Category Archives: The Sovereignty of God

The Glorious Tension between Human Responsibility and Human Inability

Posted by Dan C. on

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES

Human Responsibility to Come to Christ

1. “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15)

2. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt. 11:28)

3. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God.” (Jn. 7:17)

4. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” (Jn. 7:37)

5. “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized” (Acts 2:38)

6. “Repent therefore and be converted” (Acts 3:19)

7. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)

8. “but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30)

9. “Whoever wills, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:17)

Human Inability to Come to Christ

1. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? (No!) Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil. (Jer. 13:23)

2. “How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mt. 12:34)

3. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Mt. 7:18)

4. “‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'” (Mt. 19:25-26)

5. “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn. 3:3)

6. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (Jn. 6:44)

7. “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (Jn. 6:65)

8. “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (Jn. 8:43)

9. “They could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (Jn. 12:39-40)

10. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6)

11. “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7)

12. “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:8)

13. “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14)

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"The End of All Being is The Glory Of God"

Posted by Dan C. on

By Paris Reidhead

Christianity says, “the end of all being is the glory of God.”  Humanism says, “the end of all being is the happiness of men.” And one was born in hell – the deification of man. And one was born in heaven – the glorification of God.

That this philosophical postulate that the end of all being is the happiness of man has been sort of covered over with evangelical terms and biblical doctrine, until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man, all the angels exist and everything is for the happiness of man.  And I submit to you that this is unchristian.

Isn’t man happy?  Did God intend to make man happy?  Yes.  But as a bi-product and not prime product.

This is the betrayal of the ages, and it is the betrayal in which we live.  And I don’t see how God can revive it until we come back to Christianity that is in direct and total contrast with the vengeful Humanism that’s perpetrated in our generation in the Name of Christ.

I have talked with people that have no assurance of sins forgiven.  They want to feel saved before they are willing to commit themselves to Christ.  But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His Spirit that they are born of Him are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, “Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you and love you and serve you and do what you want me to do, as long as I live even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved and obeyed and served, and I’m not trying to make a deal with you.”

Why should a person come to the Cross?  Why should a person embrace death with Christ?  Why should a person be willing to go in identification down to the cross and into the tomb and up again.  I’ll tell you why.  Because it’s the only way that God can get glory out of a human being.

There is only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person.  That’s because until you come to the place of union with Christ in death, you are defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life.  And until you have understood the sanctifying work of God by the Holy Ghost taking you into union with Christ in death, and burial, and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have, and all you have is that which is under the sentence of death – human personality, and human nature, and human strength and human energy.  And God will get no glory out of that.

So the reason for you to go to the Cross isn’t that you are going to get victory, you will get victory.  It isn’t because you are going to have joy – you will have joy.  But the reason for you to embrace the Cross and press through until you know that you can testify with Paul “I am crucified with Christ,” isn’t what you are going to get out of it, but what He will get out it, for the glory of God.

May the Lamb that was slain, receive the reward of His suffering!

I’m going to say to you dear friend, if you are out here without Christ, you come to Jesus Christ and serve him as long as you live whether you go to hell at the end of the way, because He is worthy.

I say to you, Christian friend, you come to the Cross and join him in union and death and enter into all the meaning of death to self in order that He can have glory.

I say to you dear Christian, if you do not know the fullness of the Holy Ghost, come and present your body a living sacrifice and let Him fill you that He can have the purpose of His coming fulfilled in you and get glory through your life.

It’s not what you are going to get out of God, it’s what He is going to get out of you.

-Paris Reidhead

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The above is an excerpt from the sermon, ‘Ten Shekels and a Shirt’. A transcript of the entire sermon and the audio can be found here.

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Our Only Hope of Success in Evangelism

Posted by Dan C. on

J.I. Packer, in his excellent treatise Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, states:

“The sovereignty of God in grace gives us our only hope of success in evangelism.”

