Sovereign Love

“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me…” (John 6:37)

Have you ever wondered what this means?   Hear Charles Spurgeon:

This declaration involves the doctrine of election: there are some whom the Father gave to Christ.  It involves the doctrine of effectual calling: these who are given must and shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it, yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.  It teaches us the indispensable necessity of faith; for even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they come to Jesus.  Even they must come, for there is no other way to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus.  All that the Father gives to our Redeemer must come to Him, therefore none can come to heaven except they come to Christ.  Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words “shall come.” He does not say they have power to come, nor they may come if they will, but they, “shall come.” The Lord Jesus doth by His messengers, His Word, and His Spirit, sweetly and graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of His marriage supper; and this He does, not by any violation of the free agency of man, but by the power of His grace.  I may exercise power over another’s man’s will, and yet that other man’s will may be perfectly free,  because the constraint is exercised in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind.  Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit operating upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields cheerfully to His government, subdued by sovereign love.  But how shall those be known whom God hath chosen?  By this result: that they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to Him with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon Him as all their salvation and all their desire.  Reader, have you thus come to Jesus?

(Charles Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, page 193-194)

Do I Preach Like an Arminian?

It is no secret that I am a Calvinist.  I love TULIP, and feast on Jesus through it.  Even though this is clear, some may say that I preach like an Arminian.  I want to address two things concerning this.  One, why would someone say this?  And two, how should a Calvinist preach, and why do I preach the way I do?

First: Why would someone say I a preach like an Arminian?  A couple reasons: this past Sunday I preached on John 3:14-15.  I called the lost in the congregation to look to Jesus for salvation just as the bitten Israelites looked to the bronze serpent in the wilderness for healing and new life (see John 3:14-15 and Numbers 21).  I then called the Christians in the congregation who have already looked to Jesus for salvation to make every effort to continue looking to Jesus daily.  After I challenged the believers I warned them that if they did not continue looking to Jesus for salvation daily, they will make a shipwreck of their faith.  To further impress this on them, I qouted Matthew 24:13 which says, “Only those who endure to the end will be saved.” I do think that some may wonder after hearing this, “Does he believe in Perseverance of the Saints, or doesn’t he?”  This is why (I think) some people think I preach like an Arminian; because it sounds like I do not believe in God’s sovereignty in salvation.

Second: How should a Calvinist preach?  This causes me to wonder, should a calvinist not call people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ because God is the One who actually does the work of salvation?  Should a calvinist not tell Christians to persevere to the end because it is actually God that causes and keeps His people to the end?  NO WAY!  Of all people, Calvinists ought to be the ones calling the lost to faith, and calling Christians to endure to the end!  Why do I think this way?  Because Jesus said these things, and if I am to be faithful to God’s Word, I will say them also.  Even though I know that it is God who works in the heart, raising it from the dead so that it can reach out to Jesus in faith, I will still call men to repent.  Even though I know that God will cause His elect to persevere to the end by working in them what is pleasing in His sight, I will still tell them to persevere in faith to the end!  Of course when I preach, I preach verse by verse or “expositonally”, and because of this I will explain God’s election and God’s keeping His people to the end when I get to them, and I will call all people to embrace God’s sovereignty in salvation and love it!  But I must ask you, what saves someone?  The doctrine of perseverance?  Or predestination?  No.  The thing that saves is the gospel.  So when I preach on John 3:14-15 or any other evangelistic passage, I will call men to faith as Jesus did.

So I do not preach like an Arminian, nor do I aim to preach like a Calvinist.  I aim to preach Biblically, using the language Jesus used, telling men what Jesus told them.

My Conversation with Uncle Barry

I am currently on vacation in Daytona Beach, FL. right now with my wife’s family.  She has an Uncle named Barry who I love to talk with because he is not a Calvinist, and therefore he keeps me thinking through these things more than I normally would.  During our conversation Barry continued to say two things against Calvinism that many others are saying as well.  Below are the two comments from Uncle Barry and my response to them:

1) “I have a volitional will, I make choices.” To this I say, Yes!  We do have a will that makes choices all the time.  I can choose between all sorts of things all throughout the day.  Between eating healthy and eating horribly, between voting for this person or that person, between wearing this shirt or that shirt.  But, Ephesians 1:11b says this “…all things work according to the counsel of His will.” This means that all things in the universe, all my choices, are working according to God’s will, desire, and wish.  This also means that none of my choices work according to the counsel of my will.  But Barry is not just referring to this to show he can choose to wear a shirt or not, he is referring to his own choice to follow Jesus or not.  To that, I would answer with Eph. 1:11b also, but go further.  Why would a person who is sinful by nature choose something that is not sinful, namely God?  We do not have the ability to choose what is good when we are sinful by nature.  God must work in us to change our hearts so that we can choose Him.  So yes, we have a choice, and it is a glorious choice.  But the real question is, why did I make that choice?  Because God was at work in me.

