Providence vs Responsibility

Okay, we're going to continue this morning. We've sort of had a little theme going here. Talking about the the sovereignty of God. Specifically the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. How do those two things?

Dovetail. And. You may wonder why do we seem to think this is so important? Why do we place such importance on it? It's because the sovereignty of God quite frankly is the bedrock that everything else rests upon the as any.

Anybody in the construction business will tell you that you know you have to have a good foundation or that eventually your building is going to fall and so divine sovereignty is the bedrock that all of our Christianity rests upon.

That there is a God in heaven who has decreed certain things that will absolutely come to pass and So what he says can be relied upon and we can rest the entire Our entire lives upon this and so we want to continue looking at this.

Calvin said this ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries the highest Blessedness lies in the knowledge of it. So let's open with prayer. Our Heavenly Father we indeed come before you this morning Praising you that you are in fact the sovereign God that you control the universe that the universe is upheld by the power of your word.

That all that we are all that we have. All that we can be is all determined by your decrees and rests upon your sovereignty and so father help us to Embrace this doctrine as we look at it this morning and made the Holy Spirit prepare our hearts in Jesus name.

Amen. This is not a new debate. It's gone on practically the entire history of the Christian Church. The it's had various names throughout history. There was a man named Pelagius Way back at the start of the Christian Church, and he was the Not the first one to have the idea, but he is his name is associated with Formulating this idea that man somehow has some good residual left in him and he can reach down and kind of by his own Bootstraps pull himself up and on the other side of that is Augustine at the beginning who taught That it's all of grace that if God does not work a work of grace in your life that we are in fact doomed.

And then of course, we that the modern-day terms we put Calvinism and Arminianism Side by side but reduced to simple terms. The as pink put it reduced to simple terms the difference involved was the affirmation or denial of the total depravity of man.

That is the central issue. Does man have some residual good in him that he can by his own efforts somehow stoke that fire and get it going and and in in some way cooperate With God so that you know you and me Lord all the way and and we can somehow get there or is man Totally incapable of doing anything to commend himself to a holy God.

That's what we mean. We say man is totally depraved not that all men go out and act Absolutely as bad as they possibly could. Frankly and and and happily for society very few people actually do that. So that on a relative scale we all operate, you know I can always find somebody that I'm better than and I can always find somebody probably that's better than I am.

But nonetheless, you know, we're all sort of getting along but in God's terms. And according to God's criteria, which is perfection. You know, you want to stand in my presence. God says, okay, you must be possessed of a righteousness that is equivalent to my righteousness otherwise you cannot stand in my presence and that is the issue as The book of Job puts it, you know, that's the question.

How can a man stand before God? And So we look at this and there are some there are some non-negotiables in this whole thing. First of all God is holy and just he is holy and just that is his character.

So that in whatever God does is righteous. Whatever God does is holy. Whatever God does is just Whatever God does is fair. God is the criteria by which all of these characteristics are measured and That's a non-negotiable.

Job says does God pervert justice or does the Almighty pervert? What is right? The answer is no and surely God will not act wickedly also Job and the Almighty will not pervert justice and The second non-negotiable is God hates sin.

And God hates sinners quite frankly. Psalm 5 5 the boastful shall not stand before thine eyes. Thou does hate all who do iniquity. Now if you've been in Christian circles very long somebody you've heard somebody say, you know, we God hates sin, but loves the sinners.

Well right here in Psalm 5 it says God hates the sinners, too. Isaiah 1 14 I hate your new moon festivals in your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of burying them. I Am fed up.

God says with all of your religiosity. That's not what I'm after. God is pure and holy. God is pure and holy. The angels at the beginning of Isaiah the seraphim. What do they call to each other holy holy holy and In Biblical terms the way Hebrew writing is done.

That is the superlative Hebrew does not have good better best the way English does the way you the way you emphasize things in Hebrew is you repeat it and So to say holy to the third power if you will that is the most holy that's as holy as you can get and Then God is sovereign.

Psalm 10319 the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all Whatever it is. God rules over it. Whatsoever comes to pass is the realization of God's thought. God's will.

God's decrees Ephesians 111 and also we have a paint and inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose. Who works all things after the counsel of his will? There's no such thing as being a little bit sovereign.

You're either sovereign or you're not. You're sovereign over everything or you're not sovereign and There's no such thing as decreeing a few things but not everything. You know, there's no a there's no area in the universe that God does not rule over Hebrews 1 3 and he is the radiance of his glory in the exact representation of his nature speaking of Jesus and Upholds all things by the word of his power.

