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023 - Appendix 2 The Case of Adam · Sovereignty of God

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  Speaker 1: Appendix two of Sovereignty of God. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Kimberly Dion. Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink Appendix two.
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  Speaker 1: In our chapter on God's Sovereignty and Human responsibility, we
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  Speaker 1: dealt only with the responsibility of man, considered as a
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  Speaker 1: fallen creature, And at the close of the discussion it
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  Speaker 1: was pointed out how the measure and extent of our
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  Speaker 1: responsibility varies in different individuals according to the advantages they
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  Speaker 1: have received and the privileges they have enjoyed, which is
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  Speaker 1: a truth clearly established by the declaration of the Savior
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  Speaker 1: recorded in Luke twelve forty seven and five forty eight.
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  Speaker 1: And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared
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  Speaker 1: not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be
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  Speaker 1: beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and
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  Speaker 1: did not commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten
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  Speaker 1: with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him,
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  Speaker 1: shall be much required. And to whom men have committed
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  Speaker 1: much of him, they will ask the more. Now. Strictly speaking,
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  Speaker 1: there are only two men who have ever walked this
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  Speaker 1: earth which were endowed with full and unimpaired responsibility, and
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  Speaker 1: they were the first and last atoms. The responsibility of
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  Speaker 1: each of the rational descendants of Adam, while real and
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  Speaker 1: sufficient to establish them accountable to their creator, is nevertheless
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  Speaker 1: limited in degree, limited because impaired through the effects of
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  Speaker 1: the fall. Not only is the responsibility of each descendant
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  Speaker 1: of Adam sufficient to constitute him personally an accountable creature,
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  Speaker 1: that is, as one so constituted that he ought to
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  Speaker 1: do right and ought not to do wrong, but originally
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  Speaker 1: every one of us was also endowed judicially with full
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  Speaker 1: and unimpaired responsibility, not in ourselves, but in Adam. It
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  Speaker 1: should ever be borne in mind that not only was
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  Speaker 1: Adam the father of the human race. Similarly, but he
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  Speaker 1: was also the head of the race legally. When Adam
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  Speaker 1: was placed in Eden, he stood there as our representative,
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  Speaker 1: so that what he did is reckoned to the account
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  Speaker 1: of each for whom he acted. It is beside our
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  Speaker 1: present purpose to interhere into a lengthy discussion of the
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  Speaker 1: federal headship of Adam, though there is deep and widespread
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  Speaker 1: need for this, and we hope ere long to write
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  Speaker 1: upon this subject in another book. Suffice it now to
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  Speaker 1: refer the reader to Romans five twelve through nineteen, where
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  Speaker 1: this truth is dealt with by the Holy Spirit. In
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  Speaker 1: the heart of this most important passage, we are told
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  Speaker 1: that Adam was the figure of him that was to
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  Speaker 1: come verse fourteen, that is, of Christ. In what sense, then,
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  Speaker 1: was Adam the figure of Christ? The answer must be
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  Speaker 1: in that he was a federal head, in that he
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  Speaker 1: acted on the behalf of a race of men, in
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  Speaker 1: that he was one who has legally as well as vitally,
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  Speaker 1: affected all connected with him. It is for this reason
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  Speaker 1: that the Lord Jesus is in First Corinthians fifteen forty
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  Speaker 1: five denominated the last atom, that is, the head of
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  Speaker 1: the new creation, as the first atom was the head
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  Speaker 1: of the old creation. In Adam, then each of us
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  Speaker 1: stood as the representative of the human race. The first
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  Speaker 1: man acted as then Adam was created with full and
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  Speaker 1: unimpaired responsibility, unimpaired because there was no evil nature within him.
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  Speaker 1: And as we were all in Adam, it necessarily follows
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  Speaker 1: that all of us originally were also endowed with full
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  Speaker 1: and unimpaired responsibility. Therefore, in Eden, it was not merely
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  Speaker 1: the response ability of Adam as a single person that
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  Speaker 1: was tested, but it was human responsibility, the responsibility of
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  Speaker 1: the race as a whole and in part, which was
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  Speaker 1: on trial. Webster defines responsibility first as liable to account,
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  Speaker 1: second as able to discharge an obligation. Perhaps the meaning
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  Speaker 1: and scope of the term responsibility might be expressed and
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  Speaker 1: summed up in the one word otness God words responsibility
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  Speaker 1: respects that which is due the Creator from the creature,
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  Speaker 1: and which the creature is under moral obligations to render.
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  Speaker 1: In the light of the above definition, it is at
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  Speaker 1: once apparent that responsibility is something that must be placed
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  Speaker 1: on trial, And as a fact, this is, as we
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  Speaker 1: learn from the Inspired record, exactly what transpired in Eden.
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  Speaker 1: Adam was placed on probation. His obligations to God were
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  Speaker 1: put to the test. His loyalty to the Creator was
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  Speaker 1: tried out. The test consisted of obedience to his maker's
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  Speaker 1: command of a certain tree he was forbidden to eat.
