Sovereign Grace

by W. W. Fereday

Grace in God is sovereign, or it is not grace at all. Once admit the thought that blessing for any of us was purposed because God saw in advance that some men would believe in His Son, while others would not, and the great fundamental principle of the Gospel is endangered. Merit is thus introduced, for what could be more meritorious in God's sight than to believe in His beloved Son in the face of a hostile world? The truth is that the all-seeing God knew in advance that the whole history of man in the earth would be calamitous, and it gave His great heart of love infinite pleasure to plan counsels of grace for blessing. These councils were framed "before the foundation of the world, Eph.1.4, and thus before any of the vessels of His grace had done either "good or evil," Rom.9.11.

It should be as easy, yea, more easy, for men to believe God in whatever He may say to them than to believe one another in the matters of every day. But, alas, where God is concerned, there is an unhappy bias, and men "pull away the shoulder and stop up the ear," Zech.7.11. Thus the Lord said to those around Him, "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life," Jn.5.40. And because of this rebelliousness of the human will, He said on another occasion, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him … Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me," Jn.6.44-45. Obviously, if men will not come, they cannot come. The stubborn will must thus be divinely broken ere any can be saved. We have striking examples of this in Nebuchadnezzar and Saul of Tarsus; and in a lesser degree surely both the present writer and our readers are examples of this also.

Our Lord illustrated His teaching very simply in the familiar parable of the Great Supper in Lk.14. At the moment He was guest in the house of a Pharisee. This man's table was well filled, some who were invited even competing for the most honourable seats. When the Lord remarked upon the difference between God's feasts and man's, someone present (charmed with the gracious thought of the really needy being entertained), exclaimed, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God." This drew forth the parable, wherein our Lord exposes the sorrowful fact that when God invites, surely to the enjoyment of infinitely more wonderful things than man can provide, no one is willing to come at all! The house must thus remain empty, and divine bounties never be enjoyed, unless some loving compulsion is employed. The servant of the parable (not to be confounded with the servants of Lk.19.13) can be none other than the Holy Spirit, who is now present on earth graciously disposing sinners in every quarter to be "wise," Ps.2.10, and listen to "reason", Isa.1.18, and be blessed. Surely we have all experienced His gracious influence. Undoubtedly all who believe the Gospel exercise faith, but even the faith they exercise is "the gift of God," Eph.2.8,9.* The Epistle to the Ephesians, here quoted, emphasises the divine side of things more particularly.

Is God's great "whosoever" weakened by His counsels of electing grace? In no wise. The God whom we know, so blessedly revealed to us in Christ, would not mock His creatures, however evil they may be. All who will may come. No longing soul has yet been refused, nor will be while the Gospel day continues. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out, Jn.6.3. So spake the Lord Jesus when surrounded by multitudes who cared more for the perishable than for the imperishable. To any possible objector to God's ways of grace, but one reply is possible, "Friend, I do thee no wrong … Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" Matt.20.13,15.

God has chosen multitudes of souls for eternal blessing. This is so plainly taught in Holy Scripture that it cannot be disputed. The truth may be too profound for us to fully understand, but this need not surprise us in the light of the apostle's exclamation in Rom.11.33: "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"

Election is individual and personal, notwithstanding the printers blunder in 1Pet.5.13. (Peter's wife is meant in this passage, not the Church). Certainly God did not cast eyes on the choicest specimens of humanity. 1Cor.1.26-29 is explicit as to this. "Look at your calling, brethren," says the inspired writer. The foolish, weak, base, and despised deliberately chosen by God in the sovereignty of His grace! The Corinthian former thieves, adulterers, drunkards, and idolaters, 1Cor.6.11. Amongst believers in Crete were found some who could only be described naturally as "liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons," Tit.1.12. Speaking of Jews and Gentiles in general who were now God's saints, the apostle says, "we were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another," Tit.3.3. What an unlovely picture! What unpromising material! Yet in all these the perfections of God will shine out eternally, for all these "He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren," Rom.8.29. No flesh can possibly glory in His presence; "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord," 1Cor.1.31.

We are indeed "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," 1Pet.1.2, but it is not His foreknowledge of what we would do (i.e., some day believe in His Son), but of what He would do in the riches of His grace. Dealing with another subject, the Lord once said to His disciples, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you," Jn.15.16.

Yet it would be false to affirm that because some were divinely chosen for blessing, others were sent into the world marked out beforehand for wrath. This would be a slander upon the blessed God. In Rom.11, the great chapter which deals at length with the theme of divine sovereignty, we read of "vessels of wrath" whom God has "endured with much long suffering," and we read they are "fitted to destruction;" while of the "vessels of mercy" we are told that God has "prepared them unto glory." The wicked, by their love of evil and persistent rejection of grace, are fitting themselves for destruction, while others, believers through grace, are divinely prepared for glory. Certainly none could prepare themselves for such a destiny.

Those who will find themselves outside at the last will have themselves to blame for their ruin, for they "loved darkness rather than light;" while those who will throng "God's bright halls of song" will ascribe all the glory of their salvation to the Father who purposed the blessing, and to the Son who by the great sacrifice of Himself made it righteously possible.

N.B. - Since writing the foregoing, the following from the pen of my old friend, W. Kelly, has come before me: "It is important to observe that the apostle does not speak of a passive or naked foreknowledge, Rom.8.29, as if God only saw before what some would be, and do, or believe. His foreknowledge is of persons, not of their state of conduct; it is not what, but "whom" He foreknew." Let every reader weigh these words carefully.

* Many who accept the Sovereignty of God in Salvation, believe the gift in Eph.2 is the totality of being "saved through faith." - Ed.