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37, there'll be no dark valley. Song number 37. Again, that's song number 37, there'll be no dark valley. On the top. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. But a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes. But a blessed reaping when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes. There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes. And a joyful meeting when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. Together, his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together, his love wants home. Amen. That's the Word of Prayer. Dear Father, we thank you that we can be in your house this Sunday night to hear the preaching of your word. I just pray you'd help us to receive the message and apply it to our lives, Lord. And just bless Pastor Shelley right now, fill him with your spirit, that we can be edified here tonight. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen. Today's song is going to be Psalm 149 in your white handout. If you don't have one, you can raise up your hand and one of the ushers can try and bring one to you. You can always take out your Bible. Psalm 149. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in them that made Him. Let the children of Zion be He joyful in their King. Let them praise His name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto Him with the temple and more. For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with tears of iron to execute a hymn of the judgment written this honor have all His saves. Praise ye the Lord. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you still can get a bulletin or you need one, lift up your hand and an usher will come by. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, Exodus chapter 20, verse number 4, and on the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as our church stats. I'm going to go ahead and get a count for the, I guess for lots of soul winning because I really haven't had a count for the last several days. So Monday, and I know this is going to go back, but basically Monday through Wednesday, it doesn't matter the exact day, but did anybody have anything to report from any of those days by chance? Three? Okay. Alright. And then what about Thursday? Was there anything from Thursday? Or Friday? Okay. And then yesterday, was there anything, what was from yesterday? Alright. And then today, okay, so we had ten for today. Praise the Lord on that. And also on the right we have the list of our expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for all of them as well as our prayer list. If you have any prayer requests, please email those in or submit a notification card. They're up here at the front and you can slip that into the offering plate or hand that to an usher. Also, our upcoming events, March 6th, we have the Galveston Marathon. April 3rd, the Mega-Marathon. April 4th, the following day, which is Easter, we'll have the Lord's Supper immediately following the evening service. May 8th, we have a ladies' tea. All women are invited to come to our ladies' tea. May 20th through the 22nd is a men's retreat, and we'll have a sign-up sheet pretty soon with more details about that. We'll be going to the same area that we did last time, and so I'm really excited about that. I encourage you to come if you can make that. With that, let's go to our next song for the evening. Song 261, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. 261. 261. In that song number 261, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior. And life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting. A past and we follow Him there. Over us and no more at the minion. For more than conquers we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying. His perfect salvation to death. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. While the offering plates are being passed around, turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. That's Romans chapter 9. ... ... ... ... ... In Romans chapter 9 the Bible reads, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for 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 Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. 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 coughs. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid! For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath a mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he harden. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the powdered power over the clay of the same lump to wake one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What of God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sadamah, and been made like unto Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which fall not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they saw it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay in sign a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Let us pray. By the way, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen. Amen. Now the title of my sermon this evening is this, God's sovereignty and man's free will. God's sovereignty and man's free will. Now when it comes to the idea of sovereignty, you know, there's this phrase that you hear a lot of Calvinists say, they'll say, well God's sovereign, God's sovereign, God's sovereign. You know, that's not necessarily a phrase you find in your Bible. And I think when you actually get a proper understanding of the word sovereign, you could walk away and say, yeah, God is sovereign. But a lot of times what they mean by God being sovereign is in the fact that man does not really have free will when you boil it down. But here's the reality, God has sovereignty and we also have free will at the same time. Now a lot of people like to take a passage like Romans chapter number 9 and they like to twist it into a weird doctrine to where ultimately, you know, the decisions that we make are all controlled by God and free will is just kind of an illusion that we have. And they'll take these passages, let's read a couple verses and then I'll kind of tell you what we're looking at, but verse 11 it says 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, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. And so they'll point to a passage like Romans chapter 9 or maybe portions of Romans 11 or Ephesians chapter 1, that's kind of the go-to for people that would subscribe to Calvinism, as it were, and they'll try to teach this doctrine that God is so sovereign and that he makes every single decision. And that all good, all evil is ultimately for God's glory in that sense that he's controlling it and he ordained it, that he wants those things to happen that way. And ultimately that everything that happens is a direct result of God. Everything. Whether that be good, bad, evil, just all of it is exactly him. Just we're all puppets we're all robots in a sense to what he would have us do. And this is really a false doctrine. They're trying to say here because God loved Jacob and he hated Esau and it was before they had done anything that ultimately God is forcing all the decisions that they make. But I'm going to try and unpack this chapter but I first want to identify the word sovereign and kind of free will and then we'll kind of dig into Romans chapter 9. But go if you would to Matthew 23 for a moment. Go to Matthew 23. If you look at the word sovereign in the dictionary, which is our only option because the word sovereign is just simply not found in your Bible. Now I'm not afraid of words that aren't found in your Bible. We use a lot of words that aren't found in the English Bible like the word Bible. I like the word Bible. I like the word Trinity. That word is not a word found in your Bible but I like the word Trinity. And so there's going to be words that we use and we embrace and we like. There aren't necessarily words that are found in the Scriptures but they're a biblical concept or a biblical word. What is sovereign? Well if you look in the dictionary it says one possessing or held to possess supreme political power or sovereignty. Another definition is supreme authority. Now here's the question. Is God in supreme authority? Yeah. Absolutely. And these are some of the synonyms they use for the word sovereign. Chief. Well that's God chief. How about master? Is God the master? Well let's look at Matthew 23 and look at verse number 10. Neither be he called masters for one is your master even Christ. And the word even remember is specifically. So he's saying specifically Jesus Christ is our master. God is our master. So in that sense Jesus Christ is sovereign. Other titles that Jesus has is what? King of kings. Lord of lords. God of gods. So yeah chief. Chief would be the first or the one that has the preeminence or at the top. The chief like the king of kings. We're talking about the chief. We're talking about the master. Go to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. So in the sense of saying God's sovereign. Okay well if you mean by sovereign that he's the ultimate ruler. I agree. I don't know how you could disagree with that doctrine. I think everybody probably you know that subscribes to any variation of Christianity would say God is the ultimate ruler. God is the chief. He's the master. Look at John chapter 13 and look at verse 13. He called me master and lord and you say well for so I am. Hey I don't think Jesus Christ is confused about who he is. He says hey I am the master. Hey I am the lord. Hey I am you know equal with God in that sense that Jesus Christ is both the king of kings and lord of lords as the same as the father is the king of kings and lord of lords. Now I'm not going to the finer points of the trinity in this sermon but we understand that God is sovereign. Go if you would to Psalms in the middle of your Bible. Psalms and look at chapter 18. Go to Psalms and look at chapter 18. Other words to be synonymous with sovereign according to the dictionary is supreme. Obviously we'd say God is supreme. That makes sense. That fits with a lot of scripture. Another one is highest. Now that's an actual term that's used often for God. Look at Psalms 18 and look at verse 13. The lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voice So sometimes God is just simply referred to as what? Highest. And so you say well God is sovereign. Yeah he's highest. He is the top. That's why the devil wants to climb to the sides of the north and he wants to be like the what? The most high. Exactly. So in that sense of course God is sovereign. There's no one arguing whether or not the Bible teaches that God is sovereign. Go to Luke chapter number 1. Let me show you again another place where the Bible uses this vernacular or this terminology to describe himself. But Luke chapter number 1 look at verse number 32. Luke 1 verse 32 the Bible says he shall be great talking of Jesus Christ and shall be called the son, notice this, of the highest. So notice when he's saying you're the son of God he's the son of what? The highest. Okay. And the lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. So we see he's going to be the ultimate ruler. There's no end to his ruling. Now another terminology if you're going to be an everlasting ruler and in the Old Testament you have Isaiah 9 6 which is talking about Jesus Christ being a son given unto us and he's going to be a wonderful counselor the mighty God, the prince of peace, the everlasting father. You know what that means? He's the everlasting ruler and it's synonymous in verse number 7 talking about how there's going to be no there's going to be an increase of his government. There's going to be no end. There's going to be forever. He's going to rule and reign forever. As confirmed in Luke chapter number 1 which is perfect because we're talking about the son being born which is what Isaiah 9 6 is all about. Right? And we see that the highest is reference to the fact he's the son of the highest. Look at verse number 35 and the angel answered and said unto her the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. Why is he telling Mary this? Because she said you know how is this that I'm going to be with child and then he's describing the fact that the power of the highest which is the power of God seated on the throne is going to come on Mary. The Holy Ghost is going to overshadow her and she's going to have a miraculous conception a virgin shall conceive and bring forth the son and they shall call his name what? Jesus Christ. And so we have this great picture here but notice that God is reference to the highest and we see Jesus Christ is the master. Why? Because God is sovereign in that sense. He is the one holding all power all sovereignty supreme authority. He's the chief. He's the master. He is the highest. Now what you have to understand about someone that is sovereign, okay, because you could say that a king is the sovereign of the land. What does that mean? He's the highest point of authority over a particular land. Now just because someone is sovereign does not mean that everyone obeys them perfectly. Okay? And that does not change their authority. Just because someone rebels against the king doesn't change the fact that the king is still in charge. Doesn't change the fact that he's the highest ruler or that he's leading. And what you have to understand about God is when it comes to his will because this is what they mean by the sovereign and I'm getting really you know nitpicky here because they get nitpicky and they teach a lot of false doctrine. And it's Sunday night so you're here to learn the Bible, right? They'll say well God's sovereign in the sense that everything that he wants to happen happens. Wait a minute. That's not the definition of sovereign. That's just what you're wanting to say. And here's the reality. Everything that God wants to happen doesn't necessarily happen, okay? Everything that God says will happen will happen. Everything that God has chosen or ordained to happen will happen. But one of the things you have to understand about God's will is not everything that God just wants to happen will always happen. There are times when things happen not according to his will. Let me give you a clear verse. Go to Matthew chapter number 6. Now from an ultimatum perspective or from an ultimate perspective obviously the things that God has chosen to happen according to his will will happen. You know if God says you know let there be light there's going to be light. If God ordains for something to happen or chooses something to happen it's going to happen. But there are times when God is wanting something to happen but it's just not going to end up