03 Salvation's Foundation in God's Infinite Love
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Illustrate God’s love bucket
Illustrate God’s love bucket
Small Bucket. Large Bucket. Sponge. Plastic Cup with holes in the bottom (love tanks with a lead). Signs: Our love. God’s love. Towels. Cookie sheet to catch water.
Introduction
Introduction
God is omnipresent.
God is omnipresent.
God is infinite.
He is everywhere at all times.
He is everywhere present in all time (past, present, future).
In order to be truly infinite…
You cannot have a beginning.
To have a beginning …
is to be inside a sequence of events.
To be inside a sequence of events...
is to be inside time.
Here’s the logic:
Anything that begins to exist exists inside time.
God never began to exist.
God is outside time.
God does not begin.
God is outside of time.
God is outside of space.
All of God’s other attributes operate in symphony with one another and all are rooted in His infinite, personal character.
God is omnipotent.
God is omnipotent.
God can do anything, and He freely chose to create free, moral creatures.
God does whatever God wants to do, in accordance with the symphony of His divine attributes.
No one else makes or compels God to do anything.
God freely decided to create morally-free creatures.
God freely decided to save those same morally-free creatures in accordance with His divine, eternal nature.
For those reasons,
Salvation is available to every person in the world.
But salvation is only applied to those who believe.
So salvation is founded in God’s free, sovereign will.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
God is omnibenevolent.
God is omnibenevolent.
Salvation is founded upon God’s intrinsic and infinite all-goodness.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
We investigated four truths about God’s all-good nature.
God is infinite (God knows no bounds and God is measureless).
God is love.
God is infinite love (God is omnibenevolent).
Omnibenvolence. God is all-loving. God possesses infinite, or unlimited, goodness.
And we noted that strong Calvinists like R.C. Sproul deny God’s omnibenevolence. They do not deny that God loves. They believe He does. What they deny is that love/goodness is a necessary aspect of God’s intrinsic nature. Is God love and morally good in his nature or only in His dealings with His creatures?
4. God’s omnibenevolence operates in symphony with His decree to provide salvation to the world.
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Because God is omnibenevolent…
God loves everyone, but He never forces people to love Him (align with Him).
>>Next week we will look at God’s provision of salvation in relationship to His omniscience (predestination, foreknowledge, etc.)
I would like to address three questions that arise concerning God’s plan for salvation.
And how you answer these questions depends upon whether or not you believe God is omnibenevolent in His plan for redemption.
Questions about redemption answered by God’s omnibenevolence:
1. Does God only love those He knows will be saved?
1. Does God only love those He knows will be saved?
Many Calvinists claim that God does not love all people enough for salvation.
They insist that Christ died only for the elect.
And, therefore, He only loves the elect.
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
“According as he hath chosen us (not “all”) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;”
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
“As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
If this interpretation is true, then God is not omnibenevolent.
The fact that some verses only mention believers ...
in relation with God’s love ...
does not prove limited love.
Consider this:
First. Paul also said that Jesus “gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
I will not read the verse, please display.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Yet no proponent of limited atonement takes this to mean that Christ did not also die for other believers.
Second. When the Bible uses terms like we, our, or us of the atonement, …
it speaks only of those to whom it has been applied, …
and not for all those for whom it was provided.
Third. The fact that Jesus loves His bride and died for her (Ephesians 5:25)
does not mean that God the Father and Jesus the Son …
do not love the whole world …
and desire them to be part of His bride, the church.
John 3:16 obviously tells us otherwise.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So, just because some verses only mention believers ...
in relation with God’s love ...
this does not prove limited love.
God loves the world!
And because God loves the whole world, He commanded us to…
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!
“Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions.” ~Roderick Davis
“Missions has its origin in the heart of God. God is a fountain of sending love. This is the deepest source of mission. It is impossible to penetrate deeper still; there is mission because God loves people.” ~David J. Bosch
God loves the world.
That’s why we are convinced we must go!
2. Does God save people before they place their faith in Jesus?
2. Does God save people before they place their faith in Jesus?
If we believe in omnibenevolence, …
then we cannot accept the idea that proposes …
that God regenerates individuals before they willingly place their faith in Christ.
Technical theological term: monergism versus synergism.
Insert order of salvation slide
Wayne Grudem, “The Order of Salvation” Systematic Theology, 670.