2) What about 2 Peter 3:9? 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is “not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” Barry brought this up because he thinks that I cannot believe this verse because I am Calvinist who believes in God predestining people to heaven and hell.  To that I say, this verse is very true, and it shows us part of God’s heart; it does not show us ALL of His heart.  God does desire that all men come to repentance, but the truth is God does not carry out all the things He desires.  How do I know this is true?  Because people are in hell as I type this.  People in history have died in unrepentance and therefore have perished; that is a fact.  But if this verse is descriptive of all of God’s heart, than God failed in bringing all people to repentance because many have never repented.  God may desire that all men repent and be saved, but it is clear that God does not carry out all His desires fully.  Therefore, if God does not carry out all of His desires, God must have a purpose for doing so.

No one spurs me onto a greater desire for God’s sovereignty in salvation, than a convinced Arminian.  Thank you Barry, for causing me to think through these things.

Way To Go Honorius!

Today (April 30) in 418 AD Roman Emperor Honorius (who ruled 395-423) issued a decree denouncing Pelagianism, which taught that humanity can take the initial and fundamental steps toward salvation by its own efforts, apart from divine grace.

Isn’t it interesting that what most Christians champion as theologically correct presently is exactly what the early Church fathers condemned as heresy.  This is why Church History is important for us to know, because we don’t want to champion anything that has been condemned as heresy in the past.  That is, unless it is true.  But take heart!  Pelagianism, is not Biblical.

Can Adoption Be Sin?

Tonight I led a study on the doctrine of Total Depravity.  One thing we talked about was the seemingly good things that non-Christians do.  If they, and we, are really that sinful by nature, what about those things a person does that seems to be good?  Are those really bad?  My answer, yes.  Why?  Romans 14:23, “…whatever is not from faith is sin.” This means that no matter how good something may look to the world, if it is done apart from faith, it is sin.  It is truthful to say that every action a non-Christian does is done without faith.  Because if they had faith, they would not be unbelievers!

So is it sin to adopt a baby?  Is it sin to feed a homeless man?  Is it sin to drink orange juice?  If all these things, and any other action is done without faith, it is sin.  Every human being is to “do all things to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31) Therefore, if anything is not done to God’s glory, it is sin.

The Biblical Meaning of “Foreknowledge”

Many people deny predestination because of the phrase in Romans 8:29-30, “foreknew”.  Here is the verse “For those whom He foreknew, He also presdestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

Those who deny predestination based on this have one thing right, and one thing wrong.  The one thing they have correct is that predestination is founded upon God’s foreknowing those whom He will choose.  What they have wrong is their definition of what it means to “foreknow”.  To “foreknow” can be defined in two ways: a philosophical way and a Biblical way.  The philosophical definition of foreknowledge or “foreknowing” is simple.  God, before the world was made, looked down into the hallway of time and saw those people who would choose Him.  Based upon this foreknowledge of these people’s choice of Himself, God chose, or presdestined them.  This idea is  not in the Bible.

The Biblical definition of God’s foreknowledge is different.  It does not mean God’s prior knowledge of what we have chosen.  Rather, it means a specific and intentional action of God loving certain people and setting His affection on them alone.  Confused?  Look at Amos 3:2 “You (Israel) only have I known among all the families of the earth…” Does God only know of Israel on the planet?  Is he ignorant of all other people?  Of course not.   God knows all people, there is nothing hidden from Him (Heb. 4:13).  So what does it mean when it says God only knew Israel out of all the families of the earth?  God only set His favor and affection upon Israel out of the all the families of the earth.  This is what the word ‘know’ means throughout the entire Bible.  When a man has sex with his wife, the Bible calls it, ‘knowing’.  ”Adam knew Eve…” (Gen 4:1).

