Lessons in God’s Sovereignty from a Little Girl

by Bruce Mills

I have been studying and teaching on the life of Elisha, the Old Testament prophet.  I have arrived at 2 Kings 5 which records the story of the healing of Naaman the leprous Aramean (Syrian) military commander.  As I began studying the story, I encountered one of the characters in the story who I have never heard anyone talk about to any significant degree, yet this person plays a significant role in the story. This person is found in 2 Kings 5:2 and it is the unnamed little Jewish slave girl who informs Naaman’s wife about Elisha being able to heal Naaman of his leprosy.  She had been taken captive during one of the many raids which the Arameans had carried out against Israel. She was selected to be the slave girl in waiting for Mrs. Naaman.

Now think about this. Here we have an incredible story of God’s sovereignty at work. This little girl had been forcibly taken away from her home and her parents and forced to work as a slave for the top military commander’s wife in a foreign land. Who knows—perhaps her parents were even killed by the Aramean raiders when they went pillaging through Israel and captured her! So she had, at a very young age, become a slave. The text doesn’t tell us how old she was when she was taken captive, but she was probably there for at least a year or two because she had apparently learned the Aramean language, as she was able to express to her captors the information about Elisha.

Here we have God’s sovereignty at work again in what seems to us to be a negative manner. After all, God could have protected this little girl from being captured and carried away from her parents and put into service as a slave in Naaman’s household. But He didn’t. He let her be captured and hauled away. He certainly doesn’t seem like a God of mercy and love when you look at it that way. But God doesn’t look at things like we do (cf. Isaiah 55:9). Her story is very similar to that of Joseph, whose brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, and years later when he has risen to be the prime minister of Egypt, he is reunited with his brothers and tells them, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).

So here is this little girl—young, far from home, enslaved to serve Naaman’s wife—and yet she maintains a positive attitude of humble submission to those over her. This is seen in her statement to Naaman’s wife regarding Naaman’s leprosy. She says, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3).

Now you might think, “Hmm, I’ve never heard of someone who had been captured and enslaved, speak with such thoughtful, kind terms about her captors. Instead of saying, “I wish my master would die of his disease. After all, he deserves to, since he snatched me away from my home and made me a slave. I wish God would help me escape and get back home to my family,” she says, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.”

This is clearly the work of God in her life. She had a positive attitude despite her circumstances. She cared for her master and had his best interest at heart. There is no hint of dissatisfaction or discontent with her situation in life. Even at her young age, there was a maturity beyond her years in terms of understanding that God had sovereignly placed her in her circumstances and had a purpose in doing so.

Now, someone might argue, “Well, perhaps her circumstances in Syria as Naaman’s slave were better than her family’s circumstances back in Israel. Maybe that’s why she didn’t complain.” I will admit that it is certainly possible that her circumstances as a slave may have been better than her life had been back in Israel, but it is also true that in general the circumstances of the average African slave here in America in the 1800s was better than the average African living in Nigeria at that time. Yet those slaves yearned and longed for freedom from their slavemasters. You see, when you take away a person’s freedom, it doesn’t matter how much better their circumstances may be. Apart from an understanding of God’s sovereign work in their lives, they will rebel against that slavery; if not outwardly, at least internally. Yet in this young girl’s words we see the desire of her heart that her master would be healed by God’s prophet Elisha back in Samaria. No complaining about her own situation; just concern for her master’s situation.

Iinterestingly, this story doesn’t have a Hollywood happy ending for this little girl. There is no reward of freedom for her after Naaman is healed. We would like for there to be a verse thrown in somewhere in the chapter which tells us that when Naaman got home, he set the little girl free and sent her home to live with her parents back in Israel. After all, she is the one who brought up the possibility of Elisha healing Naaman, but after verse 4, this little girl is never mentioned again in the story. She may have spent the rest of her life as a slave, working for Naaman’s wife.

What this teaches us is the need to be content in our circumstances, because they may never change. In fact, they may even get worse from a human perspective. But no matter what happens, we must rest in the truth of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Do you remember what Paul said in Phil. 4:11-12? He wrote: “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” The writer of Hebrews instructs us, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’” (13:5).

Far too often we behave sinfully when the providence of God goes against our will and we find that God has placed us in situations which we hate and dislike. But God is trustworthy to stand with us in those difficult circumstances, no matter what they may be. He promises to never desert us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), so it doesn’t matter how bad our circumstances may be, He has promised to be with us every step of the way. Therefore, we can be content in that situation, knowing that God is in control and will not permit us to suffer more than we are able to endure.