1. Election (God’s choice of people to be saved); 2. The gospel call (proclaiming the message of the gospel);
3. Regeneration (being born again);
4. Conversion (faith and repentance);
5. Justification (right legal standing); 6. Adoption (membership in God’s family); 7. Sanctification (right conduct of life); 8. Perseverance (remaining a Christian); 9. Death (going to be with the Lord); 10. Glorification (receiving a resurrection body)
Does God regenerate before our faith?
Calvinists believe that the moment of conversion (regeneration) is totally the result of God’s operation, without any cooperation on the person’s part.
For the Calvinist, humans are completely passive with regard to the beginning of their salvation (but they are active in cooperating with God’s grace from that point forward).
This is the view held by Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and others.
This view is based on the Calvinistic belief that God exercises irresistible grace on the unwilling.
This would be a violation of God-given free choice.
So where does this leave us?
Does God draw irresistibly?
“[I]f strong Calvinism is correct in maintaining that God can force people (by irresistible grace) to be saved,
then the only way supralapsarians and infralapsarians can avoid universalism (which, again, is plainly false)
is by denying that God is omnibenevolent.”
—Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, 3:191.
Scripture does not support the view that irresistible grace is exercised on the unwilling.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
TRANSITION: Let me give you a couple reasons why I reject this view.
A. It is not supported by the fundamental that salvation is by faith alone.
A. It is not supported by the fundamental that salvation is by faith alone.
If salvation comes by faith—which Scripture plainly affirms—then faith is logically prior to being regenerated.
A Strong Calvinist would argue that saving faith can only be exhibited by a person who has already been regenerated; albeit, they would include that these happen so quickly together that they would appear to be simultaneous acts.
But here’s what the Bible teaches:
We are saved through faith.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
We are justified by faith.
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We must believe (place our faith) in Christ in order to be saved.
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
“We do not get saved in order to believe; rather, we believe in order to become saved.” ~Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, 3:193.
A. It is not supported by the fundamental that salvation is by faith alone.
B. It is contrary to God’s omnibenevolence.
B. It is contrary to God’s omnibenevolence.
Calvinists would admit that they believe that God is not all-loving in a redemptive sense.
They maintain that God attempts only to save the elect.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that God is willing to save anyone who freely turns to Him.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
So what do we discover?
God’s love is always persuasive but never coercive.
Because God is omnibenevolent, He does not force anyone to love Him—and this is what irresistible grace boils down to.
We can either accept OR reject God’s grace.
3. Does God forbid certain people from redemption?
3. Does God forbid certain people from redemption?
This is basically the exact opposite of the previous question.
Strong Calvinists believe in double predestination which means that God has decreed certain people to be incapable of repentance.
This view makes God the author of immorality.
For instance, if double predestination is true,
then God MADE Lucifer sin.
And then God MADE Adam and Eve sin.
To phase the question another way…
Does God harden hearts beyond repentance?
I say, No.
Because if I believe God is omnibenevolent, ...
then I believe that God gives all of His free creatures ...
the opportunity to willingly turn to Him during life on earth.
Calvinism’s argument
Calvinism’s argument
But wait a second, you might think, doesn’t the Bible say that God loved Israel and hated Esau?
“According to Romans 9, God loved Jacob and hated Esau (v. 13). He has mercy on some, but not on others (v. 15). He destines some to destruction and not others (v. 22). He hardens the hearts of some in unbelief, but not others (v. 18). From this it seems obvious that God is not omnibenevolent when it comes to salvation.”
According to Romans 9…
God loved Jacob and hated Esau (9:13).
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
He has mercy on some but not on others (9:15).
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
He hardens the hearts of some, like Pharaoh, in unbelief but not others (9:18).
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
He destines some to destruction and not others (9:22).
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Calvinism’s conclusion. From these examples, it seems obvious that God is not omnibenevolent.
(I know that Romans 8 and 9 also deals with election, but since I will deal with that topic during a future lesson, I will only address the question relative to God’s omnibenevolence.)
A. Concerning Jacob and Esau
A. Concerning Jacob and Esau
First. This passage is not speaking about election of individuals but nations.
Esau is the nation of Edom that came from him (Malachi 1:2).
Jacob is the nation of Israel that came from him (cf 9:2-3).
