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[Mike Abendroth]

God's Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men

  _____  


A Sermon


by


Jonathan Edwards

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Sermon IV of Seventeen Occasional Sermons, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards,
Volume Two, The Banner of Truth Trust, Reprinted 1995, pp. 849-854.


[An outline of the <http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/gssm.html#OL#OL>
sermon has been prepared by the contributor.]

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ROMANS 9:18.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth.

THE apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresses his great concern
and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were rejected of God.
This leads him to observe the difference which God made by election between
some of the Jews and others, and between the bulk of that people and the
christian Gentiles. In speaking of this he enters into a more minute
discussion of the sovereignty of God in electing some to eternal life, and
rejecting others, than is found in any other part of the Bible; in the
course of which he quotes several passages from the Old Testament,
confirming and illustrating this doctrine. In the ninth verse he refers us
to what God said to Abraham, showing his election of Isaac before Ishmael -
"For this is the word of promise; At this time will I come, and Sarah shall
have a son:" then to what God had said to Rebecca, showing his election of
Jacob before Esau; "The elder shall serve the younger:" in the thirteenth
verse, to a passage from Malachi, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated:" in the fifteenth verse, to what God said to Moses, "I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion:" and the verse preceding the text, to what God says to
Pharaoh, "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth." In what the apostle says in the
text, he seems to have respect especially to the two last-cited passages: to
what God said to Moses in the fifteenth verse, and to what he said to
Pharaoh in the verse immediately preceding. God said to Moses, "I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy." To this the apostle refers in the former
part of the text. And we know how often it is said of Pharaoh, that God
hardened his heart. And to this the apostle seems to have respect in the
latter part of the text; "and whom he will he hardeneth." We may observe in
the text, 

1. God's different dealing with men. He hath mercy on some, and hardeneth
others. When God is here spoken of as hardening some of the children of men,
it is not to be understood that God by any positive efficiency hardens any
man's heart. There is no positive act in God, as though he put forth any
power to harden the heart. To suppose any such thing would be to make God
the immediate author of sin. God is said to harden men in two ways: by
withholding the powerful influences of his Spirit, without which their
hearts will remain hardened, and grow harder and harder; in this sense he
hardens them, as he leaves them to hardness. And again, by ordering those
things in his providence which, through the abuse of their corruption,
become the occasion of their hardening. Thus God sends his word and
ordinances to men which, by their abuse, prove an occasion of their
hardening. So the apostle said, that he was unto some "a savour of death
unto death." So God is represented as sending Isaiah on this errand, to make
the hearts of the people fat, and to make their ears heavy, and to shut
their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Isa. 6:10.
Isaiah's preaching was, in itself, of a contrary tendency, to make them
better. But their abuse of it rendered it an occasion of their hardening. As
God is here said to harden men, so he is said to put a lying spirit in the
mouth of the false prophets. 2 Chron. 18:22. That is, he suffered a lying
spirit to enter into them. And thus he is said to have bid Shimei curse
David. 2 Sam. 16:10. Not that he properly commanded him; for it is contrary
to God's commands. God expressly forbids cursing the ruler of the people.
Exod. 22:28. But he suffered corruption at that time so to work in Shimei,
and ordered that occasion of stirring it up, as a manifestation of his
displeasure against David. 

2. The foundation of his different dealing with mankind; viz. his sovereign
will and pleasure. "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will he hardeneth." This does not imply, merely, that God never shows mercy
or denies it against his will, or that he is always willing to do it when he
does it. A willing subject or servant, when he obeys his lord's commands,
may never do any thing against his will, nothing but what he can do
cheerfully and with delight; and yet he cannot be said to do what he wills
in the sense of the text. But the expression implies that it is God's mere
will and sovereign pleasure, which supremely orders this affair. It is the
divine will without restraint, or constraint, or obligation. 

Doctrine. God exercises his sovereignty in the eternal salvation of men. 

He not only is sovereign, and has a sovereign right to dispose and order in
that affair; and he not only might proceed in a sovereign way, if he would,
and nobody could charge him with exceeding his right; but he actually does
so; he exercises the right which he has. In the following discourse, I
propose to show, 

I. What is God's <http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/gssm.html#I#I>
sovereignty.
II. What God's <http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/gssm.html#II#II>
sovereignty in the salvation of men implies.
III. That God <http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/gssm.html#III#III>
actually doth exercise his sovereignty in this matter.
IV. The reasons <http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/gssm.html#IV#IV>  for
this exercise.

I. I would show what is God's sovereignty. 

The sovereignty of God is his absolute, independent right of disposing of
all creatures according to his own pleasure. I will consider this definition
by the parts of it. 

The will of God is called his mere pleasure, 

1. In opposition to any constraint. Men may do things voluntarily, and yet
there may be a degree of constraint. A man may be said to do a thing
voluntarily, that is, he himself does it; and, all things considered, he may
choose to do it; yet he may do it out of fear, and the thing in itself
considered be irksome to him, and sorely against his inclination. When men
do things thus, they cannot be said to do them according to their mere
pleasure. 