In this case, God intended and sovereignly placed that little girl in Naaman’s household so that He could use her as the link in the chain that led to the healing of Naaman’s leprosy and the magnification of God’s glory as He is seen reaching out to the Gentiles and providing cleansing and salvation from the awful condition of sin. What tremendously important lessons about how to respond to the seemingly negative circumstances of our lives we can learn from this young unnamed slave girl.  The next time you begin to complain about your particular situation, remember that God has sovereignly placed you in that situation, and He has done so for His glory and your good.

A Man Named Elisha

by Bruce Mills

After almost three years, I finally finished teaching through the book of Romans in my adult Sunday School class.  It was a massive undertaking which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Before I jump into my next major undertaking (the Gospel of John), I am taking out a few weeks to study the life and ministry of Elisha, one of the Old Testament’s great prophets.  As I’ve been studying this week, I found that there is much about Elisha’s call to ministry that is important for all believers to understand. 

Elisha’s call to the prophetic ministry is found in 1 Kings 19:15-21.  The text reads as follows:

The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.

Now notice that here, as always, God takes the initiative. Elisha was not seeking Him, but the Lord through Elijah sought out him. It wasn’t because Elisha was already prepared to be a prophet, but because God in His sovereignty chose him and called him. God would take care of the preparation after he called him. But once again, we see the doctrine of the sovereignty of God coming into play here. God is the one who selected Elisha and set him apart for ministry. And He continues to do the same thing today. He selects men and sets them apart to do his work.

In this passage, we see two misconceptions which overtake many people in ministry: (1) the feeling that they are the only person who is standing for the truth and (2) that they are indispensible. Elijah was no different. Earlier in this chapter, he had fled from Jezebel who was out to kill him, and he lays down under a juniper tree and pleads with God to take his life (19:4). But instead God provides an angel to cook him some food and Elijah goes on for 40 days on the strength that the food provided him. But when God questions him as to why he is hiding out in the mountains, Elijah says in verse 10, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” He had concluded that he was the only person who was still faithful to God. But God reveals Himself to Elijah in a gentle breeze and basically says, “Elijah, it’s time to get to work. You’re not the only one left—there are 7,000 people who haven’t bowed the knee to Baal. And another thing, Elijah, you’re not indispensible. In fact, I’m going to have you appoint your replacement.”  So many times men in ministry begin to listen to and believe all the accolades that come their way as they preach and teach. And when they see all the moral failures and false teachers that are assaulting the church around them, they begin to think that they are the only people who are standing for the truth.

Another problem many pastors experience is never planning for their replacement. By that, I don’t mean that they need to handpick their successor. But I do mean that they need to be discipling men and teaching men what to look for in a pastor, so that if they suddenly die or become gravely ill, there are other men who are able to step in and take over the teaching and leadership responsibilities. But many pastors believe they are indispensible and that the church simply can’t get along without them. Well, that may be true of their specific church, if they haven’t trained and developed other leaders who are capable of teaching the Word. But in terms of the church universal, Jesus said that such will never be the case. No one person is so crucial to God’s work that the church will collapse if they are not there. The church, the body of Christ, will continue and even the gates of hell cannot overwhelm it.

But this does raise the point that every local church ought to be developing leaders for the future. Men who meet the biblical qualifications for elder should be identified and then trained. Training does not have to include Bible college or seminary, although those are beneficial. But a man who has a heart and passion to learn and teach the Word should be taught and exposed to the ministry in such a way that he learns what is involved and what is expected of a pastor as a teacher and shepherd of the flock. He needs to be placed in a position of exposure to the ministry in which he spends time learning how to respond biblically to crisis situations so that the elders can observe whether his approach to problems is biblical or not.  He should be given teaching opportunities so the elders can listen and confirm whether or not he is sound in the faith and able to communicate truth clearly.  He should be required to write and defend his doctrinal position in every major area of theology. This process is so crucial because the protection of the flock is at stake. Pick a man who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and the church can be divided and destroyed.

Well, that’s just a little bit of what I will be teaching this next Sunday on the calling of Elisha.  As I dig into the Old Testament narrative about him, I am amazed at how much our great God communicates to us through Elisha’s life.  I’m looking forward to what God has to teach me over the next several weeks.

Suffering, Pain, & God’s Sovereignty

by Bruce Mills

As I write these words, I am sitting in a recliner with my left leg locked in a brace, unable to move it.  I suffered a serious fracture of my patella (knee cap) and had to undergo surgery to repair it.  Now I am living with pain almost every moment of every day, and I am faced with many months of rehabilitation before I will ever be able to walk on it again without a brace and either a wheelchair, crutches, or a walker.  I am dependent upon my family members to help me bathe, go to the bathroom, and get dressed.  It will be about eight weeks before I am able to return to work in a limited capacity.  There is much about my situation that is humbling and humiliating. 

I have already experienced the depression that comes periodically in such situations, as Satan tempts me to despair that my circumstances will never get better, that my pain will never go away, that my rehab will be too much for me to bear.  I admit that it is a daily struggle.  So when those dark times of depression and anxiety come, I have decided to follow my own counsel; the advice that I have given many other believers through the years who were going through some difficult time of suffering in their lives, and that is to rest in the sovereignty and trustworthiness of God.

I really don’t think there is a more comforting doctrine in times of suffering, pain, and physical limitation than God’s sovereign control over such matters.  When I contemplate the fact that He has absolute control over everything in the universe, and foreordained from before the world began that I would go through this experience in order that His glory might be magnified, it brings a sense of purpose and comfort to my soul. 

Ephesians 1:11 declares that God in Christ “works all things after the counsel of His will.”  The Greek word for “works” is energeō, which indicates that God does not merely carry all of the universe’s objects and events to their appointed ends, but that He actually brings about all things in accordance with His will.  In other words, it isn’t just that God manages to turn the evil, harmful, and hurtful aspects and events of our world to good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28); rather, it is that He Himself ordains and orchestrates these terrible, painful, difficult events for His glory and His people’s good.

Consider that He proclaimed to the Pharaoh of Egypt that the only reason God had brought him to the place he was and allowed him to remain in power was so that as God rained down plague after plague upon the Egyptian people, God’s name and power and glory would be proclaimed throughout all the earth (Exodus 9:13-16).

Consider the man in John 9 who was born blind—who lived perhaps 20-25-30 years in darkness—forced to beg in order to survive.  Yet Jesus said that the reason those awful events took place in that man’s life were “so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3).

So when I consider that Scripture teaches that God goes to such lengths to bring pain and misery upon His creation in order to display His glory, the fact that He will cause me to suffer a serious injury to my knee and leave me dependent on others for the most basic functions of daily life means that He is working to accomplish His glory through me and my situation.  That is a marvelously encouraging thought, especially when I am hurting and weak and incapable.  Because when I recognize that He is accomplishing His purposes in me and magnifying His glory through me, it is staggering to my feeble mind.  Ultimately, my injury is not about me; it is about God’s glory.

But since God has called me to this purpose, what might He be doing in my life?  Well, as I said at the beginning of this post, there is much about my circumstances that are both humbling and humiliating, and since God knows my sinfully prideful heart, He knows that I need to be broken of that pride.  One way is to forcibly rid me of my own self-sufficiency by making me completely dependent upon others.  In the wonderful book, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, a collection of essays on the subject of suffering in the life of the believer, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor, Joni Eareckson Tada writes:

Do you know who the truly handicapped people are?  They are the ones—and many of them are Christians—who hear the alarm clock go off at 7:30 in the morning, throw back the covers, jump out of bed, take a quick shower, choke down breakfast, and zoom out the front door.  They do all this on automatic pilot without stopping once to acknowledge their Creator, their great God who gives them life and strength each day.  Christian, if you live that way, do you know that James 4:6 says God opposes you?  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

And who are the humble?  They are people who are humiliated by their weaknesses.  Catheterized people whose leg bags spring leaks on somebody else’s brand-new carpet.  Immobilized people who must be fed, cleansed, and taken care of like infants.  Once-active people crippled by chronic aches and pains.  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, so then submit yourselves to God.  Resist the devil, who loves nothing more than to discourage you and corrode your joy.  Resist him and he will flee you.  Draw near to God in your affliction, and he will draw near to you (James 4:6-8).

It’s too early to know what all the lessons are that God wants me to learn over the next several months, but one obvious one is to rip away some of my pride and teach me humility.  And as I learn that lesson, God is glorified.  So it looks like the next several months will be an adventure, albeit a painful one, as God works through my disabling circumstances to bring about His glory and my good.  I pray that I will “consider it all joy…knowing that the testing of [my] faith produces endurance” (James 1:2-3).

Why God Allowed Sin to Enter His Creation

by Bruce Mills

Yesterday I taught on Romans 9:14-24, a passage which clearly deals with God’s sovereignty in election. In verse 22, Paul states, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” Now, I have dealt with that verse in a previous post on the doctrine of reprobation (2/18/08) so I will not rehash that issue.

