The Extent of God’s Love

The Extent of God’s Love

Unconditional Election and the Misnomer of “Free Will”

This past week I preached on the topic of God's Unconditional Election.  I know that topics such as this can really get the brain juices flowing (along with emotions as well).  My desire is not to be controversial, but biblical; not antagonizing but affirming of the truth of Scripture.

As the Scottish engineer and inventor, William Symington once noted, “Our object should not be to have scripture on our side but to be on the side of scripture; and however dear any sentiment may have become by being long entertained, so soon as it is seen to be contrary to the Bible, we must be prepared to abandon it without hesitation.”  

When it comes to the "reason" or "reasons" as to why God chose anyone, we must appeal to Scripture and thus the revelation of God's own heart rather than to our our forms of human logic; logic that has been adversely affected by the Fall.  As a summary follow up to this past week's message, I submit to you the words of S. Lewis Johnson, beloved pastor of Believers Chapel of Dallas through the 1960's to the 1990's.  

Be a Berean (Acts 17) and see whether these things be so. As S. Lewis Johnson wrote:

What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy"  (Romans 9:14-16).

God is not responsible for humanity's predicament. Human beings, because of the disobedience in the garden of Eden, are responsible for their condition in sin, disobedience, and coming judgment. Further, it is important to remember that God does exercise mercy with absolute freedom. Therefore, it is not unjust for him to do so, for God is not unjust. In fact, whatever he does is right. God himself is the standard of right and wrong. Election and reprobation are both divine prerogatives.

Since his audience recognized the authority of Scripture, Paul turned to the Word of God for evidence of the truth of his message. He cites the words that God spoke to Moses in Exodus 33:19, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (cf. v. 15). Even though Israel had failed abysmally before Yahweh, he nevertheless acted in mercy toward them, and he acts in mercy sovereignly.

Thus, the apostle concludes, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy" (cf. v. 16). If ever a text indicated the unscriptural nature of "free will," this one does. "It is not of him that wills," the apostle says in the original Greek. The doctrine of free will—that it is in the power of a man to turn to God by himself—is contrary to the grace of God. Salvation becomes, then, the work of God and the work of man, and the purity of the grace of God is compromised. Salvation is only of the Lord.

Man is unable to come to God of and by himself. Jesus put it as strongly as anyone in Scripture: "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). We are unable to make a decision of the will for God and salvation until God has first worked in our wills to make us willing. Salvation is first of his willing (cf. James 1:18), and only then, of our response of faith.

— S. Lewis Johnson, Discovering Romans: Spiritual Revival for the Soul, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 158.

 

Awake, O Christian - - - and Fellowship With the Saints!

AWAKE, O Christian, and rejoice in the God of glory and of salvation; who has called you to Himself; adopting you as His own child by the means of the death and resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and, who as His child, has been granted the high privilege of fellowship among the company of the redeemed, who gather this day for the purpose of praising, exalting and worshiping our Redeemer.  

Let us aim to rejoice together with great joy; to grow in His grace and knowledge; and to be a light of hope to both the church and to lost. Let us not betray the delightful duty of our calling; the gathering of the saints to the glory of God through any apathy, complacency, neglect or tardiness.  As the psalmist declared, "This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

Middle School Girls Forced to Ask Classmates for ‘Lesbian Kiss’ During Anti-Bullying Presentation

Imagine 13 and 14-year-old girls being instructed to ask one another for a lesbian kiss in a class exercise.  The girls had no choice. The parents were NOT informed. But hey, if it falls under “anti-bullying,” than who are you to question it, right?

Heather Clark over at Christiannews.net reports this alarming development:

 
Red Hook, New York – A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss.
According to reports, the session occurred last week at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, near Poughkeepsie. A group of students from Bard College led two workshops for the youth, separated by gender.

During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a lesbian kiss. They were also taught words such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.”

Parent Mandy Coon told reporters that her daughter was very uncomfortable with the exercise.

“She told me, ‘Mom, we all get teased and picked on enough; now I’m going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I could kiss her,’” she lamented.

Coon stated that she was especially irate over the matter because parents were given no warning about the presentations, nor an opportunity to opt out. She is also dismayed that college students were granted the right to come into the classroom and encourage her daughter to be sexually active.

“I am furious,” she declared. “I am her parent. Where does anyone get the right to tell her that it’s okay for her to have sex?”

“The school is overstepping its bounds in not notifying parents first and giving us the choice,” another parent remarked. “I thought it was very inappropriate. That kind of instruction is best left up to the parents.”

According to reports, during the workshop for the adolescent boys, the students were counseled to keep a condom in their pocket at all times, and were taught how to identify a woman who is a “slut.”

“I was absolutely furious – really furious,” an anonymous parent told reporter Todd Starnes. “These are just kids. I’m dumbfounded that they found this class was appropriate.”

However, both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops, and are advising that they will schedule more. Superintendent Paul Finch told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the presentation was “focused on improving culture, relationships, communication and self-perceptions.”

“[We] may require more notification to parents” in the future, he said, contending that the sessions are required under the state Dignity for All Students Act, which prohibits harassment and bullying in the classroom.

He advised that Principal Katie Zahedi and guidance counselors at the school worked with the Bard students to plan the workshops. Zahedi asserts that the sessions were rather about saying no to unwanted advances as opposed to encouraging homosexual acts.

“In planning the discussion, we made it clear that absolutely no discussion of any sexual acts is appropriate to middle school, and they used the examples of a kiss,” she wrote in an online forum for parents. “It was a separate activity for boys and girls and ultimately about respect and safety.”

Mark Primoff, a spokesman for Bard College said that students had volunteered to give the presentation after Zehedi invited the institution of higher learning to participate in the workshops.

However, parents remain livid over the matter. A public meeting was held this week for residents to express their concerns.

It is not known whether girls actually had to kiss one another, or if the exercise stopped at the request.

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