Now, I want you, to get This Truth;
GOD USES CREATURES, AS SECOND CAUSES, TO FULFILL HIS WILL.
He accomplishes His Purpose through men and demons.
He used Egypt, to cause His People, to cry to Him, for Deliverance.
Later, when Israel became disobedient, God used Assyria, to scourge the nation, for its shortcomings.
Isaiah 10;5-6--''O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is my indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, ans to tread them down like the mire of the streets.''
In 2 Samuel 16;5-13, God used Shimei, to chasten David, to accomplish His Purpose.
Satan and unbelievers are instruments, used by God, but not to the extent, that they are devoid of power, to act for themselves.
Men are motivated by their own plans.
But their affections are wretchedly misplaced, and their actions manifest their inward conditions.
Romans 1;18-32--[Turn].
God enters into every secondary cause, but He does not co-operate in Sin.
God gives life, ans man misuses the ability, He gives him.
Acts 17;24-31--[Turn].
Sustenance and Government are two aspects of The One Almighty and Omnipotent God--
Romans 11;36--''For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.''
Colossians 1;16--''For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.''
Proverbs 16;9--''A man's heart deviseth his way, but the LORD directeth his steps.''
Psalm 146;10--''The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.''
Now, how can the two aspects of Providence--God's Sustenance and
Government, leave room for Human Responsibility/
we will answer this on our next post.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
GOD FORGIVES SINNERS--PART 2
To study God's Forgiveness, we must first examine The Biblical Concept of Sin;
Its Origin and Its Consequences.
A Person cannot fully appreciate forgiveness unless he knows Who has forgiven him, and of What he has been forgiven.
Now, I want you to notice carefully this first main point;
SIN DECREED BY THE FORGIVER
God DOES NOT have 2 Wills;
Job 23;13-''But he is in one mind, and who can turn him/ and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.''
There is in God's one will, a revealed and a concealed hemisphere;
Deuteronomy 29;29--''The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever; that we may do all the words of this law.''
God has seen fit, not to reveal His Complete Will to men.
He reveals only what is needed by Man, while they are Pilgrims on The Earth.
When the saints stand before the Lord, in their new bodies, they shall learn more about The Mysteries, associated with The Godhead.
There, they shall understand Predestination, Imputation, and every Bible Doctrine.
Throughout the ceaseless ages of Eternity, The LORD will continue to reveal, unto His Own,
The Exceeding Riches of His Grace.
But Now, we can't know, or, see, all of God''s Will.
God's Will can be compared to a sphere.
One can only see part of a sphere, at a time.
We can only see one side of The Moon.
The same is true, with The Sun and Earth.
Truth is like A Sphere.
No One sees, or knows, All The Truth.
Men are responsible to know and obey the revealed part of Truth, but, they are not responsible, for that which is concealed.
God is Omniscient;
His Understanding is Infinite;
Psalm 147;5--''Great is our LORD, and of great power; his understanding is infinite,''
God's Will, or, Purpose, or, Decree, is one sphere.
God's Decree to permit Sin, was included, in the secret part of His Will.
But Man's Sin, in a sense, was necessary to God's Purpose in Christ.
God did allow Sin, but that, DOES NOT make Him, Its Author.
Now, Get This Truth; YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THAT, GOD IS SOVEREIGN, WITHOUT ALSO BELIEVING, THAT HE ALLOWED SIN.
You see, If God had not allowed Adam's Fall, It could not have occurred.
He also purposed that, Jesus Christ should come, and die for sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ is The Lamb, that was slain, from The Foundation of The World--
Revelation 13;8--''And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.''
Jesus Christ died for the sins of The Elect, according to The Purpose of God.
God created Man, Upright. Adam had no sin within, but he was capable of sinning.
His uprightness was finite.
Ecclesiastes 7;29--''Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought many inventions.''
Now, the apparent inconsistency of God decreeing Sin, yet not being The Author of Sin, is
explained, when one realizes that, God's Purpose, is not The Originating Cause of Man's Sin.
Since God created Man, in His Own Image, and after His Likeness, Sin could not have been a part of Man's Nature. If Sin had been a part, Adam as a being, didn't have God, as his Author.
