Will And Grace:

(An Excerpt from I Know Who I Have Chosen) 

Free Will & Sovereign Grace:  What is this ancient debate all about? Is it about God’s sovereignty? That God is ruler over all creation? Hopefully not! Denying His sovereign reign as God of all creation denies the God of the Bible. Every believer should acknowledge the absolute sovereignty of God over the universe. There is no God but God Almighty, YHWH, Jehovah, the triune Deity.

Is it about whether man has a will? Hopefully not! To deny that man makes choices is to deny the obvious. God made Adam with desires, intellect, emotions and a will, an ability to choose. After he sinned he still had desires, intellect and emotions but they were fallen, affected by his sin and depraved. Wasn’t Adam’s will fallen as well?

So what’s the problem? Simply this: How do we reconcile the absolute sovereignty of God with mankind’s ability to make choices? Some say God overrides the will of man and predestines everything to the point that man is just a pawn of fate. Others say that God limits his power to allow man to keep a totally free will. Some go so far as to say God limits his foreknowledge and omniscience. What does the Bible say?

First, let’s look at the Biblical examples where God requires humankind to make choices.

The Old Testament:

Joshua 24:14 “... fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River ...15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, ... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Isa 1:16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; ... 18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow... 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;

The Gospels:

Matt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ...How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks... but you were not willing!

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

John 7:17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God...

Book of Acts:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ ...

Paul’s Letters:

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

Also: 1 Cor 9:17; Phm 14; 1 Peter 5:2 

Now this is only a sample of many like verses, but it is evidence that begs the question, how much of our salvation is up to us and how much is up to the grace of God? Why does God tell us to seek and to choose if our ability to do so is damaged in the fall and disabled by our depravity? And how does ‘whosoever believes’ and ‘election’ go together?

There are other verses that people cite in contrast (not contradiction) to these, which seem to elevate the role of God’s choosing and election in salvation, and in other things pertaining to God’s will. Consider these verses:

The Old Testament:

Gen 25:21 … and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her … 23 And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb … One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”  (see Rom 9:10 later)

Malachi 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3And I hated Esau… (see Rom 9:13 later)

Deut 7:6 “... the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, ... 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people... 8 but because the Lord loves you…”

Neh 9:7 you are the LORD the God, who did choose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur…

Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You…

The Gospels:

John 15: 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you …

John 6: 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; ...45 ...Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

John 13:18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen…

John 17:6  “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they kept Your word.

Book of Acts:

Acts 2: 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, ...be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ... 39 For the promise is to you, your children, and ....as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Acts 13:48 when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad ...And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Paul’s letters:

Rom 3: 10 “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 ... none who seeks after God.

Rom 8:29 whom He foreknew He also predestined ... 30 ...whom He predestined He also called; whom He called He also justified; and whom He justified He also glorified.

Rom 9:10 ... (for the children not yet born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand ...), 12 it was said...“The older shall serve the younger.” 13 ...“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” ...15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Rom 10:20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was shown to those who did not ask for Me.”

1 Cor 1:27 God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, God has chosen the weak ...28 and the base ...and the despised things God has chosen ...29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Eph 1: 4 …just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world... 5 having predestined us to adoption ...according to the good pleasure of His will... (cf. Eph 1:11)

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

James 2: 5  Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith...

1 Peter 1:1  Peter, ...to the pilgrims of the Dispersion... 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God...

2 John 1  The Elder, To the elect lady and her children…

Jude 1  Jude, ...to those who are called, sanctified ...and preserved in Jesus Christ:

Once again there are many scriptures on the ability and need to choose to repent, believe, be baptized, etc; and many scriptures on God’s choosing. So the ancient question remains. How do we reconcile God’s sovereign election and man’s need or ability to make choices?

Some have said election is not individual. It just means all of those who have believed are in Christ and He is the elect one. It is true that Jesus was chosen by God to be the Messiah, but this view doesn’t do justice to the many verses on election of us individually. (Eph 1:4-5)

It is a belief that is well with-in the pale of orthodoxy and held by respected Bible Scholars. But it appears to many others that there is a richer, more personal, approach to God’s election.