However, one issue which we discussed yesterday dealt with God’s sovereignty in relationship to sin. This is a very serious issue in theology, because after all, if we have no answer for the horrendous things which take place around us, we might conclude either that God is impotent and incapable of dealing with such matters, or that He is a mean and vindictive tyrant who enjoys inflicting pain on His subjects.

So why does God permit evil in His creation? Why does He allow such events as a deranged gunman killing 32 students and faculty members on a college campus in Virginia in April 2007? What about mass genocide as has taken place in Bosnia and Rwanda within the past few years? What about radical Islamic terrorists flying commandeered airplanes into towers, killing thousands?

And why didn’t God simply wipe out Lucifer (Satan) at the very beginning when he rebelled? After all, He has the right and power to do that. In fact, Revelation 20:10 says he is will do just that someday. So why didn’t God cast him into the Lake of Fire the day after he rebelled? Why let him rampage through humanity for centuries?

What possible answer does Christianity have for such questions? Using material that I gleaned from both John Piper and John MacArthur, let me see if I can answer that.

The ultimate answer is that “all things have been created through [Christ] and for [Christ]” (Col. 1:16). Clearly God knew all that Satan would do if He created him and permitted him to rebel. So in choosing to create him, God was choosing to fold all of that evil into His purpose for creation. His purpose for creation was the glory of his Son. All things, including Satan and all his followers, were created with this in view. God created them knowing what they would do, and that knowledge was taken into account in God’s decision to create them. Therefore, the evil that Satan and his demonic forces do is simply one aspect of how God’s greatest and perfect purpose will be accomplished.

And in Romans 9:22, we learn that the entrance of sin into the world was necessary so that God could display His wrath, judgment, holy anger, vengeance, and justice. That’s why it says God was “willing to demonstrate His wrath.” His wrath is just as much an attribute of God’s nature as any other of His attributes. And so God allowed sin to enter into His perfect creation in order that He could display His holy wrath, because if there was no sin, He would have had no reason to display His wrath, and without His wrath, the fullness of the glory of God would not have been revealed.

Satan’s fall and ongoing existence are for the glory of Christ. Ultimately, Jesus Christ will be more highly honored, more deeply appreciated, and more deeply loved because He defeats Satan—not the moment Satan fell, but through millennia of enduring him and those who follow him “with much patience”--and decisively through His own death. A single, sudden, and infinitely holy display of power to destroy Satan immediately after his fall would have been a glorious display of power and righteousness. But it would not have been the fullest possible display of the full glory of the Son and the Father. God chose an infinitely wise way of displaying the full magnificence of divine glory by letting Satan fall and do his work for thousands of years.

The glory of Christ reaches its highest point in Christ’s obedient sacrifice on the cross where Jesus triumphed over the devil (Col. 2:15). Jesus said in that final hour of his own sacrifice, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him” (John 13:31). Paul said that the crucifixion of Christ is the point where we see his wisdom and power most gloriously displayed: “But we preach Christ crucified…the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23–24).

Satan, with all the evil and misery he brings to this planet, serves to magnify the power and wisdom and love and grace and mercy and patience and wrath of Jesus Christ. We would not know Christ in the fullness of His glory if He had not defeated Satan in the way He did.

Now, I understand that that’s not an easy answer to accept for many. But that’s the answer God gives us in Romans 9:22. Had there been no Satan and no sin, God couldn’t have displayed His wrath against sin and we wouldn’t have known that aspect of His nature. And because that aspect of His nature wouldn’t have been put on display, the full revelation of God’s glory would have been lost. So God created Satan and allowed and endured sin for the purpose of revealing His holy wrath in its judgment and its punishment. And it had to be so in order for God’s character to be fully revealed.

The text also says, “and to make His power known.” Here is another reason why God created Satan and permitted sin to enter His creation. First of all, He did it so that He could show His wrath. Secondly, He did it so that He could show His power.

How does God show His power in relationship to sin? First of all, in His judgment of sin. The closing chapters of the book of Revelation reveal the power of God in judging sin. If you read them, you will see the devastating plagues that He will one day send on the earth. You will see the great fiery judgments that He will bring upon men. And you will see Jesus Christ return as the conquering Lord, riding on a white horse, carrying a sword, wearing blood splattered garments as He comes to defeat Satan, his demonic forces, and the armies of the world and take the earth for His own possession so He can establish the millennial Kingdom. And after the final rebellion, you will see all of unredeemed humanity collected before the Great White Throne because God has the power to bring them out of the graves so that He can bring them before His judgment bar and then send them into the Lake of Fire forever. That is truly a demonstration of His unlimited power to judge sin.

And so, Satan and sin exist in order that God may fully glorify Himself and His Son, and demonstrate that part of His nature which is holy and reacts in violent wrath against sin and evil. And God created Satan and allowed sin in order that He could demonstrate His tremendous power as well as His vengeance, and His power is seen in its ability to conquer all that attempts to conquer Him.

God's Sovereign Control Over Our Circumstances

by Bruce Mills

"For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; but God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another" (Psalm 75:6-7)

As I was reading the Scriptures this morning, I came across this familiar passage and was reminded that all of the political and economic turmoil which surrounds us is entirely within the sovereign control of our heavenly Father. All the debate over healthcare reform, the war in Afghanistan, whether or not the economy is recovering, and the overall direction toward which our nation is headed is entirely under God's providential direction. Nothing takes place without His designing and directing it to achieve His glory and His eternal purposes. He raises up those whom He desires to lead us, and He removes those whom He desires to remove.

What peace that should bring to our heart! The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is the most comforting of all doctrines because it reminds us that every event is entirely under His control. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Not even Satan has power to act apart from God allowing and even authorizing him to do so (cf. Job 1:8-12). As difficult as that is to comprehend (and it certainly isn't fully understandable to our finite minds), knowing that no one and no thing operates outside of the authority of God Almighty is a tremendously comforting thought. Regardless of what happens to our family, our finances, our health, our nation, and even our freedom, we are never outside of the providential hand of our sovereign Lord who is working all things together for the good of His children (Rom. 8:28). What a tremendous encouragement that should be to our fearful hearts!

God's Sovereign Choice (Part 3)

by Bruce Mills

As I promised at the end of Part 2 in this series, this post will deal with the next word used in Romans 8:29-30, which is "predestined." According to these verses, God starts by foreknowing his children, and then it says that the people whom He foreordained to a relationship of loving intimacy, He predestined. It comes from the Greek word proorizw, which means “to mark out beforehand.” He marked them out ahead of time; He wrote down their names; He designated who would be the recipients of His grace and love. Those whom He predetermined to love, He “predestined…to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:5). He started out with a predetermination to love certain ones and on that basis, He marked them out.

Predestination is not synonymous with foreknowledge. Foreknowledge focuses on the distinguishing love of God whereby people are elected. Predestination points to the decision God made regarding what He intended to do with those whom He foreknew. Predestination is that act in eternity past in which God ordained or decreed that those on whom He had set His saving love would inherit eternal life. They are eternally chosen to be the beneficiaries of God's love and grace in salvation, and because God's plans are unchangeable and irrevocable, there can be no other result.

One of the major problems with Arminian theology, and much of contemporary evangelism today, is that it teaches that salvation is predicated on a person’s decision for Christ. But we are not Christians first of all because of what we decided about Christ, but because of what God decided about us before the foundations of the world. Why God would choose certain people to eternal salvation and to eternally set His affections on them and not on others whom He also created is beyond the human mind’s ability to comprehend. When people say that man’s salvation is based on his own choice to believe or not to believe, they are making man the sovereign in salvation, and grace becomes nothing more than the just and fair wages of man’s decision.

So to reject the doctrine of sovereign foreknowledge, predestination, and election is to leave man in charge of his eternal salvation and to make God a lesser god; a diminished deity who sits in heaven wringing his hands, hoping that the people He created will exercise their will to choose Christ, incapable of guaranteeing their salvation apart from their own sovereign choice over the matter. I ask you: Is that the God of the Bible? Absolutely not.

I’m not saying that there aren’t questions such as, “Why did God create unbelievers if He knew in advance that He was not going to choose them and thus, they would always reject Him and never choose to follow Him?” There most certainly are such questions, and it’s okay to ask them, so long as when we ask them, we are not questioning God’s wisdom and justice in these matters. Many people ask those questions because they don’t think it is right for God to act as He has chosen to do.

Paul deals with those issues much more in Romans 9:18-23. Paul is talking about why God chooses some but not others, and here’s what he says. Remember now, this is God speaking to us about how we are to think about these matters.

So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.

What’s God’s answer? It’s basically, “Shut up. Who are you to question the infinite wisdom of the sovereign Almighty God? I did it in order to reveal My wrath and power and glory to mankind, and that’s all you need to know.”

