SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2018
12:39 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “The Method—Election”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
1:4-6a
Message of the verses: “4 just as He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and
blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the
praise of the glory of His grace,”
I
promised to quote from the book by J. I. Packer entitled “Evangelism and the
Sovereignty of God” at the beginning of this SD.
“All Christians believe in
divine sovereignty, but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine
and insist that they reject it. What
causes this odd state of affairs? The
root cause is the same as in most cases of error in the Church—the intruding of
rationalistic speculations, the passion for systematic consistency, a
reluctance to recognize the existence of mystery and to let God be wiser than
men, and a consequent subjecting of Scripture to the supposed demands of human
logic. People see the Bible teaches man’s
responsibility for his actions; they do not see (man, indeed, cannot see) how
this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions. They are not content to let the two truths
live side by side, as they do in Scriptures, but jump to the conclusion that,
in order to uphold the biblical truth of human responsibility, they are bound
to reject the equally biblical and equally true doctrine of divine sovereignty,
and to explain away the treat number of texts that teach it. The desire to over-simplify the Bible by
cutting out the mysteries is natural to our perverse minds, and it is not surprising
that even godly men should fall victim to it.
Hence this persistent and troublesome dispute. The irony of the situation, however, is that
when we ask how the two sides pray, it becomes apparent that those who profess
to deny God’s sovereignty really believe in it just as strongly as those who
affirm it.”
One
of the problems that people have with the teaching of election and the
sovereignty of God is that they put God into a box. What I mean by that is that they do not
believe that a loving God would chose people for salvation before the
foundation of the world. I cannot answer
as to why God does what He does all of the time, but in my mind I have to
continue to look at the attributes of God and remember that God will never do
anything against His attributes, which makes up His character, and His
character is perfect. So when you look
at what the Bible teaches about election, and it does teach a lot as we have
seen as we go through this section we must come to the conclusion that God
choosing people before the foundation of the earth for salvation does not go
against His attributes, in fact one of His attributes is His Sovereignty.
People
do not or should I say cannot stand the tension, mystery, paradox, or antinomy,
so all of us are inclined to adjust what the Bible teaches so that it will fit
our own systems of order and consistency.
However this “presumptuous approach” is unfaithful to God’s Word and
then that will lead us to confused doctrine and a weakened living. This is not the only doctrine taught in
Scripture that is apparently paradoxical to our limited minds. John MacArthur gives the following examples: “It is antinomous that Scripture itself is
the work of human authors, yet the very words of God; that Jesus Christ is
fully God and fully man; that salvation is forever, yet saints must remain
obedient and persevere to the end; that the Christian’s life is lived in total commitment
and discipline of self, yet is all of Christ.
Such inscrutable truths are an encouragement that the mind of God
infinitely surpasses the mind of man and are a great proof of the divine
authorship of Scripture. Humans writing
a Bible on their own would have attempted to resolve such problem.
“It
is not that God’s sovereign election, or predestination, eliminates man’s
choice in faith. Divine sovereignty and
human response are integral and inseparable parts of salvation—though exactly
how they operate together only the infinite mind of God knows.
“Nor
is it, as many believe and teach, that God simply looks into the future to see
which people are going to believe and then elects them to salvation. Taken out of context, Romans 8:29 is often
used to support that view. But verse 28
makes it clear that those whom God foresees and predestines to salvation are
those whom He has already ‘called according to His purpose.’ Any teaching that diminishes the sovereign,
electing love of God by giving more credit to men also diminishes God’s glory,
thus striking a blow at the very purpose of salvation.”
The
following is a quote from John Chadwick:
“I
sought the Lord,
And
afterwards I knew’ He moved my soul to seek Him,
Seeking
me!
It was
not that I found,
O
Saviour true;
No, I
was found by Thee.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful, though I do not know why the
Lord elected me for salvation in eternity past.
There is no way that I sought the Lord when He saved me as I was
attempting to do something that was sinful, and yet God had other plans as His
plans were for me to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of my life.
My Steps of Fait for Today:
Trust the Lord to allow me to tell
others about this amazing gift of salvation so that they too can be saved and
spend eternity in heaven with the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Golgotha” (Mark 15:22).
Today’s Bible question: “Concerning whom did a group of Jews bind
themselves under a curse that they would not eat or drink until they had killed
him?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/29/2018 1:20 PM
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