Charles Haddon Spurgeon had me thinking just the other night. I was supposed to be reading the devotional for March 9, but somehow, I had been reading from March 10 that day. Well, it was exactly what I needed to read at that moment for God had ordained it. Read it here, but these words that stung hard.“Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman’s axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender’s hand may be even at the door.”
My heart began to melt for I sickened myself. So I turned to the text on which Spurgeon was writing.
“Man who is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.” Job 14:1-2
And so I began some meditations on the fleetingness of man, the finitude of life, and the fragility of plans. I was brought low in a moment. Everyone I know will go away in the end. What is the point? Why study so much? Why labor as I do? Why care? I turned to Ecclesiastes and read the simple phrases again:
“For in much wisdom is much vexation; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrows.” Ecclesiastes 1:18
I have turned sorrowful of late, vexed with much wisdom and increasings of knowledge. The closer I grow to the Lord, the more sorrow is mixed with the joy. The closer I get to God, the more I know my own sinfulness. The more I know my own sinfulness, the more I know the grace of God. The more I know the grace of God, the more joyful I am to know him. The more joyful I am to know him, the more sorrowful I am that others do not.
The sinfulness of sin has vexed me much of late. I see it in others, and no longer does it make me mad. It has truly rended my heart in two. What have we done?
“The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.” Ecclesiastes 4:5
Man destroys himself, smiling and indifferent to his own decadence. I am seeing it all around. We drink down iniquity like water. There is much bread and idleness. And we sink lower and lower, deeper and deeper into self-mutilation. I was particularly sorrowful as I thought of these things.
“All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.” Ecclesiastes 6:7
We cannot get enough. Our hearts are drawn to iniquity. Only recently I had been reading through the first three chapters of Romans. Paul’s main objective there: To crush man under the condemnation of sin. Even as I read it, my flesh ached and my heart hurt.
“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20
My heart was engulfed with the exceeding sinfulness of sin. What is wrong with us? We supress the truth in unrighteousness and we destroy our own flesh with self-hatred. Though we love ourselves, we really hate ourselves if we love not God.
What hope is there for mankind? I was particularly distraught with hopelessnes. But then I knew…I looked to the cross and read.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:6-9
“The cross has set me free,” I said. “All our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh” I recited Psalm 90:10-11. “The years of our life are seventy or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away,” I continued quoting.
But the cross has set us free to fear God in our passing days.
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
And that is the end of it. What else are those saved from God’s wrath to do but fear him and obey him? We are free, counted righteous by the one who once stood in judgment over us. We were objects of wrath, but now we are objects of delight. We can now enjoy his pleasure. We can now enjoy him. We can now enjoy his blessings. There is nothing better under the sun in the few days that God has given us. This is the end of the matter.
Working with you in these few days,
Vince R.
I’m quickly approaching the end. In fact, as I write this I still have two lesson plans to write that are due tomorrow. I’m speaking of my education class. Education 3302: Instructional Strategies. In a furious minimester of 12 days, I am having the Texas Education Agency shoved down my throat as I’m being taught how to survive the suffocation. Needless to say, I’ve gagged many times.
I’ve always had a disdain for the TEA, but I’ve never had it as much as I have now. However, this subject is not my point. Forget the way the No Child Left Behind Act takes teachers by the throat and shoves their noses in the feces of high school failures. “Bad teacher!”
This has to do with worldview clash.
I’ve learned about worldview this Summer in a savage way. Thanks to Dr. Mohler, whom I’ve taken the habit of listening to as much as I am able, I have learned, for the past month or so, some of the most tragic examples of the decadence of a post-Genesis 3 world. His Christian engagement with news bits and signs of the times have taken me from minor reactions of bothered tsks to major reactions of downright sorrow. I’m so burdened with what the future holds for God’s people. Especially…my own children. I’m actually frightened to place them in the public school system.
We will suffer: mark it. I’m not the one whose promised it. See II Timothy 3 and Matthew 24 and also the whole last book of the Bible.
Morever, as I’ve heard the ways my professor lines out for us to successfully ‘beat the man,’ as she so eloquently puts it with her Southern dialect (I absolutely love it, by the way!), I have experienced a heavy heart and even downright despair. The State is on its way to controlling everything. Satan controls the State.