Since Sin came into the world, It has become The Motive, for all thoughts and actions of Men.
The Bible describes Man's Condition as Personal--Each individual is responsible for his own sin-
Hosea 7;2--''. . .their own doings have beset them about.'' Sin is Personal, and blame for it, cannot be shifted to Parents, Environment, or anything, but One's Self.
Sin proceeds from within individual hearts--Mark 7;21-23--[Turn].
Man needs to be reconciled to God--Reconciliation is The Act of God--
2 Corinthians 5;19--''To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.''
THE NECESSITY for Reconciliation attests Man's Guilt before God.
Jesus Christ became The Surety for The Elect.
The Elect become reconciled to God, through His Son, and God, in His Grace, forgives them for their sins.
The LORD controls every move and heartbeat, on Earth--
Acts 17;28A--''For in him we live, and move, and have our being;''
God allows Man, to commit sin, but, HE DOES NOT CO-OPERATE in The Evil, committed by any person;
He only allows it.
All things work according to God's Plan;
Providence is God's Plan in execution.
The Lord is working out, His Own Purpose in Time, for The Believer's Good, and God's Own
Glory.
Now, the fact that all things work according to God's Pleasure, is frequently misunderstood.
We see many, who appear to be masters of their own conduct, acting by their knowledge and choice.
They are governed, sometimes by principle, sometimes by example, sometimes by pride,
and sometimes, by peer pressure.
Since Man cannot distinguish The First Cause from The Subordinate Issue, The Chief Agent from The Instrument, The Creator's Perfection from The Creature's Weakness, they attribute Man's
Action to himself, without acknowledging that, God presides over All.
Wicked Governments and Rulers have risen, and shall rise;
Yet God is on the throne, governing everything;
Revelation 17;17--''For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his word, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.''
Although Sin is very Real, God is actively governing The World.
God did not just create The Heavens and The Earth, and then step back, to watch The World run by The Laws of Nature, that He instituted.
God is not A Balcony Observer, sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see, What will happen.
But God, actively and in sovereignty, governs The World--
Proverbs 21;1--''The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will.''
Kings are ruled and overruled by Him--
Ecclesiastes 5;6--''If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is highest than the highest regardeth; and there is higher than they.''
Its Origin and Its Consequences.
A Person cannot fully appreciate forgiveness unless he knows Who has forgiven him, and of What he has been forgiven.
Now, I want you to notice carefully this first main point;
SIN DECREED BY THE FORGIVER
God DOES NOT have 2 Wills;
Job 23;13-''But he is in one mind, and who can turn him/ and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.''
There is in God's one will, a revealed and a concealed hemisphere;
Deuteronomy 29;29--''The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever; that we may do all the words of this law.''
God has seen fit, not to reveal His Complete Will to men.
He reveals only what is needed by Man, while they are Pilgrims on The Earth.
When the saints stand before the Lord, in their new bodies, they shall learn more about The Mysteries, associated with The Godhead.
There, they shall understand Predestination, Imputation, and every Bible Doctrine.
Throughout the ceaseless ages of Eternity, The LORD will continue to reveal, unto His Own,
The Exceeding Riches of His Grace.
But Now, we can't know, or, see, all of God''s Will.
God's Will can be compared to a sphere.
One can only see part of a sphere, at a time.
We can only see one side of The Moon.
The same is true, with The Sun and Earth.
Truth is like A Sphere.
No One sees, or knows, All The Truth.
Men are responsible to know and obey the revealed part of Truth, but, they are not responsible, for that which is concealed.
God is Omniscient;
His Understanding is Infinite;
Psalm 147;5--''Great is our LORD, and of great power; his understanding is infinite,''
God's Will, or, Purpose, or, Decree, is one sphere.
God's Decree to permit Sin, was included, in the secret part of His Will.
But Man's Sin, in a sense, was necessary to God's Purpose in Christ.
God did allow Sin, but that, DOES NOT make Him, Its Author.
Now, Get This Truth; YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THAT, GOD IS SOVEREIGN, WITHOUT ALSO BELIEVING, THAT HE ALLOWED SIN.
