All right, so this morning I'm going to be continuing on the series that I started
Debunking Calvinism. So last week I started I preach a sermon
where my plan is I'm going to go through each letter of the acronym TULIP, which is
commonly used to
Describe the doctrines of Calvinism the five main points of Calvinism
T being total depravity. I covered that last week
U which I'm going to cover today is
Unconditional election now, I'm gonna go more in depth on unconditional election tonight
There's there's so much to the Calvinist doctrine that it's hard to even kind of pack it all into one sermon even with these
points
Because each point is very
Broad in scope and and has many ramifications and in so many doctrines
Intertwine with each other when we're talking about the specific doctrines that are brought up with
Calvinistic doctrine so the U is unconditional election which I'm going to cover today and then the L is
limited
Atonement which means that Christ did not die for everybody but only for some people
The I is irresistible grace irresistible grace is tied in really really closely
with
Unconditional election. I almost thought about trying to combine the two, but there's just there's too many things to get into
So we'll see how that that turns out when we get to that because there's there each one has its own verses that
Excuse me
We could apply specifically to each point but they really do overlap a lot and then the P is the perseverance of
the Saints so
We're gonna cover all of those in the coming weeks all of these topics and I'm going to show you we're gonna look at
One what they're what they turn to to try to support
the doctrine and then we're just gonna look at the passages in context in scripture and
And get the meaning and I'm gonna teach the meaning that is
It should be obvious. Sometimes they're more difficult than others, right? There's different passages in Scripture some a little bit harder understand
But we have to understand, you know
When when looking at some of the harder passages, especially you've got to consider the whole broader context of the Bible number one
You've got to be able to take the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law
There's many things that the Pharisees struggled with
one because they're unsaved but two they were focusing in on certain details within the law of God and just
Completely looked over what it was all about to begin with and that happens also in Calvinism and any time
You want to be careful?
Everything is a proper balance
When when it comes to studying the Word of God our doctrines what we believe everything has to have the right balance in truth
okay, and
when you get out a microscope too closely and
Really want to zoom hyper focus in on certain things in Scripture
You've got to be really really careful about that
That you don't start coming up with weird or different doctrines that aren't really there that that you kind of feel like oh man
I'm really opening this up when really all you're doing is confusing things
It's important to make sure you keep the high-level view of everything and don't go out of bounds and start contradicting things that are really clear
surface level
Easily established truths in Scripture. You got to maintain that look. I believe that every word of God is important
It's very valuable that the words that are chosen and are used in Scripture
Are there every single one for a very good reason and we ought to be looking at them and considering each word
Within the Bible so that we do get the right meanings, but at the same time you don't want to get too far
Zoomed in to where you lose you can't see the forest for the trees right as the saying goes
You've got to be able to see the big picture
You've got to be able to get the whole context and not just run crazy because you see one word and then start making at
You know various applications or you know in in inordinate or inappropriate
Applications and doctrines as a result of that so this evening
I'm gonna go more into like the unconditional election and break apart both of those words unconditional obviously
That that's already messed up you could probably think of a many verses that will destroy that immediately
along with the election part, but this morning I'm going to cover just the one concept of
predestination
Because what when they when when a Calvinist is talking about unconditional election it really is tied into
just inextricably with with
predestination that's that's where they really go to
To support this doctrine of
unconditional election an
unconditional election basically is meaning that
At the end of the day God is choosing who is getting saved
because election means you're chosen right you're selected and
The unconditional means it's not anything that you do. It's it's it's God
So it really has nothing to do with anyone, but God who's doing the choosing and
This is tied in this concept is tied in with predestination because you think about a
Lot of people even out in the world you probably heard of oh, this is your destiny
it's like what you were meant to do and and everything you know a lot of people use this phrase everything happens for a reason and
On the one hand that statements very true because everything does happen for a reason
But some people like to ascribe more meaning to those reasons than I think exist
Right, so I mean everything has caused an effect so anything that you do
You know if I if I push this paper a little bit too close to the edge. It's gonna fall off
Right that happened for oh that fell on the ground for a reason
Yeah, because I used my hand and I pushed it to the edge too far and it fell off
But it doesn't mean that there was a significant meaning in this piece of paper falling to the ground
I mean, I know it's a very silly example
but
the concept
Applies though for everything now. It doesn't mean I don't I don't want to belittle the fact that
Sometimes events happen that do carry significant meaning in our lives where God is working in our life
I'm not discounting that that happens
But what I am stating is that not
Every
single
thing that occurs in this world is
All the result of a greater
meaning that God is actively
Participating in like me dropping that piece of paper to the ground. I
Don't think that God has some extra, you know that I was
Destined to do that today at whatever time it was that that was my destiny to to do that
okay, and
I like to be careful when choosing my words because these concepts can get a little confusing
I don't want to dive in super deep and get really philosophical
Because the problem with getting philosophical you're one the Bible says to avoid
the the philosophy and vain jangling and these things that you know
The philosophy of men is not something that's that's that's really that profitable
okay, and
The you know part of the reason is because you end up diving into these areas and everything just becomes a thought experiment
where oftentimes people will just stray from
Reality
You kind of come up with a lot of weird what-ifs and everything else where it's like look why don't we just
Just
