Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
Quoting A. W Pink:
“To say that Christ died for all alike, to say that He became the Substitute and Surety of the whole human race, to say that He suffered on behalf of and in the stead of all mankind, is to say that He ‘bore the curse for many who are now bearing the curse for themselves; that He suffered punishment for many who are now lifting up their own eyes in Hell, being in torments; that He paid the redemption price for many who shall yet pay in their own eternal anguish ‘the wages of sin, which is death’” (quote from GS
Bishop) p.59“To say that He made an atonement which fully atones is to say that He paid a price which actually ransoms” (59)
“Will Christ ever force anyone to receive Him as Savior? In one sense this is true, but in another sense it is positively untrue. The salvation of any sinner is a matter of Divine power. By nature the sinner is at enmity with God, and naught but Divine power operating within him, can overcome this enmity; hence it is written, “no man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him (John 6:44). It is the Divine power overcoming the sinner’s innate enmity which makes him willing to come to Christ that he might have life” (p.61).
“The new birth is due to the sovereign will of the Spirit” (69).
“The new birth is solely the work of God the Spirit and man has NO part or lot in causing it . . . birth altogether excludes the idea of any effort or work on the part of the one who is born” (69).
Excerpt from The Sovereignty of God HT Vassal of the King
”A man does not become a Christian by taking a decision. He is made a Christian by God, who had marked him out before the foundation of the world and who sees to it that he is born, and sees to it that he believes.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – God’s Sovereign Purpose)
To deny the Sovereignty of God, people always first come up with this question-“If God is Sovereign, why do anything?” But what does the Bible say regarding God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility?
Fatalism
God’s sovereignty, as I am convinced the Bible teaches it, means that God has fore-ordained everything that happens. Before creation, God planned and decided (‘ordained’) the entire course of human history down to the smallest details. All circumstances in time are therefore the outworking of God’s plan which He decreed in eternity.
In light of this, a common objection is ‘If God has already decided what will happen, then why should I do anything? We don’t control history anyway. Therefore, we can just sit back and do nothing.’ The objector is saying that the logical outcome of belief in the absolute sovereignty of God is what we will call ‘indifferent fatalism’–the view that we should do nothing since God controls everything.
How are we to answer the objection of the indifferent fatalist? Why doesn’t belief in God’s absolute sovereignty lead to indifferent fatalism? And if God is absolutely sovereign, how can our choices have real meaning? These are very good questions that a proper understanding of God’s sovereignty will answer. Read More…
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 