When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high and the word used here. That the Greek word used here is more than just maintaining. It indicates that the the thought is the movement towards a goal.

It's not that just that I'm holding stuff up, but I'm moving it towards some objective that I have set them the the maintenance of the universe. The fact that the universe holds together is Directly through the intervention of Jesus Christ.

He upholds the universe. Were it not for him. Like I've said before all those little electric bonds that hold the atoms together would all just switch off and we would just all disappear. And away we'd go.

The third thing that we count as a non-negotiable is that man is entirely and fully responsible unto God. The Revealed will of God in his word is the standard for human activity and for human responsibility and Everything in the universe is responsible to God.

Satan is responsible to God. You look in again look in the book of Job. Satan says, you know, you know the story. Satan says well, you know, of course Job follows you. I mean you've given him everything in the universe.

So what does God say. I said, all right, you can touch what he has but leave him alone and What a Satan go off and do he takes everything that Job has but he leaves him alone. He has to. Because God decreed that and then later on he says, okay, you can touch his body.

But you can't take his life the same thing. Satan cannot go beyond that limit that God sets. Even Satan is responsible and must obey. During during Jesus earthly ministry. On several occasions. It's recorded that he encountered demons and demons obeyed him.

They had to and they understood this when he came upon the the the maniac. They're pleading, you know. Don't send us back to the abyss because they know we've got to go. If you say go we have to go. And so we'll talk about this a little more, but you look at Job 112 you look at Job 2 6.

And you'll see that Satan is responsible to obey God. He must and. Finally and this is perhaps one of the key things. Providence and responsibility or God's sovereignty and man's responsibility are not reconciled in the Bible.

They are complementary. But they are not reconciled. It's J .i. Packer puts it this way. It's it's an antinomy and Ant antinomy. Learn to speak and say that fight fast three times. It is an apparent incompatibility between two apparent truths simile seemingly irreconcilable.

Yet both undeniable. There are cogent reasons for believing each of them. Now what does that boil down to. It boils down to this. The Bible teaches God's sovereignty. The Bible teaches man's responsibility.

We do not try to make those mish. We believe both of them. Because the Bible says both are true. Spurgeon was asked how does he reconcile and he says I never try to reconcile friends, you know. All that we need to know is that God does govern his creatures and that his control over them has done no violence to their nature.

Lorraine Bettner who wrote probably the the Seminal work on the on the sovereignty of God. The reform doctrine of predestination is his book on that subject. I Recommend it to you anyway as an example of Human responsibility and divine sovereignty.

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility Are Both Biblical

Look at Genesis chapter 20 now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and sure and he sojourned in Gerar and Abraham said of Sarah his wife. She is my sister great guy so a Bimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Sarah was a real looker and so God came to a Bimelech in a dream in the night and said to him behold You are a dead man. Because of the woman whom you have taken for she is married. You know, you've done something wrong a Bimelech and you're responsible for it now a Bimelech had not come near her and he said Lord Wilt thou slay a nation even though blameless.

Did he not himself say to me? She's my sister and she said he's my brother in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands. Have I done this a? Bimelech saying Lord, I understand I'm responsible for what I've done but here's the extenuating circumstances.

Lord, you know, I didn't know and God says To him in the dream. Yes. I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this and I also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

Responsibility of man sovereignty of God all in the same the same passage or Acts 2. Acts chapter 2 men of Israel listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene a man Attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know.

Delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed him to the cross By the hands of godless men and put him to death so you nailed him to the cross, but it's the Predetermined plan of God that is being worked out here and all through the Bible you run across this the responsibility of man set apart to the sovereignty of God.

Now the Bible tells us that we are created in God's image and One of the things that that means is that we are created with volition. We are created with a will that we can exercise. We are created as moral beings we have the power to make choices and We are responsible for those choices.

That's what it means to be a moral being. How are we different from the animals? We are created in God's image is the answer to that and one of the things that sets us apart if not, the thing that sets us apart from the animals is that we have the power to choose and we bear the responsibility for those choices.

An animal acts according to its nature and It's going to do what it does, you know. Elephants do what elephants do? Because they're elephants. You know, we on the other hand are moral beings and we are responsible to God.

And so God has. And we are fallen that that that whole will thing is corrupted there because Adam exercised his volition on our behalf and so now we are born in a fallen state and So man must repent and believe in order to be saved.

That's one of the things the Bible clearly teaches. Acts 16 31 and they said believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved you and your household. The Bible also says everyone who repents and believes will be saved without exception.

