{"id":19093,"date":"2016-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-002\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:18:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:18:12","slug":"soteriology-002","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-002\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 002"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[106],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19093","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-peter","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 002","sermon_date":"20160113","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":20091,"sermon_slides":20092,"sermon_mp3":20093,"sermon_id":"115162247114","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":106,"chapter_and_verse":"3:9","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nSoteriology 002, 2 Peter 3:9\nJanuary 13, 2016\n\nWelcome to part two, Doctrine of Salvation, and last time we basically looked at the definition of soteriology, which is the doctrine of salvation. And then we looked at the three tenses of salvation. If you\u2019re trying to follow me on those notes I handed out last time you might get frustrated a little bit because I added some slides, but all the slides that I give are on our website, posted there now.\n\nBut tonight, and I wanted to do this just to get it over with because it\u2019s one of those very difficult topics, it\u2019s one of the great mysteries of the Bible, it\u2019s the whole subject of election versus free will. And here we\u2019re trying to figure out, do we choose God or does God choose us? And my answer is yes, as I\u2019ll show you. So I\u2019m going to try to talk to about 8:00 and then we\u2019ll open it up for questions and answers about 8:00 o\u2019clock.\n\nSo here we are, having dealt with the definition of soteriology, now we\u2019re getting into this whole subject of election and I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ll be able to finish all of this tonight but we\u2019ll give it a good attempt. We\u2019re going to look at the definition and uses of the term \u201celection.\u201d We\u2019re going to try to understand election in the totality of God\u2019s character. I\u2019ll show you the biblical case for divine sovereignty, God chooses us and then I\u2019ll show you the case for human responsibility, we choose God. And I\u2019ll try to convince you that the Bible teaches both of these. And then as time permits I\u2019m going to try to steer us, warn us, about extremes people fall into on either side of this debate and so we\u2019ll try to stay away from those extremes as I warn you about it. But it\u2019s a very delicate difficult subject for us, for the finite human mind to wrap itself around.\n\nBut first of all, definition and uses. I got this definition from Charles Ryrie: Election is the action of God in choosing those who will be saved as members of the body of Christ. I\u2019ll show you the passages in a little bit but at some point in eternity past God made a move towards you and towards me, and decided to bless us with His grace.\n\nNow before we get into that particular issue of election one of the things to understand is that the concept of election, God choosing us, is all over the Bible. It\u2019s a doctrine that\u2019s impossible to escape. And you can take it from me, for many years I tried to escape it because it didn\u2019t seem very American to me that God chooses some and not others.\n\nFor example, just to give you a few usages of this (I hope you brought your Bible with you), Deuteronomy 4:37, this is how God dealt with the nation of Israel at the beginning of His program with Israel. Deuteronomy 4:37 says of Israel, \u201cBecause He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them.\u201d So why didn\u2019t God use the Egyptians as His chosen nation? Why didn\u2019t He use the Phoenicians? Why didn\u2019t He use the Assyrians? Well, you have to ask God about that because God made a choice to choose Israel as His instrument of blessing to the world.\n\nWell, I know why God chose Israel, because they\u2019re better at money, Jews are, they\u2019re smarter, they\u2019ve got more of their kids in medical school and law school\u2026 NO, if you look at Deuteronomy 7:7 it says, \u201cThe LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the other peoples, for,\u201d in fact, \u201cyou were the fewest of all peoples.\u201d So God did not choose the nation of Israel because of some quality in them. And this is basically what you call unconditional election, election towards them without any condition in them as to why He chose them; it\u2019s something God, in His sovereignty, decided to do.\n\nIn the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, verses 1-4 you learn about a guy named Cyrus, Cyrus was God\u2019s instrument to release the children of Israel out of the Babylonian captivity for 70 years, and in Isaiah 45:1 it says, \u201cThus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed\u2026.\u201d And then down in verse 4 it says, \u201cFor the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen one, I have called your name.\u201d Now this is 200 years before the man was born. God called out through the writings of Isaiah, the prophecies of Isaiah, Cyrus, and He said he is going to be my chosen instrument through which the nation of Israel is going to be released from the seventy year captivity.\n\n[Isaiah 45:1, \u201cThus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: [2] \u201cI will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. [3] \u201cI will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.\u201d [4] For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.\u201d NASB]\n\nAnd what\u2019s so interesting about this is to the best of our knowledge Cyrus was not even a believer, because Isaiah 45:4, Cyrus, a Persian, it says this: \u201cFor the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel my chosen one, I have called you by your name, I have given you your title, though you have not known me.\u201d So this man, Cyrus, had no personal relationship with the Lord at all and yet 200 years before the man was born God called his name and chose him as the instrument through which the nation would be released from the seventy year captivity.\n\nIsaiah 42:1, there Jesus, as the branch is called the \u201cchosen one. So God the Father chose God the Son to fulfill His great role through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. [Isaiah 42:1, \u201c\u2018Behold, My servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.\u201d]\n\nI have to go through these verses fast, I\u2019m sorry for that, Matthew 24:22 it talks about the elect, for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Well, who are the elect? In context it\u2019s the chosen ones in the tribulation period. So there are believers in the tribulation period, probably, I would guess, believing Jews, and they are called \u201cthe elect\u201d or \u201cthe chosen of God.\u201d [Matthew 24:22, \u201c\u2018Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.\u2019\u201d]\n\nAnd then if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ what you\u2019ll discover is you are also \u201cthe chosen of God.\u201d That\u2019s the terminology that the Bible uses. Colossians 3:12 would be an example of that, and then also in the book of Titus, chapter 1, verse 1. [Colossians 3:12, \u201cSo, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.\u201d] It\u2019s sort of interesting to me that when the Biblical New Testament writers talk about this subject of election they typically mention it right at the beginning of the book; sometimes in the first verse. And I find that interesting because we, as evangelicals, are kind of embarrassed by this doctrine, but God\u2019s not. Titus 1:1 it says, \u201cPaul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the foreknowledge of the truth which is in accordance with godliness.\u201d So you see all these different usages of election and God choosing, all over the Scripture.\n\nNow one of the things that I got very troubled about as a very new Christian is I sat and studied this doctrine in isolation of everything else the Bible teaches about God. So I sat and meditated and meditated and meditated on this doctrine without studying the totality of God\u2019s Word and I started to get a bitter spirit because I started to think well, God is not fair. And I would caution you against that. When the doctrine of election or God\u2019s choosing is revealed in the Bible it\u2019s never revealed in isolation of His other attributes. It\u2019s always brought forth in the totality of who God is.\n\nFor example, take a look at Ephesians 1:4-5. Now if your English teacher ever gets mad at you for run-on sentences just quote the Apostle Paul, because Ephesians 4, really through 14, is one giant sentence in Greek. It\u2019s what you call a massive run on sentence. And the reason that\u2019s significant is because you look at verse 4, it says, \u201cHe chose us in Him,\u201d so there\u2019s His calling or choosing of us, and then because this sentence is one giant sentence it\u2019s all linked to God\u2019s other attributes. If you go down to the end of verse 4 you\u2019ll see love, if you go towards the beginning of verse 6 you\u2019ll see glory. As you move into verse 11 you\u2019ll see according to His eternal purpose, or His purpose.\n\n[Ephesians 1:4-14, \u201cjust as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love [5] He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace [8] which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight [9] He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him [10] with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him [11] also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, [12] to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. [13] In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise [14] who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.\u201d]\n\nSo the way the Bible reveals this subject of election is it wants us to understand that God, when He exercises this prerogative of choice does so in harmony with all of His other attributes. And that\u2019s what I was missing as a new Christian where I was just focused on this one doctrine and becoming bitter against God because I didn\u2019t understand it all. But now kind of in hind sight what I\u2019ve learned to do when I don\u2019t understand something in the Bible, or where something doesn\u2019t seem fair to me, and there are things in the Bible that I don\u2019t understand and still don\u2019t seem fair to me, at the end of the day I just rest in who He is, and it\u2019s to the point now where I don\u2019t have to understand everything. And kind of as you grow in Christ, you know, as a new Christian I used to want all the loose ends battened down but now growing in a knowledge of God\u2019s attributes I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s necessary that I understand everything because I know at the end of the day whether I understand God doing something or not, God is a God of love and grace and mercy and He doesn\u2019t exercise this attribute, or this prerogative of choosing independent of who He is.\n\nI know this also at the end of the day, that the Bible, two times, 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9, both times it says who does God want saved? The world, everybody. He desires that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of Him. [1 Timothy 2:4, \u201cwho desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.\u2019 2 Peter 3:9, \u201cThe Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.\u201d]\n\nAnd one of the verses that I go back to quite a bit in my personal walk with the Lord is the book of Isaiah, chapter 55, and verses 8-9. Whenever you find yourself frustrated with God you have to remember that your mind is just a little pea in comparison to an ocean, and God knows things we don\u2019t know. Isaiah 55:8-9 God says, \u201c\u2018For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,\u2019 declares the LORD. [5] \u2018For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo that\u2019s just an exhortation as we look at this controversial and difficult doctrine tonight to try to look at it in harmony with everything the Scripture reveals about God that kind of makes the hard medicine go down a little bit easier, I\u2019ve discovered personal experience.\n\nSo the concept of election is used many, many places in the Bible, as we have seen, in many different ways, and the Scripture asks us, or invites us to examine this doctrine in harmony with God\u2019s total attributes.\n\nHaving said all of that let me lay out the case for divine sovereignty, and if you happen to believe in free will at the exclusion of divine sovereignty don\u2019t get mad at me quite yet because in a little bit I\u2019ll be laying out the case for free will. And what I want to communicate to you is the Bible really teaches both of these ideas.\n\nSo let\u2019s take a look at divine sovereignty. Take a look at John 6:44. What do we mean by divine sovereignty? What we mean is God chooses us, and I\u2019ll show you Scriptures for these points. What I\u2019m talking about is a pre-temporal choice (pre-temporal means ahead of time), in other words, before time existed God made a decision to unilaterally make a move of grace towards you. It\u2019s a pre-temporal choice of God as to who would be saved, and the passing by of others.\n\nThis is, as I tried to show you with God\u2019s working with Israel, the way it\u2019s presented in the Bible is I believe it\u2019s unconditional, meaning God in eternity past didn\u2019t look at me and said well, you know Andy, I know you\u2019re going to grow up and you\u2019re going to become the pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church so I\u2019ll choose you, because there\u2019s some kind of quality in you that\u2019s admirable. NO, that would make God\u2019s choice of me conditional, right? Conditioned in something in me. And what I think the Scripture teaches is an unconditional choice that He has made towards us.\n\nNow let me give you some verses that I think support this. There are several in the Gospel of John. John 6:44, I\u2019m going to give you some of the strongest divine sovereignty verses that I know of in the Scripture. John 6:44, Jesus is speaking, \u201cNo one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him\u2026.\u201d Now this word \u201cdraw\u201d is helky\u014d and it\u2019s the same verb that\u2019s used in John 21:6 and verse 11, regarding the miraculous catch of fish. [John 21:6, \u201cAnd He said to them, \u2018Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch\u2019\u2026 John 21:11, \u201cSimon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish\u2026.\u201d]\n\nRemember what was happening, they were dragging (that\u2019s the word \u201cdraw\u201d there), they were dragging the fish into the boat with resistance. So if the word is used the same way here in John 6:44, what God has done is he has drawn you to Himself. In fact, if God did not exercise grace towards you and draw you to Himself you really couldn\u2019t come because Romans 3:11 says no one seeks God. [Romans 3:11, \u201cThere is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.\u201d]\n\nLuke 19:10 says, \u201cFor the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.\u201d So I used to think, as a new Christian I woke up one day and said you know, today\u2019s the day I\u2019m going to get saved. And in hind sight I realize what happened; God set the whole thing up, He put the right conversations together, the right people in my path, the right life experiences where I was spiritually seeking God, searching for God, He was drawing me. And what was I doing? Oh, I was like that catch of fish in a net, I was resisting. So people say well, what role to we play in salvation. Well, here\u2019s our role, we resisted God, we fought Him, and yet He in His compassion drew us to Himself.\n\nYou\u2019ll see the same thing down in John 6:65, \u201c\u2018For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.\u2019\u201d John 6:69-70, \u201c\u2018We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.\u2019 [70] Jesus answered them, \u2018Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?\u2019\u201d So the apostle said we made a choice towards You God, and Jesus comes back and says I made a choice toward you before you made a choice towards Me.\n\nTake a look at John 15:16 for a minute, at the very beginning of Christ\u2019s ministry Jesus called the disciples, and as you\u2019re going there I\u2019m going to read to you Matthew 4:20, \u201cAnd He said to them, \u2018Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.\u201d Verse 20 of Matthew 4 says, \u201cImmediately they left their nets and followed Him.\u201d See how it\u2019s putting the action of their part?\n\nSo His ministry lasted, Christ\u2019s ministry lasted about three years and at the beginning of the ministry they probably thought they chose Christ, which they did. They did choose Him, \u201cthey left their nets and followed Him.\u201d Then at the very end of Christ\u2019s ministry, in the Upper Room, three years have passed, and Jesus pulls this whammy on them. John 15:16, \u201cYou did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you\u2026\u201d and so forth. So these disciples thought that they chose the Lord, I\u2019m not denying that they did, but in reality what you discover is God did something for them, to them, and He made some kind of action towards them ahead of time.\n\nMatthew 16, let\u2019s look at this real quick, one day Peter had a thought, Jesus said who do men say that I am? Peter raised his hand\u2026 the Bible doesn\u2019t say He raised his hand, but he gave the right answer. Matthew 16:15, \u201cHe said to them, \u2018But who do you say that I am?\u2019\u201d [16] Simon Peter answered, \u2018You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201d Now Peter probably thought that he had those thoughts all on his own initiative, he was the smartest guy in the room, right?\n\nBut then Jesus, in verse 17, \u201csaid to Him, \u2018Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.\u2019\u201d So Peter, you just had the wonderful thought that you had because My Father made some sort of move towards you and allowed you to have that particular thought. See, these are all verses, you start putting these together and you see God is doing things in our past, sometimes without even us being aware of them.\n\nLet\u2019s look at the book of Acts for a minute, Acts 13:48, this is a very strong sovereignty passage. This is Paul\u2019s first missionary journey where tons and tons of Gentiles are getting saved. \u201cWhen the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord;\u201d watch this, \u201cand as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.\u201d So it says a bunch of Gentiles believed, praise God! But part of the verse says they believed because they had been divinely appointed to believe. A very strong sovereignty passage there.\n\nTake a look at Acts 16:14, this is Lydia, Paul\u2019s first convert in Philippi, normally Paul would go to the synagogue first, but in Philippi there wasn\u2019t a synagogue so he went to a river, I\u2019ve actually stood by the river when I was in Israel a couple of summers ago, and He finds this woman named Lydia and this is Paul\u2019s first European convert and it\u2019s a description in Acts 16:14 how this woman got saved. It says: \u201cA woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening;\u201d look at this, \u201cand the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.\u201d\n\nAnd that\u2019s how a conversion takes place, Paul gives the message, the Lord opens somebody\u2019s heart, and the person whose heart is now opened believes. You\u2019ve got to have all three of those things happening together; a faithful proclamation of the message, the Lord opening somebody\u2019s heart, and then the person that\u2019s hearing the message responding by way of faith. But you\u2019ll notice that had the Lord not opened her heart, you get the idea that Lydia probably could not, would not have ever believed.\n\nThe book of Romans is filled with this idea. Romans 8:29-30, some verses we looked at last time, \u201cFor those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of the Son of God, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; [30] and those whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, he also glorified.\u201d Now you\u2019ll notice that we believe and are justified and on our way to future glory. But even before we believe so that we can be justified and one day glorified, God has already done three things in the past, towards us. They are a foreknowledge of us, they are a predestination of us, they are a calling of us. And we finally get into the act through human volition on step number four, where three prior steps have already been executed by God in eternity past. See, that\u2019s a very strong sovereignty passage.\n\nGrand Central Station of divine sovereignty is Romans 9 so let\u2019s look at that just for a minute. Romans 9:11, it\u2019s talking about Jacob and Esau in the womb of their mother; \u201cfor though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God\u2019s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, [12] it was said to her, \u2018THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow in the Ancient Near East it never works that way, the older never serves the younger, the rights of the firstborn always go to the older. And God says I\u2019m about to switch things around here, I\u2019m about to give My favor not to the firstborn but to Jacob rather than Esau, and as you go through the book of Genesis I think there are eleven times where this happens. In other words, God is saying I\u2019m going to do something transcultural here, I\u2019m going to do something counter cultural and it\u2019s not because one kid wound up being good and one kid wound up being bad or anything like that. It says very clearly before either child in the womb of their mother had done anything God made this choice towards Jacob and He passed over Esau.\n\nAnd then verse 13 is very troubling, \u201cJust as it is written, \u2018JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.\u201d Now you read that word \u201chate,\u201d it\u2019s not talking about emotional hatred. When the word \u201chate\u201d \u2018many times is used in the Bible it\u2019s talking about a non choice. So for example in Luke 14:26 Jesus says the requirement of discipleship is to hate your mother and father. [Luke 14:26, \u201cIf anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.\u201d]\n\nWell, obviously we\u2019re not called as Christ\u2019s disciples to hate your parents because the fifth command\u00ac\u00acment says what? \u201cHonor your mother and father.\u201d What He\u2019s saying is if you have to make a choice between mom and dad\u2019s will and God\u2019s will to be His disciple, you choose God over parents. That\u2019s what the whole concept of hatred means here. God could not hate Esau because \u201cGod so loved the world.\u201d But at the same time this word hate is used we transport our 21st century understanding of the word back into the text, but biblically it\u2019s talking about a non-choice, he chose one but not the other.\n\nAnd as you go down to Romans 9:18 it says, \u201cSo then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.\u201d And it\u2019s talking there about Pharaoh, how God actually hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart; God used Pharaoh as an instrument of oppression of the Jewish people so that God could judge Pharaoh. Now when you look at that whole story you have to understand that Pharaoh, in the book of Exodus hardened his own heart towards God, I think about six times. The Exodus narrative says Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart, and finally, it\u2019s kind of scary the way the Bible reads, it says God hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart. In other words, God finally, in His sovereignty, gave Pharaoh over to what Pharaoh already wanted to do. But even though that\u2019s true that\u2019s still a divine, a very strong divine sovereignty passage.\n\nNow Paul, in Romans 9, anticipates an objection, this isn\u2019t fair, this isn\u2019t American. Verse 20 says this, \u201cOn the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, \u2018Why did you make me like this\u2026\u201d You have to understand that us raising moral objections about how God runs His universe is like a piece of, it\u2019s like a cup on a potter\u2019s wheel and the cup gets mad at the potter because the cup says to the potter, you know, I don\u2019t want to be a cup, I want to be a vase. Well, that\u2019s none of your business whether you\u2019re a cup or you\u2019re a vase, you are a piece of clay, I\u2019m the potter. So that\u2019s sort of what we are like when we voice our objections against God and say God, You\u2019re not fair, God, You\u2019re not doing this correctly, God, you\u2019re not right. It\u2019s like, you know, a little tiny person with limited intelligence and a corrupted human nature speaking against a perfectly righteous God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. So we have to really look at our motives when we get into this position of challenging God. Revelation 13:8 (and it says the same thing in Revelation 17:8) makes a very interesting statement, Revelation 13:8, it talks about beast worshippers in the tribulation period, it says: \u201cAll who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book \u2026 of the Lamb who was slain.