Get back to the stuff that just really matters and and it's not because oh
Well, you don't know how to think and you're just not very smart. That has nothing to do with it
It's not that I'm not smart it said I have a little bit more wisdom than to get caught up in
Some of these these the vain janglings of people wanting to show how smart they are
And I love this if you know
I'm not I'm not a big
Mentions before social media. Like I don't spend very much time on it and and I'd never really get involved anymore with with
Comments and debates and everything else. It seems to me. It's really fruitless and kind of a waste of time
But one of the things you'll notice if you ever if you ever go to these sermons on
Calvinism read the comments for those and you're gonna see there's a particular type of person in general that I think really
falls into the Calvinist category and
And and they are people that that really will
want to show you how great their vocabulary is and
their
theological education and
have a tendency to be a little puffed up in the way that they speak and
and oftentimes will talk down as
If you're so uneducated and you don't know these things and and here's what I would say
I do understand Calvinism
I understand the reasoning and I and I've I've read through it and I've listened to it and I've heard it and
I just reject it
And it's not that I can't speak on that level
It's that most of it's just nonsense when you boil it down and
and
If you just take a step back a bit. Well, wait, hold on a second what you're saying there then and
And and they don't like when you call it out this way which is why they want to dig down real deep say no
No, no, that's not it because and and and it goes down this really deep path
But at the end of the day, it's like so it's it's like evolution
Right when you look at the high level
You could say well, hey, you know you're saying
That life came from non-life
You're saying that because of this rain and lightning and things that were going on when this earth was
Forming then all of a sudden life came out
It's like so basically it rained on the rocks and we came out life came out of that which okay
We didn't but but the life that then changed other life that changed another life to you
So like when you boil it down in a simple form, it is true that what you're saying is we came from these rocks
No, no, no, but you understand no, I do understand you just don't like the conclusion
See it's easy for you to say I don't know. Well, you could believe in a god
Oh, yeah, you need some fairy up in heaven to you know, no, we don't need it. That's just the truth
that's just what happened and it makes sense and it's logical and
I would put Calvinism the same category. They're like the the the
spiritual
evolutionists in that sense that the
the people who don't like they're not gonna like
The conclusion
which when it comes to things like this unconditional election and
predestination
The concept of having a will or a free will
They're gonna try to dice up the terms on that and say oh well you have you don't have free
Will you have voluntary will but it's not free will and they really want to spend a lot of time
trying to differentiate
Between having voluntary will and free will and say no. Well, you can't do this and this and this
It's like well, you could do this good thing or this good thing
but it's not like you just have free will to do whatever you want and
It can try to confuse the issue by coming up with these extra terms and redefining things and whatever
it's not but at the end of the day what it still boils down to is
this concept of
Just being destined with no
choice of your own
At the at the end of the day, it's like this happened because it had to happen
And
I don't believe that and there's plenty of scripts we're going to look at
That are gonna now does the Bible use predestined? Yes
in
Two chapters of the Bible it uses the word or a form of you know of predestined
Okay, and we're gonna look at both of those
We started Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 is one place that it uses that word which hey, like I said before
I'm all for looking at every word. It has meaning it's important. It's there. It's used to describe truth
for sure
Without doubt it's not. Oh, that was just a mistake. It really should be something else. No
The word is correct. But what what does it mean? And what does it mean in the context?
What is the truth that's being expressed?
The word is a great word. It's a word that ought to be used
But what conclusion can we make as a result of that word being used?
That's what we want to be really careful about and that also has to fit in work with the Bible as a whole
Not just in one chapter or two chapters, but in the whole
view of what the Bible is teaching and
The reason why sometimes I think I'm having difficulty in
Preparing my sermons without just getting quick. Like I mean even this morning. I've got eight pages of notes last week. It was like 14
okay, so
because
These particular doctrines and concepts are really broad and have major impact
especially regarding salvation
So it is a really important and
It intertwines in such a way that it's hard to just cover
It's not sufficient just to look at Ephesians chapter 1 like I could do a Bible study in Ephesians chapter 1
But that won't be sufficient to answer
The the the false doctrine or the false thought or understanding of what it means to be predestinated
So that's all by way of introduction now
I need to dig into these passages and we're gonna look at them and see and let's look at the Bible
See what it says and get the understanding especially based on on many other places
So if he's in chapter 1 look down there verse number 3 the Bible says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ
According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world
That we should be holy
and without blame before him in love
having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
According to the good pleasure of his will
To be the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us
Accepted in the beloved now. There's a couple of things I want to point out real quick and
I was gonna save this point to last but I don't see how I could get into it without just just
Starting off with this
At the end of the day and we're gonna look at all the evidence for this but at the end of the day when it
comes down to understanding
predestination
It it has to be understood which we'll see in Romans 8 and Romans 9 with the concept of foreknowledge
The foreknowledge God knowing everything and God knowing things in advance
And the predestination are do go hand in hand and they cannot be separated one from the other
Yeah, I want to come I want to get more in depth on that later
But but just to kind of bring that out from the beginning to see how we view and how we understand this
Having a foreknowledge of something
is
different
Than what the cause of
The predestination is if that makes sense the cause right?
Where does the cause stem stem from ultimately does everything that's the causality of everything?