Second. This passage is not referring to the election of individuals to salvation but of Israel being chosen as a national channel through which the eternal blessing of salvation, through Christ, would come to all (cf Genesis 12:1-3; Romans 9:4-5).
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In addition, even though Israel as a nation was chosen, not every individual within Israel was elected to be saved. Romans 9:6
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
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Third. The word “hate,” in this case, means “to love less” or “to regard with less affection.” (Gr. emisea)
It does not mean “not to love at all” or “not to will the good of the person.”
This is the same word Jesus uses in Luke 14:26.
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
So was Esau as an individual forbidden from finding redemption through God the same way that his father Isaac had?
Esau was forbidden by God for being the channel/nation through which God would bring salvation into the world.
But he was not forbidden from believing God at it being counted unto him as righteousness.
Nevertheless, I don’t see in Scripture that Esau ever came to that conclusion.
Conclusion. So, individually, Esau was not forbidden by God.
B. Concerning Pharaoh
B. Concerning Pharaoh
First. Pharaoh hardened his own heart against God before God hardened it (Exodus 9:12).
In Romans 9:17, Paul is quoting Exodus 9:16.
16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
Exodus 9:16 occurs in the passage about the sixth plague.
At this plague, the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Exodus 9:12.
12 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 9:7 (fifth plague)?
7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 8:32 (fourth plague)?
32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 8:19 (third plague)?
19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 8:15 (second plague)?
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 7:22 (first plague)?
22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said.
Exodus 7:14 says that Pharaoh was the one who refused to let the people go.
14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
At Moses’ very first meeting with Pharaoh in Exodus 5:2, who was it that rejected God?
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
The best commentary on this topic comes from God Himself in Exodus 3:19.
19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
The purpose of the 10 plagues was to convince Pharaoh to repent.
But since he refused, his heart was hardened as a result of his own actions.
Illus: the same sun that melts wax hardens clay.
The problem was not with the source (sun), but with the receptivity of the agent (wax or clay) on which it was acting.
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Second. God can accomplish His will for His glory and still allow our free-choice.
Someone said, “Foreknowledge is God knowing what we will choose. Sovereignty is God using whatever we choose for His glory.”
Psalm 105:17 says that God sent Joseph to Egypt.
Who does Genesis 37:28; 45:4 says caused him to be in Egypt?
Jonah 2:3 says that God cast Jonah into the sea.
Who does Jonah 1:15 say cast Jonah into the sea?
Judges 9:56 says that God brought destruction upon Abimelech?
Who does Judges 9:53 say threw a rock out a window hitting Abimelech on the head cracking his skull.
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Third. The “vessels of wrath” (Rom 9:22) were not destined to destruction against their will.
They were "the vessels of wrath” because they rejected God even as He “endured with much longsuffering,” waiting for them to repent. (cf 2 Peter 3:9)
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One final argument. Regeneration is not based on who you were born to or when you were born. It is based on an individual’s belief/faith in the promise of God.
Even in this chapter that forms the core of Calvinistic views, Paul shows that anyone who believes can become a part of the promise.
Compare Romans 9:13 with Romans 9:6-8.
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Even Paul supports the idea that it is man doing the initial hardening.
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
It is man who is responsible to respond to God in the right way.
God forces/decides our choices, they say.
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
This verse is firmly rooted in the parable of the Potter given by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18).
Jeremiah 18:8 says that if these vessels who were rejected at the potter’s wheel repent then God would relent of the disaster that should have been inflicted on them.
8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Concluding Questions.
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Yes.
According to the Bible, did Pharaoh have an opportunity to repent and turn to God? Yes.
Who experienced the most powerful presence of God displayed in this world until Christ? Pharaoh
Who was responsible for repenting of his hard heart? Pharaoh.
Did you all see the flash floods that ripped through Death Valley in Nevada?
The ground was so hard that it wouldn’t accept the water.
Sometimes our hearts can be so hard, that even though God is pouring out his grace upon our lives, we receive none of it.
Pete Blansit’s story.
Summary
Summary
God is infinite.
God is love.
God is infinite love.
He is omnibenevolent.
And because God is omnibenevolent…
He loves the whole world.
He is waiting for people to turn to Him by faith.
He is willing to save anyone who turns to Him by faith.