The religious philosophy that we refer to
as “Calvinism,” which should more accurately be described as
“Augustinianism,”
for it was the product of the 6th century philosopher and
theologian
Augustine of Hippo, leaves the strong implication that God is not eager
to save
man. This philosophy also teaches that it takes a special work of the
Holy
Spirit in order to bring man to salvation, that he cannot come to be
saved by
reading and studying his Bible himself. They say without the “enabling
grace”
of the Holy Spirit one cannot even want to be saved.
Others who practice a “mourner’s
bench”
system of religion believe that they must agonize, beg and plead with
God,
sometimes for even months or years on end before he finally allows them
“through,” which we take to mean he grants them salvation, at least as
they
look upon it. Hence, by implication they are saying that it is a hard
thing to
drag salvation out of God.
Sometimes when we preach on the
horrors of
hell and all that attends that, some get the idea that we are saying
that God
wants more people to go to hell than to heaven, and since they do not
believe
they can ever do enough to satisfy God’s demands, it is a difficult, if
not
impossible task, to be saved. It is true that the Bible warns of
eternal
punishment, and by using metaphors that we can understand, pictures it
as being
a horrific place (which it is). However, that does not mean God desires
that any of
his human creatures should make their eternal abode there! Just because
one may
warn another of the horrors of a rattlesnake bite does not mean, by any
stretch
of the imagination, that he has a desire for any person to be bitten by
one of
those monsters.
Consequently, we must ask if there
is any
biblical evidence regarding the feelings and desires of God when it
comes to
the eternal salvation of mankind. We begin by noticing first an Old
Testament
passage, Isaiah 55:7, which is as follows: “Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will
have
mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Let us
notice in the first place, the plea of God for the wicked to forsake
his
lifestyle, and the unrighteous man to forsake his plans for
unrighteousness and
that both should return to the Lord. By that the prophet meant such
persons
should repent of their evil doings and come to God. Isaiah recorded
that if the
wicked and unrighteous will do that, God will: (1) “have
mercy on him”; (2) “abundantly pardon”
him. Two thoughts regarding God’s attitude toward saving the lost come
out
here. God will show mercy to him who repents and returns to him. There
is no
reluctance in that statement; it is a joyous one describing what God
gives
freely and without reservation. Next, look at the quantity of pardon
(forgiveness) received by the one who repents and returns. Isaiah used
the
adverb “abundantly.” This comes from a Hebrew word meaning, “increased,
stretched out, enlarged multiplied”; hence, our English word
“abundantly.”
There is nothing shortened, lacking or reluctantly given in God’s
pardon.
A
second passage to which we must give attention is 2 Peter 3:9 in which
Peter
wrote by the Spirit’s inspiration, “The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but
is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that
all should
come to repentance.” Notice
that in the latter part of this verse, Peter declared God is “not
willing that
any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” The words “not willing”
come from two Greek words which mean, “not wanting.” In other words,
there is
no desire on the part of God that any person should be separated from
him and
eternally lost. There is a religious doctrine that teaches that God set
so many
to be saved and so many to be lost and that number cannot be changed.
That
would mean God wants some to be lost, but this verse says just the
opposite. God
is not reluctant to save and he does not save reluctantly!
God Is Not
Reluctant to Save Us