What causes everything to happen? Does it all just come from God as?
in God makes
Everything happen as I was illustrating earlier with with dropping this to the God made that happen
That ultimately at the end of the day God is the cause of everything
Or is there a cause that we have the power to exert and there's a causality
That we have now God knew in advance
Before I was even born in fact at the foundation of the world that at this day at this time
I would drop this piece of paper on the ground
right
So on the one hand you can say I was predestined
to do that
In my teaching in expounding of Scripture
But it's not that God made me to do that
God knows the beginning from the end if you think about time right now
We're in the construct of time and I'm sorry. I'm getting a little bit deep now, but but just
Bear with me a little bit
We are in the confine of time, but God exists outside of time
So
In a human way of thinking, you know, everything has a beginning everything has an end
We are limited in in just our ability to comprehend and understand based on the system that we live in
And it's hard to think outside of this system. It's because what we know so dearly and so closely
We understand time and everything else and that there's a future ahead of us that we don't know
But our choices make a difference and will matter on what will happen in the future
but for God
The choices have already been made
It's already done
For God it also hasn't even begun yet
It if you think about our entire existence here in all of creation is
Is kind of like a movie a video or something? That's just just it's already done
and
From God's perspective
Because God isn't bound by time he could jump forward he could jump back which is why
He's able to prophesy and give us. Hey, this is what's gonna happen in the future
He gives us the information and says look I'm God because I know these things and I know what's gonna happen and I know
There's gonna be a king and this is gonna be his name and this is what's gonna happen and and you know
These events are gonna take place and he could tell that to us and it confirms. Well, this this could only come from God
Right. So it's one of the reasons why we even believe the Bible is because of all the prophecies that come true
Because the information about things that we are confined by that the things that will happen in the future that things are bound by
Time God knows all of those things God knows the beginning from the end God knows how everything is gonna end
He knows that's why he tells us about the New Jerusalem and the New Heaven and the New Earth and and the and the Antichrist
And the the mark of the Beast and you know all of these things
We would have no clue about these things that God told us about them and God told him about those about them because he's outside
Of time he already knows how all these things are gonna happen
So knowing that there are gonna be people who live knowing there's gonna be every single thing that's gonna happen
People who live knowing there's gonna be every single individual who's ever lived on this earth
He knows about every single one of those people. He knows about every baby has been a bore in the womb
He knows about everyone and he's known this for all time
But it doesn't mean he makes us do what we do
He's known it
now if there's a group of people that he knows are going to
Choose to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
Well, he can set those people up in a way to
Then be conformed to the image of his son to be predestinated to
Do the things and to walk in the way that that they should walk
But he doesn't make it happen and that's key and it kind of everything with the Calvinistic doctrine was gonna boil down to over and
over again with free will
And I said before they like having these different definitions
But look the the word free will and in the scripture if you if you look for free space will
Exact match you won't find it anywhere because in the King James Bible free will is one word
First of all, just so don't get don't get caught up like well free will doesn't exist anywhere in the Bible. Yes, it does
Yes, it does. It's older spelling. It's one word
But it does exist in the Bible and in fact
Free will it occurs. I think 17 times. I was just looking at this morning what the what the number was
The vast majority of time is talking about the free will offering
And offer an offering to the Lord that was considered a free will offering now
There's many sin offering trespassed offerings all these other offerings to say like, okay
Well, if you do this if you do that, this is what you have to do
This was a requirement that God put it but then besides all of that. There's free will offerings
It just in your heart if you just choose to do something, you know, like what's calling that free will?
It's never mandated it's never required it's not something that God said you ever have to do
But you can do it now if you do it
This is the way you do it if you want to give an offering he says, okay, here's here's the free
Well, this is this is what I'll accept if you just out of your heart want to give me an offering
But it's it's up to you
free will and
That concept of having free will exists all throughout Scripture and
the concept of things being
unconditional
Exists nowhere in Scripture it exists in the minds of theologians that don't that aren't saved and don't understand the Bible
Everything is a cause and effect
everything
Now let's get into this I we started reading Ephesians chapter 1
God
Has chosen and the other so the other thing I want you to pay attention to also when we're looking at these predestination verses
We're gonna see God's will being referenced also
Which is also very important because your will is what you want
it's what you desire and again Calvinist will have a tendency to
When you know if it comes to God's will as like God's will is always done
But it's not it's not
If it were it wouldn't make sense when Jesus was was giving the disciples the the template on how to pray in
Matthew chapter 6 when they said hey teach us how to pray as John also taught taught his disciples
Okay, when you pray, you know, don't be like the heathen use vain repetitions and any and then he gives what's known as the Lord's prayer
Right and he and he says
he says
Thy will be done
in heaven
Or excuse me and on earth as in heaven. So right now the will the Father's being done in heaven
right God is on the throne and God's reigning supreme in heaven and
God is on the throne and God's reigning supreme in heaven and
Everything that happens in heaven is according to the will of God
Right that things aren't happening in heaven outside of God's will but on earth
There are many things that are happening outside of the will of God
Which is why the prayer is hey God
We want things to happen on earth
Like they already do in heaven because they're not right now because there's a God of this world
Which is Satan
who's called the God of this world and
And has caused a lot of problems and there are many things that happen outside of God's will
And
I would say this I'm gonna submit this to you and I've got some we're gonna stay in Ephesians 1
But turn if you would really quickly to 2nd Peter chapter 3
Because the concept of will is important so he says it says in Ephesians 1 that
He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world again before the foundation of the world
Well, Jesus Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The plan was already in place. God knew it
Nothing's hidden from God. He knew that the fall of man was gonna happen. He knew that they were gonna need a Savior
He he knew all this stuff, right?
God is outside of time. He's known this
forever eternally
He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy that we should be
We should be right holy and without blame
before him in love
Everybody should be holy and without blame for him in love. I would say we should be
Does that mean everybody is?
No, but we should be
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
according to the good pleasure of his will
so the fact that
We are adopted children of Jesus Christ. It's according to the good pleasure of his will and the Calvinist will say see
God willed it so it happened
Putting the cause of well because God wanted this to happen. That's the only reason why it happened
Why a person is even saved now on the one hand it's true
Because man cannot get saved on his own, right?
so this is why you got to be careful and how we understand the verses matters and
Taking things too far and start understanding interpreting them differently. You got you got to be careful with that
Because look it is God's will we couldn't be saved without God wanting people to be saved because he had to make the sacrifice
He had to offer up Jesus Christ on the cross and shed his blood to pay and be an atonement for our sins
But the question is and
and this is where their their
doctrines all intermingle
Was it only for some people or?
Is it God's will that everyone would be saved
What does God really want
Well in in second Peter chapter 3
Verse number 9 the Bible says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness
But as long suffering to us word not willing
That any should perish but that all should come to repentance
The Bible says there that the Lord
God
Is not willing he doesn't want that any should perish
But that all should come to repentance, but does everybody come to repentance?
No, do some people perish or some people die and go to hell?
Yes
But is that what God wanted
No
I'll read for you from Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11. You have the Turner Ezekiel 33 11 says say unto them as I live
sayeth the Lord God
This is the Lord God speaking I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked
But that the wicked turn from his evil way and live
Sounds to me like that's what God wants
He doesn't want people
Live in wicked lives and then he has to come and judge them and destroy them
He wants people to live righteously. That's what he wants. But is that what happens with everybody? No
It's not but the question is why is it because
God secretly does want them to do evil and wicked so he could just destroy them
No, because he wants everybody he wants everyone to be with him
He wants all of his creation to accept the free gift and to be in heaven with him
That's a loving God. That's a guy that's where you'd say. Yeah. God is love
Because that's what he wants
But the key element is he's given us something else which is free will he's given us an ability
without free will
At the end of the day and again gallons don't like this, but you do just become like a robot or like a puppet
But that's what I'm an object and everything. You know, look it doesn't matter though. The concept is still the same
either we are able to choose or we're not an
ability be able to choose
Matters tremendously and if you try to think about this, it's hard to really
Question all the motives of God because we're creation, right?
We're so far removed from just the brilliance and wisdom that God has
but at least in one regard
I think it's pretty easy for us to understand if you if you if you were to say well say hey, I'm God and
And
I'm a loving God and
I'm gonna make this creation
But I'm gonna make man who obviously man is created different than all the rest of the creation all the rest of the beast the field
Every you know everything else
God did something special with with mankind
now
If you were to just make a bunch of robots or whatever to serve you and you can make some that didn't serve you can
Make some serve you and and then command them. Okay you that serve me you're gonna have to you know
You you you pre-program them
You you make it so that they'll tell you how much they love you and they'll sit in them
They'll make songs to your name and things like that. But really it's all just coming from yourself
Because you made it that way
Is that really valuable or fulfilling to you for things to just do exactly what you just made it to do
Right, I mean if you think about this way that things are getting all into the AI and technology and everything else
What's gonna be more fulfilling to have you know, and some foolish men might think oh no
That sounds great to have like some cyborg some some
You know
Pre-made robots that can be your your wife your partner. That's like it'll do
everything
perfectly and and
Will tell you how great you are and all these other things right whatever you want it to say it'll just do
Whatever you want to do everybody to say it'll just do that for you. Like oh man, that's perfect
It's empty
It's vain because what's real is someone of their own will
Choosing. Hey, I'm gonna love you. I
Don't have to love you. And in fact, isn't that the definition of love in the Bible?
Greater love at no man and it look no greater love at no man in this that man lay down his life
First friends, I mean that's that's what Jesus did and that's the greatest show of love
Infection is that he was willing to give his own life for other people and that was volunteer
That was something that he chose to do
He had to do it in the sense of he had to do it for us to be saved
but he had the ability or the will to not do it and
God has given us as he made us in his image has given us that autonomy
To choose to do things and I think to me it makes sense when you think of well
Hey, if God wants us to worship him, which was you know, the first two commandments don't worship any other God before you
Don't make any idols. God really desires our attention our affection our love, right?
But he didn't force it in the sense of you can do what you want
You have the ability to so which means that the people who do worship and actually mean something it has value
Because you're choosing to love God you're choosing to do that and God could see that in your heart
This person really does care. They're not just doing it because they're programmed to do it
They're doing it of their own and that's something that's that's intelligence that is
Conscious that is that is something that God gave us that we'll never be able to give no matter how
Intelligent artificial intelligence gets and again, I know quite a bit about that too
Not an expert but but you know the understanding of how it works at the end of the day. It's still
Yes, there's self-learning I think but it's all still programmed in there. Like it's it's it's all
The instructions are all given to these things
From a man from a human being there is no soul
And I think I look at Calvinism is like a soulless doctrine
Because we know that we have the dichotomy of man the the the spirits in the flesh
This the flesh is all evil and wicked and the spirit is all good. Right? You got the new man the old man
But there's still decision-making going on
Are we gonna walk in the spirit are we gonna walk in the flesh that decision-making comes from somewhere
It's
The will
Which I would say it's part of the soul. Okay, it's an easy way to
Kind of understand and say okay. Well this decision is determining factor, which is also by the way
Why a person can make a decision?