Thanks be to God that the Cross of Christ is my victory. Thanks be to God that the king’s heart is like a stream in his hands. Otherwise, all my enemies would swallow me alive. When I gather myself after class, I tell myself to keep going and just take it one day at a time. (That’s always the key, my suffering brethren.) Sufficient for the day is its trouble.
One day, I know I will face a classroom of troubled young youths. The majority of their parents don’t care, the majority of student attitudes will reflect it. They will hate my subject and resent me for trying to teach it to them. But that’s not the part that burdens me.
What burdens me? The secularization of education has drained it of all semblance of its origin. Where did schools come from? What is the point of education? My heart tells me one thing, and you can see this on my facebook if you go there. It is a quote a friend shared with me, and it has captured me ever since.
“The chief design of your academic pursuits is to prepare you more extensively to glorify God in the salvation of sinners. Let this thought be the constant inmate of your soul. Let it rise up with you in the morning and lie down with you at night. Wherever you go, whatever you do, let it attend and direct you.”
-John Angell James
That’s the point of my existence: to make much of Christ so others can see and marval at Him. That’s it. That’s the chief end of education.
Sadly, however, in a fallen world, the lines are so hard to find. Satan prowls around seeking to devour me. That’s where my heart has been for the last 3 weeks: Running from Satan as he tries to steal my joy in God about my future.
Here is a blog published today (not coincidentally) by Dr. Mohler entitled Just What Are Schools to Do? The Aims and Purposes of Education. I knew I had to share it with you when I saw it. God seems to be working on me. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1183
But thanks be to God for relieving me this past Sunday. In twofold mediums, he set me free from the burden. Before church, I wanted to read the Morning devotional from Charles Spurgeon for July 6. I took it with me, and I read it aloud for my girlfriend and I as she drove us to the church building. It was the beginning of my liberty.
“Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell in safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” -Proverbs 1:33
“Divine love is rendered conspicuous when it shines in the midst of judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through the rifts of the thunder clouds; bright is the oasis which blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and so bright is love in the midst of wrath. When the Israelites provoked the Most High by their continued idolatry, He punished them by withholding both dew and rain, so that their land was visited by a sore famine; but while He did this, He took care that His own chosen ones should be secure. If all other brooks are dry, yet shall there be one reserved for Elijah; and when that fails, God shall still preserve for him a place of sustenance; nay, not only so, the Lord had not simply one ‘Elijah,’ but He had a remnant according to the election of grace, who were hidden by fifties in a cave, and though the whole land was subject to famine, yet these fifties in the cave were fed, and fed from Ahab’s table too by His faithful, God-fearing steward, Obadiah. Let us from this draw the inference, that come what may, God’s people are safe. Let convulsions shake the solid earth, let the skies themselves be rent in twain, yet amid the wreck of worlds the believer shall be as secure as in the calmest hour of rest. If God cannot save His people under heaven, He will save them in heaven. If the world becomes too hot to hold them, then heaven shall be the place of their reception and their safety. Be ye confident, when ye hear of wars, and rumours of wars. Let no agitation distress you, but be quiet from fear of evil. Whatsoever cometh upon the earth, you, beneath the broad wings of Jehovah, shall be secure. Stay yourself upon His promise; rest in His faithfulness, and bid defiance to the blackest future, for there is nothing in it direful for you. Your sole concern should be to show forth to the world the blessedness of hearkening to the voice of wisdom.”
Thank you Father, for using this Saint of old, to minister to my soul.
A quiet repetition of Van Deventer’s I Surrender All was the resolution of my liberty.
“All to Jesus I surrender;
all to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
in his presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all,
all to thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.”
I was free…I am free.
Working with you to stand in defiance to the blackest future where no direful thing waits for God’s people,
Vince R.
Morning and Evening. Charles H. Spurgeon. Hendrickson Publishers. Feb. 2005, p. 376.
When Civilization Crumbles…where are the Men of God?
June 20, 2008
I don’t really know “what possessed me,” as they say, (my thesis is that it was the Holy Spirit) but a conversation yesterday with a brother in Christ began and continued most strangely and most gloriously. It took place at that wonderfully Post-Modern invention known as “Starbucks.” I’ve taken a long break from caffeine, so I had a passion tea lemonade which I was told had very little caffeine so as not to notice anything. Well, I slept well that night, so I guess the server knew her Starbucks arsenal well. Bravo! Starbucks has been an amazing place for “intelligent Christian conversation,” as Dr. Mohler would put it. I find a new desire to use Starbucks for the glory of God a lot more for as long as he wishes to uphold it.
