By Evangelist Mike Gendron

This engaging question has prompted many discussions and debates over God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. In answering the question, I am aware of the stricter judgment that awaits me if I mishandle the word of God (Jas. 3:1). My passion is to always honor and glorify God and never misrepresent His character. Scripture reveals that our sovereign Lord not only chose to save certain sinners, but He also ordained the means by which He will convert them. God established His eternal decree to save His people when they hear and believe His Word (Rom. 10:13-17). It is for this reason the Lord of the Harvest commissioned His church to proclaim His Gospel. Every Christian has been given the awesome responsibility and highest privilege to call people to repent and trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

God Promises Success in Evangelism

As an evangelist, I have come to love the doctrine of election. There is a sense of relief knowing, that when I evangelize, the eternal destinies of souls are not dependent upon my persuasive ability to convert them. God guarantees success whenever His elect hear His Gospel. Jesus promised, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me” (John 6:37, 65). Not some, not most, but all. This sovereign act of God will eventually result in the conversion of those He has given to the Son. This occurred when Paul proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch – “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). The elect will come to Jesus as Christians proclaim the voice of the Good Shepherd. He promised that when His sheep hear His voice, they will follow Him (John 10:27).  Whenever Christians sow the imperishable seed of God’s living Word, He promises to bring forth life when the seeds fall on fertile soil (1 Cor. 3:7; 1 Pet. 1:23). Success in evangelism is therefore guaranteed by God’s sovereign decree. What an encouragement it is to know that God causes those whom He has chosen to come to Him (Psalm 65:4). Man can never thwart God’s predetermined plan and purpose.

Doctrine of Election

Election, as defined in Scripture, tells us that God, in eternity past, before all things were created, chose specific individuals to be saved by His unmerited grace. He chose them according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will. Paul wrote, “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thes. 2:13). In another epistle Paul said, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). The Father chose His elect to be justified and totally glorified (Rom. 8:29-30). In a general sense God desires all men to be saved  (1 Tim. 2:4). However, He decreed to save only some, and then He wrote their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 17:8).

If the choice were left up to man, no one would choose God. Paul makes this clear without exception, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God” (Rom. 3:11; Ps. 14:2-3). Clearly, rebellious sinners could never choose Christ on their own free will; they choose Christ because He first chose them (John 15:16). Why does God choose some and pass over others? His purpose is hidden in the secret counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). God’s purpose has been established, and He will accomplish it all for His good pleasure (Isa. 46:10).

Man’s Inability to Choose God

Scripture presents a clear contrast between God who is able to save and man who is unable. Man’s inability is due to the corruption of his nature and his rebellion and hatred of God (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:1-7). God includes everyone in His invitations, but sinners exclude themselves because of their enslavement to sin. Their bondage to sin keeps them from coming to God. The Bible teaches that we are all born spiritually dead with a sin nature that corrupts our senses and limits our “free will.” Opponents of divine election deny this and teach that man has the free will to choose God and come to Him for salvation. However, Scripture proves this is humanly impossible. We cannot know God (Mat. 11:27); we cannot please God (Rom. 8:8); we cannot see the light of the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:4); we cannot understand spiritual truths (1 Cor. 2:14); we cannot hear the Words of Christ (John 8:43); and we cannot come to Jesus (John 6:44).

The unregenerate man lives in the lusts of his flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Only when God causes the spiritually dead to come alive in Christ can they see, hear, know and understand the Gospel, and thus, come to Jesus in faith (Col. 2:13). No one can become a child of God by their own will or by the will of their flesh (John 1:13). There is nothing man can do on his own to be adopted into God’s family. Only by God’s will can anyone be brought forth through the word of truth (Jas 1:18). “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16). Sovereign election underscores not only the inability of man but also the freedom of God to save sinners according to His own purpose and grace (Titus 3:5; 2 Tim. 1:9). Those who are not recipients of His grace will remain in bondage to sin, captive to their own fleshly desires and hostile towards God (Rom. 8:7).

