Because He Chose To! [Tract]

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Many years ago, after Mr. Brownlow North had finished preaching a sermon, a young man confronted him and said:

“I have heard you preach three times, sir; and I neither care for you nor for your preaching unless you can tell me why God permitted sin.”

“I will do that with pleasure” was the immediate reply. “Because He chose to.”

The young man, apparently taken by surprise, stood speechless, and Mr. North again replied:

“Because He chose to; and if you continue to question and to criticize God’s dealings and to arrogantly claim to be wiser than His Word, I will tell you something more that God will do: He will someday put you into hell fire. It’s useless for you to oppose your Maker—you cannot resist Him. And neither your opinion of Him nor your blasphemous opinions of His dealings will in the least lessen the pain of your everlasting damnation—which, I repeat, will most certainly be yours if you go on in your present attitude. There were questioners like you in St. Paul’s time, and how did the Apostle answer them? ‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God.’” (Romans 9:20).

The young man here interrupted Mr. North and said, “Is there such a text as that in the Bible?”

“Yes, there is,” was the reply, “in the ninth chapter of Romans; and I recommend you to go home and read that chapter. And after you have read it and seen there how God claims for Himself the right to do whatever He chooses, without letting the creature say to the Creator, ‘Why hast Thou made me thus?,’ remember that, besides permitting sin, there is another thing God has chosen to do—God chose to send Jesus. Of His own free and sovereign grace God gave His only begotten Son to die in the place of sinners, so that, though they are sinners and have done things worthy of death, not one of them shall ever be cast into hell for his sins who will accept Jesus as his only Savior and believe in Him and rest in His Word. I have no time to say more to you now; others are waiting to see me. Go home, consider what I’ve told you and may God the Holy Spirit bless it for Jesus Christ’s sake.”

This conversation took place on Sunday evening. On the following Friday, Mr. North was sitting in a friend’s living room, when he was told that a young man had come who wanted to speak to him. When the young man came in, he said, “Do you remember the young man who on Sunday night asked you to tell him, ‘Why did God permit sin?’”

“Yes, perfectly.”

“Well, sir, I’m that young man, and you said that God permitted sin because He chose to, and you told me to go home and read the ninth chapter of Romans—and you also told me that God chose to send Jesus to die for sinners like me. I did what you told me, and afterwards I fell down at God’s feet and asked Him to forgive my sins, because Jesus died for me, and He did. And now I am happy—oh! so happy—and though the devil still comes sometimes to tempt me with my old thoughts and to ask me what reason I have to think God has forgiven me, I have always managed to get him away by telling him that I do not want to judge things by my own reason, but by God’s Word, and that the only reason why I know I’m forgiven is that for Christ’s sake, God chooses to pardon me.” The young man’s face radiated joy and peace.

The first lesson a sinner has to learn is to trust in the Lord and not to his own under-standing—to trust God not only for what he does understand and for what is explained, but for what he does not understand and for what is not explained. This is faith, and such faith honors God and saves the soul. This is receiving the kingdom of God as a little child, and unless we receive the kingdom of God as a little child, we cannot enter in.

Jesus was and is God's Choice. Is He your choice? Have you chosen with God, or against Him?

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.