Something to Ponder

"God is not obliged to let me do whatever I want to do lest He interfere with my free will...God's freedom is greater than man's. Man's freedom ends where God's begins. It is God Who works all things according to the counsel of His will." R. C. Sproul

"What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.' Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens." Romans 9:14-18

"That out of the mass of fallen humanity God chooses some people to be saved and not others raises the objection that God is not fair. Somehow it is widely assumed that God owes all people either the gift of salvation or at least a chance of salvation. Grace, by definition, is something that God is not required to grant. He owes a fallen world no mercy. If we cried out for justice at His hands, we would all receive the just condemnation we deserve. Justice is what we deserve. Grace is always and ever and undeserved. The elect get the grace they do not deserve, while the reprobate get the justice they do deserve. If God decides to pardon one guilty person, that does not mean that those He does not pardeon are somehow any less guilty. Paul makes it unambiguously clear that God always reserves the right to exercise HIs mercy and grace according to His own good pleasure. It is this sovereign expression of love that redounds to the praise of His glory. It is this love that leaves us astonished and singing doxologies. It is this over whelming love that provoked Paul to cry out: 'Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and is shall be repaid to him?' (Romans 11:33-35) "

"Perhaps the greatests expression of God's love is His granting to HIs elect the very requirement He makes of men to avail the benefits of Christ. It is the granting of the gift of faith. 'And who He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of HIs grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:1-9).' The electing love of God is in view here with respect to HIs graciousness in quickening us from death to life, not after we responded to the gospel, but that we would in fact respond to the gospel." R.C. Sproul

(taken from Loved By God by R.C. Sproul- This is a great book that everyone should read. The author takes us to the Bible to see what the Scriptures say that God's love is.)

~Amber~