\u201d So people in the tribulation period are making a decision to reject Jesus and worship the antichrist. And then what we discover in Revelation 13:8 and Revelation 17:8 is the reason they are making that decision is because their names were never written in the Lamb\u2019s book of life to begin with. [Revelation 17:8, \u201cThe beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.\u201d]\n\nNow this concept of election is true of specific individuals. For example, notice the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1, verses 4-5, it\u2019s a description of why Jeremiah ended up becoming a prophet. Why did Jeremiah end up becoming a prophet? Jeremiah 1:4-5 explains it; \u201cNow the word of the LORD came to me saying, [5] \u2018Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born\u201d in other words before Jeremiah did anything good or bad, \u201c\u2018I consecrated you\u2019 I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo why did Jeremiah become a prophet? I mean, did he have the right skills and temperament to become a prophet? Did he visit a career guidance counsellor and the guidance counsellor said you know, you\u2019d be a heck of a prophet. NO, Jeremiah became a prophet because God made a move towards him in that direction before he was even born. And this is also true with the Apostle Paul, why did the Apostle Paul become an apostle? Notice Galatians 1:15-16, it says the same thing in the New Testament, Galatians 1:15-16, \u201cBut when God, who had set me apart even from my mother\u2019s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased [16] to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.\u201d Why did Paul end up becoming a prophet? Because he was chosen for that position from his mother\u2019s womb. See, these are all sovereignty passages. Acts 9:15-16 talks about how Paul would bear Christ\u2019s name before the Gentiles. [Acts 9:15, \u201cBut the Lord said to him, \"Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; [16] for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.\u201d]\n\nSo Peter is the apostle to the Jews, Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Well, maybe those two got upset one day, hey, I want to\u2026 maybe Peter says I want to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and Paul says I want to be the apostle to the Jews. Well, that\u2019s not a decision for you to make, that\u2019s a decision that\u2019s already been made by God in eternity past.\n\nOther examples of this are Romans 16:13 where Rufus is called a choice or chosen man in the Lord. And then in 2 John you have a church meeting in a woman\u2019s house; why is it meeting in her house? Because 2 John 1 and 2 John 13 says she is \u201ca chosen lady,\u201d she\u2019s called the elect lady.\n[Romans 16:13, \u201cGreet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord\u2026. 2 John 1, \u201cThe elder to the chosen lady and her children\u2026 2 John 13, \u201cThe children of your chosen sister greet you.\u201d]\n\nSo sometimes this choosing of God involves individuals; sometimes it involves entire groups of people, as is the case in 1 Peter 1:1-2, it says: \u201cPeter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who are chosen [2] according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit\u2026\u201d and so forth. There it\u2019s talking about a group of people there, what we call North Central Turkey, it mentions the places of geography. \u201cPontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,\u201d and that whole region of people. Believers in that entire region are believers because they are chosen in God.\n\nAnd sometimes this choosing of God also involves a decision as to who will be passed over. For example, you take Judas, John 13:18, why is it that Judas ended up being the betrayer of Christ? Why not Matthew? Why not John, why not some other apostle? Jesus says this of Judas, \u201cI do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, \u2018HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.\u2019\u201d Now you\u2019ll notice that that\u2019s a quotation from the Psalms. The Psalms were written a thousand years in advance; a thousand years in advance Judas\u2019 life read like a script because that\u2019s the way God set it up.\n\nRomans 9:22 is another example of God passing by some. Romans 9:22 says, \u201cWhat if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath\u201d watch this, \u201cprepared for destruction,\u201d speaking there of Pharaoh and how God actually prepared Pharaoh as an instrument of destruction.\n\nAnother very strong passage on sovereignty is 1 Peter 2:8, every time I read this I shudder.\n1 Peter2:8, speaking of the Jews stumbling over Christ, it says, \u201c\u2026for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.\u201d So they tripped over Christ, stumbled over Him, and yet 1 Peter 2:8 says they were \u201cappointed\u201d to trip or to stumble.\n\nSometimes the choosing of God includes our good works, Jeremiah was chosen as a prophet, Paul was chosen as an apostle, Galatians 1, Acts 9, and the works that you and I walk in as God\u2019s people are also part of God\u2019s predestined plan. Notice Ephesians 2:8-9, we all know Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith\u2026\u201d it\u2019s not of works lest any man should boast, but then look at verse 10, \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d Why did I become the pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church? It\u2019s a good work that God prepared beforehand. Why are you sitting in this class? It\u2019s a good work that God prepared beforehand.\n\nSee, as uncomfortable as this doctrine is it\u2019s biblically, to my mind, impossible to escape it. Yet, as much as everything I have said is accurate and true there\u2019s something else that\u2019s true. The Bible teaches equally the reality of human responsibility. It teaches the idea of free will. And just as many passages as I produced on divine sovereignty, I could equally produce just as many passages on free will. For example, Genesis 15:6, this is speaking of Abram. \u201cThen he,\u201d that\u2019s Abram, \u201cbelieved in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.