““Some fear that belief in the sovereign grace of God leads to the conclusion that evangelism is pointless, since God will save His elect anyway, whether they hear the gospel or not. This . . . is a false conclusion based on a false assumption. . . . So far from making evangelism pointless, the sovereignty of God in grace is the one thing that prevents evangelism from being pointless. For it creates the possibility–indeed, the certainty–that evangelism will be fruitful. Apart from it, there is not even a possibility of evangelism being fruitful. Were it not for the sovereign grace of God, evangelism would be the most futile and useless enterprise that the world has ever seen, and there would be no more complete waste of time under the sun than to preach the Christian gospel.”

The effects of such confidence in the sovereign grace of God should, according to Packer, produce three things:

1. It should make us bold.

“You are not on a fool’s errand. You are not wasting either your time or theirs. You have no reason to be ashamed of your message, or half-hearted and apologetic in delivering it. You have every reason to be bold, and free, and natural, and hopeful of success. For God can give His truth and effectiveness that you and I cannot give it. God can make His truth triumphant to the conversion of the most seemingly hardened unbeliever. You and I will never write off anyone as hopeless and beyond the reach of God if we believe in the sovereignty of His grace.”

2. It should make us patient.

“It should keep us from being daunted when we find that our evangelistic endeavors meet with no immediate response. God saves in His own time, and we ought not to suppose that He is in such a hurry as we are. . . . We are tempted to be in a great hurry with those whom we would win to Christ, and then, when we see no immediate response in them, to become impatient and downcast, and then to lose interest in them, and feel that it is useless to spend more time on them; and so we abandon our efforts forthwith, and let them drop out of our ken. But this is utterly wrong. It is a failure both of love for man and faith in God.”

3. It should make us prayerful.

“Prayer . . . is a confessing of impotence and need, and acknowledging of helplessness and dependence, and an invoking of the mighty power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. In evangelism, we are impotent; we depend wholly upon God to make our witness effective; only because He is able to give men new hearts can we hope that through our preaching of the gospel sinners will be born again. These facts ought to drive us to prayer. The knowledge, then, that God is sovereign in grace, and that we are impotent to win souls, should make us pray, and keep us praying. What should be the burden of our prayers? We should pray for those whom we seek to win, that the Holy Spirit will open their hearts; and we should pray for ourselves in our own witness, and for all who preach the gospel, that the power and authority of the Holy Spirit may rest upon them.”

When God told Job to "Man Up!"

Posted by Dan C. on

Most of us are familiar with the story of Job, a man considered righteous among the men of his time, and greatly blessed by God in terms of this world’s riches. Satan was allowed to take it all away and Job was counseled by four friends concerning why he was suffering and by his wife who recommended he curse God and die. If you haven’t read the account of Job for yourself, we recommend you do so, paying particular attention to the dialogue between Job and his friends.

After all of the dialogue, in itself interesting because it revealed the true character of everyone in the discussion, we finally have in Chapter 40, God speaking directly to Job and reminding him of exactly whom he and his friends were dealing with:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Dress for action like a man;

    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

Will you even put me in the wrong?

Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Have you an arm like God,

    and can you thunder with a voice like his?

“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;

    clothe yourself with glory and splendor.

Pour out the overflowings of your anger,

    and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.

Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low

    and tread down the wicked where they stand.

Hide them all in the dust together;

    bind their faces in the world below.

Then will I also acknowledge to you

    that your own right hand can save you.

              – (Job 40:6-14 ESV)

What follows through the rest of Chapters 40 and 41 is a wondrous and awesome declaration of God’s sovereignty over all creation. At the end of God’s declaration and challenge, Job replies:

Then Job answered the LORD and said:

“I know that you can do all things,

    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

    things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

‘Hear, and I will speak;

    I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

    but now my eye sees you;

therefore I despise myself,

    and repent in dust and ashes.”

           – (Job 42:1-6 ESV)

Whatever self-righteousness Job might have had vanished completely as Job considered what God had spoken and his own stature compared to the sovereign Lord of the universe! As a result Job concludes the matter by saying to God:

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Ch 42,vv. 5-6)

It is with that confession to God that Job provides us with what I consider to be a perfect definition of true humility before God; realizing exactly who God IS and who we are!

