Abstract

Table of Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Sovereignty of Grace

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ITRODUCTION

     In this part there are four chapters which may seem out of place to those who are familiar with the contents and format of most studies of Calvinism. It is not usual to insert chapters which really deal more with personal life and experience into a volume that is otherwise strictly theological in argument. But I think it is a mistake to divorce theology from experience in this way.
     The first chapter is titled "The Comfort of Calvinism" and to my mind there is tremendous comfort in knowing that God is sovereign, that He is our loving heavenly Father and we are his children, accepted in the Lord.
     It is to our practical advantage to explore how the sovereignty of God is worked out in the daily relationships of life, and not merely how God deals with history in a somewhat impersonal, wholly objective manner, as though we ourselves were not part of the stream of it.
     And there are some very satisfying answers to some very practical problems. Some of these answers become almost obvious and self-evident once we have distinguished between certain terms commonly used in Scripture which have all too frequently been treated as mere synonyms. I have in mind such terms as the ways of God and the works of God, the wishes of God and the will of God, righteousness and wickedness as opposed to good and evil, and fruits as opposed to works, to name only a few. I think it will become apparent, or at least I hope it will, that there are real differences between these terms as employed in Scripture, although we commonly use them imprecisely and so surrender certain insights which might otherwise have been gained by reading the Word of God more carefully.
     If the reader should feel that this particular section of the volume is really out of place in a serious theological study, I hope he will nevertheless resist the temptation to skip through to Part IV, which returns to a more usual theological approach. For although Part III is a departure to some extent, it deals with a very essential facet of the whole problem of God's sovereignty in the affairs of men, especially as it relates to personal life.

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     My own experience has in many ways been a complete departure from what most of the Lord's children expect of life, but well over forty years of living and walking with the Lord in spite of life's vicissitudes have taught me that the certainty of God's sovereign grace, and all that ensues from this certainty, can be the most saving faith that a man can have.

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