Some have said, God saves people in spite of themselves and man’s choice only “seems” to be involved. (This is commonly seen in the view called hyper-Calvinism.) It doesn’t do justice to the scriptural call on us to repent, believe, and call on the name of the Lord. (John 3:16)

Think for a minute about the three primary states in which mankind has existed. In the garden, Adam and Eve were perfect. Their intellects, emotions, desires, and choices were all perfectly pure and unblemished for a time. Then sin came, and in every way we know, humanity was fallen; living in a state much less than perfection and without hope. Our desires became evil, our emotions and minds were darkened. Why not our will? I would say our wills were damaged, too.[1] Not completely done away with, any more than our brains or emotions were.

Now, people find themselves born again; forgiven and changed. This is the third human condition. The Bible says we are new creatures. So are you perfect now in all that you do? No? Can you make choices independent of the bondage to sin that you once were in? I think so. Do we always love the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength? No, but are you able now to love the Lord at all? You can and do if you have been forgiven of sin, regenerated, and born again. We’re not like we will be in glory, but we’re better than we used to be when we were lost.

This is where we find ourselves then. God knew us intimately (Rom 8:29ff)[2] before we were born, before the world began He didn’t just know about us, He - Knew - Us.

(For the Booklet:) 

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[1] Rom 11:7 ...Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day." 9 David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."

[2] Rom 8:29 for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... 30 And those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified.

Naomi's Perdicament

Even in affliction, See what God has done for you.

Believers, we should see God as both sovereign and compassionate.

As far as biblical women go, Esther is more popular than Ruth. Esther is a beautiful, Hebrew, Queen. There’s beauty, power, and being born in the right family going for Esther. Ruth is not Jewish, not a queen, and we don’t know if many people thought she was beautiful or not. Ruth’s husband dies young. Ruth’s mother-in-law is Jewish and tries to send her back to her own people.

Ruth and Naomi are practically homeless.

Now, Esther is a great story of course and its scripture. But it’s the story of someone who has it all and risks it all for her people.

The story of Ruth is the story of someone who didn’t have much to start with and DID lose it all. Esther is a story of courage. Ruth is a story of faithfulness, hard work, and the Goodness of God.

So we’ll save Esther for another time and look at the story of Ruth.

But Ruth’s story starts with a man named Elimelech.

Rth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land. A man of Bethlehem-Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, with his wife and his two sons. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem... They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

Imagine yourself in ancient Israel. The Midianite people or perhaps the Philistines have been invading every year and burning your crops just before the harvest. As a result you go to the fields and try to get a little, just enough to take you thru another year, or at least until the wheat is ready and maybe you’ll get some of that before the Midianites burn it too.

One day Elimelech had enough! He loads up the pick-up with all they can cram in the bed and he and hiw wife Naomi and the two boys head down the east side of the Jordan River toward the dead sea and the plains of Moab.

Now let me stop and say a word about the names of these people. Elimelech means either mighty King or God is King. What a strong name. What a name of faith and courage. And the man runs from his own land and people to a land of devil worshipers and idolators. Did he pray? Did he get counsel? Elimelech is married to Naomi, her name means pleasant. What a nice name for a wife, right. And that’s a good start for a good family. Then their sons are born and I don’t know what went wrong but their names are Weakly and Pining. Maybe they were sickly boys, or mama was sick, but it inserts a sour note in the lives of this Bethlehem family.

Now with the famine on, they head for Moab. Moab means ‘of the father.’ They were the descendants of a man named Moab. Do you remember who his parents were? His mother was the daughter of Lot, and the father was Lot himself. Yep, her son was ‘of the father.’ She got him seriously drunk and had his baby. God was not pleased with them. He gave permission for Israel to battle them and kill many of them.

But marriage with Moabite women was not forbidden as it was with other groups. It was the Moabites who hired the prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites so that Moab could defeat them. As ancient relatives, they may have been helpful but they weren’t.