For Job to ‘man up’ before God turned out to be ‘seeing’ God, realizing who he was compared to God, and finally assuming a posture of repentance and humility before Him.

What a lesson for us in today’s evangelical culture of self-centered Christianity!

May God richly bless you as you consider these things!

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God “Feints”– by Dan Phillips

Posted by Dan C. on

My Josiah, who loves military history and strategy, tells me that there was a battle during Genghis Kahn’s wars where he sent his men against a larger enemy force, then feigned a 5 day retreat. This feint retreat led the enemy straight into a storm of arrows, wiping them out.

Muhammad Ali’s famous “rope-a-dope” strategy against his powerful opponent George Foreman in 1974 was a brilliant implementation of such a method. Ali, unable to prevail over Foreman by normal means, taunted  Foreman into hammering him with a barrage of blows as Ali leaned back on the rope. After  Foreman exhausted himself, Ali dropped him.

Israel used a similar strategy in their second battle with Ai (Josh. 8). The fleeing Israelites drew out the overconfident men of Ai, leading to their defeat. (If I had Phil or Frank’s mad Photoshop skilz, this would be the place for a Pyrotized variation of this image.)

God Himself executes some strategic feint retreats, to disastrous effect. If one skips ahead to the book of Revelation, with all the outward and final outpouring of God’s wrath and His hammering of the earth and the world, one observes another mighty feint retreat. God allows His two mighty prophets, after a ministry of withering blasts of miraculous power, to be overcome, conquered and slain (Rev. 11). Yet even then, God has the final word, resurrecting them and bringing them up — an ominous reminder to the world of the utter futility of its long war against God.

But of course the greatest  feint retreat in all of history, so to speak, will be marked this Friday, in the death of Christ on the Cross.  When Christ the mighty Maker died for man the creature’s sin, we saw the “weakness” of God (2 Cor. 13:4). For all outward signs and appearances, it seemed that the very worst of mankind, and the very worst of the dark forces, had finally won. God was killed. They were celebrating.
And yet, in that apparent defeat, the decisive battle was fought and won (Jn. 12:31). It was a feint retreat. The victory it accomplished was literally devastating to the opposition. That tilted the world, for all time. They’ve never been the same, and their eventual doom, by that very feint retreat, is sealed.

It should not surprise us then to see that the history of Christ’s church is marked by many setbacks, some indeed coming before brilliant flashes of Gospel power.

Nor should it surprise us that God’s battle strategy for our own lives may involve many apparent defeats, many setbacks, many feint retreats.

But we should never forget: the outcome is absolutely certain (Rom. 8:18-39).

All because of God’s grand  feint retreat at Calvary.

Online Source.

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The Gospel Message

Posted by Dan C. on

I’ll be the first to admit that there are ‘levels’, of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I tend to place them into two overall categories; the message needed for the salvation of lost sinners, and the ‘larger’ message(s) that encompasses the entirety of the gospel of the Kingdom in terms of all of the blessings promised to God’s people.

Having said that, I believe it is always important, when discussing the gospel, to define our terms. Especially important is the definition of the gospel message that has the power to save; the message the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 1:16:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Emphasis mine)

Obvious is that there exists a gospel that in itself has the ‘power to save’. Given that the gospel, the ‘good news’ can include quite a lot, what exactly is the gospel that includes ‘power to save’? Since t is Paul who tells us there is one, does he also define it? What did Paul focus on in his preaching and teaching? What does Paul himself have to say?

”For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” – 1 Cor 1:22-23

“When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 1 Cor 2:1-2

We can conclude that the crucified Christ was central to Paul’s preaching, but does he define the gospel with ‘power to save’ more precisely? I believe he does. Speaking to the Corinthian church near the end of one of his letters, in his prelude to the importance of the resurrection to our faith, Paul states:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” – ! Cor 15:1-4  

We can readily see that the death and resurrection of Christ “for ‘our’ sins” was central to Paul’s preaching, and the central issue addressed in the gospel he preached. It is also logical to assume that the gospel we share with those whom God places in our paths for that purpose should be the same as Paul’s message. For many of you it is, but for many others in today’s evangelical climate, sadly it is not.