A Doctrine Hotly Contested

Although divine election is clearly presented throughout Scripture, it remains one of the most hotly debated doctrines in church history. Christians who reject the biblical doctrine of election do so for one of the following reasons: 1) pride – they believe man has the free will to release himself  from the bondage and power of sin, and then come to Jesus; 2) man-centered evangelism – they enjoy taking credit for persuading people to “accept” Jesus; 3) fear – they refuse to accept that their loved ones may not belong to the elect; and 4) a distorted view of God – they say God is unjust by choosing to save some while passing over others. Paul anticipated these objections when he wrote, “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God…Does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?” (Rom. 9:19-23). Is man so prideful that, as a depraved sinner, he has a  better plan than an infinitely holy and eternally righteous God? Scripture soundly rebukes this foolish idea! “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'” (Isa. 55:8-9). Those who deny election are usurping God of His absolute control over His creation and the right to choose His own family. They wittingly or unwittingly rob God of His glory, which is a dangerous position to take.

God does not treat everyone the same, but He does treat everyone justly. Some receive justice, which they deserve, and some receive mercy, which they don’t deserve (Rom. 9:15). Election does not mean that God chose some for heaven and some for hell. Every passage of the Bible that reveals divine election deals with it in the context of salvation, not damnation. Nowhere is anyone elected for hell. The only support for such a view is human logic, not Scripture. Clearly, all of us deserve the eternal fires of hell as the just punishment for our sin. People end up in hell because they rebelled against their Holy God and Creator. It is not man’s love for God that is the motivating factor behind anyone being saved but God’s amazing, unfathomable love for fallen man (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 3:1). We must never forget that God is glorified both when His righteous justice is executed on sinners as well as when His mercy is graciously bestowed on the elect. “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy…for Thy righteous acts have been revealed” (Rev. 15:4).

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

God is sovereign, but He made man responsible for his actions. To some, this appears to be a paradox. The two subjects are often set in opposition to each other rather than harmonized together. Both are true and both are found in the Word of God. We see that all men are held responsible for what they believe. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life…He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16, 18). Yet we also hear Jesus saying, “You do not believe because you are not my sheep” (John 10:26).

The harmony of these two subjects are hidden somewhere in the infinite mind of God. They stretch man’s ability to comprehend the perfect purpose of God (Ecc. 11:5). This is good, since it gives us a greater desire to know Him and, in turn, it causes us to dig deeper into His Word.  We must praise God for who He is and honor Him for His sovereign grace.   

Motivations to Proclaim the Gospel

We must be diligent in proclaiming the Gospel because God is pleased to save those who believe it as His Spirit works in their hearts. The faithful Christian knows that God is in control and He moves us to do the work He has prepared for us. We evangelize because we are sent by God to reconcile the world to Himself through Christ. What a royal privilege it is to represent the King of kings as His ambassadors to a lost and dying world. Like Paul, we must “endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10). It is true we do not know who the chosen ones are, but we do know this: “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13). We also know that people will believe the Gospel as the Spirit of Truth reveals it’s glory and illuminates the Word to them. 

The answer to “why evangelize?” is very simple – obedience! God has commissioned His saints to call the lost sheep to the Shepherd. No longer thundering from the mountain or from the burning bush, He uses Christians to accomplish His task of getting His Word to the elect. In closing, let us be motivated with this encouraging thought: Divine election is like a net cast into the sea – it does not drive the fish away, but draws them in. This should inspire us all to cast out the Gospel net more faithfully for God’s glory!

http://pro-gospel.org/x2/content/view/65/51/

. . .to a friend who is convinced I’m full of flawed logic, that I’m just trying to convince others of my ‘opinion’, that this blog might just be a waste of time about stuff that doesn’t really matter. If he and others take what say as personal attacks, it is not. There was a time when I would have thought they were personally attacking me! Then I read the Bible for myself and decided to take it for what seemed to be the plain language of it’s text – what a concept!

There was too much to say in just a comment to the original post…..so here goes, beginning with the comment in black and mine in red:

This may come across as confrontational, but I am actually trying (against my better judgment) to either help you see the gaping hole in your logic, or give you a chance to fill it in for me. (You can quit going against your better judgment, and the logic isn’t ‘mine’. It’s the logic flow of scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. And since you walk in with the intent of persuading me of what you call ‘gaping holes in my logic’, rather than examining scripture [or so it seems] I could ask why are you here? Perhaps the Holy Spirit is doing something to nudge you to the truth of scripture and away from the Pope?)

If salvation works as you have said: the only people going to Heaven are the ones chosen for Heaven before the foundation of the world (Eph 2 + a lot of biblical references to predestination/having been chosen/being the called/the elect, etc.) – and those souls will NOT under any circumstances refuse the call – in fact are incapable of refusing the call. (group 1)

They can try and resist for for a time, but they will eventually come to Christ. This is because they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit – born of God (Read John 3 for starters). That call is the Word of God being applied to a new heart of flesh (not stone). The Word of God shall never return void but will accomplish all that He sets out to do (remember that passage?). What has happened in regeneration us a turning of the human will toward God as opposed to it’s former rebellion (Romans 3 again – read around vv. 10-11 to see the condition of the unregenerate man, so that the decision for Christ is from a new heart that desires/longs for God with such an intensity that the one being called WILL arrive at the Cross and drink of the water of life freely.

And conversely, a soul not in that group will never get to Heaven no matter what their desire is, or what they believe, or what they do – in fact they probably wouldn’t desire it anyway. (group 2)

The unregenerate person desires only sin, is in rebellion against God with a heart that is altogether wicked. If that one truly desires Christ, he/she will have been regenerated and able to really hear the gospel. (Acts 17 – the Lydia principle.)

Then how can you turn around and say that the answer to “why” they choose Christ is “critical”? (Because is someone chooses Christ for reasons other than having been enlightened as to their deserved fate because of sin, repenting of their sin and trusting in Christ as the divine remedy, they might still be under the wrath of God and bound for hell – ‘other reason’ such as making a decision for Christ based on the words of a spiritual snake-oil salesman who told them to come to Christ for their best life now, to discover their special purpose, to have their lives ‘fixed’, to find material wealth or ‘success’ in their career—-pick one.) How can it be that it matters at all if I have come to address my sin, or not? (You must be kidding. Sin is the central issue of the gospel message. If you are in group 1, you WILL address your sin, because the inward call of God calls you to ‘repent and believe the gospel’. In fact ‘Repent’ is the first word of the gospel preached by John the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Repentance means confronting sin. If you don’t confront it, what is their to repent from? And even repentance is a gift from God (See 2 Timothy 2:25 and Acts 11:18). If I am in group 1, even if I am in total error currently, your system says it will somehow turn around and work out (I will be drawn and I will answer) before I die. If I am in group 2, then it doesn’t matter if I try to address my sin or not, I will fail. I was created to be damned.

No one is created to be damned. We are born on death row. (Read Rom 3 and Eph 2 again)

In your system (not my system ) whether or not I think I am saved, or want to be, is irrelevant. How I act may indicate whether I am, but it doesn’t actually influence the outcome, right?

You got it. Works cannot save a man, nor can they keep one safely in the arms of God. (Eph 2:8-9) Saving faith will however produce good works. (See James)

And ultimately, if that is the way it works, why argue with people? Why do you have this blog? Why do you care about so many weak preachers or churches out there? If I’m in group 2, you won’t change me. If I’m in group 1, we’ll all have a good laugh about how wrong I was in Heaven, right?

Because God chose the preaching of the gospel as the ‘means’ of putting out a ‘general’ call to all people. When there are any of His elect (chosen before the foundation of the world) who have already had a regenerating work done in their hearts, they will recognize their desire situation apart from Christ (objects of God’s wrath [Rom 3] and Hell bound), ‘see’ God’s salvation in Christ and ‘run’ full speed for the Cross!

WHAT IS ONE OF US MISSING HERE DAN???

I don’t know…the plain truth of scripture? That is what it taught clearly throughout. Salvation by grace alone apart from any work, through faith alone (that is a gift from God), in Christ alone.

Do my actions make a difference? (Not to be saved, those would be ‘works’ that CANNOT save.) Does my attitude matter? (If your attitude is a result of having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (not having been sprinkled, it does. It will be an attitude that cause you to head for the Cross, confessing your sin and repenting of it.) Is my reasoning and theology important? (If you want to really know God, it does and it matters to Jesus [John 17:3]) Does confronting and abandoning the sin in my life make a difference? (Yes, if it is from a regenerated heart.) Of course I say all that matters tremendously. But for the life of me, I cannot reconcile why you think it is important. And yet you argue so passionately against what you perceive as error. (If it is not to be found in scripture/contradicts what scripture teaches about salvation, then it is apostate and ‘another’ gospel. The sort that Paul declared as cursed and deserving of Hell. That means there are thousands, if not millions of souls out there who think they are saved and remain lost. How could I NOT care?!) Even if you say it is about obedience, don’t you believe that obedience comes as a natural consequence of being in group 1? (Not sure what ‘it’ you refer to. Obedience IS a natural result of being among God’s elect, because it is God working from the inside creating an eager and willing heart to obey [Phil 2:13])

I guess what I’m getting at is please explain how, in your view of how we come to God, evangelization, in any form, by one human toward another – including your blog – is not a totally wasted effort.

