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September 29
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD / PART 6
SOVEREIGNTY VS. FREE WILL
According to John Gavazzoni:
-"Everything that occurs, occurs within the sovereign will of God. Nothing is accidental. All has been
foreseen by Him because all things come to pass by His decision, so that everything has occurred by Him, either
doing something to make it come to pass, or by deliberately refusing to act so as, by that absence of His action, to
trigger certain consequential results. The Old Testament prophets gave a preview of this principle, saying, to quote just
one representatively, "I will put My Spirit within them and cause them to walk in My statutes" (Ezek. 36:27).
And the New Testament confirms this with such statements as, "Who works all things after the counsel of His own will"
(Eph. 1:11). Now some, completely indoctrinated by the dumbed-down notion of “free will”, upon being confronted
with what I've just shared, without any depth of thought at all, would accuse me of making man out to be a mere robot.
But, I ask, if God has a “free will”, and brings man into participation with that will, how can freedom be defined
as robotic? Freedom by definition, involves not being controlled by another. The relationship of God's will to us, is not
one of making us do something against our will, but by bringing our will into union with His. This is not coercion,
this is causation, and it is causation by the force of love which ultimately worked by God leaving us to ourselves
to do what we would do left to ourselves; which was to crucify His Son, and then to love such enemies back to Himself by the
power of forgiving love." ( Free Will, John Gavazzoni )
-In simple terms, man is able to make choices, but our choices can only be made inside the realm of the sovereignty of
God. Remember … God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah made a choice to go in the opposite direction. GOD, BY HIS SOVEREIGNTY,
SENT JONAH ON A FISHING TRIP ( speaking of Jonah in the belly of the great fish )! Jonah made another choice. This time his
choice was in line with what God wanted him to do. What made the difference? THE FISHING TRIP, OF COURSE! Without the divine
intervention of God ( having Jonah thrown overboard into the great fish ), there would be no choice from Jonah to go to Nineveh.
So you would have to say that without the sovereign act of God, Jonah, who was headed in the opposite direction of what God
wanted him to do, would not have gone to Nineveh.
According to John Gavazzoni:
-"The truth is that the only One in the universe Who has true “free will” is God Himself.
As is true of every good thing, “free will” is something found in God's very nature and we can only experience
“freedom of will” by God causing us to participate in His freedom by causing us to become "partakers of the
divine nature" (II Pet. 1:4); and that is His choice not ours. That is, He causes us to participate in the divine
ability to desire something, then foreordain it, predestine it, and make it come to pass. That's freedom; to be without
constraint, without hindrance, without anything that can, in any degree, stop or hinder one's desire. The scripture
is quite clear that God will bring to pass His desire for all men and for the entire cosmos." ( Free Will,
John Gavazzoni )
-Think of God’s dealings with Pharaoh, Esau, Jonah, and the apostle Paul, just to name a few. It won’t
take long for you to admit …
-THAT GOD IS SOVEREIGN!-
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