The gospel Paul preached as having ‘power to save’ has been widely supplanted with a gospel message that focuses on ’abundant living’. It takes several forms, and at times even addresses the issue of sin, but often in a secondary ‘back burner’ manner. What’s wrong with that, if we see sinners ‘accepting’ Christ as Savior? Isn’t abundant living part of the “good news? Yes it is, but is it the primary message we share with those who need a Savior?

Please hear me out.

First of all, remember that our gospel ‘invitation’ is intended for those living lives far away from God and his Son, the Christ. They are ‘by nature’ in rebellion against their Creator, cannot please God and unable to understand Spiritual truth, don’t seek him (See Rom 8:7,1 Cor 2:14, Rom 3:11, Ps 14), and have as their primary interest in this life, self-gratification, or self-actualization (if you want a ‘softer’ term). They behave with those goals foremost in their minds, not only from a biblical perspective, but also if we are to believe what the behavioral sciences have to tell us (Think Maslow).

Given all that accurately describes those who are apart from Christ, what are we doing if the primary focus of our gospel message is ‘abundant life’, which is actually a valid truth claim? (I hope that question is somewhat rhetorical.) We are feeding their ‘nature’; in effect telling them that the principal message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is their personal welfare and happiness, which is exactly what they want, but not abundant life on God’s terms.

Assume they like it, and make a ‘decision’ for Christ. Sooner or later, especially when their abundant doesn’t work out according to their wishes and desires, we have more explaining to do. What do you say?

"I know I said Jesus promised abundant life, but God’s definition in that John 10:10 passage really means a different kind of ‘abundant’ life." (Bait & switch alert!)

Or,

"Jesus did promise the abundant life you want, but maybe you haven’t given up a sinful habit or something."

Now you get to discuss the very real issue of sin you didn’t pay much attention to earlier, and how Jesus died for our sins and that he came to give e abundant life. (Another bait & switch?)

Do you see where I’m coming from? Why not just be lovingly straightforward with Paul’s definition of the gospel? Why not include the issue of sin, as of ‘first importance’?

I can think of several reasons; maybe you’re ashamed of the gospel, afraid someone won’t like you anymore, or maybe you really think offering an ‘attractive’ message is the right way to share the gospel! In that case you would have a lot of company. Most folks think that that we all are naturally seeking God and have the ‘natural’ capability to make the right decision. Well, we already talked about the ‘natural’ man. If you forgot what we said, rewind.

In reality, offering an attractive message denies the sovereignty of God in the salvation of men. If what we said about the ‘natural’ man is true, something has to happen to turn a rebellious heart toward God, and in fact give a spiritually ‘dead’ man life (See Eph 2). The something that happens is God himself. God opens the stony heart and deaf ears to hear the gospel message that at one time was offensive to the listener, and the sinner confronted with the reality of his/her condition runs joyfully and willingly to the Cross!

The apostle expressed that truth quite well when, speaking of his gospel ministry he stated:

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” – 2 Cor 2:14-16

Yes, the promise of abundant life is good news, and part of the overall message of the gospel, but there is only one gospel message that has the ‘ power to save’. Hear Paul one more time:

For I delivered to you as of FIRST importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. . ."

The rest of the ‘good news’, the ‘bigger’ picture of the gospel, begins at the Cross, or it isn’t ‘good’, but merely self-serving.

Eisegesis Unplugged – Joshua 24:15

Posted by Dan C. on

Eisegesis is the process of misinterpreting a text in such a way that it introduces one’s own ideas, reading into the text. Eisegesis isn’t always a bad, because one’s own ideas might be a reasonable interpretation, or logical and otherwise biblically sound inference.