So what does “foreknowledge” mean?  It does not refer to God’s actual knowledge of anything beforehand, rather it refers to God’s setting His affection upon His people beforehand.  God intimately chose His people, just as a husband intimately knows his wife.  It is true that this foreknowing is the foundation of predestination, and the Biblical definition of it makes this so much clearer.  So if we were translate the Biblical meaning of foreknowledge into Romans 8:29 it would read like this, “For those whom God intimately set His affection upon beforehand, He also predestined…” This meaning is in sync with the rest of the Bible.  Labor to rid your mind of philosophical definitions for Biblical words.  Let the Bible define words for itself.

You Do Not Believe Because You Do Not Belong

“Jesus answered them, ‘I told you and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.  But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.“  (John 10:25-26)

What do these verses mean?

-It says that people do not believe because they do not belong.  People do not believe because they are not of the flock.

-We say, wrongly, you do not belong because you do not believe.  You are not of us because you do not believe.

Tell me, who is right?  Jesus.  Let the Scripture stand.  You do not believe, because you do not belong.

TULIP #2 Unconditional Election

God unconditionally and “sovereignly” elects who will be saved and this election has nothing to do with anything the sinner does, including exercising faith in the gospel. Consider the words of the Westminster Confession: “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. … The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.” John Calvin expressed the doctrine of unconditional election in these words: “Predestination we call the decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself, what He would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny: but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, chap. 21). Calvin emphasized his belief in sovereign reprobation as follows: “[God] devotes to destruction whom he pleases … they are predestinated to eternal death without any demerit of their own, merely by his sovereign will. … he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name by glorified in their destruction. … God chooses whom he will as his children … while he rejects and reprobates others” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, chap. 23).

 

Bottom Line: Because of humankind’s total inability to come to salvation on our own, we must be called out of our deadness into life. That can only happen when the father chooses those whom He wills(John 6:44). This choosing/election only happens within the mind of God, that’s what makes it unconditional. It is a work of God!

Who Subjected the World to Futility, In Hope?

Romans 8:20 says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope.”

What is clear in this verse?  The world, all creation, was subjected to futility, or frustration.  It was not subjected willingly, in that it did not want to be subjected to futility.  That is clear.  What does it mean in the second half of the verse when it says, “because of him who subjected it in hope?” Albert M. Wolters, in his book, Creation Regained, says this:

“Paul states that the whole creation, not just the human world, was subjected to frustration (i.e., to ‘vanity’ or ‘futility’ or ‘pointlessness’) by the will of “the one who subjected it” (i.e., Adam, through his disobedience).”   (Creation Regained, page 56)

Is Wolters correct?  Was it Adam who in fact caused the whole of creation to be thrown into sin?   Did Adam sin, eat of the fruit the Woman gave him, in hope?  Absolutely not.  Adam ate and chose the created thing over the Creator.  It was a disobedient act and in it he tried to grasp equality with God (Phil. 2:6).  No, it was not Adam.  What Wolters does not address is the last phrase in the verse, “in hope.”

If Adam did not do it, who did?  It was not the serpent, he was trying to deceive and lie.  It was not the Woman, she grasped the fruit in doubt because of the serpents influence.  So who subjected the world to sin, in hope?  To answer this, we must ask a different question.  Who had an agenda of hope in Eden?  Adam didn’t, the Woman didn’t, the serpent didn’t.  Who did?  God did.  God had an agenda of hope in Eden.  God subjected the world to sin, in hope.  How?  Why?  Do I mean that God let, or allowed, or ordained sin into the world?  YES!

I really mean that, and I praise God for it.  How?  God, in letting sin into the world, opened the jaws that would eventually slam shut on His Son.  If sin were not present, Jesus would not have died.  If sin were not in the world, Jesus would never have been a man of sorrows, He would never have been crushed for our sins.  Read Romans 5:8 carefully, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” John Piper comments on this verse and says, “God wanted to show His love toward us.  While we were sinners, there had to be sin!  Christ died, there had to be death!” If sin and death were not allowed or ordained to come into the world, Jesus would not have died on the cross.

This is how God subjected the world to sin, in hope.  He did it for His Son.  He did it to display Himself fully to us!  He did it, because it was always plan A.  When sin came in, God did not say “Oops, let’s go to plan b. My Son, you have to die now!”  Acts 2:23 and 4:27-28 tell us that the cross was predestined by God.  God does not say oops.