Not wasted at all. God has given men the greatest privilege in the universe – the preaching of the Gospel message (which you can term a ‘general’ call as mentioned earlier). It’s THE GREAT PRIVILEGE! To be used of God in the process he has determined to use in the saving of His people. I cannot save anyone, the preaching itself saves no one, but maybe there will be a ’Lydia’ out there whose ears have been opened to hear the gospel and another of God’s elect will run to the Cross.

Go here, here and/or here and just read some of the material. You will find more specific answers to your objections.

It is my sincere prayer that God is doing a work in you and will prompt you to just read the Book for yourself, without the aid of the Pope and the Magisterium. Is not God big enough to speak to all of us equally? To whom was the Holy Spirit given according to the Bible? In whom was the promised Spirit to dwell? The promised comforter was sent to live in each and every individual believer! Read the Book. I saw that to anyone who reads this blog and hates what I have to say. I’ll say it again – there was time in my Christian (yes I said Christian) walk that I had many of the same objections to clear teaching of scripture. I was deceived ‘in church’.

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The following is a portion of an article by Tim Challies.

“We will first define regeneration. J.I. Packer thoroughly defines regeneration as “…the spiritual change wrought in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit in which his/her inherently sinful nature is changed so that he/she can respond to God in Faith, and live in accordance with His Will (Matt. 19:28; John 3:3,5,7; Titus 3:5). It is an inner re-creating of fallen human nature by the gracious sovereign action of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8). This change is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. It originates not with man but with God (John 1:12, 13; 1 John 2:29; 5:1, 4). It extends to the whole nature of man, altering his governing disposition, illuminating his mind, freeing his will, and renewing his nature.” Regeneration, said simply, is the Spirit’s act whereby He gives to man a new nature which frees his will and gives him a disposition towards God. This definition is wholly Reformed, and thus wholly Biblical.

A survey of Christian doctrine would find three predominant views on when regeneration occurs.

The first is known as baptismal regeneration. The Roman Catholic tradition, as well as that held by Anglican, and Lutheran groups, believe that regeneration occurs at the moment of baptism. When a child is baptized, the Holy Spirit immediately regenerates that person. The Catholic Catechism typifies this view: “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.” (Pg.354, #1265) This view has been deemed false by the vast majority of Protestants who believe it undermines what the Scriptures plainly teach.

The second view is that the Holy Spirit regenerates a person at a time of His choosing. I suppose we could call it monergistic regeneration to indicate that it depends solely on God. This regeneration does not depend on man or on any desire or decision on his part. The Spirit moves in the person, giving him a new nature and allowing him the capacity to express faith and a desire to know and trust God. This view is closely associated with Calvinism and the Reformed faith and its high view of God’s sovereignty.

The third view is the one we are concerned with and it emphasizes a decision, hence the term decisional regeneration. In this view man has been wooed by the Spirit to the point that is now able to have faith in God and he then expresses that faith in a decision to follow the Lord. When he makes this decision he is immediately regenerated. While the decision is internal, it is often expressed in a prayer, a physical action such as raising a hand or walking to an altar or even in something as simple as marking a decision card.”

Regeneration is the ‘new birth’ spoken of in Scripture, and the single, absolute necessity for a person to be able to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Just as an infant does not ‘decide’ to be born of flesh, the spiritually dead (everyone apart from Christ) are unable to ‘decide’ to be re-born – to be born of God. The very words of Jesus Christ in Scripture are clear:

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” – John 1:12-13

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ” – John 3:6-7

It’s not much of an intellectual challenge to read the descriptions of regeneration presented above, compare them with scripture, and determine which is biblically true. I’ll give you a hint – one is biblical and the other two are not. The two that are not are at best a form of synergism in which we are required to ‘help/cooperate’ with God.

