God’s Will, Will Be Done
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God So Loved “For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). One cannot deny that the
Bible teaches that God so loved the world. And one cannot deny that the Bible
also teaches that whosoever believes in Christ will have eternal life. That
is God's plan! That is what the Bible teaches and that is what must be taught
and believed. God has determined
that whosoever will believe in
Christ will not perish. God IS Love And the Bible also
teaches that God is love. “The
one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). God does not just contain
love; He is the very essence of love. Love is a part of God’s being. Love is
one of God's eternal attributes. Everything that finite man can know about
love is because God's image is stamped upon him. God's love has been overwhelmingly
expressed by the death of Jesus Christ. “By
this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only
begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 Jn. 4:10). God loved the world so
much that He gave His only unique Son in order that man might live through
Him. There can be no doubt that this is all true. There is also no way that a
human being can limit the worth of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. His death
was sufficient to satisfy God for all of the sin of Adam's fallen race. “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours
only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2). If it had been God’s will to do so, all of Adam’s
race would be saved. Yet not all of Adam’s race will be given life! And the
unbeliever’s condemnation will be just because of unbelief. God will hold accountable all who do not believe. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not
believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). How is it possible for
God to elect some to salvation and to condemn the non-elect? This is impossible for any human
being to reconcile. God would be just to pass over all of His creation, but
He has chosen to be gracious to some.
If we could grasp this truth, we could understand the mind of
God. What we do know is that God
is righteous and just. When
God’s righteousness is called into question Paul responds; “May
it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,
‘That You may be justified in Your words, And prevail when You are judged’ ”
(Rom. 3:4). God is righteous in all that He has chosen to
do! That is all that we need to know. A World of Sinners “For God so loved the world.” Christ died
for sin in order to save sinners who are a part of the world (1 Tim.
1:15). But because God chooses
to save some sinners and not all sinners still means
that He loves the world. After all, the world is where sinners live! Because God did not choose to save
all who would ever live upon this earth does not mean that God did not love
the world. What about “the whosoever
believes” part? The “whosoevers”
are the very ones that God has set His love upon. He has loved the world in
order to save the “whosoevers.”
The “whosoevers” are the ones that will hear the voice of the Shepherd
(Jn. 6:37-39). (See “Chosen of God.”) The “whosoevers” are those who will
be drawn to the gospel by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 6:44). Is God's will frustrated
if people do not believe in
Him? Is His will thwarted? Every
one of the “whosoevers” will come to Christ by faith. Not one of them will be
left behind or lost. Why is this true? “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 Pet. 3:9). The “us” in this passage
cannot be speaking of unbelievers. Why? Because unbelievers have never been a
part of “us.” Peter is speaking of those who are not going to perish. They
are not going to perish because God has willed them not to perish. And God's
will, will be done. Drawing All Men
“And
I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But
He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die” (Jn.
12:32-33). The word “all” cannot
mean that all of Adam's race would be drawn to the gospel of grace and
believe. This is “universalism.” Universalism is the false teaching that in
the end everyone is going to have life.
The Bible makes it clear that not all are going to “have Him.” “He
who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not
have the life” (1 Jn. 5:12). God, at the end of the
age in which He dealt specifically with the nation of Israel, sent Christ to
the Jews only. Christ and the disciples preached the gospel of the kingdom
(Matt. 10:5). But following His
death and resurrection, God’s salvation was extended to all races. This does
not mean that everyone of every race will be saved. This “drawing all men” is
fulfilling the portion of the God’s promise to Abraham that in him all of the
nations of the earth would be blessed. It means that God will draw all kinds of people from every tribe, language, and nation to
Himself (Rev. 5:9). And so people from every nationality (not just from the
Jews) will be drawn to Christ who has been lifted up. Again, God's plan will
not be frustrated. May or Can The
small words in the Bible many times carry the most weight. God did not waste
words in the Bible. Read
carefully these words of our Lord as He speaks to a group of religious
Pharisees. “No one can
come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will
raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall
all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father
comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from
God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has
eternal life” (Jn.
6:44-47). Christ used the little verb “can” in this verse
for a reason. This word implies ability, and it means exactly what it says.
The text does not that no one “may come” but that no one “can come.” The
children may ask, “Dad, may I drive the car?” At issue is permission to
drive. However, the child may ask, “Can I drive the car?” This is a horse of
a different color. You might respond, “Well, I don't know, can you?” Christ is saying that God must make those who
are unwilling to come, willing. God must break through the darkness of the
fallen heart and make us willing to believe in Christ. Christ
was clearly teaching that no human being has the ability to come to Jesus
Christ unless first drawn by the Father. Fallen man is simply not able to
“come to God” unless God intervenes! Man is dead in trespasses and sins and
unless God opens his eyes, they will remain that way. Not Popular Because of the imprint of
Adam’s sin on our souls and Satan’s evil influence around us, the clear facts
of the gospel have often been watered down, distorted, and compromised.