Albert M. Wolters later says:

“There is no sense in which sin ‘fits’ in God’s good handiwork…Any theory that somehow sanctions the existence of evil in God’s good creation fails to do justice to sin’s fundamentally outrageous and blasphemous character, and in some subtle or sophisticated sense lays the blame for sin on the Creator rather than on ourselves in Adam.”  (Creation Regained, page 57-59)

I do not say that man is not at fault in Adam’s sin, we are.  But behind our sin and guilt, God is at work always planning for His glory.  O’ how sweet the praise God is not getting because His sovereign plan of grace is not loved, exulted in and treasured above all!  He planned for the death of His Son and planned that grace would flow from it to sinners like me before the world began!  Because of this, He subjected the world to sin, to set the stage for His Son.  He subjected the world to sin, IN HOPE.  With Jonathan Edwards I agree, “It is not sin in God, to will that sin be.”

Is ‘Free Will’ Taught in the Bible?

Many accept that free will is something that we have.  Many also believe that free will is a gift God has given us.  For us to claim that God has done this, we must be sure, and have clear evidence.  Too often we believe something without investigating to see if it is true.  We should ask: does the Bible teach that we have a will, or an agency, that is free?  Answer: No.

I say this because the meaning of the word ‘free’.  In order for something to be free it must have nothing that hinders anything it does.  A ‘free will’ would mean we have a will in us, that God cannot control, nor act upon to change.  Is this not the logical end of a ‘free’ will?  For our will to indeed be free, means that nothing can stop it, and nothing can hinder any action it desires to accomplish.  This means no one, even God, can stop the will of man.  This idea is not taught in the Bible, in fact, the opposite is taught in many places.  Here are some examples:

-Everything (notice that ‘all’ or ‘everything’ means that nothing is not included in it) works according to God’s will, not ours.  (Ephesians 1:11b)

-A man makes plans, but God directs our steps.  (Proverbs 16:1, 9, 33, 19:21, 20:24)

-A man’s heart turns where God wants it to turn.  (Proverbs 21:1, 2 Chronicles 30:6-12)

-A man’s way is not in himself.  (Jeremiah 10:23)

So what about our choices?  People seem to choose what they want to do, and where they want to go.  This is clear.  But does this mean we have a ‘free’ will?  2 Corinthians 8:16-17 teaches us about this:

“But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus.  For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.”

We see many things here.  Titus went to Corinth on his own accord (or of his own will), because he was earnest and he accepted their appeal.  Why was he earnest?  Why did he accept the Corinthians appeal? Because God put it into his heart.  Thus we say: Because God put it into Titus’ heart, Titus went of his own will.

We do not have a will that is ‘free’.  God can and does, have power to change, direct, guide, ordain, lead, our wills; and this should give us hope.  Because God, can triumph over our sin loving wills to create a will in us that is earnest for Himself, and His Son.

Ask God to do this in you.

I Turned 5 Years Old Last Night

“God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the world began…”  (2 Timothy 1:9)

Last night, 5 years ago, I met Jesus for the first time.  As I think back on that moment one thing comes to mind that brings great comfort to me.  I did not know anything about the sovereignty of God, or man’s will, or predestination; all I knew was that I needed to get out from under my sin and flee to the cross.  What is so astonishing now is that I can know how I got to be where I am today.  I can answer the questions: why did I become a Christian that night?  Why did I flee to Jesus?  Why did I feel that my sin was going to crush me one day?  Why did my friend Jim Gilbert share the gospel with me?  Why did I listen to him?  Why did I accept what he said as God’s Truth?  All of these can be answered by this verse.  It says that before the world was made, God, in His purpose, called me and saved me, not by what I had did, but through grace that comes through His Son, Jesus Christ.  I now know why I am who I am today.  I now know why I believe in Jesus today.  All of these questions are answered in the asoutnding fact that God chose me before I chose Him.  I know that if I love Him today, it is because He loved me first.  This gives me great encouragement because I know that I did not conjure up my own salvation in my mind.  Rather, it was the work of God that He had ordained before the foundation of the world, coming to pass in the present time!  Because God began my faith Him, I trust that He will finish it, and take me home to Him one day.  Praise God, that He has shown me why I am who I am today!