So be very careful about your attitude and motive in asking such questions about God’s righteousness and justice in His foreknowledge, predestination, and election of individuals to salvation. Just accept what He says in His Word as true and then praise His name that He chose to foreknow, predestine, and call some to Himself rather than justly condemning all of mankind to eternal hell for their rebellion against Him.

The Goodness of God to a Family

by Bruce Mills

We are winding up a vacation visit to my daughter and son-in-law’s home in Olathe, Kansas, located in the greater Kansas City area. It is also the residence of the world’s two best-looking, most-intelligent grandchildren, as can be seen in these pictures. I recognize that other grandparents may disagree with me on this point, but all I can say is that they are mistaken. You understand, of course, that my grandfatherly bias is showing through!

As I spent some time this morning reflecting on our stay, I was thinking of the goodness and kindness of our heavenly Father in giving us a wonderful daughter who loves the Lord and a son-in-law who faithfully serves Him as the pastor of Christ Community Church in Olathe. Speaking of his spiritual children, the apostle John said, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 4). The same is certainly true of one’s physical children. There is no greater joy in a father’s heart to see his daughter walking in obedience to Christ, and to see that the man she married has the same desire and direction in his life.

We got together with our son-in-law’s parents last night. They are a wonderful couple that we thoroughly enjoy spending time with, ever since we met them back in January 2002, a few months before our daughter and their son got married. Keith is a professor of pastoral studies at Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary in Kansas City, and Pat is the head of the Biblical Counseling program at the same school. For those who are familiar with the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, she is the author of the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling Women, and she and Keith together wrote the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling Youth. Together the two books have sold over 110,000 copies.

We had a great time with them, and after they left to return home, my son-in-law was commenting how wonderful it is to be able to get together with both sets of parents and, as he put it, “the situation not be weird.” Everyone shares the same love for the Lord Jesus Christ, we agree doctrinally on all significant issues, we share the same philosophical worldview, and we even share some of the same interests. I have many friends who dread getting both sides of their families together because there is disagreement, strife, conflict, or simply bad, inappropriate behavior.

Our situation is ONLY possible because of Jesus Christ. Because every person present last night has committed and submitted his or her life to Jesus Christ and desires to live in obedience to His Word, the indwelling Holy Spirit of God has been working in us to transform us by renewing our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). Consequently, there is a unity of spirit and bond of peace (Eph. 4:3) among us which otherwise would not exist.

It is God alone who deserves the glory for our family’s circumstances. His gracious goodness and abundant kindness to our family has nothing to do with any of us. I don’t want anyone to think that the individuals in our family are in any way “better” than those in any other family. We are all fallen sinners, just like every other person on the face of the earth. But for God’s sovereign grace which He has chosen to pour out upon us in abundance, our family would be just as dysfunctional as many with which I am acquainted. But He has, instead, chosen to show us His mercy, grace and peace, and for that I am and will be eternally grateful. I just wanted to take a couple of moments to praise His name publicly for what He has chosen to do for us. Sola Deo Gloria!

Evangelism and the Depravity of Man

by Bruce Mills

I listened to a sermon recently which really got me to thinking about our modern day assumptions about the nature of man and the impact of those assumptions on our evangelism. The modern psychologically-driven concept is that man is basically good; that he loves God, and that his evil deeds are aberrations rather than the inner desire of his heart. To the contrary, Scripture is clear that man is not basically good. Rather, he is corrupt to the core. There is nothing about him that desires, seeks, or does anything that is good, righteous, or worthy (cf. Romans 3:10-18). That is not to say that man is incapable of doing things which are "good" within the context of human relationships, but that even man's righteous deeds are filthy to God (cf. Isaiah 64:6). Thus, man is not the good person he considers himself to be.

This understanding has tremendous implications for our evangelism methods. Many modern day evangelicals have adopted the world's viewpoint that man desires that which is good and genuinely seeks to know God, so they think that if they can craft their presentation of the gospel in a particularly persuasive way, those who hear will be convinced of the truth contained in it and will thus turn to Christ.

But when we recognize that man is not basically good and does not seek after the things of God, we will understand that our presentation of the gospel, no matter how clear and convincing it may be, is incapable of convincing anyone to turn from his sin to Christ. Unless the Holy Spirit is working in the human heart to draw a man to the Lord, no one will ever seek after God on his own.

