How can God give men free will and still accomplish His purposes?
God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge established a plan for the ages in eternity past, yet He leaves men and nations with free will to act as they choose. Their choices do not thwart Him; everything still arrives at the end of His purposes. Acts 2:23 shows this: Jesus was delivered by God's determinate counsel, yet men crucified Him.
Les teaches that from the beginning of time until the end of God's plan for the ages, everything falls in place exactly as God has predetermined it, even while men and nations are left with a free will. They do pretty much as they think they want to do, but the end result is that everybody and everything is brought to the end of God's purposes. Les illustrates this with Acts chapter 2, where Peter preaches on the Day of Pentecost and rehearses that Israel had crucified their Messiah. The key is Acts 2:23, which says Jesus of Nazareth was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet they took Him and crucified and slain Him. Les suggests that way back in eternity past, the Triune God in counsel determined a plan for the ages, and in His foreknowledge He could see every detail of it coming down through history. Thus God's foreknowledge and determinate plan do not cancel human free will; men act freely, but God's purposes still come to pass exactly as He determined.