| Free Will – Part 5

We have started a new series concerning the sovereignty of God. My purpose is to look to the Scriptures and allow them to shape this subject in our minds. The reason that I want to deal with this subject is that I often hear statements made about God (mostly in difficult situations) that do not paint a fair picture of His true character and often leave an impression in people’s minds that God is like the devil. As the Body of Christ, we have a responsibility to represent our Father correctly. In order to do this, our understanding must be formed about Him from His Words about Himself. No one can know God unless God reveals Himself through His Word and by His Spirit.

In this series, we are going to look through the Scriptures and identify the three main wills that are represented and have an effect on the earth.  These three wills are the will of God, the will of man and the will of satan. 

God can be Sovereign without violating Man’s essential freedom. – Foundations Of Pentecostal Theology

Foreknowledge no more determines a man’s actions than after knowledge. – Dr. R.A. Torrey

Part 5 – We begin our discussion of Romans chapter 9 concerning God’s sovereignty.  God’s foreknowledge does not mean that He decides every person’s eternity.  As we begin to look through this chapter we will see 3 examples of people who chose to obey God and those who chose to disobey God, their decisions determined their destiny and how God ended up having to deal with them.    God has a will for us and His will is always redemptive but if we reject that will He is still a God of justice and even though it hurts Him greatly He will give you over to your desire.  He says to us in Christ “Choose Life!”