2. In opposition to its being under the will of another. A servant may
fulfil his master's commands, and may do it willingly, and cheerfully, and
may delight to do his master's will; yet when he does so, he does not do it
of his own mere pleasure. The saints do the will of God freely. They choose
to do it; it is their meat and drink. Yet they do not do it of their mere
pleasure and arbitrary will; because their will is under the direction of a
superior will. 

3. In opposition to any proper obligation. A man may do a thing which he is
obliged to do, very freely; but he cannot be said to act from his own mere
will and pleasure. He who acts from his own mere pleasure, is at full
liberty; but he who is under any proper obligation, is not at liberty, but
is bound. Now the sovereignty of God supposes, that he has a right to
dispose of all his creatures according to his mere pleasure in the sense
explained. And his right is absolute and independent. Men may have a right
to dispose of some things according to their pleasure. But their right is
not absolute and unlimited. Men may be said to have a right to dispose of
their own goods as they please. But their right is not absolute; is has
limits and bounds. They have a right to dispose of their own goods as they
please, provided they do not do it contrary to the law of the state to which
they are subject, or contrary to the law of God. Men's right to dispose of
their things as they will, is not absolute, because it is not independent.
They have not an independent right to what they have, but in some things
depend on the community to which they belong, for the right they have; and
in every thing depend on God. They receive all the right they have to any
thing from God. But the sovereignty of God imports that he has an absolute,
and unlimited, and independent right of disposing of his creatures as he
will. I proposed to inquire, 

II. What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies. In answer to
this inquiry, I observe, it implies that God can either bestow salvation on
any of the children of men, or refuse it, without any prejudice to the glory
of any of his attributes, except where he has been pleased to declare, that
he will or will not bestow it. It cannot be said absolutely, as the case now
stands, that God can, without any prejudice to the honour of any of his
attributes, bestow salvation on any of the children of men, or refuse it;
because, concerning some, God has been pleased to declare either that he
will or that he will not bestow salvation on them; and thus to bind himself
by his own promise. And concerning some he has been pleased to declare, that
he never will bestow salvation upon them; viz. those who have committed the
sin against the Holy Ghost. Hence, as the case now stands, he is obliged; he
cannot bestow salvation in one case, or refuse it in the other, without
prejudice to the honour of his truth. But God exercised his sovereignty in
making these declarations. God was not obliged to promise that he would save
all who believe in Christ; nor was he obliged to declare, that he who
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost should never be forgiven. But it
pleased him so to declare. And had it not been so that God had been pleased
to oblige himself in these cases, he might still have either bestowed
salvation, or refused it, without prejudice to any of his attributes. If it
would in itself be prejudicial to any of his attributes to bestow or refuse
salvation, then God would not in that matter act as absolutely sovereign.
Because it then ceases to be a merely arbitrary thing. It ceases to be a
matter of absolute liberty, and is become a matter of necessity or
obligation. For God cannot do any thing to the prejudice of any of his
attributes, or contrary to what is in itself excellent and glorious.
Therefore, 

1. God can, without prejudice to the glory of any of his attributes, bestow
salvation on any of the children of men, except on those who have committed
the sin against the Holy Ghost. The case was thus when man fell, and before
God revealed his eternal purpose and plan for redeeming men by Jesus Christ.
It was probably looked upon by the angels as a thing utterly inconsistent
with God's attributes to save any of the children of men. It was utterly
inconsistent with the honour of the divine attributes to save any one of the
fallen children of men, as they were in themselves. It could not have been
done had not God contrived a way consistent with the honour of his holiness,
majesty, justice, and truth. But since God in the gospel has revealed that
nothing is too hard for him to do, nothing beyond the reach of his power,
and wisdom, and sufficiency; and since Christ has wrought out the work of
redemption, and fulfilled the law by obeying, there is none of mankind whom
he may not save without any prejudice to any of his attributes, excepting
those who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. And those he might
have saved without going contrary to any of his attributes, had he not been
pleased to declare that he would not. It was not because he could not have
saved them consistently with his justice, and consistently with his law, or
because his attribute of mercy was not great enough, or the blood of Christ
not sufficient to cleanse from that sin. But it has pleased him for wise
reasons to declare that that sin shall never be forgiven in this world, or
in the world to come. And so now it is contrary to God's truth to save such.
But otherwise there is no sinner, let him be ever so great, but God can save
him without prejudice to any attribute; if he has been a murderer,
adulterer, or perjurer, or idolater, or blasphemer, God may save him if he
pleases, and in no respect injure his glory. Though persons have sinned
long, have been obstinate, have committed heinous sins a thousand times,
even till they have grown old in sin, and have sinned under great
aggravations: let the aggravations be what they may; if they have sinned
under ever so great light; if they have been backsliders, and have sinned
against ever so numerous and solemn warnings and strivings of the Spirit,
and mercies of his common providence: though the danger of such is much
greater than of other sinners, yet God can save them if he pleases, for the
sake of Christ, without any prejudice to any of his attributes. He may have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. He may have mercy on the greatest of
sinners, if he pleases, and the glory of none of his attributes will be in
the least sullied. Such is the sufficiency of the satisfaction and
righteousness of Christ, that none of the divine attributes stand in the way
of the salvation of any of them. Thus the glory of any attribute did not at
all suffer by Christ's saving some of his crucifiers. 

