David Westerfield

Studying through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, I have now arrived to the section on the hypostatic union of Christ, or that Jesus exists as both fully man and fully God, consisting in one person, our Lord Jesus Christ. Though this is incomprehensible to the natural human mind as to how this can be reconciled, it is something confirmed in the Scriptures to which we must reverently submit to. But how can that be? That’s what the word says, we submit to it, and leave it there. There are many things within Scripture that are so, yet seem to be impossible in the reality in which we find ourselves. One example is the Trinity. There is only one God. This one God exists as three persons in one, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And yet He is one. He has always been this way. These things are confirmed in Scripture over and over again. How can this be? Trying to wrap our minds around this concept is essentially impossible, and yet it is so. There is no human example that rightly gives justice to how this is so, mainly because it is so far above us. It is also the same with God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. God, in His divine wisdom, permitted a world in which sin exists. And yet He is without sin. The former confirmed in so many passages of the Old Testament; the latter confirmed throughout the word, both Old and New Testaments. God is sovereign over all of the actions of man, everything, and yet man is held fully responsible for His actions. How can this be? Well, that is what Scripture says. But … ? There are no buts. We silence our mouths before the Lord in great reverential submission to His ability to do things beyond our comprehension, things that seem impossible, yet are confirmed to be so in the word. Scripture confirms that all of these realities exist, yet are outside of our intellectual conception. God is one, existing in three persons; God is fully sovereign over all things, man is fully responsible for his actions; and we accept all these things by faith. And so it is with the two nature’s of Christ. He is both fully man and fully God. And yet He is the one Christ, the Son of God. Only Christ could have lived a human life without sin, because He is God in the flesh. And to think of the ramifications of this as Jesus hung on that cross. Wow. The God-man was pierced, beaten, whipped, and bore in His being the wrath of God. When looking at Christ on the cross, we clearly see His humanity and the torture He endured on our behalf; but consider for a moment that the God of the universe, through which creation came to be, the mighty Lord that with a word spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, hung on a dirty Roman cross by nails and that He was cut off from His Father in eternal pain at that moment. This was the most tragic thing that has ever happened for all time! There is nothing worse than this. And yet it is the most wonderful thing that has happened. On the one hand, God the Son was put to death by our wickedness, and yet He bore in Himself the wrath of God for any who would believe in Him. How wonderful! At the cross, we see all of God’s attributes so wonderfully displayed. We see His love for this world (generally speaking) that the Father would send His own Son into it to be a sacrifice for sins, we see God’s justice displayed that He must uphold the honor and purity of His name in passing over sins from the past, we see how utterly wicked we all are in nailing God to the cross, we see God’s utter hatred of sin that in order to declare sinners just and righteous He had to put His own precious Son to death for us and give us His righteousness, we see God’s sovereign abilitiy that allowed all the events that occurred to even take place at all (mainly because God could have wiped everyone out right then if He wanted), and yet there are so many other attributes. For us who believe, what an amazing and powerful God we serve!

Understanding and knowing God in His sovereignty and what the ramifications are of this, have implications all across the board of our lives, practically speaking. It is like planting an oak tree by a mountain stream or building a house on solid rock. It gives firm ground for you to stand on and hope in the midst of adversity, that the Lord orders your trials, every aspect, for your good in being conformed to Christ and most importantly of all, for His glory. The Lord is sovereign and reigns from His throne above, in control of the good and bad. Read the book of Job, the whole thing. Read the conclusions of Job. Nothing is outside of the Lord’s grasp. Nothing.

If God is not in control of all things, even evil, even ordering our trials, then we have much reason to fear. When Paul states in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” how could He say this if God were not in control of all things, including all of our trials? How could our trials work for our good if God has not ordered them? This is our only hope! If God is not in control, we have a God who is less than powerful. But this is how sovereign He is, that He is sovereign even over sin and is yet without sin at the same time! Though this is incomprehensible to the natural mind of man, it is a theme throughout the Bible, particularly illustrated in the Old Testament, and it is a theme from my subjective experience that has given me so much hope in the midst of some of the most terrible things. He orders and controls all things. There is nothing outside of His grasp.

My mother was sexually abused by her mother when she was young. She was gang-raped, multiple times, when she was older. Later in life, she broke down mentally when I was about 4 and her mind split into multiple personalities. She went into mental hospitals multiple times, attempting to commit suicide from her manic depression over and over again. She passed away unexpectedly 3 weeks after Courtney and I were married. How can I say that God is sovereign over all of these events? My question is, how can He not be? What other hope do I have? If He’s not, then man my God is small, and less than able to deliver me. But if He’s sovereign and allowed it, ordaining these things from before the foundation of the world even, then I have nothing to fear and my hope lies not in anything of myself but all my hope is in Him, that He is bringing these things in love for my good and His glory. He brought these things into my life to draw me closer to Christ, to conform me more and more to His image.

