Freedom!

Freedom. You will hear this word more than once today. All Americans remember the day that America's freedom was attacked. I was sitting in my den watching the coverage of the first plane that struck the World Trade Center as the second one crashed into the adjacent building. I was numb. I could not believe what happened. Yet I remember immediately thinking that this was no coincidence. This was a planned attack. And from that day forward, words that were not part of the American vocabulary became daily household words. One of those words is freedom, which to that point was taken for granted by many Americans and abused by others who associate the freedom of a republic with individual rights which, ironically, often infringe of the freedoms of others.

Which brings me to the thought I had this morning concerning freedom, sovereignty, and rights in relation to God. We who hold the doctrines of grace so dearly understand (at least as much as our feeble minds have been instructed by the Holy Spirit) that God is absolutely sovereign in all things and man is not, including one's salvation. Man often struggles with what J. I. Packer designated an antimony, two apparently irreconcilable truths concerning the Scripture's teaching on salvation - God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. However, in contemplating the doctrines of grace, one must begin before the TULIP, with what precedes all that God does in salvation. One must begin with God's sovereignty, or God's freedom. In relation to man's salvation, is God free or is man? (I encourage you to read James White's excellent book The Potter's Freedom for a full treatment of this doctrine). You see, God's freedom is at stake in our discussion about salvation. But unlike our freedom as Americans, which was brutally attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 by ruthless terrorists, God will not allow His freedom to be attacked. He will not allow His name to be profaned. God is sovereign. God is free. Forever and ever. Amen.