1. God may save any of them without prejudice to the honour of his holiness.
God is an infinitely holy being. The heavens are not pure in his sight. He
is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity. And if
God should in any way countenance sin, and should not give proper
testimonies of his hatred of it, and displeasure at it, it would be a
prejudice to the honour of his holiness. But God can save the greatest
sinner without giving the least countenance to sin. If he saves one, who for
a long time has stood out under the calls of the gospel, and has sinned
under dreadful aggravations; if he saves one who, against light, has been a
pirate or blasphemer, he may do it without giving any countenance to their
wickedness; because his abhorrence of it and displeasure against it have
been already sufficiently manifested in the sufferings of Christ. It was a
sufficient testimony of God's abhorrence against even the greatest
wickedness, that Christ, the eternal Son of God, died for it. Nothing can
show God's infinite abhorrence of any wickedness more than this. If the
wicked man himself should be thrust into hell, and should endure the most
extreme torments which are ever suffered there, it would not be a greater
manifestation of God's abhorrence of it, than the sufferings of the Son of
God for it. 

2. God may save any of the children of men without prejudice to the honour
of his majesty. If men have affronted God, and that ever so much, if they
have cast ever so much contempt on his authority; yet God can save them, if
he pleases, and the honour of his majesty not suffer in the least. If God
should save those who have affronted him, without satisfaction, the honour
of his majesty would suffer. For when contempt is cast upon infinite
majesty, its honour suffers, and the contempt leaves an obscurity upon the
honour of the divine majesty, if the injury is not repaired. But the
sufferings of Christ do fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so
great, yet if so honourable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator
for the offender, and in the mediation suffer in his stead, it fully repairs
the injury done to the majesty of heaven by the greatest sinner. 

3. God may save any sinner whatsoever consistently with his justice. The
justice of God requires the punishment of sin. God is the Supreme Judge of
the world, and he is to judge the world according to the rules of justice.
It is not the part of a judge to show favour to the person judged; but he is
to determine according to a rule of justice without departing to the right
hand or left. God does not show mercy as a judge, but as a sovereign. And
therefore when mercy sought the salvation of sinners, the inquiry was how to
make the exercise of the mercy of God as a sovereign, and of his strict
justice as a judge, agree together. And this is done by the sufferings of
Christ, in which sin is punished fully, and justice answered. Christ
suffered enough for the punishment of the sins of the greatest sinner that
ever lived. So that God, when he judges, may act according to a rule of
strict justice, and yet acquit the sinner, if he be in Christ. Justice
cannot require any more for any man's sins, than those sufferings of one of
the persons in the Trinity, which Christ suffered. Rom. 3:25,26. "Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; to declare
his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which
believeth in Christ." 

4. God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any prejudice to the honour
of his truth. God passed his word, that sin should be punished with death,
which is to be understood not only of the first, but of the second death.
God can save the greatest sinner consistently with his truth in this
threatening. For sin is punished in the sufferings of Christ, inasmuch as he
is our surety, and so is legally the same person, and sustained our guilt,
and in his sufferings bore our punishment. It may be objected, that God
said, If thou eatest, thou shalt die; as though the same person that sinned
must suffer; and therefore why does not God's truth oblige him to that? I
answer, that the word then was not intended to be restrained to him, that in
his own person sinned. Adam probably understood that his posterity were
included, whether they sinned in their own person or not. If they sinned in
Adam, their surety, those words, "if thou eatest," meant, if thou eatest in
thyself, or in thy surety. And therefore, the latter words, "thou shalt
die," do also fairly allow of such a construction as, thou shalt die in
thyself, or in thy surety. Isa. 42:21. "The Lord is well pleased for his
righteousness' sake, he will magnify the law and make it honourable." But, 

II. God may refuse salvation to any sinner whatsoever, without prejudice to
the honour of any of his attributes. 

There is no person whatever in a natural condition, upon whom God may not
refuse to bestow salvation without prejudice to any part of his glory. Let a
natural person be wise or unwise, of a good or ill natural temper, of mean
or honourable parentage, whether born of wicked or godly parents; let him be
a moral or immoral person, whatever good he may have done, however religious
he has been, how many prayers soever he has made, and whatever pains he has
taken that he may be saved; whatever concern and distress he may have for
fear he shall be damned; or whatever circumstances he may be in; God can
deny him salvation without the least disparagement to any of his
perfections. His glory will not in any instance be the least obscured by it.


