THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL: "Why The Gospel Must Be Free," Part 1
Regarding
the topic of why the Gospel must be free, I briefly quote from my last
post, "The Freeness Of The Gospel: Introduction." "The Gospel is
completely, totally, and wholly free. My Macintosh dictionary defines
free as: "not under the control or in the power of another; able to
act or be done as one wishes; not physically restrained, obstructed or
fixed; not subject to or constrained by engagements or obligations;
given or available without charge." Biblically,
the Gospel is the free and voluntary expression of God and His goodwill
toward men in order to secure their eternal salvation without any merit
in them. God was not and is not obligated by anyone or anything
outside of Himself to save sinners. If He chooses to mercifully extend
His powerful hand to save that is His prerogative. If He chooses not
to extend His just and righteous hand in salvation to hell-deserving
sinners that also is His prerogative. God is completely and wholly
free. He saves according to the good pleasure of His will, according
to the riches of His grace, and according to His good pleasure that He
has purposed in Himself from eternity past for the praise of the glory
of His grace (Ephesians 1:3-12)."
The Word of God gives us at least four powerful and irrefutable reasons why the Gospel must be free.
First, the Gospel must be free to be in total agreement with the attributes of God. The self-revealing God of the Scriptures has made Himself known as one who is completely sovereign and free in all of His acts and in the exercise of all of His attributes (Daniel 4:35). There is no external influence outside of Himself that obligates Him to exercise or demonstrate any of His divine attributes (Isaiah 40:12-14). The autonomous God of the Bible moves however and whenever He so desires (Psalm 115:3). He also becomes quiet, withdrawn, and inactive whenever and however He so pleases (one proof is the four hundred years of silence between the Old and New Testaments). He reveals truth and hides truth according to His own divine pleasure (Matthew 11:25-26). Every manifestation of the divine attributes toward man to procure his salvation from sin and its eternal consequences has been and always will be according to the free and sovereign will of God.
Due to the fact that God exercises His glorious attributes without any coercion or external influence, we conclude that the Gospel must be free to sinners. God freely saves who, when, where, and how He so chooses through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The other three reasons why the Gospel must be free will be shared in a future post. May all the glory, honor, and praise be to only One worthy....the Lord Jesus Christ!
The Word of God gives us at least four powerful and irrefutable reasons why the Gospel must be free.
First, the Gospel must be free to be in total agreement with the attributes of God. The self-revealing God of the Scriptures has made Himself known as one who is completely sovereign and free in all of His acts and in the exercise of all of His attributes (Daniel 4:35). There is no external influence outside of Himself that obligates Him to exercise or demonstrate any of His divine attributes (Isaiah 40:12-14). The autonomous God of the Bible moves however and whenever He so desires (Psalm 115:3). He also becomes quiet, withdrawn, and inactive whenever and however He so pleases (one proof is the four hundred years of silence between the Old and New Testaments). He reveals truth and hides truth according to His own divine pleasure (Matthew 11:25-26). Every manifestation of the divine attributes toward man to procure his salvation from sin and its eternal consequences has been and always will be according to the free and sovereign will of God.
- The Mercy of God--The eternal God manifests His divine mercy toward men who justly deserve eternal judgment, not because of any obligation from without or because man deserves it. No one deserves mercy. If one deserved it, it would not be mercy, but rather the paying of a debt. God has no debts, but bestows mercy upon the undeserving only because it pleases Him. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul states in 9:14-15: "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy..." The prophet Micah tells us that our great God delights in mercy, but He does not delight to have mercy on all (Micah 7:18; Isaiah 27:11). He delighted in giving mercy to Jacob, but not to Esau (Romans 9:11-13). He delighted in showing mercy to the Israelites in Egyptian captivity, but He did not delight in bestowing His mercy on Pharaoh. "For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth" (Romans 9:17-18). Not only did God not delight in showing mercy to Pharaoh, He chose to harden him according to His perfect and sovereign will. The next verse, Romans 9:19, confirms this: "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?" Who can justly criticize or condemn God if He chooses to show mercy to some and harden others? Should He not justly harden and condemn all men for their multiplied trespasses against His holy will? Who can justly criticize or condemn God if He willfully chooses to bestow mercy upon a creature that plainly deserves wrath? The whole apostolic teaching regarding the free mercy of God is that He is not obligated to bestow mercy on anyone. He bestows mercy liberally and freely on the objects of His choosing. The Apostle's summary of the free manifestation of the mercies of God is, "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Romans 9:16).