The Passage

“. . . choose this day whom you will serve. . .”– Joshua 24:15

Faced with all of the ‘things’ in our lives we can give greater importance to than humbly serving God, Joshua’s command to the Israelites certainly has relevance for us today! The list of ‘things’ is rather long and includes everything from great salaries and careers, to sports and entertainment, to cars, boats and other expensive ‘toys’. Even our most valued relationships can appear on that list.

We ask those to whom we share the gospel to choose between serving God and man with that passage in mind. ‘Choose this day whom you will serve’ is often used to prove inherent ;free will;, since we assume that the command itself necessitates the natural ability to choose between wholeheartedly serving God and all the other things we ‘serve’. After all, wasn’t that what Joshua was telling the Israelites to do, choose between the one true God and other false gods?

What’s the rest of the story?

Joshua 24 begins with his summoning the tribes of Israel to Shechem, along with the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel, to present themselves before God (v.1). When they had all gathered together, Joshua presents a ‘Thus saith the Lord” history lesson in which God speaks to the people in the first person, reminding them of all he had done for them, from calling and blessing Abraham to crossing the Jordan and inheriting the land (vv.2-13).

Joshua then speaks directly to the people and says:

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.” (v.14)

Joshua did in fact challenge the gathered Israelites to serve the Lord, telling them to put away the false gods of their fathers. Then notice our passage in its natural context:

“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (v.15)

Since throughout their wanderings, the Israelites are on record as having frequently returning to the false gods of their fathers, Joshua tells them to choose between a previous set of false gods and the gods of the peoples with whom they now dwelt,

The people responded:

“Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” (vv.16-18)

Then we have in vv. 19-23 an interesting conclusion:

“But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” (vv.19-20)

Joshua, in what sounds like a chiding manner, tells them ‘You can’t do it!’, pointing out their inability and insufficiency of themselves to perform service acceptable to God.

And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” (v. 21)

Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” (v.22)

And they (the people) said, “We are witnesses.” (v.23)

Joshua told them, in effect, ‘I think that’s gonna come back to bite ya, for sure’, yet they still promised.

If we have read the rest of the Old Testament, we know that the Israelites indeed failed to keep their promise, in spite of warnings from prophets, deliverance from enemies by judges and kings, and even in spite of hard bondage. In fact there was a period of several hundred years when there was no prophet in the land. God ceased speaking to his chosen people and left them to their own desires.

What’s the point?

If we use Joshua’s ‘choose this day whom you will serve’ command as a reminder to check for idols we have not abused the text. However, if we use Joshua’s command as proof of man’s natural ability to choose Christ, are we being faithful to the original context? And speaking of the original context, it is in that context, ‘the rest of the story’ as Paul Harvey would say that we find the bigger lesson.

The short episode in Joshua, chapter 24, near the end of Josha’s life, after deliverance from bondage in Egypt, desert wanderings, entering the promised land, miracles and fierce battles is part of a grand pageant that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation! It’s the story of the creation, fall and redemption of the people of God – a people created for the glory of His Name who by way of the first Adam fell into such darkness and depravity that they became the objects of the creator’s wrath.

The Apostle Paul provides an excellent summary:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1-8)

So here’s the point. While we certainly ought to take to heart lessons from scripture that apply to us today, we need to pay attention to ‘the rest of the story’!

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Misunderstandings of the Doctrine of Election

Posted by Dan C. on

(excerpt from Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, pp. 674-79, Inter-Varsity Press, Zondervan Publishing House)

1. Election Is Not Fatalistic or Mechanistic.

Sometimes those who object to the doctrine of election say that it is "fatalism" or that it presents a "mechanistic system" for the universe. Two somewhat different objections are involved here. By "fatalism" is meant a system in which human choices and human decisions really do not make any difference. In fatalism, no matter what we do, things are going to turn out as they have been previously ordained. Therefore, it is futile to attempt to influence the outcome of events or the outcome of our lives by putting forth any effort or making any significant choices, because these will not make any difference any way. In a true fatalistic system, of course, our humanity is destroyed for our choices really mean nothing, and the motivation for moral accountability is removed.