1. God may deny salvation to any natural person without any injury to the
honour of his righteousness. If he does so, there is no injustice nor
unfairness in it. There is no natural man living, let his case be what it
will, but God may deny him salvation, and cast him down to hell, and yet not
be chargeable with the least unrighteous or unfair dealing in any respect
whatsoever. This is evident, because they all have deserved hell: and it is
no injustice for a proper judge to inflict on any man what he deserves. And
as he has deserved condemnation, so he has never done any thing to remove
the liability, or to atone for the sin. He never has done any thing whereby
he has laid any obligations on God not to punish him as he deserved. 

2. God may deny salvation to any unconverted person whatever without any
prejudice to the honour of his goodness. Sinners are sometimes ready to
flatter themselves, that though it may not be contrary to the justice of God
to condemn them, yet it will not consist with the glory of his mercy. They
think it will be dishonourable to God's mercy to cast them into hell, and
have no pity or compassion upon them. They think it will be very hard and
severe, and not becoming a God of infinite grace and tender compassion. But
God can deny salvation to any natural person without any disparagement to
his mercy and goodness. That, which is not contrary to God's justice, is not
contrary to his mercy. If damnation be justice, then mercy may choose its
own object. They mistake the nature of the mercy of God, who think that it
is an attribute, which, in some cases, is contrary to justice. Nay, God's
mercy is illustrated by it, as in the twenty-third verse of the context.
"That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had afore prepared unto glory." 

3. It is in no way prejudicial to the honour of God's faithfulness. For God
has in no way obliged himself to any natural man by his word to bestow
salvation upon him. Men in a natural condition are not the children of
promise; but lie open to the curse of the law, which would not be the case
if they had any promise to lay hold of. 

III. God does actually exercise his sovereignty in men's salvation. 

We shall show how he exercises this right in several particulars. 

1. In calling one people or nation, and giving them the means of grace, and
leaving others without them. According to the divine appointment, salvation
is bestowed in connexion with the means of grace. God may sometimes make use
of very unlikely means, and bestow salvation on men who are under very great
disadvantages; but he does not bestow grace wholly without any means. But
God exercises his sovereignty in bestowing those means. All mankind are by
nature in like circumstances towards God. Yet God greatly distinguishes some
from others by the means and advantages which he bestows upon them. The
savages, who live in the remote parts of this continent, and are under the
grossest heathenish darkness, as well as the inhabitants of Africa, are
naturally in exactly similar circumstances towards God with us in this land.
They are no more alienated or estranged from God in their natures than we;
and God has no more to charge them with. And yet what a vast difference has
God made between us and them! In this he has exercised his sovereignty. He
did this of old, when he chose but one people, to make them his covenant
people, and to give them the means of grace, and left all others, and gave
them over to heathenish darkness and the tyranny of the devil, to perish
from generation to generation for many hundreds of years. The earth in that
time was peopled with many great and mighty nations. There were the
Egyptians, a people famed for their wisdom. There were also the Assyrians
and Chaldeans, who were great, and wise, and powerful nations. There were
the Persians, who by their strength and policy subdued a great part of the
world. There were the renowned nations of the Greeks and Romans, who were
famed over the whole world for their excellent civil governments, for their
wisdom and skill in the arts of peace and war, and who by their military
prowess in their turns subdued and reigned over the world. Those were
rejected. God did not choose them for his people, but left them for many
ages under gross heathenish darkness, to perish for lack of vision; and
chose one only people, the posterity of Jacob, to be his own people, and to
give them the means of grace. Psal. 147:19,20. "He showeth his word unto
Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with
any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them." This nation
were a small, inconsiderable people in comparison with many other people.
Deut. 7:7. "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because
ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all
people." So neither was it for their righteousness; for they had no more of
that than other people. Deut. 9:6. "Understand therefore, that the Lord thy
God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for
thou art a stiff-necked people." God gives them to understand, that it was
from no other cause but his free electing love, that he chose them to be his
people. That reason is given why God loved them; it was because he loved
them. Deut. 7:8. Which is as much as to say, it was agreeable to his
sovereign pleasure, to set his love upon you. 

God also showed his sovereignty in choosing that people, when other nations
were rejected, who came of the same progenitors. Thus the children of Isaac
were chosen, when the posterity of Ishmael and other sons of Abraham were
rejected. So the children of Jacob were chosen, when the posterity of Esau
were rejected: as the apostle observes in the seventh verse, "Neither
because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but in Isaac
shall thy seed be called:" and again in verses 10, 11, 12, 13. "And not only
this; but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
the children moreover being not yet born, neither having done any good or
evil, that the promise of God according to election might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
The apostle has not respect merely to the election of the persons of Isaac
and Jacob before Ishmael and Esau; but of their posterity. In the passage,
already quoted from Malachi, God has respect to the nations, which were the
posterity of Esau and Jacob; Mal. 1:2,3. "I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith
the Lord: yet I loved Jacob; and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and
his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." God showed his
sovereignty, when Christ came, in rejecting the Jews, and calling the
Gentiles. God rejected that nation who were the children of Abraham
according to the flesh, and had been his peculiar people for so many ages,
and who alone possessed the one true God, and chose idolatrous heathen
before them, and called them to be his people. When the Messiah came, who
was born of their nation, and whom they so much expected, he rejected them.
He came to his own, and his own received him not. John 1:11. When the
glorious dispensation of the gospel came, God passed by the Jews, and called
those who had been heathens, to enjoy the privileges of it. They were broken
off, that the Gentiles might be graffed on. Rom. 11:17. She is now called
beloved, that was not beloved. And more are the children of the desolate,
than the children of the married wife. Isa. 54:1. The natural children of
Abraham are rejected, and God raises up children to Abraham of stones. That
nation, which was so honoured of God, have now been for many ages rejected,
and remain dispersed all over the world, a remarkable monument of divine
vengeance. And now God greatly distinguishes some Gentile nations from
others, and all according to his sovereign pleasure. 