- The Power of God--The omnipotent power of God to save through the Gospel is demonstrated without any motivating influence from without God´s being and only according to His free and sovereign will. The power of God is freely exercised in the judgment and destruction of hell-deserving sinners, just as it is freely exercised in the salvation of sinners who deserve the same hell and eternal damnation. God´s magnanimous power to save is only manifested toward sinners "according to the purpose of Him that worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
- The Love of God--Though greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted by modern day "God loves everybody" theology, the love of God flows freely and abundantly toward sinners according to the free and sovereign will of God. From eternity, God has not put His love and affection on all things or all peoples. God did not set His love on Lucifer, the rebellious cherubim, or on the fallen, self-willed angels, or on all of the depraved, human race. God declared a long time before the birth of Isaac and Rebekah´s twins that He loved Jacob and He hated Esau (Romans 9:11-13). Concerning this declaration, many would have us believe that God originally loved Esau, but because he rejected God, His divine love toward him turned to hatred. This is an abominable teaching! God is unequivocally immutable. His nature is immutable. His will is immutable. His attributes are immutable. God cannot change for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17). If God loved Jacob, He loved him from all eternity past, and will love him for all eternity future. If God hated Esau, He hated him from all eternity past, and will hate him for all eternity future. God's free and sovereign love is eternal and unchangeable. The love of God is not an internally weak, gushy feeling toward man that desires to help or succor him in his need, but is hindered by man's resistance. Rather, the love of God is entirely effectual, working out all the intricate details to secure the salvation of all of God's beloved people. This is the glorious message of Romans 8:28-39: "If God be for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31). God is for those He eternally loves. He chose those that He eternally loves. He effectually calls those He eternally loves. He justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies those He eternally loves. And there is nothing in the invisible or visible world that can cause God´s effectual love toward us to be thwarted or defeated. All of those loved by God will ultimately be brought to Christ by the Holy Spirit and will be eternally saved because of Christ's redemptive work for them. On the day of judgment, God will never say to an unconverted sinner, "I am so sorry. I loved you with all of my heart and wanted to save you, but I just couldn't or I wasn't able!" God forbid. God's love is equally free to choose the object of His affection, as man is free to set his affection on his future wife. Love is particular. Love is free. Love is not coerced. So is God's love to man. Praise be to God that He has set His affection and eternal love on an innumerable (humanly speaking) multitude of despicable and sinful creatures with the inalterable determination to do them good, redeem them from their iniquities, and ultimately bring them to glory in complete conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- The Goodness and Grace of God--God's goodness and His redeeming grace is exercised freely toward those of His divine choosing. All men, to some extent, are recipients of "common grace." Common grace is that which God in His goodness sheds upon believer and unbeliever alike: the air that we breathe, health, rain, sunshine, seasons, government order and rule, etc. However, not all men are recipients of special, divine, redeeming grace. A beautiful, Biblical example of this truth is found in the Gospel of John 5:1-9. A thirty-eight year old lame man laid amongst a multitude of other impotent folk, blind, halt, withered, and infirmed, waiting for the moving of the waters and their potential healing. Christ came into the midst of this multitude of sick and miserable humankind. According to the freeness of His grace, he came and ministered to only one particular man, when all were equally needy and desperate. He freely, and without obligation to show His grace to all of the others, healed completely the thirty-eight year old, lame man. Some may even ask, "Why didn't God heal him at the age of 20 so that he could have served him most of his adult life?" But this is the freeness of God´s glorious grace--God´s grace comes to man not when man most feels the necessity of it, but when it most glorifies the Giver of grace. Others may ask, "Why didn't God grant His healing grace to all of the infirmed and needy?" Again, we answer that God´s grace is wholly free....He gives grace and withholds grace according to His own eternal purpose and for His own glory. Yes, Christ was able to save all, but He chose not to do so, because He always did those things that please the Father.
Due to the fact that God exercises His glorious attributes without any coercion or external influence, we conclude that the Gospel must be free to sinners. God freely saves who, when, where, and how He so chooses through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The other three reasons why the Gospel must be free will be shared in a future post. May all the glory, honor, and praise be to only One worthy....the Lord Jesus Christ!
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