As long as you are smiling now, let me begin to turn that smile into a different facial feature. I hope that this article breaks your heart. I hope it also brings you joy in God’s own Son and in the redemption he brings. He will stand up from that right hand, and he will restore his people to himself. That is indubious.
Anyway…
It found our conversation’s obtuse beginnings in the subject of the presidential election and the immigration policies of Obama versus those of McCain. Well, we didn’t discuss the acutal policies very much. In fact, our conversation didn’t even really continue on ‘politics’ as such. The conversation did continue and eventually found its mark on the issue of biblical gender roles.
We discussed the recent California supreme court decision to allow same-sex marriage in that state and its remarkable purpose to redefine marriage and thus mark its contribution toward American civilization’s end. We discussed abortion and its horrifying reality as well as God’s own right to take and give life as he deems fit. We dicussed feminism and its God-defying and unbiblical agenda. Lastly, we discussed the cowardess of men and the need for men to start acting like men.
And thus, my point…
In that amazingly God-blessed conversation, a certain statement came out of my mouth, and I was scared to have said it. Why was I scared? Because I know it is true. I will share that statement with you at the end of this essay, but first let me show what I mean.
As C.S. Lewis once put it, and I paraphrase: At one time, we approached God with such fear and trembling as though we were in the dock of judgment before a holy God. Today, we have placed God in the dock and he is to be judged by the supremacy of the human reason.
Today, I think, our civilization places God in the dock, and he is to be judged by the supremacy of human rights. Although, and I qualify, both of these ideas have always been true.
Throughout the Bible, men demanded that God stay subject to their reason. And they also demanded that God grant them rights.
There is nothing new under the sun. “There are no new heresies. Only constant repackagings,” as John Piper once put it.
In light of this culture, that is, this present evil age, Satan’s trumpetering fluidity of mistruths and halftruths have found their way quickly onto the shelves of our Christian book stores, into the classrooms of our Christian seminaries, and into the pulpits of our Christian churches.
“How then shall we live?” as Schaeffer once questioned.
I propose this: “Meaning precedes existence.”
Someone has already decided for you, o man, what is truth. It defines who you are, what you are, what is required of you, and why you even exist.
His name is God and his will and word is that truth.
Dr. David Wells of Gordon-Tidwell Theological Seminary was asked a serious question by Dr. Mohler on the June 5, 2008 episode of the Albert Mohler Program. You can follow the link here if you wish to download the entire conversation. (I would always highly suggest to my readers that they listen to the Albert Mohler Program and its resources.) http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-06-05
Here was his question for Dr. Wells:
“[Concerning] how evangelical Christians should pray and hope to see evangelical Christianity recover the truth, what would you have the local pastor to do?”
His answer was both encouraging and shockingly relevant to my current personal walk.
“Well, I think these two steps that I mentioned: taking seriously the truth God’s given us in the Scriptures and taking more seriously the world around us, are really the key. It’s like breathing out and breathing in. The point about the truth that we have in Scripture is that it corresponds to what’s in reality. This is not simply about learning a Bible verse, although that is a good thing to do, but that we’ve got to understand that this is real, that we’re talking about what’s in the character of God and what’s in the character of human beings and what life is about. Christianity is not simply a technique or a therapy. This is real stuff. On the otherhand, we’ve got to understand the world around us, and if I could point to what I think is a prevailing weakness in our churches, it is right here. It takes a lot of time and thought and work to know how exactly, if you are a pastor, to apply the truth of a biblical passage to our world. You can get that truth, if you are a biblical preacher, fairly quickly by looking at commontries. But applying it is another matter, and that is I think a besetting weakness in the evangelical world. If I were to be asked, would I prefer to hear a topical sermon on ’how to get on with your mother-in-law’ or to hear a sermon on a biblical text which wasn’t applied, of course I’d prefer to hear the text preached, but I’d most of all like to know how that text applies. And that is where I think our preachers are weakest, and many people who are reading their Bibles, day by day, don’t see the connections. They therefore come to think of Christianity as a sort of private comfort to them, but they don’t understand that we are in a ‘worldview conflict,’ and the day they step out of their houses, onto the train, into their car, into the workplace, they are in conflict with other worldviews whether they know it or not…we are now reaping the harvest from not having been preaching expository sermons. So people come into the pews uninstructed but at the same time yearning for some sort of internal comfort because this is a brutal world. And that combination of…infantile understanding of biblical truth [and] the serious pressures of living and competing in this modern world, that combination has proved lethal to biblical Christianity.”