2. God exercises his sovereignty in the advantages he bestows upon
particular persons. All need salvation alike, and all are, naturally, alike
undeserving of it; but he gives some vastly greater advantages for salvation
than others. To some he assigns their place in pious and religious families,
where they may be well instructed and educated, and have religious parents
to dedicate them to God, and put up many prayers for them. God places some
under a more powerful ministry than others, and in places where there are
more of the outpourings of the Spirit of God. To some he gives much more of
the strivings and the awakening influences of the Spirit, than to others. It
is according to his mere sovereign pleasure. 

3. God exercises his sovereignty in sometimes bestowing salvation upon the
low and mean, and denying it to the wise and great. Christ in his
sovereignty passes by the gates of princes and nobles, and enters some
cottage and dwells there, and has communion with its obscure inhabitants.
God in his sovereignty withheld salvation from the rich man, who fared
sumptuously every day, and bestowed it on poor Lazarus, who sat begging at
his gate. God in this way pours contempt on princes, and on all their
glittering splendour. So God sometimes passes by wise men, men of great
understanding, learned and great scholars, and bestows salvation on others
of weak understanding, who only comprehend some of the plainer parts of
Scripture, and the fundamental principles of the christian religion. Yea,
there seem to be fewer great men called, than others. And God in ordering it
thus manifests his sovereignty. 1 Cor. 1:26,27,28. "For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to
confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to nought things that are." 

4. In bestowing salvation on some who have had few advantages. God sometimes
will bless weak means for producing astonishing effects, when more excellent
means are not succeeded. God sometimes will withhold salvation from those
who are the children of very pious parents, and bestow it on others, who
have been brought up in wicked families. Thus we read of a good Abijah in
the family of Jeroboam, and of a godly Hezekiah, the son of wicked Ahaz, and
of a godly Josiah, the son of a wicked Amon. But on the contrary, of a
wicked Amnon and Absalom, the sons of holy David, and that vile Manasseh,
the son a good Hezekiah. Sometimes some, who have had eminent means of
grace, are rejected, and left to perish, and others, under far less
advantages, are saved. Thus the scribes and Pharisees, who had so much light
and knowledge of the Scriptures, were mostly rejected, and the poor ignorant
publicans saved. The greater part of those, among whom Christ was much
conversant, and who heard him preach, and saw him work miracles from day to
day, were left; and the woman of Samaria was taken, and many other
Samaritans at the same time, who only heard Christ preach, as he
occasionally passed through their city. So the woman of Canaan was taken,
who was not of the country of the Jews, and but once saw Jesus Christ. So
the Jews, who had seen and heard Christ, and saw his miracles, and with whom
the apostles laboured so much, were not saved. But the Gentiles, many of
them, who, as it were, but transiently heard the glad tidings of salvation,
embraced them, and were converted. 

5. God exercises his sovereignty in calling some to salvation, who have been
very heinously wicked, and leaving others, who have been moral and religious
persons. The Pharisees were a very strict sect among the Jews. Their
religion was extraordinary. Luke 18:11. They were not as other men,
extortioners, unjust, or adulterers. There was their morality. They fasted
twice a week, and gave tithes of all that they possessed. There was their
religion. But yet they were mostly rejected, and the publicans, and harlots,
and openly vicious sort of people, entered into the kingdom of God before
them. Matt. 21:31. The apostle describes his righteousness while a Pharisee.
Philip. 3:6. "Touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless."
The rich young man, who came kneeling to Christ, saying, Good Master, what
shall I do, that I may have eternal life, was a moral person. When Christ
bade him keep the commandments, he said, and in his own view with sincerity,
"All these have I kept from my youth up." He had obviously been brought up
in a good family, and was a youth of such amiable manners and correct
deportment, that it is said, "Jesus beholding him, loved him." Still he was
left; while the thief, that was crucified with Christ, was chosen and
called, even on the cross. God sometimes shows his sovereignty by showing
mercy to the chief of sinners, on those who have been murderers, and
profaners, and blasphemers. And even when they are old, some are called at
the eleventh hour. God sometimes shows the sovereignty of his grace by
showing mercy to some, who have spent most of their lives in the service of
Satan, and have little left to spend in the service of God. 