\u201d Why did Abram believe? Because he believed. Other verses may say it but that passage says absolutely nothing about God making some sort of move towards Abram; it\u2019s narrating the passage from the human point of view.\n\nWe all know John 3:16, right, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever,\u201d whosoever, that\u2019s a pretty big group isn\u2019t it, whosoever, \u201cthat whosoever\u201d what? \u201cbelieves in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d Nothing in there about you receive life because God chose you. Other passages may say that but this one says we \u201creceive life\u201d because we make a decision through human volition and human will to believe in the Lord.\n\nActs 16:30-31, this is the Philippian jailor asking life\u2019s most important questions, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d [31] They said, \u2018Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,\u201d that would be Paul and Silas, they put the onus back on the Philippian jailor and said you exercise your volition and will and believe.\n\nActs 17:30, this is Paul on Mars Hill, I had the chance in Greece to stand on Mars Hill where Paul most likely gave this address. He gets to the very end of it, speaking now to unbelieving Gentiles, and he says, \u201cTherefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.\u201d In the course we\u2019re going to be spending a lot of time on the word \u201crepent\u201d so don\u2019t worry about it now. The short answer is it means change of mind. What he\u2019s saying is you change your mind about Jesus. There\u2019s nothing here about God overriding their free will or their minds, he puts the onus on them to exercise their volition and to change their minds about Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd, of course, at the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22:17 makes a tremendous statement about human free will and it says, \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who hears say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d So who can come and have their thirst quenched through what Jesus provides? Whoever wants it. So there, that verse clearly is placing the ledger on free will.\n\nSomething else that I think helps us with this whole issue of free will is understanding that we, as human beings, are image bearers of God. That is what God said about Adam and Eve, our forbearers, going all the way back to Genesis 1:26-27, it says very clearly that God created them, male and female, in His own image. [Genesis 1:26-27, \u201cThen God said, \u201cLet Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u201d [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\u201d]\n\nWell, what does that mean, to be made in God\u2019s image? What it means is we share in God\u2019s communicable attributes. There are certain attributes that God has that we share in. We don\u2019t share in all His attributes or else He wouldn\u2019t be God. Right! He\u2019s got to have some attributes exclusive to Him, like omniscience--all knowing, omnipotence--all power, omnipresence--everywhere at the same time. But at the same time there are many attributes that I share with God. And one of the things I share with God is a free will. That\u2019s what being an image-bearer is, and that explains why God, in Genesis 2:16-17, put a tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. [Genesis 1:16-17, \u201cThe LORD God commanded the man, saying, \u2018From nay tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u2019\u201d]\n\nHave you ever asked that question, just get that tree out of there, and if that tree\u2019s gone then they can\u2019t rebel and all of the trouble we\u2019ve been in ever since can\u2019t happen. Right? The answer to that is there has to be a tree of knowledge in Eden; if there is no tree of knowledge in Eden then people really don\u2019t have a choice. A choice means you have to have an avenue for rebellion should you choose to go that direction. And if that choice was not there, God would not be respecting how He made Adam and Eve in His own image.\n\nNow people say well, that\u2019s just pre-fall, post-fall it\u2019s different, we have no choice in the post-fall world. May I just remind you that the fall never erased our image bearing status. The theologians like to use this expression: our image-bearing status has been effaced by the fall but not erased. Genesis 9:6, that\u2019s post flood, that\u2019s long after the fall, He calls man and women his image bearers. James 3:9, New Testament, calls us also made in God\u2019s likeness. [Genesis 9:6, \u201cWhoever sheds man\u2019s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.\u201d Genesis 3:9, \u201cWith it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.\u201d]\n\nSo even in our fallen state we still retain this dignity as image-bearers and therefore God, when He orchestrates salvation has to factor in the free will of individuals. If that free will is not factored in then God would not be respecting how He has made us in His image.\n\nSo my point that I\u2019m really trying to get at is the Bible, as best I can tell, teaches both doctrines; teaches divine sovereignty, and at the same time it teaches human free will. Election, or God\u2019s choosing of us does not obliterate human free will or human responsibility; somehow in God these two ideas exist. And the foolishness that we put ourselves in as we try to understand this\u2026 this is coming from a source of knowledge that\u2019s outside of time, He\u2019s infinite. To God, who is timeless, these types of contradictions don\u2019t exist. As we wrestle with these things from a time bound perspective we see an obvious contradiction, but that\u2019s because we are looking at it from the human point of view, not necessarily from the divine point of view.\n\nSo back to that Judas passage [John 13:18, \"I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, \u2018HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.\u2019']. Did Judas exercise his free will to betray Christ? Yes he did, but at the same time the moment he exercised his free will to betray Christ what he did was predicted in the Psalms written a thousand years in advance. So somehow God used the free will of Judas to execute a plan written a thousand years in advance. And it\u2019s only God, who can pull something like that off.