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  Speaker 1: But right here a very formidable difficulty confronts us. From
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  Speaker 1: God's standpoint, the result of Adam's probation was not left
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  Speaker 1: in uncertainty. Before he formed him out of the dust
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  Speaker 1: of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
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  Speaker 1: of life, God knew exactly how the appointed test would terminate.
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  Speaker 1: With this statement, every Christian reader must be in accord,
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  Speaker 1: for to deny God's foreknowledge is to deny his omniscience,
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  Speaker 1: and this is to repudiate one of the fundamental attributes
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  Speaker 1: of deity. But we must go further. Not only had
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  Speaker 1: God a perfect foreknowledge of the outcome of Adam's trial,
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  Speaker 1: not only did his omniscient eye see Adam eating of
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  Speaker 1: the forbidden fruit, but he decreed beforehand that he should
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  Speaker 1: do so. This is evident not only from the general
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  Speaker 1: fact that nothing happens save that which the creator and
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  Speaker 1: governor of the universe has eternally purposed, but also from
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  Speaker 1: the express declaration of Scripture that Christ as a lamb
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  Speaker 1: verily was fore ordained before the foundation of the world
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  Speaker 1: first Peter one twenty. If then God had foreordained before
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  Speaker 1: the foundation of the world that Christ should in due
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  Speaker 1: time be offered as a sacrifice for sin, then it
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  Speaker 1: is unmistakably evident that God had also fordained sin should
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  Speaker 1: enter the world and if so that Adam should transgress
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  Speaker 1: and fall in full harmony with this, God himself placed
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  Speaker 1: in Eden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
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  Speaker 1: and also allowed the serpent to enter and deceive Eve. Here,
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  Speaker 1: then is the difficulty. If God has eternally decreed that
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  Speaker 1: Adam should eat of the tree, how could he be
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  Speaker 1: held responsible not to eat of it? Formidable as the
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  Speaker 1: problem appears, Nevertheless, it is capable of a solution, a
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  Speaker 1: solution moreover which can be grasped even by the finite mind.
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  Speaker 1: The solution is to be found in the distinction between
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  Speaker 1: God's secret will and his revealed will. As stated in
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  Speaker 1: Appendix one, human responsibility is measured by our knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: God's revealed will. What God has told us, not what
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  Speaker 1: he has not told us, is the definer of our duty.
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  Speaker 1: So it was with Adam that God had decreed sin
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  Speaker 1: should enter this world through the disobedience of our first parents.
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  Speaker 1: Was a secret hid in his own breast. Of this
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  Speaker 1: Adam knew nothing, and that made all the difference so
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  Speaker 1: far as his responsibility was concerned. Adam was quite unacquainted
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  Speaker 1: with the creator's hidden counsels. What concerned him was God's
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  Speaker 1: revealed will and that was God had forbidden him to
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  Speaker 1: eat of the tree, and that was enough. But God
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  Speaker 1: went further. He even warned Adam of the dire consequences
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  Speaker 1: which would follow should he disobey. Death would be the penalty. Transgression,
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  Speaker 1: then on the part of Adam, was entirely excuseless, created
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  Speaker 1: with no evil nature in him, with a will in
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  Speaker 1: perfect equipoise, placed in the fairest environment, given dominion over
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  Speaker 1: all the lower creation allowed full liberty with only a
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  Speaker 1: single restriction upon him, plainly warned of what would follow
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  Speaker 1: an act of insubordination to God, there was every possible
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  Speaker 1: inducement for Adam to preserve his innocence, And should he
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  Speaker 1: fail and fall, then by every principle of righteousness, his
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  Speaker 1: blood must lie upon his own head, and his guilt
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  Speaker 1: be imputed to all in whose behalf he acted. Had
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  Speaker 1: God disclosed to Adam his purpose that sin would enter
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  Speaker 1: this world, and that he had decreed Adam should eat
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  Speaker 1: of the forbidden fruit, it is obvious that Adam could
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  Speaker 1: never have been held responsible for the eating of it.
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  Speaker 1: But in that God withheld the knowledge of his counsels
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  Speaker 1: from Adam, his accountability was not interfered with. Again, had
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  Speaker 1: God created Adam with a bias toward evil. Then human
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  Speaker 1: responsibility had been impaired, and man's probation merely one in name.