6. In saving some of those who seek salvation, and not others. Some who seek
salvation, as we know both from Scripture and observation, are soon
converted; while others seek a long time, and do not obtain at last. God
helps some over the mountains and difficulties which are in the way; he
subdues Satan, and delivers them from his temptations: but others are ruined
by the temptations with which they meet. Some are never thoroughly awakened;
while to others God is pleased to give thorough convictions. Some are left
to backsliding hearts; others God causes to hold out to the end. Some are
brought off from a confidence in their own righteousness; others never get
over that obstruction in their way, as long as they live. And some are
converted and saved, who never had so great strivings as some who,
notwithstanding, perish. 

IV. I come now to give the reasons, why God does thus exercise his
sovereignty in the eternal salvation of the children of men. 

1. It is agreeable to God's design in the creation of the universe to
exercise every attribute, and thus to manifest the glory of each of them.
God's design in the creation was to glorify himself, or to make a discovery
of the essential glory of his nature. It was fit that infinite glory should
shine forth; and it was God's original design to make a manifestation of his
glory, as it is. Not that it was his design to manifest all his glory to the
apprehension of creatures; for it is impossible that the minds of creatures
should comprehend it. But it was his design to make a true manifestation of
his glory, such as should represent every attribute. If God glorified one
attribute, and not another, such manifestation of his glory would be
defective; and the representation would not be complete. If all God's
attributes are not manifested, the glory of none of them is manifested as it
is: for the divine attributes reflect glory on one another. Thus if God's
wisdom be manifested, and not his holiness, the glory of his wisdom would
not be manifested as it is; for one part of the glory of the attribute of
divine wisdom is, that it is a holy wisdom. So if his holiness were
manifested, and not his wisdom, the glory of his holiness would not be
manifested as it is; for one thing which belongs to the glory of God's
holiness is, that it is a wise holiness. So it is with respect to the
attributes of mercy and justice. The glory of God's mercy does not appear as
it is, unless it is manifested as a just mercy, or as a mercy consistent
with justice. And so with respect to God's sovereignty, it reflects glory on
all his other attributes. It is part of the glory of God's mercy, that it is
sovereign mercy. So all the attributes of God reflect glory on one another.
The glory of one attribute cannot be manifested, as it is, without the
manifestation of another. One attribute is defective without another, and
therefore the manifestation will be defective. Hence it was the will of God
to manifest all his attributes. The declarative glory of God in Scripture is
often called God's name, because it declares his nature. But if his name
does not signify his nature as it is, or does not declare any attribute, it
is not a true name. The sovereignty of God is one of his attributes, and a
part of his glory. The glory of God eminently appears in his absolute
sovereignty over all creatures, great and small. If the glory of a prince be
his power and dominion, then the glory of God is his absolute sovereignty.
Herein appear God's infinite greatness and highness above all creatures.
Therefore it is the will of God to manifest his sovereignty. And his
sovereignty, like his other attributes, is manifested in the exercises of
it. He glorifies his power in the exercise of power. He glorifies his mercy
in the exercise of mercy. So he glorifies his sovereignty in the exercise of
sovereignty. 

2. The more excellent the creature is over whom God is sovereign, and the
greater the matter in which he so appears, the more glorious is his
sovereignty. The sovereignty of God in his being sovereign over men, is more
glorious than in his being sovereign over the inferior creatures. And his
sovereignty over angels is yet more glorious that his sovereignty over men.
For the nobler the creature is, still the greater and higher doth God appear
in his sovereignty over it. It is a greater honour to a man to have dominion
over men, that over beasts; and a still greater honour to have dominion over
princes, nobles, and kings, than over ordinary men. So the glory of God's
sovereignty appears in that he is sovereign over the souls of men, who are
so noble and excellent creatures. God therefore will exercise his
sovereignty over them. And the further the dominion of any one extends over
another, the greater will be the honour. If a man has dominion over another
only in some instances, he is not therein so much exalted, as in having
absolute dominion over his life, and fortune, and all he has. So God's
sovereignty over men appears glorious, that it extends to every thing which
concerns them. He may dispose of them with respect to all that concerns
them, according to his own pleasure. His sovereignty appears glorious, that
it reaches their most important affairs, even the eternal state and
condition of the souls of men. Herein it appears that the sovereignty of God
is without bounds or limits, in that it reaches to an affair of such
infinite importance. God, therefore, as it is his design to manifest his own
glory, will and does exercise his sovereignty towards men, over their souls
and bodies, even in this most important matter of their eternal salvation.
He has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. 


APPLICATION.


1. Hence we learn how absolutely we are dependent on God in this great
matter of the eternal salvation of our souls. We are dependent not only on
his wisdom to contrive a way to accomplish it, and on his power to bring it
to pass, but we are dependent on his mere will and pleasure in the affair.
We depend on the sovereign will of God for every thing belonging to it, from
the foundation to the top-stone. It was of the sovereign pleasure of God,
that he contrived a way to save any of mankind, and gave us Jesus Christ,
his only-begotten Son, to be our Redeemer. Why did he look on us, and send
us a Saviour, and not the fallen angels? It was from the sovereign pleasure
of God. It was of his sovereign pleasure what means to appoint. His giving
us the Bible, and the ordinances of religion, is of his sovereign grace. His
giving those means to us rather than to others, his giving the awakening
influences of his Spirit, and his bestowing saving grace, are all of his
sovereign pleasure. When he says, "Let there be light in the soul of such an
one," it is a word of infinite power and sovereign grace. 