happening. And if you were to tell me, nope, everything that God wants to happen happens exactly like he wants it to then how do you interpret this verse? Matthew chapter 6 look at verse 10. Thy kingdom come, this is Jesus Christ teaching us how to pray, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Now let me ask you this question. If everything that God's wanting to happen just automatically happens why pray for it to happen? That's kind of a weird prayer. Like hey I really hope that your will happens on earth like it is happening in heaven. Oh check Mark that's definitely going to happen. Why would Jesus Christ pray that? You know why he's praying that? Because everything on earth is not happening according to God's will. And if you can look at the world that we live in today and say this is exactly what God wants to happen right now, you are foolish. You don't know the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is holy and righteous. He wants everything to always be perfect and always be holy and always be righteous. God's perfect will is not happening on the earth right now in the sense of everything that he would want exactly how he would want it. But that doesn't change his position. Now you say okay well how does that work then? Because you have two parts of the equation. You have God's sovereignty and then you have man's free will. You have another aspect, man's free will. Now go to Psalms 119. Let me give you an example of the word free will. It's mentioned in your Bible 17 times. Man's free will. And if you understand these two concepts it actually gives more glory to God in my opinion. Now they want to try and say that oh well you're trying to take away from who God is or you're saying that you're limiting God's power because you believe that man can resist his will. Well the Bible says that. The Bible talks about the Jews resisting his will. You do always resist the Holy Ghost. I mean what do you do with that verse? How does that even work? According to the Calvinists, God's forcing you to resist his will while obeying the will to resist his will. How does that even work? It's nonsense. And really all of Calvinism is nonsense. I don't agree with any of it. It's all twisted, perverted, or false. And in fact if you look at our doctrinal statement I say that. I say hey all five points of Calvinism are wicked, twisted, or perverted. There's something wrong about them. There's something off about them. Even if it sounds right on the surface it's wrong. And Psalms 119 is going to talk about free will and we have free will. Psalms 119 verse 108 the Bible reads, except I beseech thee the free will offerings of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgments. So we have an example here and you know free will is typically associated with offerings in the Old Testament. But what is free will? Well if you look at the dictionary done of one's own accord voluntary. No one's forcing you. No one's making you do something. You just decide on your own free will to make some kind of decision. And you know what? This is what separates man from God. God can create things that have life. We can't do that. You can't take something that has no life and give it life. You can't take something out of nothing and give it life. Only God can do that. Now I can create inanimate objects. You know I can take an inanimate object and transform into another inanimate object. But you know what I can't do? Take something that has no life and give it life somehow. And turn it alive and make it alive. It's just impossible. We are incapable of doing that. Another thing that we're incapable of doing is giving something free will. And you know you may be tricked into thinking that artificial intelligence will have free will at some point. It never will. A computer will only ever do what it's programmed to do. What you tell it to do. Man is incapable of creating like God and giving something free will. Now this is what's incredible. Go back to Romans chapter 9 and we're going to go through this passage now. Is that God ultimately the things that he wants to accomplish and the fact that he's in complete control is never in threat due to man's will. God can give man free will and his position is never threatened. He's always going to be in control. We'll never be able to usurp him. No one will ever be able to take his place. Nobody will ever be able to, not even for a second, will he lose his power, his supreme position. And on top of that, everything that he's said is going to happen will happen. Why? Because he's sovereign. Because he is above us. And it's incredible. Look, he can say something's going to happen and every single person has the free will to fight whatever he said is going to happen and it's still going to happen. Now that is way more powerful than just making robots do whatever you say. You say, look, I'm going to do this and no one can stop me. That's real power. And really, the God of the Bible is way more powerful than the supposed Calvinist God that's just dictating every single action and we're all puppets at his game and at his disposal. God's will can still be ultimately accomplished even with all hells fighting against him. Hey, you think that the devil wanted Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all of our sins? Oh no. He tried to stop that, but guess what? He failed miserably because whatever God says is going to happen will happen. Now, we're going back to Romans chapter number 9 and I like to use a practical example so it doesn't seem like I'm just preaching against a straw man or something like that all day long. I pulled out an article and it's from a guy named John Piper. I don't think he's a pastor anymore, but he was a pastor of a Baptist church up somewhere in the north. You can look it up. It was somewhere north. Actually, when I went on a soul-wanting marathon, I ran into someone that went to his church one time. He has a ministry called Desiring God and it's his website. It's real popular. It's a really well-known website. A lot of people go to it. John Piper is a Calvinist. Calvinism has five main tenets. It's usually described in Tulip. Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. I don't have time to go through all of that. That's a lot of sermons that can be preached. He had a specific article that he wrote about unconditional election. It really ties in here with the free will of man. Calvinists ultimately don't believe that you or I have any impact on whether or not we get saved. Not just you and I, anybody. No one has any deciding factor on getting saved. It's all of God. It's all of His grace, supposedly. He has this article called Five Reasons to Embrace Unconditional Election. Of the five tenets, I think unconditional election is probably the worst. Maybe limited atonement. Between those two, it's kind of a toss-up. Unconditional election ultimately is saying that you got saved based on nothing. Zero. It had nothing to do with you. It had nothing to do with what you believe. They go way far away from works to just straight up nothing. People like J.D. Greer, I've already explained this. This is how he explains unconditional election and specifically in regards to salvation. He says, you may think that salvation is like you're in some water drowning and you're about to die and then Jesus Christ throws you like a