If you repent and believe you will be saved. That's another. Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10 13. And Repentance and faith are not vicarious, but they are free acts of men.

Men with their own heart and With their own mind and will must renounce sin. They must repent and receive Christ. God does not repent for us. We have to repent and we have to believe that's our responsibility that's the human responsibility in this but Here's the problem man because of his sinful nature is Unable to repent and believe.

That's the gotcha, you know. You got to repent and believe that's your responsibility, but you can't that's the problem. It's not a situation of God cast his vote and Satan cast his vote and you have the deciding vote.

You're not like the vice president when the Senate is tied you don't get to cast the deciding vote. That's not the way it works. You are dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians says We might as well go out across the street to the cemetery over there and preach to the gravestones will be just as effective and so.

What's the deal the? Again pink says this the average evangelical pulpit can. Conveys the impression that it lies wholly in the power of the sinner whether or not he shall be saved. It is said God has done his part now man must do his part.

Alas, what can a lifeless man do and man by nature is dead in trespasses and sins? The Man in his natural state is blind. He is paralyzed. He is 100 dependent upon external assistance. That's the characteristic of being dead.

The dead do not act independently. They don't react to things. They don't act. They're dead and. So here's the problem. Man is dead spiritually and he cannot come because he is dead. And on the other side of that same argument is man will not come because he's a rebel.

Those are the two messages of the New Testament. You can't come because you're dead and you won't come because you're a rebel. And both of those things need to be handled. John 5 39. You search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life and it is these that bear witness of me.

John 5 40. And you are unwilling to come to me that you might have life. See one of the objections that you hear to the doctrine of Divine sovereignty. Is that well, what if somebody wants to be saved, but they can't be saved because God didn't predestine them.

No, that's not the way it works. Nobody seeks for God. That's the message of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Nobody seeks after God. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament use the same phrase.

There is none that does good. No, not one. Left to himself. Natural man does not seek God. So it's not an issue of what if somebody wants to come but he hasn't been predestined. Because I guarantee you if he hasn't if God hasn't chosen him He's not going to want to come.

You can count on that. John 6 44 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. Romans 3 11 there is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God.

Romans 8 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God for it does not Subject itself to the law of God for it is not even able to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him.

For he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned or spiritually appraised. So then what about free will? Doesn't man have a will? Yes, man does have a will. Cannot man make choices.

Yes, man can make choices. The issue is is his will free and the question there is what do you mean by free a. Great many people when they start the argument about free will. They're talking about something that really doesn't exist.

What they mean is what we term libertarian freedom or Non-causal freedom. The idea is this when I make a choice. Each choice that I make Stands in isolation. It is totally neutral. It is not influenced by anything.

If I choose a I could have chosen non a and so I have it. It's it's this completely isolated thing. It's always neutral, but that's life is not like that. Your decisions are not like that the problem is.

The problem is we are always Influenced. We are influenced by the fact that we are fallen that is our nature. When Adam sinned We were in him. If you will he was our federal head you know back in the 1960s a man named Lyndon Johnson Decided that we should have a big troop buildup in a place on the other side of the world called Vietnam.

Now he did not come to ask me what I thought of that idea. He did not consult me in any way about it and Yet in 1968 there I was with an m16 rifle tripping merrily through the rice paddies. Now why was that it was because Lyndon Johnson was the president of the United States and As such because of our federal system his decisions Impact on me exactly as if I had taken them myself and so Adams decision To sin and to go against God impacts us today exactly as if we had taken that decision ourselves and what is implied by the whole doctrine of The whole doctrine of original sin is that had it been us in the garden we would have done the same thing.

We would have done exactly what Adam did. That we would have rebelled against God as well. And so we are fallen our nature is fallen and so we have to act. We are free to act. But only as our nature dictates we are influenced.

We are not free from the influence of sin. We are not free from the flesh. Do you not know Romans 6 16 do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience. You are slaves of the one whom you obey.

Either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness. We are not free from the world's influence. Ephesians 2 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air of The spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience or as Jesus put it so succinctly to the Pharisees you are children of the devil and You act that way.

You act according to your father. You know, you're not sons of Abraham. You're sons of the devil. And so We have these internal influences. We have external influences upon our lives. Jesus Said you're of your father the devil you want to do the desires of your father.

And so we act according to our nature and The next question is can God intervene in human will or is the human will somehow? Holy of Holies and God can't tread there. Well, the Bible has things to say about that to Proverbs 1921 many are the plans of a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.

Ezra 622 and they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy. For the Lord had caused them to rejoice and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria. Towards them to encourage them in the work of the house of God the God of Israel.