You see, If God had not allowed Adam's Fall, It could not have occurred.
He also purposed that, Jesus Christ should come, and die for sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ is The Lamb, that was slain, from The Foundation of The World--
Revelation 13;8--''And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.''
Jesus Christ died for the sins of The Elect, according to The Purpose of God.
God created Man, Upright. Adam had no sin within, but he was capable of sinning.
His uprightness was finite.
Ecclesiastes 7;29--''Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought many inventions.''
Now, the apparent inconsistency of God decreeing Sin, yet not being The Author of Sin, is
explained, when one realizes that, God's Purpose, is not The Originating Cause of Man's Sin.
Since God created Man, in His Own Image, and after His Likeness, Sin could not have been a part of Man's Nature. If Sin had been a part, Adam as a being, didn't have God, as his Author.
Since Sin came into the world, It has become The Motive, for all thoughts and actions of Men.
The Bible describes Man's Condition as Personal--Each individual is responsible for his own sin-
Hosea 7;2--''. . .their own doings have beset them about.'' Sin is Personal, and blame for it, cannot be shifted to Parents, Environment, or anything, but One's Self.
Sin proceeds from within individual hearts--Mark 7;21-23--[Turn].
Man needs to be reconciled to God--Reconciliation is The Act of God--
2 Corinthians 5;19--''To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.''
THE NECESSITY for Reconciliation attests Man's Guilt before God.
Jesus Christ became The Surety for The Elect.
The Elect become reconciled to God, through His Son, and God, in His Grace, forgives them for their sins.
The LORD controls every move and heartbeat, on Earth--
Acts 17;28A--''For in him we live, and move, and have our being;''
God allows Man, to commit sin, but, HE DOES NOT CO-OPERATE in The Evil, committed by any person;
He only allows it.
All things work according to God's Plan;
Providence is God's Plan in execution.
The Lord is working out, His Own Purpose in Time, for The Believer's Good, and God's Own
Glory.
Now, the fact that all things work according to God's Pleasure, is frequently misunderstood.
We see many, who appear to be masters of their own conduct, acting by their knowledge and choice.
They are governed, sometimes by principle, sometimes by example, sometimes by pride,
and sometimes, by peer pressure.
Since Man cannot distinguish The First Cause from The Subordinate Issue, The Chief Agent from The Instrument, The Creator's Perfection from The Creature's Weakness, they attribute Man's
Action to himself, without acknowledging that, God presides over All.
Wicked Governments and Rulers have risen, and shall rise;
Yet God is on the throne, governing everything;
Revelation 17;17--''For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his word, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.''
Although Sin is very Real, God is actively governing The World.
God did not just create The Heavens and The Earth, and then step back, to watch The World run by The Laws of Nature, that He instituted.
God is not A Balcony Observer, sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see, What will happen.
But God, actively and in sovereignty, governs The World--
Proverbs 21;1--''The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will.''
Kings are ruled and overruled by Him--
Ecclesiastes 5;6--''If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is highest than the highest regardeth; and there is higher than they.''
God forgives sinners--part 1
Sinners are at enmity with God, Whose Name is ''Holy and Reverend'' [Psalm 111;9].
Now, I want to say, that as Omnipotence is the power of God's Attributes, Holiness is their beauty.
Holiness is self-affirming purity.
God's Omnipotence declares Him Mighty, and His Holiness declares Him Glorious. Just as The
Sun's loss of light would cause it, to lose its heat and quickening virtue, God's loss of Holiness would cause Him to lose His Quickening Power.
Sinners want God, to satisfy their lusts on Earth;
They would dethrone God, and degrade His Character.
Holiness is God's chief attribute, and it can never be attained by any man--[Who can equal God/]
Now, God's Love is important, but it is not His Fundamental Attribute. Love requires a standard, and its standard is Holiness.
God's love is regulated not by sentiment, but by Principle.
Grace reigns, not at the expense of Righteousness, but through Righteousness.
Romans 5;21--''That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord.''
You see, God's Grace stems from His Love, and God's Love never conflicts with His Holiness.