life saver and he pulls you in and you get saved. He's like, that's the wrong analogy. The right analogy is that you're dead in the water and then Jesus just comes by and picks you up out of the water and just breathes breath of life into your lungs and you become alive again. He's like, you were dead. He's like, you did nothing. He's saying you're just literally already dead and then Jesus just randomly saves you. If you believe that, then what about all the other dead people? He just doesn't like them as much. He just doesn't want to breathe life into those people either. That's where it starts getting really foolish is when you start understanding what's called double predestination. They try to use this passage and he had five points. His first point is way longer than the other ones, so don't get too nervous. His point number one is this. Of the five reasons to believe unconditional election, point one, because it's true. Here's the thing. If it is true, then I'll believe it because I agree with that. Obviously, why not believe the truth? Then he says, Romans 9, 11, and 12, which we already read, that just proves unconditional election. What is he getting at? In verse number 11, it's talking about how the purpose of God according to election might stand. What is he talking about? It's saying how the children of Isaac and Jacob had not been born. We're talking about in the Old Testament, we had Jacob and we have Esau, who are not born yet. They have their parents, Isaac and Rebekah. It's basically God already said, I'm going to love Jacob and I'm going to hate Esau, even though these two children had never been born. Then it's saying, that's because God was doing this before as a purpose of election or according to election. What is the word election? It just means to choose. Don't make it anything more complicated than that. Just choose. God chose Jacob and not Esau before they had done anything. This is where they get this idea of, oh, so it's unconditional election. Because Jacob had done nothing and because Esau had done nothing and he chose one over the other, therefore there is nothing based on who Jacob or Esau is that determines why God would choose one over the other. This is the idea of walking in the sea of dead people and just, well, I chose Jacob out and I breathed in him the breath of life, but Esau, I just let him just die in the water. I just let him stay dead and I didn't want to pick him. This is a false doctrine, obviously, from anybody that believes the Bible. But let's understand what this is actually saying and why this is false. Let's keep reading because he has other verses here. He says in verse 15, Verse 18, So they would take this passage and they say, see, look, God just has mercy on one guy and he just hardens the other guy. Again, it's still on the premise of this unconditional election or unconditional mercy or unconditional hardening. It's not based on anything about these people. It's just simply that I'm just picking one, just random numbers, and I'm just this guy, not that guy, this guy, not that guy. And really, that just makes God a weird, sadistic God. If you just think God just randomly just picking one and not picking the other and just loving one and hating the other, and it flies in the face of so many obvious verses, like, I don't know, maybe John 3.16, For God so loved the world. How can you use that verse in coordination with He hated Esau? You must be misunderstanding this verse then. And really what Calvinists like to do, they like to take some of the hardest passages in the Bible and then twist them into their own sadistic viewpoints and then try to flip the rest of the easy verses of the Bible on their head. But we've read a little bit of their portion. Let's read a little bit more and then I'm going to explain to you what these are saying. Verse 19. Wait a minute. Before we get there, go to chapter 11 and look at verse 5 and then I'll explain it. Chapter 11 and look at verse number 5. And if by grace then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work, what then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained and the rest were blinded. So the point of these verses, and really this is what they say. They'll say, salvation is not even by faith. It's not even believing, because believing is a work. And they say it's not of works, it's just all of grace. And I'm not joking. They will literally say this. Ray Comfort has said this. A lot of these Calvinist heretics will say, it just has nothing to do with you. And essentially believing is just a manifestation of the fact that you're saved. Believing and the works and all the other stuff is just all this culmination of a manifestation of the fact that you are truly elect. So are we just really ultimately at the end of the day just puppets? I'm standing here believing the gospel today because just randomly God was just like I came, irresistible grace, and before I was this wicked, wretched, reprobate sinner, and then I just, irresistible grace, and now I just believe. And it's not that I have to necessarily even believe the right gospel. Everything just automatically happens, and I'm just serving God. No. Absolutely not. So then how do you understand these verses? How could God choose somebody before they did anything? How could God elect somebody before any decisions that they made, any works, any of this kind of stuff? Well, it's because God exists outside of time. And because God exists outside of time, he knows everything that you're going to do. And when he knows every single thing that you're going to do, he already realizes that you fall into one of two categories. Those that believe and those that believe not. He that believeth on the Son and he that believeth not on the Son. And since God already knows those who are going to believe and those who are not, this is what he's ordained. Those who believe go to heaven. Those who don't believe go to hell. Those that believe are the elect. Those who never believe are not the elect. And so God has already chosen what? Those who would believe will be elect, and those who will not believe will not be elect. So before you ever were born, God already knows if you are elect or not. And you say, well, then how did he know that? Because he knew if you would believe or not. It's based on his foreknowledge of your decisions. And that makes perfect sense. Imagine if we were playing a game. Football, doesn't matter. We're going to play football, all right? And we've got a really important game. And we have five plays that we can pick. But we know the future. We know exactly what happened. If we run option A, the quarterback is going to get sacked for a 10-yard loss. If we run option B, we're going to throw the ball away and it's just going to be an incompletion. If we run option C, it's going to be intercepted for a return touchdown. If we run option D, the guy is going to catch a short pass and then fumble it and we'll lose the game. And then the last option is a hail mare. We're going to catch it and score the touchdown. Now, which of those would you pick, knowing the future? It's like, well, let's pick the touchdown one. You know, like, why would I not pick that one? Okay. But here's the thing. The play hasn't run yet. And in God's sight, oh yeah, I haven't done anything yet, but God already knew that I would believe. And