In a mechanistic system the picture is one of an impersonal universe in which all things that happen have been inflexibly determined by an impersonal force long ago, and the universe functions in a mechanical way so that human beings are more like machines or robots than genuine persons. Here also genuine human personality would be reduced to the level of a machine that simply functions in accordance with predetermined plans and in response to predetermined causes and influences.

By contrast to the mechanistic picture, the New Testament presents the entire outworking of our salvation as something brought about by a personal God in relationship with personal creatures. God "destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ" (Eph. 1:5). God’s act of election was neither impersonal nor mechanistic, but was permeated with personal love for those whom he chose. Moreover, the personal care of God for his creatures, even those who rebel against him, is seen clearly in God’s plea through Ezekiel, "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his evil way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezek. 33:11).

When talking about our response to the gospel offer, Scripture continually views us not as mechanistic creatures or robots, but as genuine persons, personal creatures who make willing choices to accept or reject the gospel. Jesus invites everyone, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). And we read the invitation at the end of Revelation: "The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price" (Rev. 22:17). This invitation and many others like it are addressed to genuine persons who are capable of hearing the invitation and responding to it by a decision of their wills. Regarding those who will not accept him, Jesus clearly emphasizes their hardness of heart and their stubborn refusal to come to him: "Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:40). And Jesus cries out in sorrow to the city that had rejected him, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matt. 23:37).

In contrast to the charge of fatalism, we also see a much different picture in the New Testament. Not only do we make willing choices as real persons, but these choices are also real choices because they do affect the course of events in the world. They affect our own lives and they affect the lives and destinies of others. So, "He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18). Our personal decisions to believe or not believe in Christ have eternal consequences in our lives, and Scripture is quite willing to talk about our decision to believe or not believe as the factor that decides our eternal destiny.

The implication of this is that we certainly must preach the gospel, and people’s eternal destiny hinges on whether we proclaim the gospel or not. Therefore when the Lord one night told Paul, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10), Paul did not simply conclude that the "many people" who belong to God would be saved whether he stayed there preaching the gospel or not. Rather, "he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (Acts 18:11) – this was longer than Paul stayed in any other city except Ephesus during his three missionary journeys. When Paul was told that God had many elect people in Corinth, he stayed a long time and preached, in order that those elect people might be saved! Paul is quite clear about the fact that unless people preach the gospel others will not be saved:

"But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?" … "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ." (Rom. 10:14, 17)

Did Paul know before he went to a city who was elected by God for salvation and who was not? No, he did not. That is something that God does not show to us ahead of time. But once people comes to faith in Christ then we can be confident that God had earlier chosen them for salvation. This is exactly Paul’s conclusion regarding the Thessalonians; he says that he knows that God chose them because when he preached to them, the gospel came in power and with full conviction: "For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" (1 Thess. 1:4-5). Far from saying that whatever he did made no difference, and that God’s elect would be saved whether he preached or not, Paul endured a life of incredible hardship in order to bring the gospel to those whom God had chosen. At the end of a life filled with suffering he said, "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory" (1 Tim. 2:10).

2. Election Is Not Based on God’s Foreknowledge of Our Faith.

Quite commonly people will agree that God predestines some to be saved, but they will say that he does this by looking into the future and seeing who will believe in Christ and who will not. If he sees that a person is going to come to saving faith, then he will predestine that person to be saved. In this way, it is thought, the ultimate reason why some are saved and some are not lies within the people themselves, not within God. All that God does in his predestining work is to give confirmation to the decision he knows people will make on their own. The verse commonly used to support this view is Romans 8:29: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."

a. Foreknowledge of Persons, Not Facts:

But this verse can hardly be used to demonstrate that God based his predestination on foreknowledge of the fact that a person would believe. The passage speaks rather of the fact that God knew persons ("those whom he foreknew"), not that he knew some fact about them, such as the fact that they would believe. It is a personal, relational knowledge that is spoken of here: God, looking into the future, thought of certain people in saving relationship to him, and in that sense he "knew them" long ago. This is the sense in which Paul can talk about God’s "knowing" someone, for example, in 1 Corinthians 8:3: "But if one loves God, one is known by him." Similarly, he says, "but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God …" (Gal. 4:9). When people know God in Scripture, or when God knows them, it is personal knowledge that involves a saving relationship. therefore in Romans 8:29, "those whom he foreknew" is best understood to mean, "those whom he long ago thought of in a saving relationship to himself." The text actually says nothing about God foreknowing or foreseeing that certain people would believe, nor is that idea mentioned in any other text of Scripture.

