Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Systematic Theology

Let us stick to the Word, for Scripture CANNOT be broken.

"—and Scripture cannot be broken— "
John 10:35 ESV

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
Matthew 24:35 ESV

As Scripture CANNOT be broken, we can now see what the Bible says about the will of God.

But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Psalms 115:3 NKJV

Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.
Psalms 135:6 NKJV

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
Isaiah 46:10 NKJV

"For the Lord of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?”
Isaiah 14:27 NKJV

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”
Daniel 4:35 NKJV

“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of  Yours can be withheld from You.
Job 42:2 NKJV

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Ephesians 1:11 NKJV

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord , The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
Psalms 33:10-12 NKJV

KNOWING that God does ALL HE PLEASES, Jesus further drives this point home in John.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:37, 39-40 NKJV

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:44 NKJV

And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
John 6:65 NKJV

And in Luke...

"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ”
Luke 10:22 NKJV

None of this should be any surprise as all Scripture agrees so far that God does as He pleases.

God addresses His love for Jacob, and contrasts it to His HATE for Esau in Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the Lord . “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord . “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”
Malachi 1:2-3 NKJV

This part of Scripture is SO important that Paul brings it up again in Romans, the systematic layout of salvation. When Paul does this, he also includes THE REASON God loved Jacob but hated Esau. It was so that "the purpose of God according to election might stand".

(for the  children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, THAT THE PURPOSE OF GOD ACCORDING TO ELECTION MIGHT STAND, not of works but of Him who calls), As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
Romans 9:11, 13 NKJV

This is done from the foundation of the world. God has EVERY RIGHT TO DO AS HE PLEASES, and since we are ALL sinners He has a just cause to hate us all. He doesn't owe ANY of us love. EVERYTHING God does is for His glory. Some He has chosen to hate as vessels of wrath, and some He has chosen to love as vessels of mercy.

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. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it , “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
Romans 9:14-21 NKJV

God has EVERY RIGHT TO DO AS HE PLEASES.

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Romans 9:22-24 NKJV

If you argue against any of this, your argument is with God.

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