Revelation 17 17 for God has put it in their hearts to execute his purpose. By having a common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast until the words of God should be Fulfill and on and on all through Proverbs.

It talks about how man makes his plans. But it's God that determines what's going to happen or the heart of the king is like a channel of water. God turns this whichever way he will and so We we have this thing called volition.

And The short answer to what is volition it's the facility of choice. It's the facility of choice. It's the ability to choose this and reject that. There and both must be present before there can be any choice.

There is a there's some preference in every act of the will. There's some preference we desire one thing over another. Dallas and I were out yesterday. We were shopping for a for a New flat-screen monitor for her for her computer and you know, we picked one and we rejected others we made a choice and Where there is no preference but complete indifference.

There is no volition to will is to choose and to choose is to decide between alternatives. Can pink or Spruill freedom is the ability to choose but according to our desires. It means making an unforced decision.

Even the most ardent Calvinist would not deny that the will is free to choose whatever it desires and Even the most ardent Arminian would agree that the will is not free to choose what it does not desire.

You can't choose what you don't desire before we choose something. We must desire to choose it and So It's it's frequently taught that the will is what governs man, but the Word of God teaches that man it's the heart That dominates the center of our being.

Proverbs 4 23 watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. Or Mark 7 21 for from within and out of the heart of men proceed the evil thoughts fornications thefts murders adulteries.

Deeds of coveting and wickedness as well as deceit sensuality envy slander pride and foolishness sounds pretty bad and all of these evil things proceed from within and defiled the man and Then the problem statement from Jeremiah the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick who can understand it.

So therefore and this is key. Our will is free in only one direction. It's the direction of evil is our will free. Well to a certain extent. But it's free in the direction of evil. Our will is enslaved.

It is in bondage to a depraved heart. So we're free to do as we please. The trouble is we always please to go contrary to the will of God. Now Man can be restrained in you know, that's not an ultimate thing always God rules ultimately but left to ourselves we choose to go in the direction of evil that is our nature and.

So Jonathan Edwards conclusively argued in his book the freedom of the will that the will always chooses According to its greatest desire at the moment and the will of man is only free for evil. Which he does freely and with pleasure.

Conversation that was overheard once in the in the line that are at a supermarket these two ladies were talking and one of them said, you know looking at the National whatever there, you know, why? Do we act?

The way we do, you know, it's such was such evil and the other lady said because we love it. So She was absolutely right man serves diverse lusts and pleasures. Man is impotent as to his will impotent as to his will.

He has no will favorable to God. I believe in free will but then it is a will only free to act according to its nature again from pink and. So we have a free will to a certain extent a perverse kind of freedom.

We can send all we want to in Fact we do. That's our thing. And so the sum of the whole thing is that man is not neutral. Man acts according to his nature and responsibility involves choices. Fallen man is always predisposed to choose.

Death sounds pretty bad and. So what needs to be changed? Our will needs to be changed. The sovereignty of God Does not force us to do what we do not want to do. The sovereignty of God working in our lives makes us willing to do.

It makes us go in a different direction willingly. So God's sovereign grace does not annihilate man's will. We are not robots. It changes our willingness. It regenerates it recreates man. It renews man.

It causes him to love and to and to consecrate himself to God freely. So man is free to choose and act according to his nature. That's a true statement. And so what needs to be done is we need to have our nature changed.

That's what the salvation process is all about now one of the things That gets argued is does responsibility imply ability right now today the world's record for the marathon. You know 26 miles 385 yard race world's record is just a fraction over two hours.

It's two hours three minutes in some seconds. So let me make a couple of statements. Would you agree with the statement? That if you run the world if you run the marathon and Less than two hours three minutes in some seconds.

You will be the new world champion. Would you agree with that? That applies to everybody in this room has anything in that statement applied. Ability, I think it's safe to say just looking out over the audience here that not one of you can run the marathon in Two hours three minutes in a few seconds.

But that doesn't change the statement. The truth of the statement is that if you can you will be the world champion. So that is the responsibility. But it does not imply the ability to do that. Now what about this is God.

Unjust because you hear this is God unjust to require what men do not have the ability to do. That's been argued that's been argued practically as long as there's been a church and. So what's the answer to that?

We deserve death and why do we deserve death? Because we're and and why are we desperately wicked. That's our nature. Adam fell we fell in Adam. Ecclesiastes 729 before behold I have found only this. God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.

So Who's responsible for the fact that man Cannot meet the requirement of God man is by his own actions. Adam made a choice and we all made that same choice in Adam and because he exercised his volition and God said, you know.