so, you know what? He's going to pick the people that believe to do all the things that he wants them to do. Okay. Based on what? His foreknowledge. Now then, God also has the ability to give mercy and to harden people as he sees fit, as he wants to choose, as he wants to ordain things. And so, yeah, is he going to pick Jacob over Esau? Okay, yeah. And if you go back to Malachi, you understand this isn't even really necessarily a reference to the person as much as it is the people groups. Jacob is a representation of Israel. Esau is a picture of Edom. And Edom is a, you know, kind of not the children of Israel. And Jacob's like a picture of the children of Israel, generically speaking. And so he's like, I love the children of Israel, the children of promise, and I've rejected the, you know, bastards, which really ends up being the Jews. Okay. Because you have to understand, he uses another picture in Romans chapter number 9, verse 7. Look at this. Neither because are they the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. So God uses all these different physical examples to illustrate something. Ishmael was the physical Jews that were rejected, and they were replaced by a spiritual seed, the promised child, Isaac. Okay. Before both of them were born, he was picked. Jacob was picked before Esau. Esau's the older brother. He's the firstborn. He's like the picture of the physical Jews. But then he gets replaced by the spiritual picture, Jacob, which is also represented in the New Testament with what? The Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews are the physical heir. They're the firstborn in that sense, and they're going to end up being rejected and replaced with a spiritual picture. That's why he says in verse 6, not as though the word of God had taken an effect, for they're not all Israel which are of Israel. Saying even though they're physical Israel, they're not necessarily spiritual Israel, we are spiritual Israel. And so God has ordained it that those who believe are the elect and those who don't believe are not. So if God knows that, and he knows that, okay, this guy's going to believe, the Gentiles are going to believe, the Jews are going to reject me, guess what? They're not elect. And God already knows that. God already knows the winner and the loser before the game is played. And so that doesn't change the fact, though, that there's a condition wrapped around why someone's saved and the fact that we do truly have free will. Now let me prove this to you. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. I'm kind of summarizing quickly because, you know, I have a lot of verses I kind of want to look at, and I don't want to take forever. But look at 1 Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse number 11. Let me prove to you that it's based on our decision making that we're saved. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 1. Look at verse number 11. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, notice this, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Now why did God choose the apostle Paul to do the works that he did? Because he counted him faithful, okay? Look at verse number 13. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy. Notice this. Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now wait a minute. What is the Bible saying? It's saying that the apostle Paul obtained something. What did he obtain? Mercy, okay? Why did Paul obtain mercy? Because he did it ignorantly. Is that based on his decision making? Is that based on his knowledge? Absolutely. So then how can I say that all of God's mercy is unconditional? It's not. He's telling you there's a specific reason why he got mercy. It was because, why? Because he was ignorant. He wasn't going around doing it purposefully. So what if someone is purposefully sinning against God? Oh, he might harden that one like Pharaoh. Hey, like the reprobate who knows the truth and rejects the truth, he gets hardened. But the guy that's doing it ignorantly, he obtains mercy. Why? Because he did it ignorantly. But isn't that based on the man's response? Isn't that based on the free will of man and whatever knowledge he has at that point? Why did God choose the apostle Paul to put in the mystery? Because he counted him faithful. Okay. Look at verse number 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now wait a minute. He's saying I obtained mercy. Okay. Why? Because I'm supposed to be a pattern. Okay. Now what's the pattern? That everyone who believes in Jesus would get what? His mercy. So notice, it's not saying it's an unconditional election. It's saying it's conditional. It's saying the mercy of God is conditional on what? On those who would believe on him. Not just nothing. Not based on, it doesn't say I obtained mercy for this cause. Just God just cited. Just God's glory. Now he's supposed to be a pattern. And what was that pattern? That God would allow him to believe on Jesus and be saved. Now here's the thing. Why would God show Paul a lot of mercy who ended up killing someone? You know, or was at least, you know, consenting under the death of Stephen. That's a pretty serious crime. Okay. Whereas he wouldn't necessarily be as merciful as Pharaoh. You want to know why? Because Paul's going to end up believing and getting saved. And Pharaoh's not. So then doesn't God have the right to just be merciful on whoever he wants to be merciful and to harden whomever he will? But let me ask you this question. Is God doing that based on nothing? Or is he basing it on what? His foreknowledge of the decisions those people are going to make. And so often, God is going to show a lot of mercy to people because they're going to end up believing on him. Why not? Why would God not want to show a lot of mercy on that person and allow them to get away with worse things because he knows that they're going to end up getting it right in the future. Or he knows that they'll believe in him in the future. Now, I want to show you a few more verses on this. Go back to Romans chapter 9. What if in Romans chapter 9 it told us the exact same thing? Oh yeah, it does. Because of course these people, they love to cherry pick really hard verses and attach a doctrine to it. But we can't do that. We have to understand our doctrine from the Bible and we don't want to base it on questions or anything like that. You know, people use verse 19 where it says, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? See? We can't do anything. He just forces us. But wait a minute. You don't want to base any doctrine on a question. And look what the next statement is. Nay. Whenever there's a question and then the next answer is just like no. You know what he's saying? He's saying that was a bad question. Why would I then say, you know what? Based on this bad question, let's form our doctrine that no one can resist his will. Because I can find you clear statements that say the Jews did resist his will. Okay? So and if you understand what's going on in this passage, look at verse 19. Question and then another question. The same verse. And then in verse 20, another question. And then the end of that verse, another question. And then in verse 21, another question. And then the verse 22 goes to 23 to 24, another question. Look, it's just like question, question, question, question, question, question. It's