I encourage you to do something I am unable to do right now. Pick up Dr. David Wells newest book, “The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and the Emergent.”
Friends, I am at a point in my spiritual walk where I am coming face to face with the doctrine which I espouse, and I am being asked to evaluate and prove it. Just as Dr. Wells put it, when I walk out that door, I am at war with other worldviews. It is most definitely sad when I have defend it against other “Christians.” Now here is the statement I shared with my friend, and I was personally shocked to here myself say it:
“I say all of this because I fear that sooner or later your religious liberty is going to be stripped away in the the name of liberty. You are going to have to take your wife and your son and your daughter and place them here in this part of your home and then go to the front door and stand blocking the way saying ’No untruth will come into this house.’ I know that it is coming. The day is coming and it is only going to get worse. So what are you going to do about it now while there is still time?”
I felt my face turn pale when I said it. Yup, it is only going to get worse isn’t it?
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.” 2 Timothy 3:1-9
I am awestruck at how 2 Timothy has been such a mighty tool in helping me understand what it means to grow up. Nevertheless, as discouraging as Paul’s true statements are in these first nine verses, his next verses are a call to stand on one thing. Note his comparison between those described in the first verses of this chapter and Timothy himself in these:
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” 2 Timothy 3:10-12
Note the “however” that automatically opposes Timothy to those other men. By contrast, Timothy has followed the teaching of his wiser mentor who heeded the teaching of God, the conduct of Paul’s committment to Christ, the aim of Paul’s life to preach the gospel, the faith of Paul in Christ, the patience of Paul with his opponents, the love of Paul for the lost, the steadfastness of Paul to Christ’s steadfastness for him, and the persuction and suffering that attends all who desire to be obedient to Christ. Yet just the same, Christ delivered him ”from them all.” That’s what he means in verse 12. If you want to be godly, you will be hated for it.
You know why so many who read that last sentence will simply agree and go on nonchalantly? Because they read it, but they have never experienced it. Are you being godly? This passage says a good sign is that people will persecute you for it.
Yet just the same, Paul goes on and contrasts men of God with men of the world in verse 13.
“…while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
He continues in verse 14-17 by showing what is the definitive and most remarkable difference between men of God and men of the world. This is the passage that we use and quote so often, but the context escapes us to the point of misunderstanding its power and urgent call. What makes Timothy different from those in verses 1-9 and verse 13?
It is an unyielding and immovable devotion to standing firmly on God’s own infallible, inerrant, and totally trustworthy and authoritative word. Just look at it again:
“But as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
Childhood had its devotion to Scripture, now how much more should manhood? I plead with my brethren, don’t play games with God’s own word. It will bring judgement on you both in this life and that to come. If you aim to lead God’s people in the pastorate or as a teacher or preacher, your unyielding devotion to God’s word is all the more paramount. “for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness…”
I fear for the men who aim to lead God’s people yet have no respect for God’s Word…and yes, you have no respect for it when you say it has error.
I fear for your soul, and I fear for the souls of those you lead. Turn…and believe.
As for the rest of us, stand and fight, you men of God.
“He did not consider that republic flourishing whose walls stand, but whose morals are in ruins. But the seductions of evil-minded devils had more influence with you than the precautions of prudent men.”
-St. Augustine, City of God
Be prudent men and be bold men, for “If God is for us. Who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
Working with you to fight as men on the side of the Most High God,
Vince R.
My Sin Cannot Imply it!
June 15, 2008
My Sin Cannot Imply it!
By Vince Robles
Micah 7:8 “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; When I fall, I shall rise”
Oh, the sin of God’s own chosen!
Who of Jesus Christ do claim,
They who wander from their savior,
Find their joy is gone away.
Fruit the Master does not gather,
Thistles rather from this tree.
Oh my God! Your burning anger!
See your Son and turn from me.
Godliness and Christ-like loving,
Traded for deceit of sin.