To put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because what Calvinism will teach you is that a
Person cannot because that's a good thing because that would be acceptable of God because we're commanded to believe on Jesus
Well, you can't please God in the flesh unregenerate man can do nothing to please the Lord. That's what they teach
and
It's true
That an unregenerate man can't please God right that that if you don't even believe that he is God no matter what good things
You do it's it's not pleasing to God because you don't have faith in him
But faith is the exception of being able to believe something. You're not doing any work
You're not it's it literally isn't work. It is just a decision
It is something that's done in your heart and your mind that that you're trusting something. You're believing something
It's not a work and that
decision comes outside of your flesh
think about this way your flesh will tempt you or
Entice you to sin, but you still have a decision to make of will I do that sin?
Even unregenerate man can choose
To go against the draw of their flesh in sin
You can
There are unsaved people who refused to get drunk because they know that's not right
Maybe even they saw it in the Bible
They're still unsaved but they still have chosen and made a decision not to do now
They're
Not saved they're not going to heaven they're not pleasing the Lord in the sense that they're not even saved because they're not putting their
faith in him
But they still have that choice they still had that free will to make that decision
Which comes outside of of you know the the flesh itself?
So when we look at the will of God and then and then finally with the will of God
How about this for God so loved the world?
That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish for that our life
God made it available to everyone again
That mixes into the limited atonement side of the Calvinist doctrine because they're gonna say well doesn't apply to everyone
So all these reasons that I'm bringing up and saying see like this doesn't make sense because of this this this
Well, it's all intermingled with the whole scope of their doctrine
So when we look at the predestination is it because God forced us into this no
He knew that the decision was going to be made so he
You know and according to his will well everybody according to God's will would be saved
And I think God is a plan forever for everybody, too
But not everyone will choose to follow that plan and not everyone makes a choice for themselves
So continuing on here in Ephesians 1
verse
7 says in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace
wherein he hath abounded toward us and all wisdom and prudence
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself
And that's also key there. I didn't I didn't have this this highlighted but
People who are saved he's made known unto us the mystery of his will
So it's not all that mysterious because the cow is like well, who are you to question God it's like well wait
Why would God just pick and choose?
For no reason just like just an arbitrary thing or what we would look at is arbitrary that according to his will
He's just gonna pick and choose like as if as if there's okay
Here's the list of all the babies being born today saved saved not saved not saved not saved not saved not saved saved
Not saved not saved not saved
And
We would say well, why would God do such a thing
Well, the canvas doesn't have a good answer for that is like well, who are you to question God?
Well, wait a minute though. I thought that he's made known unto us the mystery of his will
And it's similar to the people who say, you know, you can't you know when you ask people. Hey, what if so when we got sowing
What would happen if a person you kind of come up with some situation a person does this or this and then they die?
Are they going to heaven or hell and a lot of people say well I can't judge that guy mean God's a judge
I can't judge that right and you can't judge that no one could judge that God is only one that can judge that
Well, no, hold on a second though because God already told us how he's gonna judge
Right here. I told us so we could make that judgment call
Not because we're the one that would be sending someone to hell or that we determine who's saved who's not know God has determined
That but he's already told us about it. He's already given us the information. So God's already given us the information of his will also
We know that God's not willing that any should perish we know that God wants people to be saved
We know that God's not taking pleasure in the death of the wicked. He'd rather just have them do what's right
That's the will of God and God's made known that mystery unto us. So having made known that
Now you've got this weird dilemma of going well
How can it be then that someone's just well, you're just gonna be damned and you're gonna be damned
You're be damned and we also know that the majority of people are damned
Because
Straight is the gate and narrows away which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it
if there's few people that are saved that means there's many that are not saved and
now you're saying that God is a God that's just well, I'm only gonna choose these few and
Everyone else can just burn eternally in a lake of fire
Just because
Because you may not understand but that brings me glory
Now I'm not saying
That there's not a glory to God
in
All things but it's not because of just arbitrage an arbitrary reason
The glory of God is that he did everything for us
Now if someone denies that of course, there's there is still the reality and the consequence of their decisions and of their actions
and
praise God for that
And praise God for being the just judge and and and the righteous lawgiver
But it's not just for no reason
It's it's not arbitrary
So, let's keep reading verse number 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of times
He might gather together and one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth
Even in him in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated
According to the purpose of him
Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will and there's a reference to his will again that we should be to the
Praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ
So those who trust in Christ are predestinated
according to the purpose of him
And we don't want to put the cart before the horse in an understanding of that again
We're bound by time, but God's not
God knew the day that you got saved before you got saved
So in that sense it was predestinated does that make sense hope so
But let's keep reading here because I think this is also interesting and also actually disproves Calvinist doctrine
That we should be praised with glory first trust in Christ verse 13 in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of
truth
The gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed
With that Holy Spirit a promise now this says we're sealed with the Holy Spirit after you believe
In order for Calvinism be true
They believe that
That
You have to be regenerated before you can believe
And this is the weirdest thing for a long time
I'd never heard that doctrine that aspect of Calvinism before and probably for good reason because it's it's pretty bizarre
But in this ties in with the total depravity of man, I preach on last week
When they teach that you can do nothing good. So there's like not even believing it. It's just you're incapable of it
Well then in order
For anyone to be saved you have to have this
Irresistible grace that that you just you cannot refuse you have to be unconditionally chosen to just be one of the saved
It has to be limited because not that doesn't happen everybody
right and
and we'll get into the perseverance later, but
In order for these things to be true then well
I can't I can't choose to believe so basically God has to save you to be regenerated
To then put your faith on on the Lord Jesus Christ because you have to put your faith on Jesus Christ to be saved
Because that you can't deny that I mean of the
No false prophets gonna deny that you have to put your faith in Jesus Christ now