\n\nActs 2:23 is one of my favorite verses because in the same verse you\u2019ll see both statements, foreknowledge and human choice. Who killed Christ? Peter on the day of Pentecost says, \u201cthis Man,\u201d Jesus, \u201cwas delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you\u201d speaking to the Jews, \u201cnailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.\u201d\n\nWho killed Christ? Well, the first part of the verse says God the Father killed Christ because it was part of a predetermined plan. You keep reading through the same verse and then Peter says you, unbelieving Jews, killed Christ, putting the onus on human responsibility. So both doctrines are there within the span of a single verse. So the danger is using election to somehow obliterate free will, or using free will to somehow obliterate election. And that\u2019s why there\u2019s this great struggle in the body of Christ; one camp says one thing, another camp says a different thing. And they\u2019re all gravitating towards their favorite verses and throwing them against their adversaries like a snowball fight, when in reality both doctrines are accurate. It just depends on what part of the Bible you happen to be reading at any given time.\n\nCharles Ryrie in his A Survey of Bible Doctrine says this: \u201cThere are unsaved elect people alive today, though the elect are now lost and will not be saved until they believe.\u201d So what he\u2019s saying there is election does not, in the mind of God, override the human responsibility to believe; both concepts are there.\n\nA wonderful title to a book on this whole thing is by Norman Geisler, and I love the title: Chosen But Free, because it\u2019s expressing both ideas. We are chosen in God, but at the same time to get us to arrive at that place God did not override our free will. And something else that\u2019s very helpful to me as I think about this is an illustration Harry Ironside gave to a prior generation. He says you\u2019re walking into heaven and there\u2019s a door and on the outside reads this: All who will enter here. And you walk through the door and then you look back on the other side and there\u2019s another sign that says: Welcome you who are chosen from the foundation of the world.\n\nSomething else that\u2019s helped me with this is the husband and wife analogy. Are we not called the bride of Christ, we are the bride, He is the groom. Now when you got married did you choose your spouse or did your spouse choose you? I hope the answer is both or you might need marital counselling. I mean, I did what I could to get Anne\u2019s attention, I put on the full-court press (and she\u2019s up there laughing) but the fact of the matter is I can woo her all I wanted but she had to make some kind of decision towards me. And this is how it is in our relationship with God, He woos us and He works but He is not going to override your decision to believe in Him any more than you would want to marry someone who has made no decision towards you.\n\nAnd people, you know, when you talk too much about free will people get a little nervous and they say well, you know, aren\u2019t you overriding God\u2019s sovereignty? And I find there\u2019s a particular segment in the body of Christ that\u2019s so eager to protect God\u2019s sovereignty that they don\u2019t want to allow any free will whatsoever. The fact of the matter is, God can use the free moral choices of His creatures to accomplish His sovereign will. That\u2019s what He did with Judas. Now that does not shrink God, to my mind, that enlarges God; that makes me want to, throughout the ages glorify God all the more, that He can use rebellious or good choices on the part of people that are free, decision wise, to execute His plan.\n\nOne last thing to talk about here is the extremes to avoid. Here\u2019s some extremes to avoid in this whole discussion. Number 1, using one set of texts to rewrite another set of texts. People on the sovereignty side of the equation get so into the sovereignty of God that they use a lot of the verses that we went over to override free will and they will develop a doctrine that goes something like this: You can\u2019t believe on your own, God has to believe for you. And the doctrine of this is regeneration precedes faith; faith is a gift. And when you question them why they hold to this particular doctrine, when I really can\u2019t find it taught anywhere in the Bible, it\u2019s all a desire to protect the sovereignty of God.\n\nJohn 16:9 describes what the Holy Spirit does prior to our salvation. He comes to convict the world of sin, righteous and judgment; verse 9 says \u201cconcerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.\u201d What does the Holy Spirit do with the unbeliever? He does not override their free will, He does not believe for them, He does not regenerate them so that they can believe. Regeneration is the result of faith, not the cause of it, as I\u2019ll be showing you later on in the course. What the Holy Spirit does is He convicts us of our need to believe and if God were to suddenly override our free will, other than just conviction, and annoying us and bothering us, He wouldn\u2019t be respecting us as image-bearers of God.\n\nSo what people all of the time say is faith is a gift. In fact, this was in our Sugar Land Bible Church doctrinal statement, the founders of the church didn\u2019t put this in but some folks got onto the elder board over the course of time that had a very strong sovereignty persuasion and there was a statement in there for a while that faith is actually a gift of God. And fortunately our elders, to their credit when I presented them with biblical evidence, took that statement out and returned it back to the way it originally read.\n\nBut people will say faith is a gift and they like to quote Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d So they say there it is, faith is a gift. The problem is faith is a feminine noun, gift is a neuter noun. In Greek the genders, if one is modifying the other, have to line up. Faith is not the gift; the gift is the result of the faith, which is salvation. That\u2019s the gift. But God does not give you the gift of faith, He does not regenerate you so that you can believe. So that would be an example of using one group of texts to rewrite another.