THE PURPOSE OF GOD

By Elder Curtis Pugh (Now With The Lord)

    In Hebrews 2:10 the Bible speaks of God “bringing many sons unto glory.” This He is doing. He is not a failure: He is a success in spite of man's enmity against Him. That the mind of all natural born men is enmity against God is stated in Romans 8:7 in these words: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Some people love religion. Others think to escape eternal punishment by being religious. Still others are convinced that God will give them health and wealth if they will be religious. And so while they have actually chosen religion, they think they have chosen God.

   The Bible clearly teaches that God is the one who elected (chose) whom He will save. The words “elect,” “election,” “choose,” “chosen,” etc. speaking of God's choice are found repeatedly in the Bible. One such place is Ephesians 1:4 which says: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world...” The Bible is also clear that the purpose of God in choosing is unconditional. He did not choose people because He saw ahead of time that they would be good or believe or do anything. Romans 9:11 says, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth...” God chose whom He will save irrespective of what those sinners do. That is a truth that is hated by most people today, but it is the truth nevertheless.

   Paul wrote to Timothy about this same thing, saying, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (2 Timothy 1:9). God's purpose and grace – called “the purpose of God according to election” - is to save spiritually dead sinners in spite of what they have done and not because of anything they have done. It is “not according to our works.”

   Sinners do a lot of things after God has regenerated them, but can do nothing to cause God to regenerate them. God causes them to experience godly sorrow and repentance. Paul wrote: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death,” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Along with repentance comes faith in Christ. In Acts 20:21 Paul said those two things were what he preached: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” He also wrote that God is the cause of these changes in sinners, saying, “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 1:6). And again he wrote: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure, (Philippians 2:13). God accomplishes His purpose!In God's bright and glad tomorrow.