Oh, this wretched mortal body!
Wicked heart that dwells within!
Hatred for the Father’s glory,
Spurning life to treasure death.
Moments thought I walked so closely,
Now the law has stol’n my breath.
“Woe to you!” the devil taunts me
“Favored one now gone astray.”
“Jesus once did find you lovely.”
“Now He sees your wicked ways.”
Rejoice not over me my en’my.
When I fall, again I’ll rise.
When I sit in darkness lowly,
Holy truth shall be my light!
Rebuked I stand with loving ang’r,
Rightly bearing scolding face.
I rebelled and sought to wander,
But my Christ will plead my case.
He pleads his blood and brok’n body,
Naming me as His own kin.
Though my sin is black and ugly,
All it’s judgment’s poured on Him.
Enemy I soon will see you,
Covered under shame and scorn.
I am washed in blood and made new.
Sin’s dominion is no more!
So when my heart has gone astray,
His word provides assurance.
His grace sufficient leads the way,
And calls me to endurance.
His grace abounds to even me.
My Sin cannot imply it!
That Christ’s blood’s not set me free to
Enjoy and glorify Him.
Working with you to cling to the Cross when the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,
Vince R.
The Truth Shall Make You Free: What is freedom?
December 11, 2007
As a preface, I wrote this for my honors class entitled: Free Will and Human Fate. This sounds pretty controversial, and indeed, it is. But though I was worried at times, being a Calvinist in a predominately Arminian territory, I was proved a liar. There is never anything to worry about. The following is my term paper. “Define Freedom, and defend your definition.” One must note that the version I turned in now exists only in the hands of my professor, Dr. Geoff Wells (A Presbyterian Calvinist graduate of University of Texas in Austin, writing his dissertation using Calvinism to dismantle Natural Law theorists like his dissertation tutor J. Budziszewski ). I wished to personalize it much more for my readers to ponder. I placed my Christian walk in it extensively. Now, it is almost completely different from the turned in copy, save for the more basic aspects of it. I pray God edifies you with this purifying journey in my life.
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In America, freedom exemplifies the ideal of true identity. Without freedom it seems difficult to define oneself as human. There seems no greater abstract to attain. As Frithjof Bergman puts it, this school of thought thinks freedom “separates man from the beasts” and “raises him above nature” (1). It claims that freedom satisfies, “as the natural and obvious object of every man’s longing” (1). Nevertheless, one wonders if this proposition is really true. Is freedom the “object of every man’s longing”? Perhaps, it is, but perhaps the real question asks: What is freedom? How do you define it? Who should define it? How does one actually attain it? For Americans, the word “freedom” is the rallying cry for independence, individualism, and equality. But Americans seem blinded with a veil of tradition and an unsearched acceptance of the culture. Why do the masses flock to movies like Braveheart? The fictionalized hero, William Wallace, screams the word “freedom” as he suffers a torturous martyrdom, and at this image, American’s hold back tears and pat their warming hearts. What exactly warms the human heart when he ponders the intricacies of freedom? Clearly, as Bergman suggests, they long for it. Before answering this question, however, certain presuppositions exist which will contribute largely toward defining freedom as accurately as possible.
First, God exists. “God is Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth” explains Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s adapted Westminster Catechism (Spurgeon, 2). “There is but one only, the living and true God. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory” (Spurgeon, 2). Second, God’s Holy Scriptures, written by the Holy Spirit through the agency of chosen men are truth, with no mixture of error, and leads no one to error. They are inerrant and infallible. According to the catechism, “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man” (Spurgeon, 1). If, then, one wishes to define the truths of God and man’s relationship to him, one must consult the infallible inerrant Word of God, totally sufficient and necessary in all matters of faith and conduct. If one is to define freedom accurately, he must believe these assertions as totally true.
The following presuppositions exist as an interpretation of the truth found in Scripture. First, one must understand the nature of man to understand his freedom. When one reads Scripture, he sees that the sin of Adam in the garden brought about bondage or a lack of freedom. “The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression” (Spurgeon, 3). The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery. As the catechism explains, “The sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it” (Spurgeon, 3).
Thirdly, one must understand that not all men are bound to this sin and misery. “God, having out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer” (Spurgeon, 3). This Redeemer “is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person forever” (Spurgeon, 3-4).
