AnonymousRex
Puritan Board Freshman
While I realize that this particular subject is discussed [i:f6cb19651c]ad nauseum[/i:f6cb19651c] on this board, I nevertheless feel compelled to start yet another thread on this sublime and daunting doctrine in the form of a sequel to one of my older threads.
For the past couple of weeks, I have been blessed with the homiletical insight of Pastor L.R. Shelton, Sr., whose sermons can be found on sermonaudio.com. At first I thought he was comical until I began to really pay attention to his preaching, and one of the points he kept emphasizing throughout his sermons was God's absolute sovereignty. What he specifically said about it, however, was something I had yet to comprehend as explicitly as he: that God is under no obligation to save anyone, especially those who ask (who falsely believe they are under the influence of the Spirit and His work), and that He saves whom He will, when He will. That means that an individual can sit under the preaching of the gospel and be a professing Christian for 25 years before he/she is actually saved. That also means that such a person could never be saved, and it's not necessarily on account of anything he/she did; rather, it is merely because that is what God wants, and that's all you can say. The only response suitable for a Christian is submission.
I think this crucial fact also has implications for other facets of human existence. For example, who we are and what we experience in this life are ultimately by God's decree. One person may be gifted beyond measure while another could be completely stupid. One could be blessed with beauty, another cursed with wretched ugliness. One could have tremendous athletic prowess, the other poor vision, deformities and proclivities toward clumsiness. One could be predestined to life, the other left to his own sinful devices and therefore destined to hell. Why is this? Not because God foresaw anything meritorious or abominable in these people, but because this is what He wanted and how He wanted it. God's master plan for the universe is fixed and whatever comes to pass on this earth is ultimately ordained to fulfill that plan. This means that not everyone is meant to be rich, beautiful, intelligent, sociable, or whatever. Said another way, not everyone is meant to enjoy life. Many are depressed and distraught because that is what God has willed, and they are completely helpless and without hope unless God has purified them through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm sure many other inferences can be made from establishing God's absolute sovereignty, but I can't think of any right now. I can only quietly reflect upon and ultimately submit to this amazing truth, esteeming those who share this reverence and pitying those who don't.
AnonRex
For the past couple of weeks, I have been blessed with the homiletical insight of Pastor L.R. Shelton, Sr., whose sermons can be found on sermonaudio.com. At first I thought he was comical until I began to really pay attention to his preaching, and one of the points he kept emphasizing throughout his sermons was God's absolute sovereignty. What he specifically said about it, however, was something I had yet to comprehend as explicitly as he: that God is under no obligation to save anyone, especially those who ask (who falsely believe they are under the influence of the Spirit and His work), and that He saves whom He will, when He will. That means that an individual can sit under the preaching of the gospel and be a professing Christian for 25 years before he/she is actually saved. That also means that such a person could never be saved, and it's not necessarily on account of anything he/she did; rather, it is merely because that is what God wants, and that's all you can say. The only response suitable for a Christian is submission.
I think this crucial fact also has implications for other facets of human existence. For example, who we are and what we experience in this life are ultimately by God's decree. One person may be gifted beyond measure while another could be completely stupid. One could be blessed with beauty, another cursed with wretched ugliness. One could have tremendous athletic prowess, the other poor vision, deformities and proclivities toward clumsiness. One could be predestined to life, the other left to his own sinful devices and therefore destined to hell. Why is this? Not because God foresaw anything meritorious or abominable in these people, but because this is what He wanted and how He wanted it. God's master plan for the universe is fixed and whatever comes to pass on this earth is ultimately ordained to fulfill that plan. This means that not everyone is meant to be rich, beautiful, intelligent, sociable, or whatever. Said another way, not everyone is meant to enjoy life. Many are depressed and distraught because that is what God has willed, and they are completely helpless and without hope unless God has purified them through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm sure many other inferences can be made from establishing God's absolute sovereignty, but I can't think of any right now. I can only quietly reflect upon and ultimately submit to this amazing truth, esteeming those who share this reverence and pitying those who don't.
AnonRex
