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THE PURPOSE OF GOD
In Hebrews 2:10 the Bible speaks of God
“bringing many sons unto
glory.” This He is doing. He is not a failure: He is a success in spite
of man's enmity against Him. That the mind of all natural born men is enmity
against God is stated in Romans 8:7 in these words:
“Because the carnal
mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” Some people love religion. Others think to escape
eternal punishment by being religious. Still others are convinced that God
will give them health and wealth if they will be religious. And so while
they have actually chosen religion, they think they have chosen God.
The Bible clearly teaches that God is the one who elected (chose)
whom He will save. The words “elect,” “election,” “choose,” “chosen,” etc.
speaking of God's choice are found repeatedly in the Bible. One such place
is Ephesians 1:4 which says: “According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world...” The Bible is also clear that the
purpose of God in choosing is unconditional. He did not choose people
because He saw ahead of time that they would be good or believe or do
anything. Romans 9:11 says, “that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth...”
God
chose whom He will save irrespective of what those sinners do. That is a
truth that is hated by most people today, but it is the truth nevertheless.
Paul wrote to Timothy about this same thing, saying,
“Who hath
saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began,” (2 Timothy 1:9). God's purpose and grace
– called “the purpose of God according to election” - is to save spiritually
dead sinners in spite of what they have done and not because of anything
they have done. It is “not according to our works.”
Sinners do a lot of things after God has regenerated them, but can do
nothing to cause God to regenerate them. God causes them to experience godly
sorrow and repentance. Paul wrote: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh
death,” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Along with repentance comes faith in
Christ. In Acts 20:21 Paul said those two things were what he preached:
“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God,
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” He also wrote that God is the
cause of these changes in sinners, saying,
“he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” (Philippians
1:6). And again he wrote: “For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure, (Philippians 2:13). God
accomplishes His purpose! |