So consider these things prayerfully and ask yourself, which form of regeneration describes how you think you were saved. My prayer this morning is that all of us who who claim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will have a biblical and richer understanding of ‘how’ God saves His People, and thus maintain in our hearts the high and lofty view of our God that He deserves and that Scripture teaches.

Your view of God will determine the entire character of your Christian walk.

Webster’s dictionary defines theology as “The science of God or of religion; the science which treats of the existence, character, and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice. . . the science of Christian faith and life.” Saint Augustine in the fifth-century defined theology as “Rational discussion respecting the deity.” A. H. Strong, the great twentieth century theologian said that theology is “the Science of God and of the relations between God and the universe.” Charles Ryrie, the popular dispensationalist theologian, says theology is “thinking about God and expressing those thoughts in some way.” (Basic Theology [Wheaton, IL: 1986], 9). Millard Erickson, a modern Baptist theologian says that theology is simply “the study or science of God.” (Christian Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001], 22).

Most simply put, theology is the study of God. It comes from the word theos which is Greek for “God,” and -ology which is from the Greek word logos meaning “word.” Most literally then the word theology means “words about God” or “the study of God.”

To say that theology is not important is saying that knowing God is not important. Jesus Christ disagrees with you.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” – John 17:3

How are we to ‘know’ God apart from studying Him, learning all we can from what He has revealed about Himself in scripture? How are we to have a proper understanding of God unless we study Him, his character and attributes? To say you love God yet have no desire to study Him, that theology is unimportant, is a self-contradiction. If you love God, it is God who has planted that love for Him in your heart. It is a spiritual impossibility to love God and NOT want to know Him more fully!

In the mid 1950’s A.W. Tozer wrote:

“The church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.”

Sadly, that is probably truer today than in 1950, if such a thing is possible.

Monergism simply means that it is God who gives ears to hear and eyes to see. It is God alone who gives illumination and understanding of His word that we might believe; It is God who raises us from the dead, who circumcises the heart; unplugs our ears; It is God alone who can give us a new sense that we may, at last, have the moral capacity to behold His beauty and unsurpassed excellency. The apostle John recorded Jesus saying to Nicodemus that we naturally love darkness, hate the light and WILL NOT come into the light (John 3:19, 20). And since our hardened resistance to God is thus seated in our affections, only God, by His grace, can lovingly change, overcome and disarm our rebellious disposition. The natural man, apart from the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, will not come to Christ on his own since he is at enmity with God and cannot understand spiritual things. Shining a light into a blind man’s eyes will not enable his to see, since, as we all know, sight requires new eyes or some restoration of his visual faculty. Likewise, reading or hearing the word of God itself cannot elicit saving faith in the reader (or hearer) unless the Spirit first “germinates” the seed of the word in the heart, so to speak, which then infallibly gives rise to our faith and union with Christ. Like unto Lydia whom “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul,” (Acts 16:14) He must also give all His people spiritual life and understanding if their hearts are to be open and thus turn (respond) to Christ in faith.

Since faith is infinitely beyond all the power of our unregenerated human nature, it is only God who can give the spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see the beauty of Christ in the gospel. God alone disarms the hostility of the sinner turning his heart of stone to a heart of flesh. It is God, the Holy Spirit, alone who gives illumination and understanding of His word that we might believe; It is God who raises us from the death of sin, who circumcises the heart; unplugs our ears; It is God alone who can give us a new sense, a spiritual capacity to behold the beauty and unsurpassed excellency of Jesus Christ. The apostle John recorded Jesus saying to Nicodemus that we naturally love darkness, hate the light and WILL NOT come into the light (John 3:19, 20). And since our hardened resistance to God is thus seated in our affections, only God, by His grace, can lovingly change, overcome and pacify our rebellious disposition. The natural man, apart from the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, will not come to Christ on his own since he is at enmity with God and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14). Shining a light into a blind man’s eyes will not enable him to see, because eyesight first requires a set of healthy eyes. Likewise, reading or hearing the word of God alone cannot elicit saving faith in the reader (1 Thess 1:4, 5) unless God plows up the fallow ground of our hearts and the Spirit “germinates” the seed of the word, opening our eyes to see Christ’s true beauty and excellency and uniting us to Him through a Spirit-wrought faith. So the problem of conversion is not with the Word or God’s Law but with man’s prideful heart. The humility required to submit to the gospel is, therefore, not prompted by man’s will but by God’s mercy (Rom 9:16) since no one can believe the gospel unless God grants it (John 6:63, 65). The Spirit must likewise give all His people spiritual life and understanding if their hearts are to be opened and thus respond to Christ in faith.
Definition
The Century Dictionary’s definition of monergism may be helpful:

“In theology, [monergism is] the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration [the new birth] – that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated [born again], and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration.”