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  Speaker 1: But inasmuch as Adam was included among that which God
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the sixth day pronounced very good,
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  Speaker 1: and if inasmuch as man was made upright Ecclesiastes seven
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine, then every mouth must be stopped, and the
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  Speaker 1: whole world must acknowledge itself guilty before God Romans three nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: Once more, it needs to be carefully borne in mind
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  Speaker 1: that God did not decree that Adam should sin, and
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  Speaker 1: then inject into Adam an inclination to evil in order
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  Speaker 1: that his decree might be carried out. No God cannot
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  Speaker 1: be tempted, neither tempteth he any man James one thirteen. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: when the serpent came to tempt Eve, God caused her
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  Speaker 1: to remember his command forbidding to eat of the tree,
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  Speaker 1: of the knowledge of good and evil, and of the
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  Speaker 1: penalty attached to disobedience. Thus, though God God had decreed
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  Speaker 1: the fall, in no sense was he the author of
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  Speaker 1: Adam's sin, And at no point was Adam's responsibility impaired. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: may we admire and adore the manifold wisdom of God
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  Speaker 1: in devising a way whereby his eternal decree should be accomplished,
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  Speaker 1: and yet the responsibility of his creatures be preserved intact.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps a further word should be added concerning the decreative
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  Speaker 1: will of God, particularly in its relation to evil. First
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  Speaker 1: of all, we take the high ground that whatever things
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  Speaker 1: God does or permits are right, just, and good simply
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  Speaker 1: because God does or permits them. When Luther gave answer
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  Speaker 1: to the question whence it was that Adam was permitted
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  Speaker 1: to fill and corrupt his whole posterity when God could
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  Speaker 1: have prevented him from falling, et cetera, he said, God
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  Speaker 1: is a being whose will acknowledges no cause. Neither is
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  Speaker 1: it for us to prescribe rules to his sovereign pleasure
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  Speaker 1: or call him to account for what he does. He
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  Speaker 1: has neither superior nor equal, and his will is the
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  Speaker 1: rule of all things. He did not thus will such
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  Speaker 1: and such things because they were right, and he was
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  Speaker 1: bound to will them. But they are therefore equitable and
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  Speaker 1: right because He wills them. The will of man indeed
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  Speaker 1: may be influenced and moved, but God's will never can
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  Speaker 1: to assert the contrary is to undeify him. To affirm
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  Speaker 1: that God decreed the entrance of sin into his universe,
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  Speaker 1: and that he foreordained all its fruits and activities is
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  Speaker 1: to say that which at first may shock the reader,
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  Speaker 1: but reflection should show that it is far more shocking
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  Speaker 1: to insist that sin has invaded his dominions against his will,
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  Speaker 1: and that its exercise is outside his jurisdiction, For in
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  Speaker 1: such a case, where would be his omnipotency. No. To
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  Speaker 1: recognize that God has foreordained all the activities of evil
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  Speaker 1: is to see that He is the governor of sin.
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  Speaker 1: His will determines its exercise, his power regulates its bounds
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  Speaker 1: Psalms seventy six ten. He is neither the inspirer nor
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  Speaker 1: the infuser of sin in any of his creatures, but
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  Speaker 1: he is its master, by which we mean God's management
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  Speaker 1: of the wicked is so entire that they can do
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  Speaker 1: nothing save that which his hand and counsel from everlasting
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  Speaker 1: determined should be done. Though nothing contrary to holiness and
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  Speaker 1: righteousness can ever emanate from God. Yet He has, for
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  Speaker 1: his own wise ends ordained his creatures to fall into sin,
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  Speaker 1: had sin never been permitted. How could the justice of
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  Speaker 1: God have been displayed in punishing it. How could the
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  Speaker 1: wisdom of God have been manifested in so wondrously overruling it.
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  Speaker 1: How could the grace of God have been exhibited in
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  Speaker 1: pardoning it? How could the power of God have been
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  Speaker 1: exercised in subduing it. A very solemn and striking proof
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  Speaker 1: of Christ's acknowledgment of God's decretal of sin is seen
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  Speaker 1: in his treatment of Judas. The Savior knew full well
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  Speaker 1: that Judas would betray him, Yet we never read that
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  Speaker 1: he expostulated with him. Instead, he said to him that
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  Speaker 1: thou doest do quickly John thirteen twenty seven. Yet Mark,
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  Speaker 1: this was said after he had received the sop and
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  Speaker 1: Satan had taken possession of his heart. Judas was already
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  Speaker 1: prepared for and determined on his traitorous work. Therefore did
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  Speaker 1: Christ permissively, bowing to his father's ordination, bid him go
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  Speaker 1: forth to his awful work. Thus, though God is not
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  Speaker 1: the author of sin, and though sin is contrary to
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  Speaker 1: his holy nature, yet the existence and operations of it
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  Speaker 1: are not contrary to his will, but subservient to it.
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  Speaker 1: God never tempts man to sin, but he has, by
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  Speaker 1: his eternal counsels, which he is now executing, determined its course. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: as we have shown in Chapter eight, though God has
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  Speaker 1: decreed man's sins, yet is man responsible not to commit
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  Speaker 1: them and blameless because he does. Strikingly, were these two
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  Speaker 1: sides of this awful subject brought together by Christ in
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  Speaker 1: that statement of his woe unto the world because of offenses.
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  Speaker 1: For it must needs be that offenses come because God
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  Speaker 1: has fore ordained them, but woe to that man by
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  Speaker 1: whom the offense cometh Matthew eighteen seven. So too, though
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  Speaker 1: all which took place at Calvary was by the determinate counsel,
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  Speaker 1: and for knowledge of God Acts two twenty three, nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: wicked hands crucified the Lord of Glory, and in consequence
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  Speaker 1: his blood has righteously rested upon them and on their children.
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  Speaker 1: High mysteries are these. Yet it is both our happy
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  Speaker 1: privilege and bound in duty to humbly receive whatsoever God
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  Speaker 1: has been pleased to reveal concerning them in his Word
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  Speaker 1: of Truth. End of Appendix two