Posts made in January, 2018


God bestows “common grace” to all men.  That is because God loves all of mankind.  God provides the necessities of life, including the way of salvation (Jn. 3:16).  Scripture speaks frequently to the concept of God’s common grace.  However, there are instances which only God knows, when He withholds the providing of certain necessities.  Scripture does say that God works all things together for good to those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).  All Christians must accept this fact, for it’s His sovereign will to do as He pleases.  Mercifully, God provides for all of mankind, whether they love Him or not and believe in Him or not. Uniquely, Christians receive God’s “special” love, a love that will not only manifest itself physically, but will inevitably carry over into heaven–His love will never cease (Jn. 6:40, 1 Jn. 2:24-25, 4:9, Rom. 5:8, 1 Cor. 13:8, 13).  All people have the opportunity for God’s special love, but, an obstacle which hinders most of them, has been the same obstacle for last 2,000 years: “…Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Cor. 1:23, and also Acts 4:12).  “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:9).  If only all people would clear this hurdle [belief in Jesus Christ alone], God’s temporal common grace, would turn into eternal love. So what is God’s “common grace”?  To put it concisely, Pastor John MacArthur  defines it as: “…a term theologians use to describe the goodness of God to all mankind universally.” 1  That “goodness” of God is manifested in several ways.  For instance, 1) God provides for mankind the necessities of life and daily sustenance (Matt. 5:45, Acts 14:15-17, 17:25). 2) He allows them to make independent decisions, even many that are ungodly and displeasing to Him.  3) He  allows them to enjoy His creation; its beauty and splendor (Ps. 50:2). 4) He gives talents, knowledge, and physical prowess to all people–many for prosperous purposes.  5)  He sets a government and leadership over the people (Rom. 13:1-5)  6) He restrains sin and evil (Rom. 2:15).   And there are many more ways God is kind  to all of humanity. In this article, I want to focus on one particular way God displays common grace, which is provisionally.  God’s graciously and mercifully bestows goodness to mankind equally: “”The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.” (Ps. 145:9). . In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He said; “…for He [God] causes His sun to rise on the evil...

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