2. Let us with the greatest humility adore the awful and absolute
sovereignty of God. As we have just shown, it is an eminent attribute of the
Divine Being, that he is sovereign over such excellent beings as the souls
of men, and that in every respect, even in that of their eternal salvation.
The infinite greatness of God, and his exaltation above us, appears in
nothing more, than in his sovereignty. It is spoken of in Scripture as a
great part of his glory. Deut. 32:39. "See now that I, even I, am he, and
there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal;
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." Psal. 115:3. "Our God
is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased." Daniel 4:34,35.
"Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from
generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto
him, What doest thou?" Our Lord Jesus Christ praised and glorified the
Father for the exercise of his sovereignty in the salvation of men. Matt.
11:25,26. "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Let us
therefore give God the glory of his sovereignty, as adoring him, whose
sovereign will orders all things, beholding ourselves as nothing in
comparison with him. Dominion and sovereignty require humble reverence and
honour in the subject. The absolute, universal, and unlimited sovereignty of
God requires, that we should adore him with all possible humility and
reverence. It is impossible that we should go to excess in lowliness and
reverence of that Being, who may dispose of us to all eternity, as he
pleases. 

3. Those who are in a state of salvation are to attribute it to sovereign
grace alone, and to give all the praise to him, who maketh them to differ
from others. Godliness is no cause for glorying, except it be in God. 1 Cor.
1:29,30,31. "That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption. That, according as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Such are not, by any means, in any
degree to attribute their godliness, their safe and happy state and
condition, to any natural difference between them and other men, or to any
strength or righteousness of their own. They have no reason to exalt
themselves in the least degree; but God is the being whom they should exalt.
They should exalt God the Father, who chose them in Christ, who set his love
upon them, and gave them salvation, before they were born, and even before
the world was. If they inquire, why God set his love on them, and chose them
rather than others, if they think they can see any cause out of God, they
are greatly mistaken. They should exalt God the Son, who bore their names on
his heart, when he came into the world, and hung on the cross, and in whom
alone they have righteousness and strength. They should exalt God the Holy
Ghost, who of sovereign grace has called them out of darkness into
marvellous light; who has by his own immediate and free operation, led them
into an understanding of the evil and danger of sin, and brought them off
from their own righteousness, and opened their eyes to discover the glory of
God, and the wonderful riches of God in Jesus Christ, and has sanctified
them, and made them new creatures. When they hear of the wickedness of
others, or look upon vicious persons, they should think how wicked they once
were, and how much they provoked God, and how they deserved for ever to be
left by him to perish in sin, and that it is only sovereign grace which has
made the difference. 1 Cor. 6:10. Many sorts of sinners are there
enumerated; fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of
themselves with mankind. And then in the eleventh verse, the apostle tells
them, "Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but
ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God." The people of God have the greater cause of thankfulness, more reason
to love God, who hath bestowed such great and unspeakable mercy upon them of
his mere sovereign pleasure. 

4. Hence we learn what cause we have to admire the grace of God, that he
should condescend to become bound to us by covenant; that he, who is
naturally supreme in his dominion over us, who is our absolute proprietor,
and may do with us as he pleases, and is under no obligation to us; that he
should, as it were, relinquish his absolute freedom, and should cease to be
merely sovereign in his dispensations towards believers, when once they have
believed in Christ, and should, for their more abundant consolation, become
bound. So that they can challenge salvation of this Sovereign; they can
demand it through Christ, as a debt. And it would be prejudicial to the
glory of God's attributes, to deny it to them; it would be contrary to his
justice and faithfulness. What wonderful condescension is it in such a
Being, thus to become bound to us, worms of the dust, for our consolation!
He bound himself by his word, his promise. But he was not satisfied with
that; but that we might have stronger consolation still, he hath bound
himself by his oath. Heb. 6:13, etc. "For when God made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself; saying, Surely
blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so,
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily
swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all
strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of
promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec." 

Let us, therefore, labour to submit to the sovereignty of God. God insists,
that his sovereignty be acknowledged by us, and that even in this great
matter, a matter which so nearly and infinitely concerns us, as our own
eternal salvation. This is the stumbling-block on which thousands fall and
perish; and if we go on contending with God about his sovereignty, it will
be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to
God, as our absolute sovereign, and the sovereign over our souls; as one who
may have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and harden whom he will. 