So that sets the stage. Elimelech was afraid they would die of starvation in Israel so he goes to Moab and what happens? He died there. Then his two sons die

Hebrew tradition says they had had begun to observe Moabite religion. Moabites worshiped Chemosh and Ashtar and sometimes practiced human sacrifice. We do not know if it is true about there idolatry, but we do know that the father and the sons died. It might not have anything to do with sin. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Naomi was going thru a horrible time but the Bible says “many are the afflictions of the Righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.” (Psa 34:19) Acts 14:22 says it is thru many tribulations that we enter the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t say a couple of afflictions. It doesn’t say one or two tribulations. It says Many.

We will ALL face many problems in life, many horrible problems, and many tough times. And think, we have it better here in the USA than others around the world. But pain is pain no matter where you live.

Now let’s look at Naomi. (read 8-21) I get the feeling that these daughter-in-laws were pretty good ladies. They both went with Naomi. She persuaded Orpah to go home reluctantly, but Ruth wouldn’t budge. That says something about Ruth but we’ll come back to her. Naomi seems incredibly negative. We are used to seeing Bible heroes be strong and courageous. But let’s give Naomi a break, she just lost her husband and buried her own sons. I can understand some negativity. Listen to Naomi:

1:12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband to-night, and should bear sons; 13 would you tarry till they were grown?

1:19 So they went until they came to Bethlehem. And … when they were come to Bethlehem, all the city was moved...and the women said, Is this Naomi? 20 And she said, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and Jehovah hath brought me home empty; why call ye me Naomi, seeing Jehovah hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

Now that is a negative person. But is she wrong? Did she say anything wrong here?

She says she came home empty yet Ruth is there by her side to help and comfort. How about the fact that the famine is over and she is back home with family right at the beginning of the barley harvest? That’s a good thing right?

Then she says Jehovah has afflicted me. Could that be right? Yes it could be, and it is. “Many are the afflictions of the Righteous…” What is an affliction? It is the result of someone afflicting or attacking you. Who was the one who would bring blessings on Israel? It was Jehovah God right? Who was the one who would bring affliction on Israel? Same one, Jehovah God. (Deu 28:15) It is a sad thing that too many pulpits today do not preach the sovereignty of God.

WHY do we hurt?

Look at 2 options: Either God brings afflictions upon us, or God is allowing them to come upon us and he could stop them but doesn’t. What’s the difference? We are still afflicted!

Now 1 more option: God is not strong enough to stop the afflictions. Is that the God of the bible? Is that a God you want to serve? Is that the God who was powerful enough to create the heavens and the earth? NO.

God is all powerful and sovereign. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, BUT GOD! Two of the greatest words in the Bible. At least 93X the bible says “But God.”

We were dead in sins, but God.

Many are the afflictions… But God.

Joseph said “You meant it for evil, But God meant it for good.”

The battle is not yours, But God’s.

They laid Him in a tomb; But God raised Him from the dead!

When Naomi says God has afflicted me, she is dead on! But she forgot the story of Joseph. Joseph also went to a foreign land and was afflicted by God; But God delivered Him and made him a blessing to his family.

Naomi has more than Ruth, more than relatives, more than a rich nephew, and more than a barley harvest, and more than Elimelech: she has God Almighty the Might King, the Sovereign king.

Listen, when people are suffering under incredible loss, you don’t have to reinforce the afflictions of God, just take them to the Sovereign King who can deliver them out of them all!

This is the message of Hymns we Sing:

William Cowper wrote: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm....

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

We also sing:

Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength i find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my father's wise bestowment I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure, Gives unto each day what He deems best. Lovingly its part of Pain and Pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Now a word about Ruth. Especially for Valentine’s day. She knew what it meant to have Steadfast love! She modeled the Love of God for us! “The steadfast love of the Lord never fails. His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness o God.” (Lam 3:22f ESV)

Listen to Ruth’s promise: 1:16…Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried…

Jesus: "I will never ever leave you or forsake you." Can you see Ruth expressing God's love for Naomi. She embrace her people, she embraced her home, but most importantly she embraced her God.

Have you embraced the God of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father in heaven. Do it! Don’t put it off. Wrestle with God if you have to. But turn from your wicked ways and put your trust and hope in Jesus Christ who died for your sins, that you would be saved.