During the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the
earth a perverted gospel replaced the genuine one. The gospel of grace focuses all attention upon the work of
God alone, but the distorted gospel allows man to share in God’s glory. During the extreme
persecution of the church in 300 A.D., a compromise was reached between the
persecutors (emperors of Rome) and the persecuted (those having believed in
Jesus Christ). The result was that the simple gospel of grace was plunged for
hundreds of years into a sea of religious rituals and tradition that often
blinded people to God’s grace. (See “Religion”) God brought this period to
an end with the Reformation in Europe during the sixteenth century. The
gospel of grace was once again brought to the surface and it began to burn
brightly. One might ask this very
important question. What did the original reformers think about God’s
electing grace? It should come as little surprise that the gospel that was
retrieved by the reformers in Europe was the gospel of God’s sovereign
grace. Men like Martin Luther, Zwingli, Edwards, Calvin, Tyndale,
Bullinger, etc., all believed and preached the gospel of God’s grace. They
clarified God’s grace revealed in the Scripture. That is why their views of
the gospel today are referred to as “reformed views.” The reformers surfaced the
gospel of God’s electing grace because that is the gospel. Shortly after God’s grace reemerged, it was distorted
again. And now, after hundreds of years the gospel of God’s grace is under
siege again. Man has slowly
crept back into the picture. God’s grace has never been
popular in any generation. Martin Luther said, “All objections to
predestination proceed from the wisdom of the flesh (human reason). Hence, whoever does not deny himself
and does not learn to keep his thoughts in subjection to the divine will,
never will find an answer to his questions.” (Commentary on Romans, Kregel
Publications, 1976, pp 130.) During His first visit to
planet earth, the Lord Jesus Christ read this portion of the Old Testament
scriptures to some Jews in the Temple: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to
preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the
captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are
oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And He closed the
book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all were speaking well of
Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips;
and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4:18-22). The Jews listening to Jesus
were amazed at His wisdom. Up to this point things were going fine. Christ had favor with the crowd. But
notice carefully what He said next.
“But I say to you in truth, there were many widows
in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and
six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was
sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a
woman who was a widow. And
there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none
of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:23-24). There were many widows, but
God went to only one. There were many lepers, but God chose to cleanse only
one. This was sovereign election! This was the Creator’s right to do with His
creation that which He desired. “And all the people in the synagogue were filled with
rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the
city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built,
in order to throw Him down the cliff” (Luke 4:25-29). The people were filled with
rage and they lashed out at the Lord Jesus. They despised the truth of election. We may despise the truth of election,
but we cannot deny that the Bible teaches it. The Bible's truth concerning
the exercise of God’s sovereign control over man will never be popular with
man because it is not of man.
There is no part of it that glorifies man in any way. No human being
would have ever invented this truth. It stands in direct conflict with man's
fallen mind. It flies in the face of man's total depravity. It leaves no
glory for man, none! It places
all responsibility in the hands of God alone. Man inherently fears the idea
of not having some control even in a small way. Our secret desire is to
assume some responsibility, even if it is the very small amount of “having
believed.” Our flesh wants some credit for having made a “right choice.” Our humanness wants some of the glory
for having exercised some wisdom in believing the gospel. But God will share His glory with no
creature! (See “The Creator’s Privilege.”) Why Preach and Pray If God has already
predetermined His plan, then why preach the gospel? We are to preach the
gospel for the same reason that we teach God’s grace. Because God’s word
tells us to preach the gospel! God’s word teaches that God has a people who
will believe the gospel, and so God says preach the gospel (1 Thess.
2:4). Preaching the gospel is
God’s way of calling those who belong to Him. It is the way that God carries
out His plan. What about those who are sent to the mission field?
Should they not go? Certainly they should go! Human beings will continue to
be sent by God with the message of grace. Missionaries will continue to go into the world. And why pray? We are to pray because God instructs us
to pray (1 Thess. 5:18). It is through the medium of prayer that God’s will
is accomplished. God the Holy
Spirit will move us to pray because God wills us to pray (Rom. 8:26-27). Dr. Mal Couch, president of Tyndale, Seminary in Fort
Worth, Texas, said it well: “Believers are to live and work as if it all
depends upon them, but they are to recognize that it really doesn’t.” “But
now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and
let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the
fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the
hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living
thing, and the breath of all mankind?” (Job. 12:7-10). New
American Standard Bible Mal
Couch, Tyndale Theological Seminary John
MacArthur |
How does
one reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s will? Can they ever be
reconciled? |