Etymology
The word “monergism” consists of two main parts. The Greek prefix “mono” signifies “one”, “single”, or “alone” while the suffix “ergon” means “to work”. Taken together it means “the work of one”.

Very simply, then, monergism is the doctrine that our new birth (or “quickening”) is the work of God, the Holy Spirit alone, with no contribution of man, since the natural man, of himself, has no desire for God and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14, Rom 3:11,12; Rom 8:7; John 3:19, 20). Man remains resistant to all outward callings of the gospel until the Spirit comes to disarm us, call us inwardly and implant in us new holy affections for God. Our faith comes about only as the immediate result of the Spirit working faith in us in the hearing of the proclamation of the word. But just as God does not force us to see against our will when He gives us physical eyes, so God does not force us to believe against our will when giving us spiritual eyes. God gives the gift of sight and we willingly exercise it.

Application
Monergism strips us of all hope to ourselves, reveals our spiritual bankruptcy apart from Christ, and thus leads us to give all glory to God alone for our salvation. As long as we think we contributed something, even a little bit (like good intentions) then we still think deep down that God saves us for something good he sees in us over our neighbor. But this is clearly not the case. Only Jesus makes us to differ from anyone else. We are all sinners and can boast in nothing before God, including the desire for faith in Christ (Phil 1:29, Eph 2:8, 2 Tim 2:25). For why do we have faith and not our neighbor? Please consider that. Did we make better use of God’s grace than he did? Were we smarter? More sensitive? Do some naturally love God? The answer is ‘no’ to all of the above. It is God’s grace in Christ that makes us to differ from our neighbor and God’s grace alone that gave rise to our faith, not because we were better or had more insight. No other element but Jesus mercy alone.

When the Spirit enables us to see that we fail to live up to God’s holy law, man will utterly despair of himself. Then, as C.H. Spurgeon said:

“… the Holy Spirit comes and shows the sinner the cross of Christ, gives him eyes anointed with heavenly eye-salve, and says, “Look to yonder cross. That Man died to save sinners; you feel you are a sinner; He died to save you.” And then the Holy Spirit enables the heart to believe, and come to Christ.”

To conclude, “…no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’, except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3) . …who is the deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5). Thus it should become plain to us that not everyone receives this redemptive blessing from Christ. God bestows it mercifully on whom He will according to His sovereign good pleasure (Rom 9:15-18; Eph 1:4, 5). The rest will continue in their willful rebellion, making choices according to their natural desires and thus receive the wrath of God’s justice. That is why it is called “mercy” – not getting what we deserve. If God were obligated to give it to all men then, by definition, it would not longer be mercy. This should not surprise us … what should surprise us is God’s amazing love, that He would save a sinner like me at all.
End

“⁵Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test! ⁶I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. ⁷But we pray to God that you may not do wrong–not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.” – 2 Corinthians 13:5-7 (ESV)

More often than not, we use these verses in reference to the salvation of the believer. In context, the Apostle is speaking to members of the church at Corinth and speaking primarily of sanctification. Verse 7 tells us this:

“⁷But we pray to God that you may not do wrong–not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.”

That the verse begins with “But…” is significant because. Grammatically speaking, it means that the words that precede it in verses 6 & 7 are part of Paul’s complete thought, and the remainder of verse 7 completes the writer’s thought.

Clearly, the “test” spoken of refers to what a person “does’; how he/she behaves as a believer. Paul speaks of himself and his brothers in ministry having “met the test” and immediately speaks of the believers in Corinth “doing right”.

