"Understanding of God's Divine Providence"

  Understanding of God's Divine Providence helps us understand the teaching of "predestination,  justification, sanctification, glorification, perseverance of the saints, ect.)  In my study of this I found that gotquestions.org had a very good teaching and summary on this subject. So instead of me muttering on, I will use it and give them the credit, lol!

  So what is “divine providence?" Divine providence is the means by and through which God governs all things in the universe. The doctrine of divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. This includes the universe as a whole (Psalm 103:19), the physical world (Matthew 5:45), the affairs of nations (Psalm 66:7), human birth and destiny (Galatians 1:15), human successes and failures (Luke 1:52), and the protection of His people (Psalm 4:8). This doctrine stands in direct opposition to the idea that the universe is governed by chance or fate.
   The purpose, or goal, of divine providence is to accomplish the will of God. To ensure that His purposes are fulfilled, God governs the affairs of men and works through the natural order of things. The laws of nature are nothing more than a depiction of God at work in the universe. The laws of nature have no inherent power, nor do they work independently. The laws of nature are the rules and principles that God set in place to govern how things work.
   The same goes for human choice. In a very real sense we are not free to choose or act apart from God’s will. Everything we do and everything we choose is in full accordance to God’s will—even our sinful choices (Genesis 50:20). The bottom line is that God controls our choices and actions (Genesis 45:5; Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs 21:1), yet He does so in such a way that does not violate our responsibility as free moral agents, nor does it negate the reality of our choice.
   The doctrine of divine providence can be succinctly summarized this way: “God in eternity past, in the counsel of His own will, ordained everything that will happen; yet in no sense is God the author of sin; nor is human responsibility removed.” The primary means by which God accomplishes His will is through secondary causes (e.g., laws of nature, human choice). In other words, God works indirectly through these secondary causes to accomplish His will.
  

"Unlocking The Lock"

Do you have eternal life or conditional life?

Ephesians 1:13-14 says "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."  

Philippians 1:6 says "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"

   The understanding of eternal security really comes from understanding the unique and special love that God has for His children. Romans 8:28-39 tells us that 1) no one can bring a charge against God’s elect; 2) nothing can separate the elect from the love of Christ; 3) God makes everything work together for the good of the elect; and 4) all whom God saves will be glorified. God loves His children (the elect) so much that nothing can separate them from Him. Of course this same truth is seen in many other passages of Scripture as well (these four points came from). In John 10:27-30, Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." Again, in John 6:37-47, we see Jesus stating that everyone that the Father gives to the Son will come to Him and He will raise all of them up at the last day. John 5:24 say "“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."  Eternal life here  is not something you receive in the future but something you receive at the time you believe. If salvation trough Jesus Christ isn't eternal then its not eternal life, Jesus promises you eternal life. A promise of eternal life is not conditional life.

Join His Flock

   Eternal security does NOT give us a license to go out sin and do whatever we want.(1 John 2:3-4,Romans 8:29-30,2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 6:11) These are a few scriptures that tell you that.

   If someone is truly saved, he or she has been made alive by the Holy Spirit and has a new heart with new desires. There is no way that one that has been “born again” can later be “unborn.” Because of His unique love for His children, God will keep all of His children safe from harm, and Jesus has promised that He would lose none of His sheep.
  The doctrine of eternal security or also called "the perseverance of the saints" recognizes that true Christians will always persevered and are eternally secure because God keeps them that way. It is based on the fact that Jesus, the “author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2), is able to completely save those whom the Father has given Him (Hebrews 7:25) and to keep them saved through all eternity.

  Why would God graciously offer up a free gift of salvation but make it conditional? A conditional salvation doesn't fit the eternal salvation plan of the Bible and it wouldn't be a free gift. That would be like me saying "I am gonna give you a free car as a gift, but you have to work of the price of the car for me". That wouldn't be a free gift from me, you would have earned it.

  "If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all; if one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be; and then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie, and there is nothing in it worth my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me forever."

C.H. Spurgeon

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Saved By Grace!

We Are Sinners Saved By God's Grace!

by Clint Baker

    I have heard people say "I am saved I am not a sinner", How can that be? Are we not sinners saved by God's grace?

    We are sinners saved by grace. The epistles of John are letters to ‘little children’ or believers and in 1 John he writes in verse eight that “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” and again in verse 10 “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar.” If we were not sinners, we would not need confession (1st John 1:9) to renew our fellowship and to free us to walk in God’s forgiveness nor would we need Christ to be our advocate (1st John 2:1-2).

   The attitude of acknowledging that we are sinners save d by grace means we agree with God’s assessment and are submitted to Him with a teachable heart that chooses to be humble before Him. None of us can attain to the righteousness of God. We can only stand in His righteousness as we stand in Christ (1st Corinthians 1:30-31). Therefore, not only are we sinners saved by grace but also we are warned not to think that we stand on our own worth because that can lead to a fall, 1st Corinthians 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Meaning there is nothing we did to become saved from sin and there is nothing we can do to keep our salvation, Jesus did it all. In saying that we have a part in it is saying that what Jesus did freely for us was not good enough and that we have to do the rest.