They're gonna try to add works. They're gonna do all these other things like they're doing here
They're gonna put the the salvation before the faith, but in what they'll say is but it happens so quick. It's like
Instantaneous right like like it's just like so fast like like, you know, you can't even measure the time different
Yeah, but you still have to make the man regenerate before he believes because otherwise he couldn't believe
But then what they probably say yeah, but he's not actually sealed till after he believed, you know, so there's regenerated
then
believe
Then sealed no
No believe comes first
Every time
Every time believe comes first and
And later this evening
I'm gonna get into the condition because I'm really gonna focus more on the unconditional fact that they're that they're teaching and
show how everything is conditional but I
Want to cover this predestination. I'm doing a really poor job of getting through this and in a management in a reasonable amount of time
Like I said, there's so much to unpack with this doctrine
So let's let's move on to our next
Passage turn if you would to well, I need to get through Romans so I
Have to I have oh man. I don't want to but I have I have to skip John chapter 6 is a huge passage for them
Okay, but I'm gonna skip that we're gonna go to Romans chapter 9
One
More thought though just on the predestination because we're still looking look at some more predestination stuff
But when it comes to the will and God's will being done and things like that in Jeremiah chapter 19
You know because if it's if it's the will of God
Well, if God just chose you to be saved here be saved and if God's the cause of everything
Good then he's also gonna be the cause of everything evil
right
So if people are well, you're just predestinated to do good to do all this other stuff in the Calvinist mindset. It's like
It's like you have no control over doing that
But then on the flip side would have to be true as well
Which would mean that the people who do wickedly would just literally have no choice
In the wicked that they do
Because that's just the way that God made them
Which is a lie which again and I mean
The the Calvinist probably has no problem with the with the sodomites. They're saying oh we were born this way
Oh, yeah, see that shows a God God chose him to be that way, but that's not true. They weren't born that way
They were defiled they were you know at something had happened where they made they made the choice like Romans 1 describes
To reject God and then they were given over to a reprobate mind in order to do those things
They did not have that reprobate mind from the very beginning
Jeremiah 19 verse 3 the Bible says and say
Hear ye the word of the Lord Oh kings of Judah and in heaven of Jerusalem
Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel behold. I will bring evil upon this place that which
Whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle so God's really angry and he's gonna be like man
It's gonna be so bad that like your ears are gonna ring when you hear just hear about what I'm gonna do
Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place
So he's telling why now he's gonna bring such terrible destruction on them. They forsaken me
They've estranged this place have burned incense in it unto other gods
whom neither they nor their fathers have known nor the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocence and this
Is talking about the Valley of the Son of Hinnom where they would do the child sacrifices
So he's mentioning here now the blood of innocence the blood of the children that they're human sacrifices that are given these false gods
Verse 5 says they have built also the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire
For burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not nor spake it
Neither came it into my mind
If the predestination of Calvinism is true then these people must have been predestinated to murdering their children and
passing them through the fire
And again, it's it's what do you mean by predestinated because there is predestination in the sense that there's foreknowledge and then
The the result right and talking about in those terms sure, but is it because God made them to do that?
No, because it couldn't have it didn't even enter into his mind that they should do those things ever
It's like I didn't command them to do this. In fact, the thought didn't even occur to me that anyone would ever
You know now look is God all-knowing? Yes
But the Bible is also written to us human beings to express a point and help us understand
Clearly that this is not of God and could never be of God
To even tell us that hey this didn't enter into my mind so that we could get it like yeah
This has nothing to do with with God's involvement with them doing child human sacrifice and burning their children in fire
That's reprobate
That's disgusting. That is horrible
That's not of God
That is a different God that would choose for people to do those things
Romans chapter 9
I'm gonna go over this as quickly as possible
Romans chapter 9 verse number 6 the Bible says not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect
They are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham
Are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh
These are not the children of God
But the children of the promise are counted for the seed for this is the word of promise at this time
Will I come and Sarah shall have a son and not only this but when Rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father Isaac
And this is this is where they're gonna. They're gonna really focus on right here verse 11, okay
For the children being not yet born
Neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand
Not of works, but of him that calleth
So it's a parenthetical statement here as it's going back in time now now
What's the purpose of what he's even saying?
He's explaining that not everyone who's physically born of Israel is a child of God
They're not all Israel that are of Israel that are born into this family
okay, and then explains because
It's really the the the children of promise that matter so God made a promise to Abraham
That he was gonna bless his seed and hey of your seed
Ultimately Christ was going to come right so he made that promise to Abraham
and Abraham believed that promise and
then continuing on now that promise is going to continue through to the next generations and
It explains okay. Well. It's not just that but also then when Rebecca had children
She had twins right she had
Jacob and Esau
And it says
The children being not yet born
Neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand and not of works
But him that called it's not that either child did anything wrong
but but the the the path ahead of who is going to you know the the lineage of
Jesus Christ of that of what God has determined where Jesus Christ was going to come from is already been made
This
Is not talking about a person's soul being saved from hell
So this election
Isn't referring to somebody just choosing to put their faith in Lord
This has nothing to do with whether or not a person gets saved spiritually
It's another part of God's plan that he says that here's the way that things are gonna go
And we're gonna
There's a lot of references here, and I'm gonna do this really quickly because I know I'm almost out of time
so it was said unto her the parenthetical statement is like the kids didn't do anything, but according to election it might stand and
God also showing being able to show the future
before it happens
Proving this is the Word of God and continuing to demonstrate
That this is coming from the Lord because he's able to say it in advance
It was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger now
What's being expressed here and in the rest of the context of Romans chapter 9 when it's bringing up these passages saying hey
This was said to her back then
It's not even talking about the individuals see a Calvinism is going to refer to these concepts as each individual
This is what determines whether or not you get saved right?
It's just because it's God's choice whether or not each person gets saved
But this Romans 9 passage it's talking about nations of people
It's not talking about an individual person
Being saved or not and the reason why we could know this is because while it's teaching everything in Romans ever 9 it keeps
referencing the places where this stuff is
Mentioned and when you go back and actually study the Bible and looked at those references it becomes much more clear. What's going on and
When the Epistle is written to the Romans the Old Testament already existed
So people already had this knowledge anyways of these events that happened so now he's expounding even further upon
These events and referencing them as well when he's going and giving this overall teaching in the book of Romans
So when it was said unto
Rebecca the elder shall serve the younger
I'll read this for you say in Romans chapter 9
Genesis 25 21 the Bible says and Isaac had treated the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord wasn't treated of
Him and Rebecca's wife conceived and the children struggled within her and she said if it be so why am I thus?
And she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people
Shall be separated from my bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger
That's when it was said the elder shall serve the younger
But in the context it's talking about two nations two whole groups of people that are gonna come out of your loins
these are gonna be the progenitors, but
Their whole descendants see you're gonna have the the elder serving the younger
It's gonna it's gonna come to pass that the younger child is gonna be ruling over the older one
In their whole family as a group of people as a nation
Because Esau become the Edomites
right and Jacob becomes Israel and the Israelites and
At the end the way it works out is that Israel is gonna rule over the Edomites
As a people
And then Romans 9 13 says as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated and
The reason why people get this confused is because oh the elder shall serve the younger that looks like it's just talking about one person
And then again Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated again. It's talking to one person see look
This is individuals about the individual. No because when you look at this boring
you know
Evidence that's it's boring scriptures. It's all talking about
Nations it didn't Genesis 25 well this this quotation of Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated comes from Malachi chapter 1
Malachi chapter 1 verse 2 says I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein is thou loved us
was not Esau Jacob's brother saith the Lord yet, I loved Jacob and I hated Esau and
Laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness
Whereas Edom saith we are impoverished
But we will return and build the desolate places thus that the Lord of hosts they shall build
But I will throw it down and they shall call them the border of wickedness and the people
against whom the Lord hath indignation forever
Again referring to the nation of the group of people to the Edomites not just Jacob specifically at Esau specifically
But their
Nations and this is how God already said that things were going to be
And he told them that that was going to be the way it is and who?
Where ultimately Jesus was going to stem from it didn't come he didn't come through the Edomites
he came through the Israelites and
specifically through the tribe of Judah
Which hat which came in the next generation, right? So he's he's
Letting people know since first it started with choosing Abraham. Well if Abraham has
More than one child because he did but Isaac was the child of promise so that's specified so there's no confusion
It's not gonna come through Ishmael. It's not Muhammad. It's not you know, it's not coming from anyone else
No, it's coming through the child of promise. Which is Isaac. Okay now becomes Isaac
Well Isaac has Jacob and Esau. Well now again, we need to know okay
Well, who who is going to be the this the descendancy? Where's Jesus gonna come out of? Well, he's not coming out of Esau
He's coming out of Jacob. Okay. Now Israel has
Twelve sons, right? So so now you've got these twelve tribes. Well, which one okay, it's gonna come from the tribe of Judah
And then that's the level of detail that we receive
okay, well when Jesus is born, he's he's born of the of the
house of Judah, right and that's where the where the
the kings of Judah and that lineage the kingly line through Jesus Christ and all that so
God gives us that information of where these things are gonna come from
It is not about
Romans 9 isn't about the individual being saved or damned
Just at the whim of God
Which is what the Calvinists will try to teach you but that's not what this passage is even
talking about
So then in verse 14 says what shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid for he saith to Moses
I will have mercy on whom I love mercy and I love compassion on whom I love compassion
again applying this inappropriately
to the individual and
Not to the people and not to the nation
Which when you go back and find this reference
You'll never believe it
he's talking about a group of people again in
Exodus 33 verse 12 the Bible says and Moses said unto the Lord see thou sayest unto me bring up this people and
Now is not let me know
Whom thou wilt send with me yet thou has said I know thee by name and now has also found grace in my sight
Now therefore I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight show me now thy way
That I may know thee that I may find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation is thy people
So the context as we're reading in Exodus 33. He's saying he's talking about the people and he's like
I just need to know that this nation is your people. I need to know that this is your nation
This is your group of people and he said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest
So he explains how he's gonna know this
He said on him if thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight
Is it not in that thou goest with us?
So shall we be separated I and thy people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth
And the Lord said unto Moses I will do this thing also that thou has spoken
For thou has found grace in my sight and I know thee by name and he said I beseech thee show me thy glory
And he said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of Lord before thee and
Will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy
So when God says that to Moses
Moses was looking at
How do I know that this is your people? How do I know that you're with this people?
