IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM
LIGHT ON PUZZLING PASSAGES a n d PROBLEMS | By R. A. TORREY
liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiii
man is lost because of any decree of God that He should be lost, he is lost because he will not come to Christ (John 5:40). When the question of the impossibility of the believer ever being lost was raised in a conversation, the following thought was presented. Why was not this privilege granted to little children whom our Lord said were of the kingdom of heaven? Our questioner has mis-reported what our Lord said. Our Lord did not say that “little children were of the kingdom of heaven.” He said, “of such is the kingdom of heaven,” or, as it is given in the Revised Version, “to such belongeth the kingdom of heaven.” The thought as is evident from the context is, that one who has the childlike mind, the humble, teachable mind, is the one who is ready to receive the truth, and by receiving the truth, to become a member of the kingdom of heaven, but a child is not a member of the kingdom of heaven until he does receive the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one way to become a child of God, that is by receiving the Lord Jesus (John 1:12). Furthermore, the impossibility of the believer being lost does not lie in the fact that the believer may lie down in sin and the Lord still be under obligation to save him. The impos sibility lies in the fact that the true believer when he is born again becomes an actual partaker of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and therefore that God’s seed abides in him and he cannot be sinning, i.e., can not continue in the practice of sin, (1 John 3:9) and therefore cannot be lost. The true doctrine of the security of the believer rightly understood is not that when one once becomes a child of God, no matter how he may live he is still a child of God; the doctrine is that the Divine nature which is imparte4 to him will keep him from con-
In “God Sovereign and Man Free” is this statement that those who will be lost were eternally decreed to be left to themselves, and no influence of the Spirit will be brought to bear upon them in spite of min istries of grace that they attend and that it would not be possible for them to be saved. How does that harmonise with 2 Peter 3 : 9 ? We have not read the book to which reference is made, and it is always danger ous to take the summary that some one else makes of the teachings of a book, and especially to take those alleged teachings out of their connection. In the way in which*you state the teaching of the book, taking it out of the context as you do, we do not see any way of harmonizing it with 2 Peter 3 :9. Those who are lost, accord ing to the clear teaching of our Lord in John S :40, are those who “will not come” to Christ, so their eternal loss is not due to.any decree or purpose of God, but due to their own refusal to come to Christ. In a sense they were decreed of God to be lost, because God has eternally decreed that all who will not come to Christ shall be lost. Of course, God knows whether any individual will or will not come to Christ, but God’s knowing it does not deter mine their coming or not coming, but their coming or not coming as foreseen by God determines His knowing it. Foreknowl edge no more determines facts than after knowledge determines facts. The knowl edge is conditioned upon the facts. Fur thermore, the influence of the Spirit is brought to bear upon many who do not yield to the work of the Holy Spirit/they resist the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:51). Who soever will may take of the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). If men do not take the water of life it is their own fault. No
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker