THE FOURFOLD WILL OF THE SOVEREIGN GOD (Part Three)

By Bob Myhan

The “incidental will of God” is what God is willing to happen as incidental to His “ideal will,” which is what He desires to occur. To create a being that can choose to fear and obey God is neces­sarily to create a being that can choose not to do so. God was will­ing for a being to exist who could choose to sin be­cause He desired a being to exist who could choose not to sin. God is also willing for man to suffer physically, psycho­logically and emo­tionally though He does not desire that man suffer. Indeed, Adam and Eve seem not to have suffered at all prior to their sin and expulsion from the garden.

THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL WILL OF GOD

This is what God desires of man, in the circumstance of sin. That is, man having sinned, God desires his repentance.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his prom­ise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9, ESV)

Again, because this is God’s desire, He commands man to repent.

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:30)

Though man violated God’s “ideal will,” it is God’s desire that man—in loving faith and obedi­ence—accept His merciful offer of sal­vation through the gift of His Son.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who­ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Because man was created with a free will, he can and does violate the cir­cumstantial will of God.

Now as he reasoned about righteous­ness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a conven­ient time I will call for you." (Acts 24:25)

Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You al­most persuade me to become a Chris­tian." (Acts 26:28)

If God’s grace is irresistible, as some be­lieve and teach, then all will be saved be­cause God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). But Jesus taught that some will not be saved.

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).

Since God desires that all men be saved but some will not be saved, God must be willing for some to be lost. Therefore, His grace is not irresistible. If God is not willing to save all, He shows partiality in saving some but not all. However, God does not show partiality.

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation who­ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34-35)

Therefore, God desires to save all but is willing for some to be lost.

(To be continued)

How Big Is Your God?

By Whit Sasser

How big is your God? To you, I mean. When we sell God short in prayer requests, refusing to ask for some things due to us thinking He cannot do anything about our bad situation or the "hopeless" situation of another, are we not making God out to be too small? When we give up on prayer requests too soon, is this not an indication of our God being too small?

When we worry about things, are we not expressing lack of faith in God to be able to solve our dilemma or bring us securely through it? We are!  We don't want to ad­mit it, but we know that being worrisome and fearful is sinful, we still nonetheless act as if God is too small to affect change to the matter we are fretting over. That is why when Jesus warned about worry in Mat­thew 6, He blames it on "Oh, ye of little faith."

The Scripture says that God is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." (Ephesians 3:20). Notice again the descriptive words, exceedingly, abundantly, and above. The question is do we believe that? God claims to be able to do more than we can imagine. No. He can do much more. No. He can do much, much more! Far beyond what we can compre­hend, He is able to powerfully work in us.... & (The Reminder, Vol. 5, No. 2)

Do You Believe In Jesus Christ?

Author Unknown

About 2000 years ago when Caesar Augustus was ruling the vast Roman Empire, Jesus was born in Palestine in very humble circumstances. Until He was thirty He was virtually unknown. However, during a brief three year ministry, His im­pact was such that it changed the world. H.G. Wells the famous historian, once said about Jesus: "I am not a believer. But I must confess, as an historian, this penni­less creature from Galilee is irresistibly the center of history."

No other person ever made the great claims that Jesus did. He claimed to be the Son of God, the promised Jewish Messiah, and the only way to God for all mankind. He claimed to have power to forgive sins and to give people eternal life. Above all, He claimed to be God, saying, "I and the Father are one."

Socrates once said, "Oh, that someone would arise, man or God, to show us God." Four hundred years later, Jesus came and claimed to be that person. But was Jesus the Son of God? If not, He was the great­est imposter who ever lived.

Lew Wallace, a distinguished general and literary genius, and Robert Ingersoll, a no­table skeptic, agreed to write a book that would prove Christianity to be a myth. After two years of research in some of the lead­ing libraries of Europe and America in preparation for writing the book, Mr. Wal­lace had a transformation of attitude. He had only written two chapters of the book when he fell to his knees, and prayed, "My Lord and my God." & (The Reminder, Vol. 5, No. 2)