Sometimes people say that God elected groups of people, but not individuals to salvation. In some Arminian views, God just elected the church as a group, while the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) said that God elected Christ, and all people in Christ. But Romans 8:29 talks about certain people whom God foreknew ("those whom he foreknew"), not just undefined or unfilled groups. And in Ephesians Paul talks about certain people whom God chose, including himself: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). To talk about God choosing a group with no people in it is not biblical election at all. But to talk about God choosing a group of people means that he chose specific individuals who constituted that group.

b. Scripture Never Speaks of Our Faith As the Reason God Chose Us:

In addition, when we look beyond these specific passages that speak of foreknowledge and look at verses that talk about the reason God chose us, we find that Scripture never speaks of our faith or the fact that we would come to believe in Christ as the reason God chose us. In fact, Paul seems explicitly to exclude the consideration of what people would do in life from his understanding of God’s choice of Jacob rather than Esau: he says, "Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, she was told, ‘The elder will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’" (Rom. 9:11-13). Nothing that Jacob or Esau would do in life influenced God’s decision; it was simply in order that his purpose of election might continue.

When discussing the Jewish people who have come to faith in Christ, Paul says, "So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works" (Rom. 11:5-6). Here again Paul emphasizes God’s grace and the complete absence of human merit in the process of election. Someone might object that faith is not viewed as a "work" in Scripture and therefore faith should be excluded from the quotation above ("It is no longer on the basis of works"). Based on this objection, Paul could actually mean, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, but rather on the basis of whether someone will believe." However, this is unlikely in this context: Paul is not contrasting human faith and human works; he is contrasting God’s sovereign choosing of people with any human activity, and he points to God’s sovereign will as the ultimate basis for God’s choice of the Jews who have come to Christ.

Similarly, when Paul talks about election in Ephesians, there is no mention of any foreknowledge of the fact that we would believe, or any idea that there was anything worthy of meritorious in us (such as a tendency to believe) that was the basis for God’s choosing us. Rather, Paul says, "He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:5-6). Now if God’s grace is to be praised for election, and not human ability to believe or decision to believe, then once again it is consistent for Paul to mention nothing of human faith but only to mention God’s predestining activity, his purpose and will, and his freely given grace.

Again in 2 Timothy, Paul says that God "saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago" (2 Tim. 1:9). Once again God’s sovereign purpose is seen as the ultimate reason for our salvation, and Paul connects this with the fact that God gave us grace in Christ Jesus ages ago – another way of speaking of the truth that God freely gave favor to us when he chose us without reference to any foreseen merit or worthiness on our part.

c. Election Based on Something Good in Us (Our Faith) Would Be the Beginning of Salvation by Merit:

Yet another kind of objection can be brought against the idea that God chose us because he foreknew that we would come to faith. If the ultimate determining factor in whether we will be saved or not is our own decision to accept Christ, then we shall be more inclined to think that we deserve some credit for the fact that we were saved: in distinction from other people who continue to reject Christ, we were wise enough in our judgment or capacities to decide to believe in Christ. But once we begin to think this way then we seriously diminish the glory that is to be given to God for our salvation. We become uncomfortable speaking like Paul who says that God "destined us … according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace" (Eph. 1:5-6), and we begin to think that God "destined us … according to the fact that he knew that we would have enough tendencies toward goodness and faith within us that we would believe." When we think like this we begin to sound very much unlike the New Testament when it talks about election or predestination. By contrast, if election is solely based on God’s own good pleasure and his sovereign decision to love us in spite of our lack of goodness or merit, then certainly we have a profound sense of appreciation to him for a salvation that is totally undeserved, and we will forever be willing to praise his "glorious grace" (Eph. 1:6).