Consider this in the Garden of Eden. There's only one way to sin just one and so what Adam and Eve do. They find it and the way they go. You know. But it was their choice. He brought his inability on himself and by extension on us.

So Romans 512 therefore just as sin through one man entered into the world and death through sin and Death spread to all men because all have sinned. It goes on fortunately to also save you know, because of the actions of one man a different man a different Adam.

Life is going to enter as well so. Another thing to consider is what is the purpose for God setting before us something? We cannot do as our responsibility. It is to bring to us a knowledge of our need.

God sets a standard in front of us and he says here's my standard. You want to stand in my you want to stand in my place? You want to stand in front of me? Okay, righteousness equivalent to mine. And we say Lord there is no possible way that we can do that.

To which God replies you're right. You're right. You get the point. I want to make you aware of the need and get you to acknowledge your inability to stand before me and. So God's law shows what man must do not what he can do.

Augustine said this God bids us to do what we cannot. That we may know that we ought to seek from him that we may know what we ought to seek from him. Let God give what he commands and Command what he will.

So inability does not negate the responsibility. Sin is like a ratchet mechanism. You know those things to have the gears on them and the little follower so that as you turn the knob. You can't turn it backwards.

You can only turn it forwards sins like that. You know, we're trapped unless God intervenes. The inability to pay a debt does not excuse a debtor. If you think it does try going to visa and saying hey I'm sorry.

I just don't have the money and see what they say. And they're saying hey you got a problem and it's not ours. It's yours. The fact that you don't have the money. That's your problem and. So what do we do about all of this?

The Heidelberg Catechism puts it this way is not God. Unjust and requiring of man in his law, but he cannot do answer. No for God so created man that he could do it. But man upon the instigation of the devil by deliberate disobedience.

Has cheated himself and all his descendants out of those gifts. You're not allowed to say I can't help it. It's my nature to do whatever. Try going to court and saying oh, well, yeah, I killed this person, but that's my nature.

I'm sorry. I can't help it doesn't fly. We're sort of moving in that direction, but that's another lesson. We won't go there this morning. So for the real question What does an unsaved person desire? There's an unsaved person desire Christ in.

The answer is that given Left to himself. The answer is no. He does not he does not seek God. What does the unsaved person need first before anything else? He needs life. Jesus said to Nicodemus you must be born again.

You need new life. You need to be resurrected and only one person can do that only one person can give life and That's God. Now. There's a lot of that. There's confusion very often. In evangelical circles, we'll say I've been born again.

And what we what we really mean is that that we're talking about the point of our conversion. But if you look at it the way God looks at it if you look at it according to the order of salvation. The order salutis as they call it in Latin.

That there are there's a series of steps and depending on what book you're reading. There's five seven or nine of them. But anyway, the issue is what actually happens. And in what order does it happen when an individual is saved?

And in all of them Regeneration comes way up in the beginning it all starts out with predestination. Which means God in eternity past decided that he would set his love upon you in a particular way but Fairly well down the list fairly close to the top of the list comes regeneration where God as an act of his sovereign will gives you a new life and That is your greatest need is a new life a new nature.

And this is not something that you can generate in and of yourself. It takes a miracle to do it. And this is something that God does monogist monogistically. He only is involved in this process. You have nothing to do with it.

I have nothing to do with it. But once you have the new life. Remember as we have established already. We are free to act according to our nature. Well, that still applies except now we have a new nature and So what do we do we act according to our nature?

And Now it goes back to the human responsibility part of this our responsibility to repent. Our responsibility to put our faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary death. And why do we do that?

We do that because now it's our nature to do that. We have been given a new nature. We have been given a new nature. It does not depend upon man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy.

Romans 9 16. And Then but as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the children of God. Even to those who believe on his name who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God.

We're still moral beings. We're still responsible for our decisions and So we have to start moving fast here, too. And so faith and repentance are the evidence of Regeneration not the cause of regeneration.

And when I first myself when I first started hearing discussions about the order of salvation my first reaction was Why we just study that, you know, so what? Well, fortunately, I think God has you know, God has worked a work of grace in my life and You begin to see the importance of this.

It is important and it does matter the order in which the things of salvation the steps of salvation. Happen to you now it all may happen at the same point of time. Or it could be spread out a little bit.

This is something God's working in our lives and we don't know about it at the time. This is why we think that oh, well, I heard the gospel message and I responded to it positively. Because at the time we're too new in the faith to understand that before this happened the reason we responded positively to it is that God had worked a work of grace in our lives and had regenerated us and So on we go the.