Next, an effectual calling exists which freely brings man to God. The catechism explains, “Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel” (Spurgeon, 5). This act of grace enables men to “freely” embrace knowledge of the truth.
Also, those effectually called partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and “the various benefits which in this life do either accompany, or flow from them” (Spurgeon, 5). Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit whereby man is renewed in the whole after the image of God, and he is enabled more and more to die to sin and to live to righteousness (Spurgeon, 5).
Lastly, those who are called, justified, and sanctified will be glorified, wherein he finds himself “made perfect in holiness” and “made perfectly blessed in the soul and body in the full enjoying of God” (Spurgeon, 6). In addition, while many other aspects of the truth still exist, they will be introduced only as needed to defend the definition of freedom.
So then, considering these presuppositions, freedom is complete submission to the truth as defined by God in his Holy Scriptures, and works daily through man’s sanctification whereby the Holy Spirit leads him from his sinful nature to righteousness and seals him unto the day of glorification, where he finds complete freedom in communion with the Godhead. In other words, when man submits himself to truth, he finds freedom. As Christ says:
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free…Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (King James Version, John 8:31-32, 34-36).
When man embraces the truth of his bondage to sin and calls out to God as his only hope of freedom, he finds himself free indeed.
Now certain qualifications do exist. First, men will fall to their sinful natures even after coming to embrace the truth, yet the Bible calls this sanctification. In practice, the journey toward freedom means that his bondage will break, but it will only break as time progresses and the Holy Spirit does his work. Positionally, however, men who embrace the truth will be free the moment they are effectually called and respond in faith. As the catechism explains, “The Spirit applies to us the purchased redemption by Christ, by working faith in us…” (Spurgeon, 5). This paradox of sanctification seems difficult, but Scripture clearly teaches this double sided nature of effectual calling wherein the Spirit calls men and they must (are responsible to) and they will (are certain to) respond in faith.
As explained first, man is bound to sin by his very nature. As Arthur W. Pink asserts, “[People] boast of the ‘free moral agency’ of man when, in fact, he is in bondage to sin and enslaved by Satan-‘taken captive by him at his will’ (2 Timothy 2:6).” Man cannot be free until God, by Himself, sets him free. “Man chooses that which is according to his nature, and therefore before he will ever choose or prefer that which is divine and spiritual, a new nature must be imparted to him” (Pink, 158). When one wonders if man is truly sinful, he only needs ask if he has ever broken the law of God. As the catechism explains, “Sin is any want of conformity to, or breaking of the law of God” (Spurgeon, 3). “The rule of which God first revealed to man for his obedience is the moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments” (Spurgeon, 6). Has the person broken any one of the Ten Commandments? Has he lied or stolen or lusted after the opposite sex, thereby committing adultery in his heart? If he has fallen in even one point, he is “guilty of all” (James 2:10). In addition, the bible teaches that man is bound to break the law of God in accordance to his nature. He prefers sin, and he is completely opposed to the law of God. “Why does the sinner choose a life of sinful indulgence? Because he prefers it-and he does prefer it…Why does he prefer it? Because his heart is sinful” (Pink, 165). As explained above, the Christian, though he fails at times, “strives after a life of piety and virtue. Why? Because God has given him a new heart or nature” (Pink, 165). This perfectly exemplifies the importance and working of effectual calling. After responding to the calling through faith alone in Christ alone, the man receives the imputation of righteousness, known as justification. If God does not do a work by His spirit in men’s hearts, they will not respond in faith. “[They] will not come to Christ, because [they do] not want to, and [they do not] want to because [their hearts] hate Him and [love] sin” (Pink, 166). By no means, however, is any man coerced to sin. He is free to sin.
“The sinner is ‘free’ in the sense of being unforced from without. God never forces the sinner to sin. But the sinner is not free to do either good or evil, because an evil heart within is ever inclining him toward sin” (Pink, 167). No man sins against his will. He, in fact, wills to sin. His will is bound to it. What, then, of effectual calling? Does it violate the free will of man? In order to answer that question, one must use the definition given for “being free.” Is that will in submission to the truth revealed by God in his Holy Scriptures? The obvious answer is no. The will, therefore, is not free. It remains bound to “untruth” until God frees it to freely discern and freely embrace truth. The effectually called “freely” discern and “freely” embrace in the sense of being unforced from without. This negative freedom always exists for the sinner and/or the called sinner, that is, he is free from external entities which “force” him to sin unto death or believe unto life. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”(John 6:44). When a man believes (with saving faith given in the act of effectual calling), he believes freely and only as a result of the sovereign work of God, simultaneously.
A certain scripture teaches the validity of man’s freedom from the law and a freedom in the Spirit of God. Paul explains the unveiling of this freedom in 2 Corinthians 3:6-18. God’s law is holy and righteous. It is glorious, but it brought death with its administration. It was so glorious that even Israel could not behold Moses’ face when they looked upon him that received it. Men directly opposed to it in their hearts cannot approach it. But how much more glorious is the spirit of this new administration where the law if fulfilled by the God-Man and men are set free from the law of sin and death and given the law of the Spirit and life? Men’s minds were blinded in this old covenant. When the Law is read, the veil remains on men’s hearts, but this “vail is done away in Christ.” When the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away by the Spirit. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Many objections arise as to the validity of man’s responsibility when it comes to believing these doctrines of grace. How can man be held responsible for not doing what he cannot do? Etc. These questions, while legitimate, do not fall into the realm of defining freedom. One simply takes truth as explicitly taught in the Holy Scriptures and applies them to the definition. If one has problems with the truth or the interpretation thereof, he should seek another debate. The doctrines of election, predestination, sovereignty and responsibility need debating but only if the debates seek knowledge of the truth. Simultaneously, if these assertions of sovereignty, predestination, election, etc. cannot be refuted using the inerrant and infallible words of Scripture, they will not be refuted period. As explained before, only Scripture contains the truths of God and the duty God requires of man. Freedom is submission to these truths and works as the Spirit leads man to deny his sin and embrace the truth unto a glorification wherein sin is eradicated and man is completely free to enjoy God forever.
One may ask: What about those who never come to knowledge of the truth? The answer is that they are never going to be free. Whether they deserve that or not is another debate. However, if it was an issue of “deserving”, no man would come to knowledge of the truth because all men are universally condemned for their freely willful acts of sin. Since no man deserves it, God has no responsibility to answer for his actions. As the catechism says, God effectually calls men “out of his good pleasure” (Spurgeon, 3).
Finite men cannot understand why an infinite God teaches this or why his good pleasure leads him to this manner of soteriology. Men, indeed, long for freedom as Bergman suggested, but they don’t always find it. The American ideal mildly echoes it, but it will never set men free. It does not submit to the Scriptures. Men have pondered and debated and written and studied what it means to be free. Others and I have done this for the last three months. We studied various brilliant men, Socrates and Plato to Immanuel Kant and Frederic Nietzsche to Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. All have interesting thoughts, but all of these deny the one true God. As Dosteoevksy once cogitated, “Without God, all things are permissible.” Indeed, this is true. Men have sought freedom apart from God for thousands of years, but none have attained it when they do this. People like Marx may ask if I feel that I am free in this form of “estrangement.” I say, “yes,” and then they may ask a series of questions. 1.) “What about the influences of culture? 2.) What about the influences of government? 3.) Didn’t your Christian-esque upbringing influence you? 4.) Don’t these Calvinistic views make you feel used and unfree?”
First, note that I did not define freedom negatively. Freedom is not freedom from influence. I find that impossible, if not completely ridiculous. Dostoevsky’s underground man typifies the madness of this thought. Instead, I have defined freedom thusly: Freedom is submission to God’s truth. It is a positive form of freedom. It is a freedom to do something.
1.) I don’t think I am bound to my culture, though many are. God’s truth says to understand it, relate to it, and stay separate from it. God’s truth also says that everything is made Holy with the Word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5). For the more controversial subjects of culture, I must ask if I have made it holy using the two tools at my disposal? Unfortunately, I fall into bondage many times by submitting to the culture rather than the Holy Word. In those moments, I place the shackles back on my wrists. Just the same, if God is supreme, why shouldn’t I enjoy its nobler aspects (Philippians 4:8)? Another class I took this semester convinced me of this truth. God can be found in the culture, and God’s people can stay separate. If God reigns supreme in their hearts and he is not dishonored by that on which they think, then God is glorified, and they are still in submission to His truth.