In the final analysis, the difference between two views of election can be seen in the way they answer a very simple question. Given the fact that in the final analysis some people will choose to accept Christ and some people will not, the question is, "What makes people differ?" That is, what ultimately makes the difference between those who believe and those who do not? If our answer is that it is ultimately based on something God does (namely, his sovereign election of those who would be saved), then we see that salvation at its most foundational level is based on grace alone. On the other hand, if we answer that the ultimate difference between those who are saved and those who are not is because of something in man (that is, a tendency or disposition to believe or not believe), then salvation ultimately depends on a combination of grace plus human ability.

d. Predestination Based on Foreknowledge Still Does Not Give People Free Choice:

The idea that God’s predestination of some to believe is based on foreknowledge of their faith encounters still another problems: upon reflection, this system turns out to give no real freedom to man either. For if God can look into the future and see that person A will come to faith in Christ, and that person B will not come to faith in Christ, then those facts are already fixed, they are already determined. If we assume that God’s knowledge of the future is true (which it must be), then it is absolutely certain that person A will believe and person B will not. There is no way that their lives could turn out any differently than this. Therefore it is fair to say that their destinies are still determined, for they could not be otherwise. But by what are these destinies determined? If they are determined by God himself, then we no longer have election based ultimately on foreknowledge of faith, but rather on God’s sovereign will. But if these destinies are not determined by God, then who or what determines them? Certainly no Christian would say that there is some powerful being other than God controlling people’s destinies. Therefore it seems that the only other possible solution is to say they are determined by some impersonal force, some kind of fate, operative in the universe, making things turn out as they do. But what kind of benefit is this? We have then sacrificed election in love by a personal God for a kind of determinism by an impersonal force and God is no longer to be given the ultimate credit for our salvation.

e. Conclusion: Election is Unconditional:

It seems best, for the previous four reasons, to reject the idea that election is based on God’s foreknowledge of our faith. We conclude instead that the reason for election is simple God’s sovereign choice – he "destined us in love to be his sons" (Eph. 1:5). God chose us simply because he decided to bestow his love upon us. It was not because of any foreseen faith or foreseen merit in us.

This understanding of election has traditionally been called "unconditional election." It is "unconditional" because it is not conditioned upon anything that God sees in us that makes us worthy of his choosing us

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Subdued by sovereign love!

Posted by Dan C. on

(The following is by C. H. Spurgeon)

“All that the Father gives me shall come to me.” – John 6:37

This declaration involves the doctrine of election–there are some whom the Father gave to Christ.

It involves the doctrine of effectual calling–these who are given must and shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it, yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.
It teaches us the indispensable necessity of faith–for even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they come to Jesus.

Even they must come, for there is no other way to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. All that the Father gives to our Redeemer must come to him, therefore none can come to heaven except they come to Christ.

Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words “shall come.” He does not say they have power to come, nor they may come if they will, but they “shall come.”

The Lord Jesus does by his messengers, his word, and his Spirit, sweetly and graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of his marriage supper. And this he does, not by any violation of the free agency of man, but by the power of his grace.

Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of his Holy Spirit operating upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields cheerfully to his government, subdued by sovereign love!

But how shall those be known whom God has chosen? By this result– that they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to him with simple and sincere faith, resting upon him as all their salvation and all their desire.

Reader, have you thus come to Jesus?

God’s Sovereign Choices

Posted by Dan C. on

Reflect on God’s purposes in choosing in these passages:

Num 17:5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you."

Deu 17:15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.

1Sa 2:28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me?

Deu 12:21 If the place that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.

Deu 21:5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD,

1Ch 28:4 Yet the LORD God of Israel chose me from all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever.

Mar 13:20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

Act 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Joh 13:18 I know whom I have chosen.

Joh 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you…

Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

2Th 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved.

God always has a specific purpose in His acts of ‘choosing’. He is God Almighty and His purposes shall never be thwarted.