5. And lastly. We may make use of this doctrine to guard those who seek
salvation from two opposite extremes - presumption and discouragement. Do
not presume upon the mercy of God, and so encourage yourself in sin. Many
hear that God's mercy is infinite, and therefore think, that if they delay
seeking salvation for the present, and seek it hereafter, that God will
bestow his grace upon them. But consider, that though God's grace is
sufficient, yet he is sovereign, and will use his own pleasure whether he
will save you or not. If you put off salvation till hereafter, salvation
will not be in your power. It will be as a sovereign God pleases, whether
you shall obtain it or not. Seeing, therefore, that in this affair you are
so absolutely dependent on God, it is best to follow his direction in
seeking it, which is to hear his voice to-day: "To-day if ye will hear his
voice, harden not your heart." Beware also of discouragement. Take heed of
despairing thoughts, because you are a great sinner, because you have
persevered so long in sin, have backslidden, and resisted the Holy Ghost.
Remember that, let your case be what it may, and you ever so great a sinner,
if you have not committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, God can bestow
mercy upon you without the least prejudice to the honour of his holiness,
which you have offended, or to the honour of his majesty, which you have
insulted, or of his justice, which you have made your enemy, or of his
truth, or of any of his attributes. Let you be what sinner you may, God can,
if he pleases, greatly glorify himself in your salvation. 

  _____  

Outline 

Romans 9:18. We observe in the text, 

1.	God's different dealing with men. He hath mercy on some, and
hardeneth others. 
2.	The foundation of his different dealing w/mankind; viz. his
sovereign will and pleasure. 

Doctrine. God exercises his sovereignty in the eternal salvation of men. 

I.	The sovereignty of God is his absolute, independent right of
disposing of all creatures according to his own pleasure. The will of God is
called his mere pleasure: 

1.	In opposition to any constraint, 
2.	In opposition to its being under the will of another, 
3.	In opposition to any proper obligation. 

II.	What God's sovereignty in the salvation of men implies. 

1.	God can, without predudice to the glory of any of his attributes,
bestow salvation on any of the children of men, except on those who have
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. 

1.	God may save any of them without prejudice to the honour of his
holiness. 
2.	God may save any of the children of men without prejudice to the
honour of his majesty. 
3.	God may save any sinner whatsoever consistently with his justice. 
4.	God can save any sinner whatsoever, without any prejudice to the
honour of his truth. 

2.	God may refuse salvation to any sinner whatsoever, without prejudice
to the honour of any of his attributes. 

1.	God may deny salvation to any natural person without any injury to
the honour of his righteousness. 
2.	God may deny salvation to any unconverted person whatever without
any prejudice to the honour of his goodness. 
3.	It is in no way prejudicial to the honour of God's faithfulness. 

III.	God does actually exercise his sovereignty in men's salvation. 

1.	In calling one people or nation, and giving them the means of grace,
and leaving others without them. 
2.	In the advantages he bestows upon particular persons. 
3.	In sometimes bestowing salvation upon the low and mean, and denying
it to the wise and great. 
4.	In bestowing salvation on some who have had few advantages. 
5.	In calling some to salvation, who have been very heinously wicked,
and leaving others, who have been moral and religious persons. 
6.	In saving some of those who seek salvation, and not others. 

IV.	The reasons for this exercise. 

1.	It is agreeable to God's design in the creation of the universe to
exercise every attribute, and thus to manifest the glory of each of them. 
2.	The more excellent the creature is over whom God is sovereign, and
the greater the matter in which he so appears, the more glorious is his
sovereignty. 

APPLICATION: 

1.	Hence we learn how absolutely we are dependent on God in this great
matter of the eternal salvation of our souls. 
2.	Let us with the greatest humility adore the awful and absolute
sovereignty of God. 
3.	Those who are in a state of salvation are to attribute it to
sovereign grace alone, and to give all the praise to him, who maketh them to
differ from others. 
4.	Hence we learn what cause we have to admire the grace of God, that
he should condescend to become bound to us by covenant; etc. Let us,
therefore, labour to submit to the sovereignty of God. 
5.	To guard those who seek salvation from two opposite extremes -
presumption and discouragement. 

 

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

"It is my belief, as a friendly neutral in all such high and ghostly
matters, that the body of doctrine known as Modernism is completely
incompatible, not only with anything rationally describable as Christianity,
but also with anything deserving to pass as religion in general. Religion,
if it is to retain any genuine significance, can never be reduced to a
series of sweet attitudes, possible to anyone not actually in jail for
felony. It is, on the contrary, a corpus of powerful and profound
convictions, many of them not open to logical analysis. . . .What the
Modernists have done . . . [is] to get rid of all the logical difficulties
of religion, and yet preserve a generally pious cast of mind. It is a vain
enterprise. What they have left, once they have achieved their imprudent
scavenging, is hardly more than a row of hollow platitudes, as empty [of]
psychological force and effect as so many nursery rhymes. . . . Religion is
something else again-in Henrik Ibsen's phrase, something far more
deep-down-diving and mud-upbringing. Dr. Machen tried to impress that
obvious fact upon his fellow adherents of the Geneva Muhammad [i.e.,
Calvin]. He failed-but he was undoubtedly right." -- H. L. Mencken, "Dr.
Fundamentalis", an obituary of Rev. J. Gresham Machen, Baltimore Evening Sun
(January 18, 1937), 2nd Section, p. 15.

 

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