freewill and the fairness of fair part 3

[jars of clay]

this one is actually kinda small :p

3. Human Inability to Choose God

I would like to offer to you that God not only loving in His choosing us, but also merciful in doing so. I say this because sin never admits that it is wrong, not even once. In the Garden of Eden, Adam did not confess his sin; he passed the blame to Eve, who passed the blame again to the serpent. When we sin we have a dark stain placed on us, this stain brings not only the curse that God had stated in Genesis in regard to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but also it brings shame. We do not draw near to God on our own, because God is perfect. He is spotless and we feel the full burden of our shame, the full guilt of what we have done when we are close and in contrast to His holiness. For this reason Man will not come near to God on his own free will. Man does not wish to admit his shame, to openly confess that he has done wrong.

When man does something wrong, his immediate reaction is to hide it, to somehow fix the problem on his own or to cover it up, but not to confess it. This is why God, in His infinite Wisdom and foreknowledge has chosen beforehand, those who would receive the Holy Spirit, who would witness to them, nudging them, and showing them the fullness of their sin, and their weakness without Christ. It is because of this gift that we who do believe are here. What understanding can we boast about that those who are perishing even now do not have? What knowledge or wisdom can we boast of? If it were of our own understanding then salvation would not be a gift, but something we take on our own. And if it is something we do, then it is no longer a gift, but our due wages (Romans 4:4-5).

What of this being fair? What of all those who are by this interpretation, damned? What fairness is there in a God who does not allow us to choose Him? There is no true fairness in the cross. Yes, Gods wrath was satisfied at Calvary, but not against us, but His son. His wrath, which we deserve every second we spend our lives worshiping ourselves, was sent to His son, who knew no sin so that He could be sin for us. This is not justice! There is nothing just or fair about the cross, for the son who did obey, the one who remained loyal to God throughout eternity takes our place at the receiving end of Gods wrath which was to be poured out on the son who did not obey!

Please understand that I do not mean that God has not fully been satisfied by Christ’s sacrifice. Sin is paid for in full at the cross and nothing more needs to be added. What I mean is that if we truly received what was fair, then God would allow free will and not a single soul would be saved because all would choose to remain in sin rather than come to the light. This is freewill. This is fair. We do not get either for our own good. In closing of this point, I would say that not only has God shown us mercy in not allowing what is truly fair but that he has shown His love, because like a parent, he has stopped the child’s hand from touching what would be death to the child.