Evangelist Rolfe Barnard (1904-69) was once asked if God gives to every man a chance to be saved. Rolfe replied that God does nothing by chance, for everything done by God is done on purpose.
God Himself has said so! “Jehovah of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand. … For Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, and who will annul it? … I have purposed it; I will also do it. … I have purposed and will not relent. … (Isaiah 14:25, 27; 46:11; Jeremiah 4:28).
God’s spokesmen agree! “Jehovah has done what He purposed” (Lamentations 2:17).
This is true also in the salvation of the sinners God saves.
• They are “the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
• They were “predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).
• They are saved through “the purpose of God according to election” (Romans 9:11) , “according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9), “according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11).
Everything God does is done on purpose. Nothing that He purposed was ever not done. He left nothing to chance. God is not a gambler!
– Daniel E. Parks, Pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands
