August 2, 2001
By Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com.com
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Is there unrighteousness with God? Will the creation bring a railing accusation against the Creator?
August 2, 2001 -- This article was originally designed to be a part of my teaching on the doctrine of election out of the Gospel of John (see front page at michealbunker.com). But I thought it was important enough to share with you. Inevitably when we delve into the arena of God's sovereignty, the cry goes up from humanity (from the flesh) that a Sovereign God is somehow an unjust God. They will say that a God that purposes to do His own will for His own Glory must be a capricious or sadistic God.
There is no doubt that this doctrine of election is offensive to the carnal mind. It is simple for the wisdom of the world to conclude that such a doctrine is devoid of love - or that it smacks of injustice on God's part. Such is always the nature of the carnal mind. But Almighty God will show the wisdom of this world to be foolish, and He is at constant warfare with the carnal mind. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he KNOW them because they are spiritually discerned."
It is not my purpose in this article (nor could it be accomplished) to prove or disprove a doctrine. We will spend over 20 hours on videotape examining that issue.
To speak of the election or reprobation of others can be a delicate and sensitive thing. Instead, let me speak to you . . . of me.
God owes Michael Bunker nothing.
He does not owe me life, liberty, property, fairness, justice, mercy, grace, provision, protection or redemption. God is not a debtor. I hold no lien on God or his mercy and grace. No thing, to God, is reckoned as debt.
If God chose, from the foundation of the world, to never create man, so that we never existed - God would still be good, and God would still be just.
If, after He created man, God chose to destroy that which He created - for no other reason than that He was finished with it - God would still be good, and God would still be just.
If, after man sinned, God chose to exact the penalty of immediate and eternal damnation on Adam and Eve - God would still be good, and God would still just.
If, instead, as righteous punishment for the man's rebellion, God chose to allow a million generations of Adam's progeny to be born, live in a fallen world, then all perish forever in a fiery hell - God would still be good, and God would be just.
If, rather, God was to grant mercy to all of Adam's descendants - but from all of mankind He was to choose one man on whom to show His wrath. And if, by chance, he selected me from my mother's womb, predestined me to spend eternity in the pits of damnation - God would still be good, and God would be just. Interestingly enough, he chose to pour out His wrath on His own Son. How does that compute in your human mind?
I am not only aware of my sin nature, which was inherited from Adam (my rightful representative), but I am also frightfully aware of my own personal sin. I understand that God would be just and good if he chose to ban me from His presence forever for the transgressing of His law, and for the evil and blackness of my natural heart. Any man who claims that God is not justified for damning any sinner to hell - has never gotten a whiff of his own inner sewer. I deserve hell, not because I am a descendent of Adam, but because my flesh is at enmity with the Creator God of the universe, and my heart is desperately wicked, who could know it?
What is at issue here is the depravity of man.
If you deny God's justice or His sovereignty, it is because you think that people are basically good.
If you believe that, you are wrong and your heart has been hardened to your own sin. Go read the ten commandments again and tell me how you've done so far.
When God sovereignly began to move in my life, His Holy Spirit began wooing me to Jesus Christ, and the Cross - it was not because I was "chasing God", or because I was a "seeker". Rather, I was at warfare with God - I did not desire Him, nor did I seek Him, for "there is none that seek after God" (Romans 3:11). It was He who sought after me. Not because I had any merit, or because God owed to me a debt.
I did not "believe on God", and then He bestowed to me what was owed to me. God did not reward my earnestness or my honesty in my search for Him. He was the seeker. The Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine so He could find the one sheep that had gone astray. It was He who gave me the desire to search after Him. I could not, nor would I desire a relationship with God. It was God who granted me repentance, so that I could see my nature. It was God who opened my eyes so that I was fearful of the wrath to come. It was Jesus that convinced me that His sacrifice was sufficient for me. It was Jesus who rose again that I would have life, and life eternal. All of my life, my will had been in bondage to the god of this world, now I have become a bondslave to the Creator God. The only TRUE God. So much for free will.
Satanists agree with the modern "christians" about the nature of Free Will. Albert Pike, the noted Illuminist and Mason wrote in his Masonic book Morals and Dogma, pg. 102: "The true name for Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god, but the negation of God. The devil is the personification of Atheism or Idolatry. For the Initiates (into masonry), this is not a Person, but a Force, created for good but which may serve for evil. IT IS THE INSTRUMENT OF LIBERTY, OR FREE WILL."
So will man bring a railing accusation against God?
Is God unjust if he purposes to save those who He wills? Is God unjust if He damns the sinner, the unregenerate, and the unbeliever to perdition? NO! A million times NO! It is God that created me. He is the potter, I am merely the clay. It would be WICKEDNESS for me to even ask the potter, "Why have you made me thus?"
Instead I must praise Him, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. All of Creation declares the Sovereignty of God. God is not a passive onlooker. God is not banned from His creation. Part and parcel of His creative act was that I might be redeemed. He knew me from the foundation of the world. He loved me while I was yet in my mother's womb, having done neither good nor evil. Jesus hath said unto me, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion". And He did it all for HIS OWN GLORY, and that both His mercy and His justice will be praised as His manifold wisdom is made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly realms.
Was anybody actually saved at the Cross?
Yes. After all, that is the question. Did the death, burial, resurrection, and priestly work of Jesus Christ ACTUALLY save anybody? ABSOLUTELY! All those who He chose from the foundation of the world were IN HIM on the Cross. Dead, buried and resurrected WITH HIM. Why then does the mocker and scoffer claim that Jesus effectually saved no man? They say that Jesus merely "enabled" men to come unto Him. Yet Jesus Himself refutes this. He said NO MAN comes unto Him unless the Father draws him. And ALL THOSE who come unto Him, He will in no wise cast out!
We are, very likely, the last generation. This generation is not guilty of giving God too much glory. We rob God of His glory in our speech, in our actions, in our ways and in our worship. We ascribe unto "Luck" (a pagan god, by the way) our salvation. We say that Jesus saved us because we believed, when the Bible clearly says that both belief and faith are a gift. Think about that.
The scoffers and the mockers will snarl, "This just gives man a `license' to sin". Or, "that doesn't sound like love to me".
Man needs no license to sin. You will sin anyway. The man who claims these things knows NOTHING of the born-again nature. For I am a NEW creature, old things have passed away - and I never, ever try to rationalize God's love, by attempting to humanize it.
You will NEVER love like God loves - you don't have enough dimensions.
If you have questions about this topic may I suggest you go to the front page of my website and get the information you need to order the videotape series on this topic?
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
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