Does God Love Everyone? # 4

Does God Love Everyone? # 4

The Holy Spirit will not be Resisted

In expounding the sovereignty of God the Spirit in salvation, we have shown that His power is irresistible, that, by His gracious operations upon and within them, He "compels" God's elect to come to Christ. The sovereignty of the Holy Spirit is set forth not only in John 3:8 where we are told, "The wind blows where it wills (pleases) so is every one that is born of the Spirit," but is affirmed in other passages as well. In 1 Corinthians, 12:11, we read, "But all these works that one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." And again, we read in Acts 16:6-7, "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, the assayed to go to Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not." Thus we see how the Holy Spirit interposes His imperial will in opposition to the determination of the Apostles. But, it is objected against the assertion that the will and power of the Holy Spirit are irresistible, that there are two passages, one in the Old Testament and the other in the New, which appear to militate against such a conclusion. God said of old, "My spirit shall not always strive with man" (Gen. 6:3); and to the Jews Stephen declared, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" (Acts 7:51-52). If then the Jews "resisted" the Holy Spirit, how can we say His power is irresistible? The answer is found in Nehemiah 9:30: "Many years did you forbear them, and testified against them by your Spirit in your prophets: yet would they not give ear." It was the external operations of the Spirit which Israel "resisted." It was the Spirit speaking by and through the prophets to which they "would not give ear."

It was not anything which the Holy Spirit wrought in them that they "resisted," But the motives presented to them by the inspired messages of the prophets. Perhaps it will help the reader to catch our thought better if we compare Matthew 11:20-24: "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto you Chorazin," etc. Our Lord here pronounces woe upon these cities for their failure to repent because of the "mighty works" (miracles) which He had done in their sight, and not because of any internal operations of His grace! The same is true of Genesis 6:3. By comparing 1 Peter 3:18-20, it will be seen that it was by and through Noah that God's Spirit "strove" with the antediluvians. The distinction noted above was ably summarized by Andrew Fuller, another writer long deceased from whom our moderns might learn much) thus: "There are two kinds of influences by which God works on the minds of men. First, that which is common, and which is effected by the ordinary use of motives presented to the mind for consideration: Secondly, that which is special and supernatural. The one contains nothing mysterious, any more than the influence of our words and actions on each other: the other is such a mystery that we know nothing of it but by its effects. The former ought to be effectual; the latter is so." The work of the Holy Spirit upon or towards men is always resisted by them; His work within is always successful. What says the Scriptures? This: "He which has begun a good work in you will perform it" (Phil. 1:6).

Why Preach the Gospel to Every Creature?

The next question to be considered is: Why preach the gospel to every creature? If God the Father has predestined only a limited number to be saved, if God the Son died to effect the salvation of only those given to Him by the Father, and if God the Spirit is seeking to quicken none save God's elect, then what is the use of giving the gospel to the world at large, and where is the  propriety of telling sinners that "Whoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life" (see John 3:16)? First, it is of great importance that we should be clear upon the nature of the gospel itself. The gospel is God's good news concerning Christ and not concerning sinners: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God...concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1, 3). God would have proclaimed far and wide the amazing fact that His own blessed Son "became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross" (Phil. 2:8). A universal testimony must be borne to the matchless worth of the person and work of Christ. Note the word "witness" in Matt. 24:14). The gospel is God's "witness" unto the perfections of His Son. Mark the words of the apostle: "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" (2 Cor. 2:15)!

Concerning the character and contents of the gospel, the utmost confusion prevails today. The gospel is not an "offer" to be bandied around by evangelical peddlers. The gospel is no mere invitation, but a proclamation concerning Christ; true whether men believe it or not. No man is asked to believe that Christ died for Him in particular. The gospel, in brief, is this: Christ died for sinners, you are a sinner, believe in Christ, and you shall be saved. In the gospel, God simply announces the terms upon which men may be saved (namely, repentance and faith) and, indiscriminately, all are commanded to fulfill them. Second, repentance and remission of sins are to be preached in the name of the Lord Jesus "unto all the nations" (Luke 24:47), because God's elect are "scattered abroad" (John 11:52) among all nations, and it is by the preaching and hearing of the gospel that they are called out of the world. The gospel is the means which God uses in the saving of His own chosen ones. 

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 5)