2.) I don’t think I’m bound to my government either; the Word says to submit to it (Romans 13). Note also the following scripture from Peter, the apostle:
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also the froward. (1 Peter 2:13-18)
Peter acknowledges God’s purpose for government. He calls it freedom to submit to it. Why? Because God’s will (truth) commands the existence of government. On another note, if God’s authority is challenged by my government, it’s my duty to defend it and fight for its supremacy. This is my submission to God’s truth. I will not bow my knee to an idol because my government commands me. I must imitate the three young men in Daniel’s book. “But if they punish you or kill you, aren’t you unfree?” asks the Marxist. My answer to that is: “No, I am still free.” I have submitted to the truth of God. His will is done, and I am found the most free when I finally meet him face to face if they should kill me. My murderers unwittingly set me free. Peter continues his discourse:
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. (1 Peter 2:19-23)
It’s astonishing how clearly Scripture teaches its truth if we will but read it. If we suffer wrongly for submitting to truth, God would have us suffer silently because Christ, the bearer of truth, did the same. There is freedom in this martyr’s death because he died for truth, and that is freedom glorified.
3.) I don’t know why God chose to place me in a home heavily influenced by a Christian-esqe religion. I don’t know why he gave me the parents I have or why I live in this bible-belt as I have. Just the same, I have no idea why he saved me. I have greatly offended him, and he is justified in condemning me to hell for all eternity. This is why I believe in unconditional election. Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes:
I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. (Spurgeon, “Defense of Calvinism”).
I am just as perplexed as my questioner. Why did God choose me? I don’t know. I just know it humbles me to the dust.
4.) First, John Calvin didn’t write the bible; the Holy Spirit did. And I find myself most free when I submit to its teachings. I have no idea when God called me with an effectual calling. It’s hard to pinpoint it. But I do know this: He didn’t force me to believe. I believed after he showed me my sins and then when he showed me his glorious forgiveness found only in Christ Jesus. No, this teaching does not offend me. It just shows me that God is passionate about his glory, and he graciously wants me to enjoy it forever. And why should I marvel that God is so passionate about his glory? He created me, and he created me for this glory. If that is why I was created, then logically, submitting myself to that chief end is how I am most free.
I have often wondered why I can’t think more philosophically and avoid bringing the Bible into the class discussions. I think perhaps, God has graciously invaded my brain. I have trouble pondering ungodly philosophies for even moments without quickly returning to God’s word to answer it. I guess that’s his grace in my life. The fact that I’m so patient with other views is another sign of grace. I assure you: it wasn’t always that way. For example, my other classmates disagreed with my Calvinistic beliefs, and they often favored Sartre’s Existentialism and Marx’s economic ideals instead. They favored James Arminius much more than they liked Arthur Pink. In fact, they despised him. When faced with Calvinistic passages of Scripture, they grimaced and squirmed, and after they were done doing that, they continued defending “free will”. Only at times did I open my mouth to answer them. Why? Because I know, at least, that we hold to the same fundamentals. I am definitely not a Hyper-Calvinist. But I pray that I don’t become a hyper-active Calvinist. A hyper-active Calvinist will drive across the state to defend Calvinism, but he won’t walk across the street to share the gospel (Mohler, 4). I couldn’t help wondering, however, if they ever felt convicted. I don’t know their hearts, though. I am just a fellow sheep feeding in the same inexhaustible fields of Scripture. I pray God grants them a knowledge of the truth just as much as I hope he does the same for me. I am by no means the arbiter of truth. But I know who is. I just hope they don’t seek truth somewhere other than God. When men seek freedom apart from God’s truth, they will only find more chains. Christ prayed for his people in John 17. In the prayer, he knew what would set men free. He remembered his words, and He prayed to His Father that the promise would do its work. “Sanctify them through thy truth,” he prayed, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). He sets men free with truth, and when he does, they are free indeed.
Works Cited
“A Defense of Calvinism.” Charles H. Spurgeon. www.spurgeon.org/calvinis.htm (accessed December 10, 2007).
Bergman, Frithjof. On Being Free. London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1977.
King James Version. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1998.
“Heir of the Puritans: Spurgeon’s Catechism.” Comp: Charles H. Spurgeon. London: 1855
Mohler, R. Albert. Reaching Today’s World Through Differing Views of Election. June, 2006: SBC Pastor’s Conference.
Pink, Arthur W. The Sovereignty of God. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1930.