This does not mean we cannot use these passages in reference to salvation, only that they speak primarily to the subject of our ongoing sanctification in Christ Jesus. Surely salvation and sanctification are connected! What we ‘do’ reflects our salvation, but does not save us. Also, just because a person ‘does’ right, does not mean he/she has truly received Christ as Savior and Lord. People bound by false religion ‘do’ good works in the world’s eyes.

Paul’s focus here is that if we claim Christ, obedience to God and holy living become part of our lives. If If they are not evident in our lives, we have every cause to question whether or not we are truly “of the faith”.

If that is the case, we are right to ask the question, “Am I even saved?” The answer to that question begins with another question: “What was the gospel message in which I placed my trust?” Did I receive Christ in order to have my present life “fixed?”, or did I come to Christ with a heart of repentance and for the forgiveness of my sin, in order to receive eternal life instead of God’s holy and just wrath against my sin?”

Points to ponder for the new year.

That God draws men to Himself is without dispute. Who can argue with the very words of Christ in John 6:44?

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The point of contention has always been whether or not a person is able to, in the end, resist God’s drawing power. There are those who maintain, quite adamantly at times, that Christ’s death merely made salvation ‘possible’ for those who, on their own, ‘accept the gift’. There are also those who maintain that Christ not only paid the price for our salvation, but actually secured the salvation of the those for whom He died, just as the angel announced to Joseph (Matthew 1:20 ,21).

God does not ‘force’ salvation on anyone, but He does draw them irresistibly to himself. You could say that God offers His elect an offer they won’t refuse. You could describe it using the four steps shown below. Certain passages of scripture are offered to whet your spiritual appetites and encourage further investigation of scripture into the matter.

Concerning one of His elect, chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1 & 2):

1. God convicts him of sin, and he repents. (Acts 2:36-38)

2. God enlightens him by His Spirit, and He beholds the Christ in all His beauty of salvation. (John 6:45)

3. God allures and attracts, and he longs for the God of his salvation. (1 John 4:19)

4. God seals him, and he appropriates the Christ and all His benefits. (Ephesians 1:13)

Please note that it is God doing all these things, and not man. Especially note that there is a confrontation with sin (the human condition), in all it’s ugliness! It is precisely this initial step of drawing that is either omitted or perverted in much of today’s evangelism. We just don’t talk about it, or we speak of lightly, as if sin is just our little mistakes and boo-boos. We would rather just speak of how much God loves us, what wonderful plans He has for us, how much He wants to fix all of life’s problems, etc., that speak of the real issue. In other words, we would make Christ so appealing to the natural mind and flesh (which is in rebellion against God,) that we produce a host of false converts who merely think they are saved!

God is so gracious however, that when His elect sit among the non-seeking seekers’ (Romans 3:11), He will still convict, enlighten, attract, and seal, in spite of bad preaching!

What a mighty God we serve!

May God richly bless you throughout the new year!

This is an excellent summary of the sovereignty of God in salvation, authored by John MacArthur Jr.. 

Election is the act of God whereby in eternity past He chose those who will be saved. Election is unconditional, because it does not depend on anything outside of God, such as good works or foreseen faith (Romans 9:16). This doctrine is repeatedly taught in the Bible, and is also demanded by our knowledge of God. To begin with, let’s look at the biblical evidence.

The Bible says prior to salvation, all people are dead in sin– spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-3). In this state of death, the sinner is utterly unable to respond to any spiritual stimulus and therefore unable to love God, obey Him, or please Him in any way. Scripture says the mind of every unbeliever “is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8, emphasis added). That describes a state of total hopelessness: spiritual death.

The effect of all this is that no sinner can ever make the first move in the salvation process. This is what Jesus meant in John 6:44, when He said, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

This is also why the Bible repeatedly stresses that salvation is wholly God’s work. In Acts 13:48 we read, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

Acts 16 tells us that Lydia was saved when, ” . . . the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

Romans 8:29-30 states, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Ephesians 1:4-5,11 reads, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will . . . also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”

Ephesians 2:8 suggests that even our faith is a gift from God.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, the apostle Paul tells his readers, “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation.”

Second Timothy 1:9 informs us that God “has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

Occasionally someone will suggest that God’s election is based on His foreknowledge of certain events. This argument suggests that God simply looks into the future to see who will believe, and He chooses those whom He sees choosing Him. Notice that 1 Peter 1:2 says the elect are chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” and Romans 8:29 says, “whom He foreknew, He also predestined.” And if divine foreknowledge simply means God’s knowledge of what will happen in advance, then these arguments may appear to have some weight behind them.

