Nothing on this earth happens without the knowledge of God, and nothing happens unless He allows it or performs it Himself.
The amount of free will that we believe we have is an illusion, one must either believe that not one blade of grass moves unless He allows it to, or that He has simply created the world, wound it up as it were, and is now just sitting back and watching the show. There are those that profess that this statement is true, but only in partiality, that yes, the Lord does exert His control over His creation, but only at and for certain times and places, and the reasoning they will use behind these statements is our supposed free will. These individuals will most generally have long drawn out, seemingly deep theological reasonings on the subject of predestination, saying that our lives are our own decision, that there are two separate and distinct paths, ours and God’s, and unless we accept the invitation He offers, these paths will never converge, they will remain separate.
My friends, not one person comes to Christ unless God Almighty calls him, (John 6:44) many are called, few are chosen, (Matt. 22:14) but not all are called, and if those who are not called are not going to heaven. The born-again believers were predestined, before the foundation of the world, we who are saved were chosen. I have yet to meet a Christian who wishes he would not have been chosen, but I have met many who have been called and refused the invitation.
Those who are bearing the fruits of the Spirit are easily recognized by the world, we stand out like a sore thumb, as it were. We are to be as He told Samuel to be, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) Nothing, not one thing ever happens in God’s creation unless He either allows it or performs it.
Satan can go no further than he is allowed to, you have much less control over your life than you might like to believe you have if you are not saved, but if you are a born-again believer, you have no control whatsoever, unless you have not died to self. Can you quench the Spirit? Yes. Did God know you were going to do that? Yes. Did He allow you to do it? Yes. Did He make you as you are today, or did you allow Him to mold you into the person you are. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” (Romans 9:22) “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20) “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. 16:2)
There is no guarantee in the human realm that if God calls a man he will heed that call, but it is a guarantee that if you are chosen by the Lord, you will become a child of God. You may be an errant son, an unprofitable daughter, but you are still called by His name. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28) You could not lose your salvation even if you tried, there is no sin that He will not forgive, and if you are still not versed in what many would call the unpardonable sin, (Luke 12:10) then study your Scriptures more diligently, for that sin could only be committed when Christ walked the earth.
Speaking in tongues, healing as a special gift, all of those have passed away, we have the complete Word of God now. (Eph. 2:20) We were saved by grace my friends, not of ourselves, (Eph. 2:8) not one thing that you ever did or thought, not one feeling or emotion brought you into favor with the Lord, not one thing anyone does can overshadow His grace, and by grace, unmerited favor, you were saved. It was His decision, not yours.
Until His name is written in our foreheads, (Rev. 22:4) until we have in our possession the new stone, we can only tell who the saved are, who our brothers and sisters in Christ are, by their fruits. And those fruits are also given by the Lord. All lasting fear has been removed from the servants of the Most High, all doubt is gone, all trust is in Him, because He is Sovereign in the kingdom of men also.