The natural, sinful reaction of mankind to trials is the response of Job’s wife in Job 2:9 after having lost their children, property, and after Job lost His health: “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.'” And what is Job’s response in verse 10? Pay attention to this: “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?‘ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Job knew God had ordered these things. Though Satan carried out these attacks, is he not on a leash before God? Must he not ask God’s permission to do the things he does? And Why did God allow it? For the good of Job and his wife, and God’s glory. It seems backward to our natural minds. God has Satan on a leash and he can only do what God allows him to do. If a trial comes into the believer’s life, it is brought for the purpose of conforming us to the image of Christ and bringing glory to God. This is our only hope in this cursed world of sin and suffering, for us who believe.

Apart from being in Christ, believing in Him for salvation, none of this applies. There is no hope that the trials brought are for the good of unbeliever’s. In fact, the trials further deepen the wrong convictions of unbeliever’s that God is the problem. God sends pain to the unbelieving world to rouse deaf ears to believe in Christ (borrowing from C.S. Lewis), and for the most part the trials are to no avail. To them, none of the bad things that occur in this life will work out for good in the end, as long as they stay in unbelief. For the unbeliever it will be pain in this life, and eternal pain beyond comprehension for all eternity because of sinning done against a holy, infinite God. I plea with you to believe in Christ. He is your only hope, that He bore the sin of any who would believe in Him, died, and rose again. And this is our only hope, daily, for us who believe as well. Recite the Gospel to yourself daily, for it is a heart of the believer’s walk.

Some articles pertaining to these things:

The Sovereignty of God (Scriptural Evidence)
Suffering and Sovereignty of God – Desiring God 2005 National Conference
Was Katrina Intelligent Design? – John Piper
Why I Do Not Say, “God Did Not Cause the Calamity, but He Can Use it for Good – John Piper
Tsunami and Repentance – John Piper

This doctrine contains two sides to it. It states, in a very basic form, that those who have been elected by God to partake in salvation by the atoning sacrifice of the blood of Christ through faith in Him alone will be saved, they cannot be lost. The believer will persevere to the end in faith, though stumbling at many points along the way, being preserved by the power of God by the indwelling Holy Spirit that is given us when we believe. You cannot be elect and then be eternally lost. You are secured. This is prevalent in Scripture. (John 6:37, John 6:39)

However, in order to prevent error in people’s minds, and to not give false assurance to people who are not saved, there is a warning that comes right after this that is also prevalent throughout Scripture. This is the other side of the doctrine. It states that those who claim faith in Christ, partaking of the Holy Spirit, and even doing works in the name of Christ, that if they then fall away into unrepentant sin (or never repented to begin with), it is proof they never had true faith to begin with. This is a frightening prospect, as it should be. Jesus stated in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” Why is that? The warning here in the doctrine of perseverance is the warning against apostasy, a warning against falling away into sin so far that you are given over to it, hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, unable to hear the inner call of God to true saving faith, beyond the point of repentance (Apostasy – Hebrews 6:4-6).

And this warning amply applies in our day, where antinomianism seems to be running rampant in the church. Antinomianism is essentially what is commonly called Carnal Christianity. This states, in no uncertain terms, “Once saved, always saved.” Though this is true at a fundamental level (as shown at the beginning of this entry), it is very misleading. The problem is that it leads to this kind of thinking and belief: “I signed the card, prayed the prayer, so now I’m in. It doesn’t matter what I do now, I will always be secured in the love of God. I can go and live like a heathen, continue partying it up, sleep with all the women I want the rest of my life, and I will still be saved.” Wrong! But why is that? We know that our works, both good or bad, do not change our standing before the Father because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Right? We do not earn a better standing based on our good works, and we don’t lose favor in the sight of the Father because of our sin. “Christ alone, not our works, makes us acceptable before God.” Doesn’t it seem contradictory to say on the one hand that if you’re saved you cannot lose your salvation, and then on the other hand say that if you continue in unrepentant sin you’re not saved? But here’s what it’s saying: if you claim faith in Christ, and spin off into sin, unrepentant sin where there is no struggle, living a life of rebellion to God, it proves that you never had authentic faith to begin with, and still rest under the condemnation of God. Works do not earn favor with God, but they are the natural result of authentic faith (James 2:14-26). Works without faith is dead. Faith without works is dead. On the one hand, there are unbelievers who say that their works and good deeds are their salvation, or that loving others is their salvation. And then on the other hand there are those that claim their faith is their salvation, but have no works (the natural result of faith, i.e. repentance from known sins) to back it up. If you claim Christ as Savior but you live a life of lawlessness, not even struggling with your sin, not caring for any of the things of God and His holiness, believing yourself to still be saved by what you perceive as Christ’s “fire insurance” salvation, you have reason to fear, for it may be that you have not truly believed in Christ. The true believer will persevere to the end in faith, and though they will sin and slip at times, there will be a confidence in Christ and a struggle to pursue holiness in the light of Christ, being purified by His blood, sanctified even.

The phrase, “Once saved, always saved,” is so terribly misleading, to the point of guiding people straight to hell, making people feel good about themselves while sending them straight into the furnace of God’s eternal wrath. I instead prefer the phrase, “Once saved, always changed,” because the believer will, though imperfectly, pursue holiness based upon the free grace and merit of Jesus Christ, faith alone in Christ alone. The end result of the true believer is a life set apart from the world. It is inevitable. We don’t become perfect in this life by any means, but there will be a struggle to get there. If there is no struggle, you should fear, and repent from your sin and rebellion against the almighty God, and place your faith in Jesus Christ, that He bore your sins on the cross, died, rose from the grave, ascended into heaven where He now reigns, and will come back to wipe out His adversaries and glorify Himself by glorifying His church.

Some articles pertaining to these things:

Is Repentance Necessary for Salvation? – John Hendryx
The Doctrine of Perseverance: The Earnest Pursuit of Assurance – John Piper
The Doctrine of Perseverance: The Future of a Fruitless Field – John Piper
The Lordship Controversy and Repentance – Ernest Reisinger

1. In respect of those to whom he shows mercy, v. 15, 16. He quotes that scripture to show God’s sovereignty in dispensing his favours (Exod. xxxiii. 19): I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. All God’s reasons of mercy are taken from within himself. All the children of men being plunged alike into a state of sin and misery, equally under guilt and wrath, God, in a way of sovereignty, picks out some from this fallen apostatized race, to be vessels of grace and glory. He dispenses his gifts to whom he will, without giving us any reason: according to his own good pleasure he pitches upon some to be monuments of mercy and grace, preventing grace, effectual grace, while he passes by others. The expression is very emphatic, and the repetition makes it more so: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. It imports a perfect absoluteness in God’s will; he will do what he will, and giveth not account of any of his matters, nor is it fit he should. As these great words, I am that I am (Exod. iii. 14) do abundantly express the absolute independency of his being, so these words, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, do as fully express the absolute prerogative and sovereignty of his will. To vindicate the righteousness of God, in showing mercy to whom he will, the apostle appeals to that which God himself had spoken, wherein he claims this sovereign power and liberty. God is a competent judge, even in his own case. Whatsoever God does, or is resolved to do, is both by the one and the other proved to be just. Eleeso on han heleo—I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. When I begin, I will make an end. Therefore God’s mercy endures for ever, because the reason of it is fetched from within himself; therefore his gifts and callings are without repentance. Hence he infers (v. 16), It is not of him that willeth. Whatever good comes from God to man, the glory of it is not to be ascribed to the most generous desire, nor to the most industrious endeavour, of man, but only and purely to the free grace and mercy of God. In Jacob’s case it was not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; it was not the earnest will and desire of Rebecca that Jacob might have the blessing; it was not Jacob’s haste to get it (for he was compelled to run for it) that procured him the blessing, but only the mercy and grace of God. Wherein the holy happy people of God differ from other people, it is God and his grace that make them differ. Applying this general rule to the particular case that Paul has before him, the reason why the unworthy, undeserving, ill-deserving Gentiles are called, and grafted into the church, while the greatest part of the Jews are left to perish in unbelief, is not because those Gentiles were better deserving or better disposed for such a favour, but because of God’s free grace that made that difference. The Gentiles did neither will it, nor run for it, for they sat in darkness, Matt. iv. 16. In darkness, therefore not willing what they knew not; sitting in darkness, a contented posture, therefore not running to meet it, but anticipated with these invaluable blessings of goodness. Such is the method of God’s grace towards all that partake of it, for he is found of those that sought him not (Isa. lxv. 1); in this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own. Our eye therefore must not be evil because his is good; but, of all the grace that we or others have, he must have the glory: Not unto us, Ps. cxv. 1.