Every Man in A Sense is Another Abimelech in Genesis Chapter 20: A Feeble 20-Point Disputation on the Biblical, Historical and Theological Sermon on God's Real Freedom and His Superior Will Over the Will of His Creatures

 Dr. MA Petillo

Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not,
What joys await us there;
What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare.
They stand, those halls of Zion,
All jubilant with song,
And bright with many an angel,
And all the martyr throng.
The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene;
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.
There is the throne of David;
And there, from care released,
The song of them that triumph,
The shout of them that feast;
And they who with their Leader
Have conquered in the fight,
For ever and for ever
Are clad in robes of white.
O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country,
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest;
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest.  (TH, 604).

Genesis 20:6 NASB

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know....I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her..."

1.  The freedom of God is used by God to restrain the sinful wills of mankind from committing cosmic sin.

2.  God's freedom is greater than man's freedom.

3.  God is able to keep sinners from sinning without doing violence to their fallen wills.

4.  The only reason why sinners stop sinning is because God restrains them from cosmic rebellion.

5.  If holy God lifts His outstretched arm from a cosmic sinner, the sinner will no doubt fall into the evil habit of sin.

6. If God removes His hand from us and we sin, does that make a holy God the author of sin?  By no means at all!  God is supremely sovereign and He has the right over His fallen creatures to do as He pleases with them.  The sin never lies with a holy God, but the sin lies with fallen man.  God is the Supreme Potter and He causes its shape and forms it with His supernatural fingertips according to His good pleasure for allowing sin unto justice or allowing sin unto mercy.  The ultimate purpose of God removing His Hand from sinners is to glorify His dear Son either for mercy to the glory of the Cross or justice to the glory of Jesus in His relentless punishment in the place of eternal hell.

7.  Sometimes God removes His hand from an elect sinner and because He removes His hand, the elect sinner, sins, because He uses it for their ultimate good, because He has holds the secret in how He works even sin for their good of His chosen people alone when evil is not good and good is not evil.

8.  God may remove His Hand from an elect sinner for the good of corrective judgment but not corrective judgment unto damnation but corrective judgment unto the glorification of Jesus Christ alone in mercy through obedience to His command in confession of sin and to correct us to walk right before a holy God because He has plainly testified of holy godliness in His Word.

9.  The freedom of God is greater than the alleged freedom of man.

10.  The freedom of God always wins over fallen man and Satan.

11.  There is no just accusation against a holy God, because He is always sinless and perfect and never fails to do what is right.

12.  Fallen man seeks to "think" and "act" like a holy God in taking upon themselves their subjective notion of man-powered sovereignty in what is right in his own eyes, but when sinners do this it is no doubt idolatry and exaltation of sinners as a demi-god.

13.  Every sinner is another Abimelech.  How?  Sinners would be devils incarnate if they did not have God's restraining Hand upon them, but once He removes His all-powerful Hand there is no telling what sin he will fall into because of remaining corruption.  Does this excuse human responsibility?  God forbid!  A free God whether He removes His hand from you or keeps His hand upon you is not a deterrence to godly living but motivation for godly living, because He is working out even sin for your good and He always does what is right.  Does this mean we should sin because He is working out sin for our good?  God forbid!  If He is working all things out for our good, the Cross should not be a license or cover-up for sin.  Rather God's goodness should be a motivation to live right before a holy God.  Do not turn aside to the pig pen!  There are Christians who intentionally violate God's moral law so that grace may abound.  The infallible Word condemns this!  Those who applaud sin or do evil that good may come are committing cosmic treason and partake of the lawless deeds of those condemned at the Last Day who are sentenced to hell forever!  If you blame God for sin, it is no truth but more sin.  The ultimate goal of the Father is to bring His dear Son glory.  Bring your lawless deeds before His Cross and practice being a new creation.

14.  Christians who try to be like the world will led to bad things.  Never seek to be like the world.  Christians who think that grace may abound through license to sin are lawless.  Wake up!  Why do you pursue the interests of men over the interests of God? 

15.  Christians who reject the freedom of God have missed out on the Scriptural foundation of how everything came to be (it is a matter of honoring Jesus Christ in sound doctrine in demonstrating sound words in a sound faith by a sound Christian living).  Fallen sinners who say "this teaching is none sense!"  Suppose you sin or you don't sin, and you say "it is all me."  Your have rejected a true ultimate purpose for yourself, but have embraced the notion that you are the ultimate.  Fallen man sees himself as the sum and substance and the center of the universe.  However, if you see it God's way: namely, fallen man is not ultimate but a holy Triune God is ultimate because He alone is the self-existent Creator.  I suggest to you that fallen man is not ultimate but there surely is a foredetermined purpose through the hidden outworking Hand of God in the outward display of His divine providence clearly revealed in His infallible Word.

16.  Christians who reject human responsibility reject the command of God for godly living.  The only reason we have the concept of human responsibility is because of a predestinarian God.

17.  The world hates Christ but God hates the wicked.

18.  The elect from every tribe, tongue, people and nation love Christ but the damned of this dark world love self over a holy God.

19.  The freedom of God is that He chooses whomsoever He will.

20.  The freedom of God  is that He damns whomsoever He will.

'Tis not that I did choose thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee,
Hadst thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to thee.
'Twas sovereign mercy called me
And taught my op'ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.
My heart owns none before thee,
For thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee,
Thou must have loved me first.  (TH, 96).