The Doctrine of the Divine Decrees. Part 19

The Doctrine of The Divine Decrees. Part 19.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Point 4. The distinctions between what God permits and what He desires.
Point 5. To what extent is the human will free?

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.

PSA 139:6 {Such} knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is {too} high, I cannot attain to it.

If everything in Christianity were level to the comprehension of reason, there would be no room for faith.

Presumptuous all those reasoning’s may be called, which lead to the denial of the immutability of the divine counsels, or of the freedom of the human will; which make man a machine, and God the author of sin.

Point 6. The five manifestations of the will of God found in the divine decrees.

(a) The preventative will of God, GEN 20:6;
PSA 19:13.

God uses parents, governments, laws, customs, public opinion, His Word, His Spirit, and conscience as a means to prevent sin and evil.

PSA 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Thy word.
PSA 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Thy statutes.

PSA 119:75 I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me.
PSA 19:13 Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous {sins}; Let them not rule over me; Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

(b) There is the permissive will, which embraces that which God does not restrain;
DEU 8:2; 2CH 32:31; HOS 4:17; ROM 1:24,28.

DEU 8:2 - God led His people for forty years in the wilderness, pushing them to their limits, testing them so that they would know that He knew what they were made of, whether they would keep His commands or not.

2CH 32:31 - God left Hezekiah on his own to see what he would do with Babylonian emissaries because He wanted to test his heart.

HOS 4:17 - Ephraim was joined to idols; God said, “Let him alone.”

(c) As a part of the divine decrees, there is the directive, by which action God guides the ways of men and often outside their consciousness of that guidance, GEN 50:20;
PSA 76:10; ISA 10:5; JOH 13:27; Acts 4:28.

It is written that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to the end that a demonstration of His divine power might be fully displayed.

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

GEN 50:20 - the evil and jealousy of Joseph’s brothers.

(c) As a part of the divine decrees, there is the directive, by which action God guides the ways of men and often outside their consciousness of that guidance, GEN 50:20;
PSA 76:10; ISA 10:5; JOH 13:27; Acts 4:28.

ISA 10:5-6 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

JOH 13:27 And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus therefore said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

(d) The determinative will of God, by which action of God He decides and executes all things after the counsel of His own will, ISA 46:10-11.

ISA 46:10-11 My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned {it, surely} I will do it.

(e) The main principle behind the divine decrees is the grace of God.

TIT 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.

1. It is for their pleasure.

His perfect happiness is part of His infinite character, so His pleasure is not impulsive or superficial.

Then He created creatures with free will - beautiful, powerful creatures called angels.

In the same instant that He decreed to create the universe and the angels, He also decreed that at a certain point in time He would create another type of creature.

But he, (Adam and his descendants) would also become the demonstration of the fullness of God’s essence to those angels who had impugned God’s character.

Long after the Fall of Adam, God’s pleasure is our adjustment to the justice of God. Salvation, spirituality, and spiritual maturity free God to bless us.

2. What the Trinity decides is also for their glory.
3. It is the pleasure of God to permit creatures to exercise free volition.

Point 7. The Glory of God and the Divine Decrees.