\n\nNow people on the free will side of the equation do the same thing. And I\u2019ve heard this argument for years, and basically what people say is well, God has seen the movie, He knows how it\u2019s all going to turn out, and He picks winners. So God knew that I would trust Christ so therefore God picked me because He knew in the past corridors of time that I would be a winner and I would pick Christ. Well, you see, that makes God\u2019s choosing of me not unconditional but what? Conditioned on something. The name for this is the prescient view, pre knowledge view, science meaning knowledge. And so what people like to say is for those whom He foreknew He predestined and called and justified and glorified. And they love to camp on \u201cforeknew.\u201d The word there is progin\u014dsk\u014d and what they think that means is God, through omniscience, knew that I would pick Christ so God picked me, because God\u2019s seen the movie. That\u2019s their understanding of foreknowledge.\n\nThe problem with that is the same word, progin\u014dsk\u014d that\u2019s used in Romans 8:29 is also used in Romans 11:2. Romans 11:2 is a description of God\u2019s program with the nation of Israel, and everybody agrees that God chose Israel, not because He saw in the end that they would choose Him, but He chose them unilaterally, unconditionally. So I think the prescient view is reading something into \u201cforeknow\u201d that is foreign to the teachings of the Apostle Paul. So avoid the extremes.\n\nAnd then one more extreme to avoid is don\u2019t use election to remove human responsibility. William Carey, a famous missionary, wanted to go and evangelize the heathen. And he came from a strong Reformed background, and when he expressed this desire to his theology teacher, his professor, said: Young man, sit down; if God wants to reach the heathen then He will do it without your help or mine. So what happened in that case is foreknowledge was camped on to such a degree that it was used to rewrite or to remove our human responsibility to evangelize the lost.\n\nWe, as God\u2019s people, are responsible to preach the gospel to who? Every creature. We do not preach the gospel just to the elect, for the simple reason that people don\u2019t have an \u201cE\u201d for elect stamped on their forehead. I don\u2019t know who they are. My job is to just get the gospel and your job is to get the gospel to everyone. So with this subject of election we have to understand there\u2019s things God does and there\u2019s things we do. This business of foreknowledge, and choosing and all of these things that God does, the Bible reveals these things but it never tells us to worry about these things. Just know that God is working, you on the other hand get down to business and fulfill your own responsibility. And the danger is using election to remove the responsibilities that we all have.\n\nFor example, how many Puritans do you know? Yeah, so and so and so and so moved down the street, a very nice Puritan couple. Well, who are the Puritans? The Puritans were those that came from Europe, they built in America a city on a shining hill, they founded the Ivy League, they are the ones that built a Christian civilization on these shores, on the East Coast, beginning on the East Coast. And within a couple of generations they lost the whole thing. Have you been to the Ivy League lately? It\u2019s about as pagan as you can get.\n\nWhat happened to these people? How can you build a shining city on a hill and then lose control of the whole thing? The answer is, when you get into Puritan writings they camp so heavily on election and foreknowledge that slowly what started to happen is they were using that as an excuse not to evangelize. In fact, the Puritans, in some cases, would not even evangelize their own children. And so they went defunct, they disappeared. That\u2019s an example of what can happen in this area of extremes.\n\nSo God has His part, we have our part, and any time someone is using a section of the Bible in a way that\u2019s getting you to escape responsibility you know you\u2019ve gone to an extreme. You know that the doctrine is being abused. And in another doctrine, the return of Christ, that\u2019s what was happening in 2 Thessalonians 3 with the Thessalonians and the return of Christ; Paul had taught them imminent return of Christ, that Christ can come back at any minute. And so they said, well, Christ can come back at any minute, what\u2019s the point in paying my mortgage, what\u2019s the point of putting my kids through college, what\u2019s the point of holding down a job. And you go through 2 Thessalonians 3 and you find Paul telling the Thessalonians, you need to start exercising church discipline on these people because they are abusing a doctrine to get out of basic life\u2019s responsibilities. That is the great fear or extreme we can be pushed into, is we can actually use this doctrine to escape the realities that God wants us to fulfill.\n\nSo all things being said, let God do His thing, don\u2019t try to rewrite the doctrine or pretend it\u2019s not there. Recognize there\u2019s a tension in the Bible. Election and free will are difficult concepts to grasp and comprehend and while we may be wrestling with these things and may not be able to understand them all, I do understand this much: I know what I\u2019m supposed to do, which is to preach the gospel to all creatures. There is no ambiguity there, right. No debate there.\n\nSo I\u2019ve tried to give you some balance on this subject; a lot of the presentations you get because the speaker is trying to prove something, one side or the other, you get the kind of presentations that are lopsided. I\u2019ve done my very best to present balance, so we\u2019ve looked at the definition and uses of election, looking at election and the totality of God\u2019s character. We\u2019ve looked at the case for divine sovereignty and we\u2019ve looked at the case for human responsibility. We\u2019ve looked at the fact that the Bible really teaches both of these ideas. And then we\u2019ve looked at some extremes to stay away from, such as using one set of texts to rewrite another, or using election as a way to escape responsibility.\n\nNext time we\u2019ll take a look at the doctrine of the atonement. At this time I\u2019ll stop talking and those that need to pick up their kids are free to do so and we can have some questions at this point. Any questions I can\u2019t answer Richard will answer them for us.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t