Thoughts On Predestination

Quoting R. C. Sproul:

“What predestination means, in its most elementary form, is that our final destination, heaven or hell, is decided by God . . . He chose some individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven and others He chose to pass over, to allow them to follow the consequences of their sins into eternal torment in hell.” (Sproul, Chosen By God, 22)

“[I]f the final decision for the salvation of fallen sinners was left in the hands of fallen sinners, we would despair all hope that anyone would be saved.” (Sproul, Chosen By God, 33)

“Calvinism assumes that without the intervention of God no one will ever want Christ. Left to themselves, no one will ever choose Christ.” (Sproul, Chosen By God, 34)

“We do not believe in order to be born again; we are born again in order that we may believe.” (Sproul, Chosen By God, 73)

“All that God has to do to harden people’s hearts is to remove the restraints. He gives them a longer leash. Rather than restricting their human freedom, He increases it. He lets them have their own way . . . It is not that God puts His hand on them to create fresh evil in their hearts; He merely removes His holy hand of restraint from them and lets them do their own will.” (Sproul, Chosen By God, 145)

George Washington On The Foundation Of National Policy

 

George Washington

George Washington in his First Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789 said:

The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world.

Who Is Providence?

B.H. Carroll

Who is Providence? Who shall reign until all His enemies are put under His feet, including death? Have you faith in the providences of God? Remember, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. The following thoughts are shared with us by B. H. Carroll:

If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3)

Satan was permitted to sift Peter as wheat, but Jesus insured that his faith should not fail. A messenger of Satan was permitted to buffet Paul and become an almost unbearable thorn in his flesh. But God’s almighty grace was sufficient for him. Our next inquiry is: Who is Providence? This is an important question to Christians. How shall it be answered? I appeal to prophecy:

“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Psalm 110:1)

“And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the Branch and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord. Even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” (Zechariah 6:12, 13)

 Who is this King, this priest on the throne? Of whom speak the prophets these things? Let the New Testament answer. Paul thus prayed:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding be enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the one to come which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church.” (Ephesians 1:17-22)

Who is Providence? Let Paul answer again:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Consider, moreover, the passages in the book of Hebrews, which cite the Psalms from which we have quoted. They find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Hear himself speak: “All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me.”

Who is it that sits on the throne of the judgment? Jesus Christ, your Savior. Before whom shall stand all the dead, small and great? Jesus. And according to what shall they be judged? The laws of Jesus. Who shall assess the penalty for the violation of these laws? Jesus. At whose bidding today is every wind and wave and element and force and star and atom? Under whose control and jurisdiction is every power in this universe? Under the control of Jesus.

He is Providence, and with an effective, continuous, all-comprehensive, divine agency He touches every event in the physical and in the moral world. To what end? That to them that love God all things shall work together for good.