How do I know that this nation is the nation that you've chosen and then he tells him that well
Hey, I'm gonna have mercy on whom I have mercy
So
Romans 9 I would say clearly from the context is not
Just talking about each individual and and whether or not they're saved
Just based on whatever it is that God wants to do and this is the huge passage. I mean
We could talk for hours and hours and hours probably on all the Calvinists do anyways, so trying to answer
Every single thing that they bring up is going to be impossible in a sermon or two or three or four
Unfortunately, they're trying to hit the main points because the the thinking and where it fails outside. I think it's pretty easy to see
and
It's nothing new and nothing I'm saying is anything new and if you went and studied this doctrine
You're gonna see people been saying the same things and I'm saying for a long time and they'll have some answer
But at the end of the day, it doesn't really answer the heart of the matter
Every
Person who sucked into a false doctrine will have some answer for you. I mean Jehovah's Witnesses have an answer
I'm not saying it's a good answer
But they have an answer when you try to show them look Jesus is God in the flesh like he's the Son of God
And he is God like the deity of Christ you could show
Oh, but but they'll have their answer for it
But it's not sufficient and I would say the same thing about the Calvinist
Okay, they're gonna have an answer that they're gonna try to say. Oh, well actually with this, you know and and throw around a lot of
Words, you're gonna have to go look up in the dictionary
To even understand what they're they're trying to communicate what they're talking about instead of just using a more simple word that everybody understands
That means the same thing
But that's not how they operate so
Last point go back to and I wanted to go through your more of this, but I'm already over time
go back to Romans chapter 8 because
Romans 9 the broader context
stems from Romans chapter 8 and
That the Calvinists like to focus on Romans chapter 9, but actually the words predestinated are found in Romans chapter 8
and
At the end of the day this is where we really and remember the word predestinated is only found in two chapters
Romans 8 and Ephesians chapter 1 we looked at Ephesians chapter 1
Let's look at Romans chapter 8
Verse 29
The Bible says for whom he did for know
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren
Moreover whom he did predestinate them. He also called and whom he called them
He also justified in whom he justified them
He also glorified but the predestination starts with whom he did for know in verse 29
And that comes to the crux of the merriment
That's like that's what it all rests on in the understanding the proper understanding of predestination
Has to come from that understanding of well God has all knowledge and God knew in advance
Which is why he was able to predestinate people
It's not because he's causing it and choosing it to happen and choosing who saved and not saved
It's because he already knew
He knew from the beginning
That's the biblical proper understanding of predestination
You only find those and it's you know, his will is brought up the the fact that he has for knowledge is brought up
But it's not something and look if you're trying to find his doctrine elsewhere
You're not gonna find it that Calvinism is espousing that that that we ultimately have no will
You see free will all throughout Scripture
And then when it comes to election I'll close on this
one more place where this is even
referencing the foreknowledge aspect of it in first Peter chapter 1 verse number 1 the Bible says Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the
strangers scattered throughout Pontius
Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Pithynia
elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
through sanctification of the Spirit unto
Obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ of Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace be multiplied
so
He says blessed be the God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ
Which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively
Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that faith is not a way
Reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith
Unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time and you know, I wanted to unpack a lot more of that
But that still all shows you the order of events. It shows you God's foreknowledge
It shows you that that's why people are even considered elect. It's because God knew the end from the beginning
And isn't the cause in the sense of you have no choice
He's the cause in the sense that you couldn't have even had that choice without
Jesus Christ dying for you. He's the cause in in the sense that
God sending ministers by whom people believe
Right. So there's many ways that you can view this and give God all the glory and credit still and all the good things
We do still at the end of the day comes through the power of God
It comes through the grace of God and in many things are true. But and this is what's tricky about Calvinism
There's a lot of things we can see. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That makes sense
but then the conclusion is just all wrong and
Where and where they end up going is
Just a bad conclusion based on the evidence. So I was bringing up last week as well
We have all this evidence in Scripture talking about you know, the the flesh the the spirit, you know
And how the flesh can do nothing good
But the bad conclusion is just that well because the flesh can't do anything good then therefore
You must not even be able to make that choice to put your faith in Jesus Christ. No, that's false conclusion
Because it doesn't it's not consistent with the rest of Scripture
All right, I'm closing with that we are going to go more into
the conditions of
election the conditions of being saved this evening because remember the you is
Unconditional election but this concept of predestination is tied in
Just too closely to ignore and deserves its own
Sermon and addressing of this one point which is why I'm doing that this morning. So let's bow our heads have a word of prayer
Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for your word. God. I pray that you would please help us all to have
Clarity of mind and our understanding of your word. I pray that you would please help us to know
Good doctrine to know true things from your word Lord
and and I don't claim ever to just know everything and to be
Perfect in all of my understanding Lord, and I don't think anyone here would make that claim. But we asked for you to guide us and
Lord even though we may not be perfect everything
There's definitely some things that are very inconsistent that other people teach and I pray to please help us not to be sucked into false
Doctrine but that we could examine everything thoroughly help us all to be
To spend more time in our in our Bible reading and and grow our knowledge dear Lord
And we know that that you one of your you know
Part of your will for us is that you would you would give us more knowledge and if we would just ask you that you
would give
Liberally to all men and and not abrade us dear Lord
But that you would you would open up our understanding our knowledge and we're asking that this morning
Pray to please help us to have a proper understanding of your word and that we wouldn't get led down
Path of false doctrine God, we love you. So Jesus name we pray. Amen