But that is not the biblical meaning of “foreknowledge.” When the Bible speaks of God’s foreknowledge, it refers to God’s establishment of a love relationship with that person. The word “know,” in both the Old and New Testament, refers to much more than mere cognitive knowledge of a person. Such passages as Hosea 13:4-5; Amos 3:2 (KJV); and Romans 11:2 clearly indicate this. For example, 1 Peter 1:20 says Christ was “foreknown before the foundation of the world.” Surely this means more than that God the Father looked into the future to behold Christ! It means He had an eternal, loving relationship with Him. The same is true of the elect, whom we are told God “foreknew” (Romans 8:29). That means He knew them–he loved them–before the foundation of the world.

If God’s choice of the elect is unconditional, does this rule out human responsibility? Paul asks and answers that very question in Romans 9:19-20. He says God’s choice of the elect is an act of mercy. Left to themselves, even the elect would persist in sin and be lost, because they are taken from the same fallen lump of clay as the rest of humanity. God alone is responsible for their salvation, but that does not eradicate the responsibility of those who persist in sin and are lost–because they do it willfully, and not under compulsion. They are responsible for their sin, not God.

The Bible affirms human responsibility right alongside the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Moreover, the offer of mercy in the gospel is extended to all alike. Isaiah 55:1 and Revelation 22:17 call “whosoever will” to be saved. Isaiah 45:22 and Acts 17:30 command all men to turn to God, repent and be saved. First Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 tell us that God is not willing that any should perish, but desires that all should be saved. Finally, the Lord Jesus said that, “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).

In summary, we can say that God has had a special love relationship with the elect from all eternity, and on the basis of that love relationship chosen them for salvation. The ultimate question of why God chose some for salvation and left others in their sinful state is one that we, with our finite knowledge, cannot answer. We do know that God’s attributes always are in perfect harmony with each other, so that God’s sovereignty will always operate in perfect harmony with His goodness, love, wisdom, and justice.

Sadly, there are many professing Christians who hate the doctrine of election, and almost always exclaim “Calvin, Calvin!”, even though they can 1) read and 2) even though what is written in scripture predates Calvin by quite a few years. Sounds rather silly, doesn’t it? Nevertheless, many professing believers worship at the altar of ‘autonomous free will decision’, stubbornly resisting the idea that they didn’t really help God with their decision for Christ, absolutely refusing to believe that God is powerful enough to give life to the dead and then turn their very wills toward Himself, so that from there own wills, gladly choose Christ.

What an awfully low view of the God! 

I have a four old grandson who loves trucks and trains. In fact he would love to drive them. However, just because he would like to hop in an 18-wheeler, doesn’t mean he is able. Several other things must take place, chief among them being that he must be capable of driving an 18-wheeler.

“Whosoever is athirst may drink, whosoever is hungry may eat, whosoever is in need may ask, and he will receive; whosoever desires salvation may seek, and he shall find; whosoever is weary and burdened may come to Jesus for rest: whosoever will may come. … The same Bible that repeatedly emphasizes in many ways that “whosoever will may come,” also teaches very emphatically that the salvation of the sinner never and in no sense depends on the will of the sinner to come, but only on the sovereign will of God who is the Lord. … O, indeed, “whosoever will may come;” but this is also true: “no man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” And again: “Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father.” John 6:44, 65 –

When a man sings or preaches, “Whosoever will may come,” he presents what is undoubtedly true. And to this we have no objection. Indeed, it is true that whoever will may come to Christ, and will surely be received. Never a man will appear in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will be able to say that he longed, and desired, and willed, and sought earnestly to come, but was refused. But if a man preaches no more than this, he, nevertheless, fails to present the full truth of the gospel as it is in Christ Jesus and revealed to us in Holy writ. He speaks a half truth which, because of its deceptive nature, is more dangerous than a direct and plain falsehood. A large part, the more basic and, therefore, more important part of the truth he forgets or intentionally omits. He is unfaithful to his ministry unless he adds: no one can come unless the Father draw him”; it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

– Herman Hoeksema, from “Whosoever Will”, Copyright 1945 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company