GOD IS FREE
5. God decides to take some believers home much sooner in life than others. It is His choice, not ours
The following quotation comes from the days of the Boxer Rebellion in China. All foreigners were fleeing for their lives and many Christians were being martyred.
“Before giving a brief account of our deliverance on that awful journey in 1900, I wish first humbly to submit the following, for well I know there will be those who will read these pages whose dear ones were NOT delivered but whose lives were given up for Christ in glorious martyrdom for His Name’s sake.
“When in Canada, following the experiences now to be recorded, we were faced with the question, put in various ways — ‘How can you say as you do, that it was by God’s power and grace that you were all brought through? If this were so why did He not deliver the hundreds of missionaries and native Christians who were even then being done to death throughout China?’ Truly a vital question, which could not be lightly set aside. Humbly and prayerfully we pondered this ‘WHY’ in the light of Scripture. In the twelfth chapter of Acts we read of Herod’s succeeding in putting James to death by the sword, and directly after comes the story of how Herod was hindered in carrying out his intentions to kill Peter who
was delivered by a miracle. Then who could read that marvelous eleventh chapter of Hebrews with its record of glorious
martyrdoms and miraculous deliverances without being thrilled. In face of these and many other passages, while still unable to answer the ‘WHY’ we saw our Almighty God used His own prerogative to glorify His name whether in the glorious martyrdom of some or in the miraculous deliverance of others.” (Goforth, Rosiland,
“GOFORTH OF CHINA”; Wheaton: Zondervan Publishing House, 1937)
6. This point of application may encourage you. God can change any of the attributes or talents that you have for the better. (He may change them for the worse also — I used to have dark curly hair, but now am on the gray, fringe area, so to speak.)
Looks for example: We had a girl in our 4th and 5th grade class that was UGLY. Some one really beat her with a big UGLY STICK. In fact we all suspected that she took ugly pills on the side. We called her flea bag and she didn’t argue with us usually. BAD. (No, we were not nice to her.) One evening in my Senior year of High School this beautiful girl in a neat car pulled up beside me and told me she wanted to talk to me. We talked for some time before she said who she was. GUESS WHO????? (She never mentioned how she had been treated as a youngster — she was nice to us.) Money for example: Mark Anderson, I have been told, of the Hyles Anderson college in the Chicago area, dedicated himself and $2000 to the Lord’s use and seven years later he was a millionaire serving God and giving and giving and giving.
Personality for example: Many ministers that I have been privileged to know were at one time quiet, withdrawn and shy individuals. Now they are outgoing servants of God.
7. Ryrie has one application and I would like for you to consider it for a moment. He suggests that God can never become indebted to us. He does as He chooses. In short, no matter how great you are, He is not obligated to bless you or do anything for you.
God Can Do As He Pleases. God Can Do As He Wants. God Can Do As He Desires.
In closing this section we must consider some questions that Isaiah asked.
“Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?” Isaiah 40:13-14
Of course the answer must be a resounding, NO ONE.
God Is Self-Conscious
Personality begins to appear in a child as they become conscious of themselves. One of the traits of a growing child is the different levels of self awareness. Most parents will say that the baby begins to take on personality very early in life. A baby will cry out of instinct however it isn’t long before the baby becomes aware that it is them that is crying, and then they become aware that mom comes when they cry. Soon they have mom and dad trained quite well.
Another item of maturation is the idea of babies playing with their feet.
They have no idea, for sometime, that those things belong to them. They just play with what is handy. Those two feet stick up, so why not play with them. Many children react when they realize those funny looking things are theirs.
Man is for the most part conscious of himself, but not necessarily completely conscious. We are not aware of many things in our lives. We may have personality traits that have not surfaced as yet. We may have talents in areas that we haven’t explored as yet.
God is conscious of Himself in a most complete way. Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” God is that He is, and He knows that which He is.
There is nothing about God that He does not know. There is no
personality trait that will emerge in the next 100 million years that He did not know was there.
1 Corinthians 2:10,11 states, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but he Spirit of God.”
This text shows that man cannot know God completely. It does show, however that GOD KNOWS HIMSELF COMPLETELY.
APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE
1. We are dealing with a God that knows all there is to know about