This takes the pressure off of us in presenting the gospel. When we realize that salvation is entirely the work of God who sovereignly elects those who will believe and then draws them to Himself, granting them the faith to believe the gospel, we will recognize that it is not essential that our presentation of the gospel be persuasive and convincing. We are only called to be faithful to present the gospel. Yes, we must include important issues such as God's holiness, man's sin, the need for repentance, and saving faith in Jesus Christ alone, but we are not responsible for the response of those who hear. That is God's sovereign work. He has ordained those who will come to faith, and He has ordained the means by which they will hear. The Holy Spirit takes the truth of the gospel, applies it to the heart of the hearer, and then draws those who will believe to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin.

So the next time you present the gospel to someone and they don't respond like you prayed that they would, don't beat yourself up later, telling yourself, "If only I had said this..." or "If only I had said that..." If He chooses to do so, God is able to take the most stumbling, inarticulate presentation of the gospel and draw the hearer to Himself. In fact, Paul discusses this whole issue in 1 Cor. 1:18-31 where he talks about the foolishness of the gospel message and how God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to shame the things that are wise. So don't worry about how stumbling and disjointed your presentation of the gospel may have been; just be faithful to Him by presenting the gospel and then trust that He is able to accomplish that which He desires in the hearts of those whom He intends to save.

"Free Will" and Evangelism

by Bruce Mills

Most of my Christian friends—other than many of those who attend my church and a few others—are Arminians in their doctrine of salvation. That is to say, they believe that every person has the ability in and of himself to choose to receive Christ as Savior. For the vast majority of them, this viewpoint is based entirely on their own experience in coming to faith in Christ. It is not based on any in-depth study of the doctrine of salvation and the differing viewpoints of James Arminius and John Calvin. For most of them, it is entirely centered on their own human understanding and perspective of salvation, without any effort to understand the critical issues which are involved.

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it simply is not found in Scripture. The Bible constantly portrays man as completely dead in sin, enslaved to sin, and totally unable to choose to do anything other than sin. Man is not merely spiritually sick—he is spiritually dead! He is a religious and moral cadaver. Therefore, man rejects the gospel because it is man’s nature to do so.

So then, no one has “free will” as defined by the Arminians, because a person’s will is the extension and invariable expression of his nature. No creature ever acts in violation of its nature and, therefore, every person willingly chooses to reject the gospel because that is the desire of his heart. No one is free to act or choose contrary to his nature any more than an orange tree is free to produce almonds. Thus, no one seeks to come to Jesus because it is not his nature to come. In fact, it is man’s nature, and therefore his will, to flee from Christ.

So why is it that, when confronted with the gospel, a person may choose to believe the message regarding his lost, sinful condition and God’s forgiveness through Christ’s substitutionary atonement, and then come in repentance and faith to believe? It is only because God, in His sovereign grace, grants that person the faith to believe.

I recently read a wonderful quote from George Whitefield, written back in the 18th century, which illustrates what I have been saying. Whitefield wrote:

“Come, ye dead, Christless, unconverted sinners, come and see the place where they laid the body of the deceased Lazarus; behold him laid out, bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths, locked up and stinking in a dark cave, with a great stone placed on top of it. View him again and again; go nearer to him; be not afraid; smell him. Ah! How he stinketh. Stop there now, pause a while; and whilst thou art gazing upon the corpse of Lazarus, give me leave to tell thee with great plainness, but greater love, that this dead, bound, entombed, stinking carcase, is but a faith representation of thy poor soul in its natural state; for, whether thou believest or not, thy spirit which thou bearest about with thee, sepulchered in flesh and blood, is as literally dead to God, and as truly dead in trespasses and sins, as the body of Lazarus was in the cave. Was he bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths? So art thou bound hand and foot with thy corruptions; and as a stone was laid on the sepulcher, so there is a stone of unbelief upon thy stupid heart. Perhaps thou hast lain in this state, not only four days, but many years, stinking in God’s nostrils. And, what is still more effecting, thou art as unable to raise thyself out of this loathsome, dead state, to a life of righteousness and true holiness, as ever Lazarus was to raise himself from the cave in which he lay so long. Thou mayest try the power of thy own boasted free-will, and the force and energy of moral persuasion and rational arguments (which, without all doubt, have their proper place in religion); but all thy efforts, exerted with never so much vigour, will prove quite fruitless and abortive, till that same Jesus, who said ‘Take away the stone’; and cried, ‘Lazarus, come forth’ also quicken you.”

Why do I think this issue is important? Because we must always remember that while it is our responsibility to proclaim salvation, we must never forget that it is God who saves. God uses our evangelistic efforts as the instrument by which He accomplishes His sovereign purposes in bringing some to salvation, but it is His prerogative to bring about results when the gospel is given. If we ever begin to think that our gospel presentation can be so fine-tuned as to become an incontrovertible convincing argument which will cause individuals to see their sin and then, using their own “free will,” choose to believe and generate within themselves the faith and repentance that are necessary for salvation, the result will be that our methods will quickly degenerate into similarity with those of snake oil salesmen.

J. I. Packer puts it this way. He says that if we regard faith and repentance merely as the product of human effort, “we should regard evangelism as an activity involving a battle of the wills between ourselves and those to whom we go, a battle in which victory depends on our firing off a heavy enough barrage of calculated effects. Thus our philosophy of evangelism would become terrifying similar to the philosophy of brainwashing.”

It is only when we recognize God’s sovereignty in every aspect of salvation, from beginning to end, that we can avoid these errors as we share our faith. No decision for Christ is ever the result of a slick, well-articulated gospel presentation, and no rejection of Christ is ever the result of a stumbling, inept presentation of the gospel. Every person who comes to faith in Christ does so because God has chosen that person in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and then draws that person in time, giving him the gracious gift of faith to believe. Our duty as Christians is to do our best to share the gospel with everyone we can, using the most effective means available to us, but entrusting the results to our sovereign Lord.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

by Bruce Mills

Well, the nomination process is over. The Democrats and the Republicans both know who their respective party’s candidate will be in November. Now begins the long, brutal, bruising political campaign as each group seeks to have its candidate elected. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent, and just as many words will be written, over the next several months as Americans determine who their nation’s president will be for the next four years.

As I thought about that prospect, my thoughts returned to the need for Christians to reject the world’s view, which places its hope for change and a better life in the achievements of men. Over the next several months, campaign commercials will descend upon us like Niagara Falls, promising more jobs, a safer nation, improved health care, an end to the war in Iraq, and a better way of life--provided, of course, that the candidate of the political party that paid for the commercial is elected. And Americans—notorious for voting with their pocketbook—will rush like lemmings to the sea to vote for the individual whom they perceive to help them achieve those goals.

But the truth is that all the achievements that any president, congress, or government can ever attain are temporary. No matter how wealthy, safe, healthy, and enjoyable a particular society may become because of their efforts, in the end it will all pass away. Nations and kingdoms rise and fall, and have done so since the dawn of civilization. Some of those nations were great empires, controlling far more world power within the context of their day and age than the United States has ever possessed. Yes, the United States is currently the most powerful nation that has ever existed, but those who think it will always be so are very short-sighted in their thinking. In fact, a survey of the Bible’s teaching on future world events has no references whatsoever that would indicate that the United States will play any kind of significant role in those events.

So am I saying that we should ignore the political process and be unconcerned about who is elected as our nation’s highest leader? I’m not saying that at all. I believe Christians should participate in the political process by voting for the candidate whose beliefs best represent biblical moral standards and who will uphold our privilege as believers to worship and evangelize as we desire. Issues such as protecting our nation from external and internal attacks and making decisions which improve our economy are important, but secondary issues.

Keep in mind that we must not trust that whoever is elected can or will guarantee such benefits and privileges to us. Scripture tells us, “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 146:3). Those who place their hopes in political leaders to save them from the difficulties and concerns of life are shortsighted and doomed to disappointment. Our economy may become worse than it already is, Islamic terrorists may (read “will”) attack us again, healthcare may continue to increasingly become a benefit of the wealthy, and Christians who stand for the truths contained in God’s Word will continue to be increasingly rejected and persecuted by our society because of their positions on certain moral and theological issues; specifically, homosexuality, abortion, and the wrath of God toward sinful, self-righteous mankind.

But Christians live every day in nations where the privileges we enjoy in this nation are non-existent; places such as Myanmar, Viet Nam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and North Korea. They are forbidden to openly worship, to evangelize, or even hold certain jobs. But we must not forget that Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). He is actively building and maintaining His church in places which seek to devour and destroy it; where the political leadership is violently opposed to the gospel and Christians do not have the benefits of jobs, healthcare, and safety.

So please exercise the privileges God has graciously granted to you as a citizen of this nation. Vote in the upcoming election. But do not vote based on what the candidate claims he will do for you financially. That’s a very greedy, and thus sinful, viewpoint. Rather, vote for the candidate whose positions on moral issues best reflect the standards of God’s Word. Of course you should be concerned about all those other issues like financial soundness and national security, but ultimately you must rest and trust in our Lord’s sovereign control over those matters and submit to the government regardless of which political party is in control. We need to value what is important to God above our own self-interests. As the psalmist said, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes” (Psalm 118:9).