The Doctrine of the Divine Decrees. Part 18

The Doctrine of The Divine Decrees. Part 18.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Point 4. The distinctions between what God permits and what He desires.

So they conclude “the devil is after me,” and that’s a lie. Or some cry out, “the Lord is testing me,” and that’s arrogance.

Understanding the divine decrees implies that God has a perfect rational policy and plan for your life.

Point 5. To what extent is the human will free?

Concerning unbelievers it is declared that they, being children of disobedience, are energized by Satan in EPH 2:2.

JOH 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father”
COL 1:13 “delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

PHI 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
PHI 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

In reality there is an outside influence or a system of domination at work within us.

The entire human race, saved and unsaved, believers and unbelievers, are not really free from a superior influence.

“No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him,” JOH 6:44.

MAT 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

When we find ourselves in jeopardy, whether personal, national, or international, these things are permitted to continue in history that the power of God may be demonstrated.

Many times in human history God has demonstrated His power by means of some evil ruler.
Many times in human history God has demonstrated His power by means of some evil people.
Many times God has demonstrated His power by means of believers who are negative toward Bible doctrine.

“God uses the wrath of man to praise Him,” PSA 76:10.

By means of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, God is going to demonstrate His power in such a way that it will have an effect on two entire generations.

The doctrine of heathenism = if anyone in any part of the world, no matter how geographically isolated, at the point of God consciousness expresses in his soul a desire to know God, and a desire to have a relationship with God, then God will provide, some way and somehow, that information.

Instead of God using the internet or satellite radio, or television, He used the hardness of one man’s heart to get the Gospel message and His power throughout this region.

Our human limitations constantly restrict our ability to know and understand God.

PRO 16:4 The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.
JOB 21:30 For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; they will be led forth at the day of fury.
PSA 76:10 for the wraths of man shall praise Thee.

The Jerusalem Translation -
“Man’s wrath only adds to Your glory;”

God used the wickedness of self-righteousness to magnify His grace.
GEN 50:20 - the evil and jealousy of Joseph’s brothers.

Inevitably the Lord will be glorified even when men perform the greatest evil which they are capable of performing.

2CO 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.

One of the most fascinating things that will ever come to us when we learn the divine decrees is to see history strictly from the divine viewpoint.

The reason is to protect the human race for the perpetuation of human history.

In reality, a crisis or a tragedy could be one of the greatest blessings in the world.

ROM 11:15 For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

2TH 2:11 - God shall give the people of the coming Tribulation age “strong delusion” that they should believe the falsehood.

God is definitely said to be the cause of these states of heart, as He is also the cause of Israel’s blindness.

God does not create the evil heart, but rather brings out into overt action that which is within the heart to accomplish His divine purpose.

The will of the creature is a creation of God and in relation to it God uses human volition to accomplish His plans and purpose.

God made the creature’s will as an instrument by which He might use to accomplish His sovereign purpose and it is inconceivable that it should ever obstruct His purpose.

If God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass then human liberty is taken away.

Some even say men are passive instruments in the hands of their Maker; they can do nothing but what they are secretly and irresistibly influenced to do; they are not, therefore, responsible for their actions; and God is the author of sin.

The divine decree exerts no force or influences upon our will and while it insures the future of events, it leaves them to be accomplished in the exercise of our freedom and liberty.

While it determines that some things should be brought to pass necessarily, it determines that other things should be brought to pass freely.

God has decreed, not only that men should act, but that they should act freely, and agreeably to their rational nature.

It is God’s will alone which is to be considered and not the means by which it has been determined.

If God foreordained certain actions and placed men in such circumstances that the actions would certainly take place, men are still responsible because they acted voluntarily and are responsible for the actions which are their own.

Liberty and freedom does not consist in the power of acting or not acting, but in acting from choice or free will.

The choice is determined by something in the mind itself, or by something external influencing the mind; but whatever is the cause, the choice makes the action free, and the agent accountable.

By this theory, human actions appear to be as necessary as the motions of matter according to the laws of gravitation and attraction; and man seems to be a machine, conscious of his movements, and consenting to them, but impelled by something different from himself.

The tie which connects the divine decrees and human liberty is invisible.
PSA 139:6 {Such} knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is {too} high, I cannot attain to it.