God is The God of Order. There is order in The Godhead, in Salvation, in Service, and in the local church, and the home.
The Order in The Godhead is God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That Order does not imply The Father's Character is greater to those of The Son, or The Holy Spirit.
Order in The Godhead is revealed in Authority.
The Father so loved His Own Elect among sinners, that He sent His Son into The World--Jesus came.
The Lord Jesus Christ ascended after His Death, and Resurrection, and sent The Holy Spirit--
The Spirit came.
The One sent, was not less in Character, but in Authority.
The Father planned eternal salvation for the elect in Eternity Past;
The Son purchased The Elects' Salvation, when He died, on the cross;
The Holy Spirit applies The Salvation, that The Father planned, and The Son purchased, to the hearts, of The Elect, in Time.
There is Order also, in the application of Salvation, to The Elect.
First comes Regeneration, then Conversion.
Regeneration, which comes from God alone, occurs when The Holy Spirit enters the heart of A
Person, and gives him, a desire for Spiritual Things.
Regeneration is identical in every individual sinner, Conversion experiences vary.
There is Order also, in the true Conversion experience of a man, Who has been Regenerated,
We see that his mind, emotions and will, are affected.
His Regeneration by The Holy Spirit gives him a disposition for the things of God.
When such a person hears The Gospel, his mind is set into motion, he hears and understands.
In this way the intellectual part of man is engaged in a true conversion experience.
His God-given disposition enables him to recognize truth, when he hears it.
John 10;4-5-[Turn].
God's Forgiveness falls into 3 categories;
1. Everlasting Forgiveness
2. Restorative Forgiveness
3. Governmental Forgiveness
Now, I want to say, that as Omnipotence is the power of God's Attributes, Holiness is their beauty.
Holiness is self-affirming purity.
God's Omnipotence declares Him Mighty, and His Holiness declares Him Glorious. Just as The
Sun's loss of light would cause it, to lose its heat and quickening virtue, God's loss of Holiness would cause Him to lose His Quickening Power.
Sinners want God, to satisfy their lusts on Earth;
They would dethrone God, and degrade His Character.
Holiness is God's chief attribute, and it can never be attained by any man--[Who can equal God/]
Now, God's Love is important, but it is not His Fundamental Attribute. Love requires a standard, and its standard is Holiness.
God's love is regulated not by sentiment, but by Principle.
Grace reigns, not at the expense of Righteousness, but through Righteousness.
Romans 5;21--''That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord.''
You see, God's Grace stems from His Love, and God's Love never conflicts with His Holiness.
God is The God of Order. There is order in The Godhead, in Salvation, in Service, and in the local church, and the home.
The Order in The Godhead is God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That Order does not imply The Father's Character is greater to those of The Son, or The Holy Spirit.
Order in The Godhead is revealed in Authority.
The Father so loved His Own Elect among sinners, that He sent His Son into The World--Jesus came.
The Lord Jesus Christ ascended after His Death, and Resurrection, and sent The Holy Spirit--
The Spirit came.
The One sent, was not less in Character, but in Authority.
The Father planned eternal salvation for the elect in Eternity Past;
The Son purchased The Elects' Salvation, when He died, on the cross;
The Holy Spirit applies The Salvation, that The Father planned, and The Son purchased, to the hearts, of The Elect, in Time.
There is Order also, in the application of Salvation, to The Elect.
First comes Regeneration, then Conversion.
Regeneration, which comes from God alone, occurs when The Holy Spirit enters the heart of A
Person, and gives him, a desire for Spiritual Things.
Regeneration is identical in every individual sinner, Conversion experiences vary.
There is Order also, in the true Conversion experience of a man, Who has been Regenerated,
We see that his mind, emotions and will, are affected.
His Regeneration by The Holy Spirit gives him a disposition for the things of God.
When such a person hears The Gospel, his mind is set into motion, he hears and understands.
In this way the intellectual part of man is engaged in a true conversion experience.
His God-given disposition enables him to recognize truth, when he hears it.
John 10;4-5-[Turn].
God's Forgiveness falls into 3 categories;
1. Everlasting Forgiveness
2. Restorative Forgiveness
3. Governmental Forgiveness
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