like let's wait until we get some clear statements to start forming some doctrine maybe. Because these are rhetorical devices to try and help you understand this passage. But then he finally gets to a point where he's going to finally give you some answers. Look at verse 30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. So he says specifically the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness. So he's saying, why is God showing mercy on the Gentiles and not showing it on to the Jews? Because notice, who is this pistol written to? Oh yeah, the Romans. Which are what? A lot of Gentiles mixed in here, okay? And he's saying, why then is God merciful to the Gentiles and why is he hardening the Jews? Why is he pouring out wrath on the Jews? Well, look at verse 32. Wherefore? He's saying why? Because they sought it not by faith. But as it were, by the works of the law, for they stumbled to that something something. So why did God harden the Jews? Why did he not pour out mercy unto them the same way he did to the Gentiles? Because they didn't seek God by faith. Because they were seeking righteousness by the law, not by faith. Isn't that based on man's free will? Isn't that based on their decisions? How can you say then that's unconditional? You know, it'd be like me getting Dylan, having him come to work, and I say, hey Dylan, destroy this piece of paper. And then he destroys it and I get mad at him. Why'd you destroy that piece of paper? You know, the Bible says that God's angry at the wicked every day. But if God's controlling the wicked, how can he be mad at them? Dylan, burn this piece of paper. Why'd you burn that piece of paper? Burn this one too. Why'd you burn that piece of paper, Dylan? You're just so bad. Hey, burn this piece of paper, Dylan. He burns it. Why'd you burn that piece of paper again? That's the view of the Calvinist God. Rather than the God of the Bible saying, you know what, hey, never burn this. And then he's just like, I'm just going to light this thing on fire. And then be like, why'd you burn that piece of paper? That was really important. That's the real God of the Bible saying, you know what, I'm going to give you free will. I want you to do right, but you know what, you're going to screw up. Now, if I could know the future and say, you know what, Dylan is going to end up getting this right and he's going to stop making mistakes, then maybe I'll be merciful to him. What if I knew the future and I knew, you know what, Dylan's going to keep burning these pieces of paper no matter what I entrust with him. He's going to burn the tithe money. He's going to burn the chairs. He's going to burn the whole building down. Then guess what, I'm not going to show him mercy. I'm going to be like, get out of your bozo. You know, I'm done with you. But if I say, hey, this guy, I knew this guy was going to get it right, then I'll be like, it's okay. We can fix it. We'll work through this. So then isn't it God, doesn't it make sense for God to say, you know what, I can have mercy on who I want to have mercy on. And you know what, I'm going to harden whoever I'm going to harden. But that doesn't mean it's based on nothing. It's based on the fact that God knows what these people are going to do, the choices that they're going to make. Okay. I'm going to show this to you in a very clear place in scripture. But go, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter number 1, 1 Peter chapter 1. Let me show you this. Because I'm not just making stuff up here. The Bible literally says these things. Okay. 1 Peter chapter number 1. And I've kind of been alluding to this point. But why would someone be elect then? Why would someone be saved? How does God know who the saved are before they've even been born? Okay. Well, look at 1 Peter chapter 2. I'm sorry, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. God already has foreknowledge of everything so he knows who the saved are before they get saved. Before anything ever happened. And you know what? The Calvinists, they reject this. They don't want to believe in it. And they want to twist who God is into something perverted. And they'll even say it's not based on anything. In John Piper's article, he says that it's not based on the fact that we would end up believing. He said it's not based on forcing faith. He says it's the cause of faith. Go to Acts chapter 13. Let me show you where he says this. Acts chapter number 13. He says the reason why people are elected has nothing to do with the foreknowledge of God. Okay. Well, then why did the Bible tell me that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God? What's the point of that verse? If everything's going to happen exactly how God wants and it's based on nothing that we do in the future, then why does God even need foreknowledge? The foreknowledge becomes pointless at that interpretation. No, it's obviously based on that foreknowledge. They use Acts 13 verse 48. The Bible reads, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. They'll say, oh, see, it's unconditional. Wait a minute. That didn't say it was unconditional. It just said all the people that were chosen to receive eternal life, elected to eternal life, ended up believing. Now, you know why that's the case? And this is really where it comes back to the point that God is sovereign. What did I say at the beginning? Not everything that God wants to happen will happen necessarily, but everything that God says will happen, will happen. What did God say? Or what does God say is going to happen? Those who believe are going to get saved, right? And everyone that was elected ends up doing what? Ends up believing. What if God had said, hey, this guy's elect before he'd been born, and then his whole life he never believed in Jesus? That would make God a liar, wouldn't it? But everyone that was elected to eternal life, everyone that was chosen, ordained to eternal life, guess what happens? They ended up believing. Why? Because everything that God says is going to happen, happens. And so how could he know that that was going to happen? Or how could he say that was going to happen? The foreknowledge. Not because he's just forcing them to believe, but because he knows based on his foreknowledge, they're elect according to the foreknowledge of God. He's already chosen them because of what they'll do. Not what John Piper says. Go to John chapter 6. Let me show you a couple more verses. He uses John chapter 6 to support his unbiblical doctrine here of unconditional election. Which, what's the point of unconditional election? You know, what's the beauty in unconditional election? What's the point of saying, you know what? God just wants a bunch of robots up in heaven to worship him. And if that's the case, then why did he create bad robots? Right? And isn't the majority bad? Like, is God just this tinker? Is he just this one guy that's just like, well, this one's bad. Throw it away. This one's bad. Nope, not that one. That one sucks. And that one's not going to work. Or is everything that God makes very good? Is everything that God... God made man upright. It's just us that go out of the way. It's us that perverts the things. It's us that make the bad decisions. It's not God forcing people to make bad decisions and not to believe in him. No. And again, a Calvinist will give lip service to the idea of free will, but then they deny it in practicality. Look at John chapter 6, verse 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and in that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. It says in verse 38, For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. So, they're saying, oh, well look, everyone that comes to Jesus is given of the Father. See, it was based on nothing that we did. They say in verse 65, And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except were given unto him of my Father. Oh, see? Absence of man's free will. Because you can't even come to Jesus unless the Father allows you to come to Jesus. And so they take these few verses and they twist them. And it kind of sounds good if you just read the verse by itself and you have their weird, twisted ideology. But what if we read a little bit more passage around these verses? Okay, look at verse 35. Go back. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst, but I said unto you, that ye also have seen me and believe not. So notice, they didn't believe in Jesus, did they? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and in that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. This is the Father's will which he hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So notice in the first part, he's saying these are the people that saw him, yet they didn't believe. So guess what? They're not elect. But he's saying those that do see him and do believe would end up being elect. Now they use this passage to say that it's unconditional. What? Sounds like it was really conditional and based on those who are believing, right? That's what I got from this passage. The ones that end up seeing and don't believe, hell. The ones that end up seeing and believe, heaven, right? They can't even be lost. There's no exception. He's saying everyone that comes unto Jesus, he shall in no wise cast out. So everyone that's been elected is gonna get where they've been chosen to go, okay? Now look at verse number 44, because they said, well, yeah, but here's the thing. The only way you can believe is that God makes you believe or force you to believe, gives you the grace to believe or whatever. And they say, you know what? It's only those that get that special privilege. But wait a minute. Look at verse 44. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. So they say, oh, look. You can't come to the Father unless, you can't come to Jesus unless the Father's drawing you. Okay, well go to John chapter 12 then. Go to John chapter number 12. Let's continue to compare spiritual to spiritual, because they're saying, you know what? It's just these people were not chosen by the Father to come to Jesus. You know, and you can only be drawn to Jesus if the Father allows you. That's true, but here's the problem with their theology, that God is drawing all people. That God's drawing every single person. He's just saying you can't get to Jesus if God's not drawing you. Okay, there's no way to get there unless the Father's drawing you. But it doesn't say that he's only drawing the ones that end up getting saved. He's trying to draw everybody. Look at John chapter 12. Look at verse 30. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Hey, Jesus said I am drawing all men unto me. Why? Because God loved the world. God is trying to draw all men unto him. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance is what the Bible says. How can you believe that verse and say it's unconditional election? Because the Bible says that God's not willing that any should perish. Uh-oh. Now you have a problem. Go into 2 Peter chapter number 3. Let's read that verse so you get it deep into your mind. Because here's the problem with their doctrine. It's double predestination. Now what's double predestination? Well, predestined means that it's chosen. Whatever's going to happen, whatever's been destined before, right? Pre is before. Destined is what's going to end up happening. So it's saying you're predestined in the sense that before you make any kind of decision, this is what your destiny was, right? So in their ideology, you're destined to heaven before you're born regardless on anything, you know, based on nothing, okay? We're saying it's based on if you're going to believe or not. Double predestination is not only those who are already destined to go to heaven. It's also those who are destined to hell because you can't have one side of the coin without the other. So double predestination is saying that if God foreordained all these people on their way to heaven, the opposite would then be true. That all the people that are not destined to heaven are destined for hell, okay? So then you're either elect or reprobate, right? And that's why they interpret Romans 1 as being every single person. They say every single person is a literal reprobate until God's irresistible grace comes upon you and you magically turn elect. Okay, it's a weird, sick ideology. And they'll say that every person that's not elect is capable of all evil until they get saved. Okay, so they wouldn't look at a sodomite and say that's because you rejected God. You're just not elect yet. And then as soon as they stop being a fag or stop being a homo and start believing or whatever, then they're suddenly elect or something like that. And it's just that they're really based on what? When you turn from your sin. That's why they say repentance and faith is inseparable. Ever heard that phrase? Repentance and faith are inseparable graces. Oh, what does that mean? It means that God just graces you with faith and repentance. And that's why they also say that if you didn't turn from your sins, you didn't really believe. Because think of it. If you're not controlling any of your actions and you are dead, and then all of a sudden you're just alive, you're going to be breathing, right? You're going to exhibit the attributes of being alive. You're not going to just still be in the water not breathing, okay? So they're saying, well, if God's irresistible grace came upon you and you were just automatically elected, well then of course you're going to be having the faith and the works. And if God's controlling all of your actions, why would God not force you to do a lot of good stuff too? Because you're just a puppet anyways based on their ideology. That's why they can't separate repenting from your sins from believing in Jesus Christ because they think neither have anything to do with being saved. It's just evidences of being saved. So if you're not doing them, then you're just not elect. You're just not saved. And that everybody else is just literally a reprobate. But this is so contrary to so much Bible. What did they do? They left the Bible and they started reading commentaries and they started reading John Calvin and just reading all the Church Fathers, all these ex-Catholics that are still not saved. You know, Martin Luther didn't get saved reading the Bible. I'm sorry, but that didn't happen. And all these, you know, Reformed Protestants or whatever, they're a bunch of unsaved devils. They're a bunch of unsaved, you know, Pharisees really because they think that they're saved based on what? Their righteousness. How much more godly they are than what? All the Catholics are paying for indulgences. Because they're not paying for indulgences, they're just so righteous, you know. And it's evidence of the fact that they must be saved because they're so much better. But really, Romans chapter 2 verse 1 was the verse that they needed to read. I'm going on a tangent. But look at this verse. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise that some may count slackness, but its longsuffering to us were it not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If God wants every single person to be saved, and according to Calvinists, everything that He wants ends up happening, then why isn't everyone saved? Man's free will. That's why. That's because they reject man's free will. They reject any application. Again, they'll give lip service to the fact that we have free will, but then when you show them verses like this, they say, oh, well, you know, that's just meaning like the elect specifically. Any just means only the elect. Any time the Bible says any or all, it's just really just the elect. You know, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. Well, every there just means like only the elect, though. Okay, well, what about 1 John chapter number 2? Go to 1 John chapter number 2. Because they keep trying to say, well, if you go back to the Greek, you know, any and all just mean only the elect. You know, just trust us. We wouldn't tell you anything different. Okay, well, how do you interpret 1 John chapter 2 verse 2? And He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Oops. Now, that's really hitting on limited atonement, but at the same time, Jesus Christ truly tasted death for every single man, and He's not willing that any should perish, and He's really the Savior of all men, especially to those that believe, and the reality is the one thing separating is man's free will of choice if you believe or if you don't. Look at verse number 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. But how can you read these verses and then say, everything that happens is according to God's will? It just told you all the things that were in the world were not of God. They were not of the Father. That means there has to be another source. You know what that source is? You and me. Mankind. Mankind and the devil. It comes from other people's free will, all the evil and the wicked. It's from the lust of the flesh. Where does sin come from? It comes from God. God's not forcing you to sin. God's not the author of confusion. God's not the author of evil in the sense of wickedness. Yeah, he's in the sense of harm because there's a place called hell. And guess what? You don't want to go there. But then it contrasts that with people that do the will of God. Why? Because not everything that God wants to happen is going to happen. Look, God wants everyone to be saved. That's what he really wants. But is that going to happen? No. But then what did he say will happen? Those who believe will be saved and those who don't believe won't. So we have to understand the differences of God's will. Yes, God has a perfect will and he would desire for all men to be saved. And he is the savior of all men, but he's ordained it. He's elected and chosen only those who believe would be saved. So if we go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, let me show you some more verses to prove this. You know, this double predestination is garbage to say that God would literally create someone and force them to hell based on no decision of their own. That's a wicked God. That's a different God. That's not the God of the Bible. And people that take this Calvinism doctrine to that extremity, you know, I question if they're even saved. I'm not saying that everybody that subscribes to any level of Calvinism is unsaved because I think there are some people that get mixed up. But when you get to the hyper-Calvinist views, when you get to the double predestination, when you can say with a straight face, you didn't even have to believe to get saved. You're not saved. You're believing a different gospel, a different God. Just everything is just wrong. There's something wrong about you, okay? Something wrong with your brain to think that God is honored and glorified by all the theft and the murder and the incest and the bestiality and the sodomy and the forcing of women. You think that that's of God? You think that's bringing honor and glory to God? You're a sick, twisted pervert. Now, the Bible tells us why people are rejected. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, verse number 7. 2 Thessalonians 2, look at verse number 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, who the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. You say, well, why? Why would God just send somebody else? Why would God cause all this bad stuff to happen? Because they received not the love of the truth. How can you say that's unconditional? It's conditional. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Notice verse 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion. Why does God send strong delusion to them? Because they received not the love of the truth. Why would God reprobate somebody? Because they changed the truth of God into a lie. And it says, for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. It doesn't say God just randomly gives people reprobate minds and randomly gives people grace and randomly gives them mercy. No, it's based on something. It's based on if we receive the gospel or not. It's based on if you receive the love of the truth today. And notice these people are going to be damned. Why? For the cause that they received not the love of the truth. Now he's going to do what? He's going to harden them. But why is he hardening them for this cause? Because they received not the love of the truth. Now when you receive not the love of the truth, beware. Because then it might get worse. Notice what it says, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. CNN, you know. That they all might be damned. Now you say, why are they damning them? Who believed not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. So why? Hey, they love sin so much, they love iniquity so much, they rejected the truth, they hate the truth, and because of that reason, God will harden them to the point where they'll never believe. Like who? Like Pharaoh. To the point where he could have all kinds of plagues that are just obvious from God and he still rejects it. Just like the atheist and the reprobate and the fag today who can see the world and it's obvious that God exists. It's manifest, his creation. His Godhead is manifest. His power is manifest. Everything about who God is manifest. The truth of the gospel is manifest. It's all obvious to them and they just reject it and they reject it. And you know what? The magicians are looking at Pharaoh and it's like, this is the finger of God. How can you not believe? And because they did not receive the love of the truth, because they rejected God, God will give them strong delusion to the point where they'll never believe. Hey, the Jews that saw Jesus Christ healing in the power of the Holy Ghost and he's performing miracles before their eyes and they're like, that was the power of Beelzebub. He's like, you know what? You'll never believe now. I'm going to harden you so much, but it wasn't based on nothing. He didn't just say, hey, you Jews, damned, specially damned. You know, you damned more. It's because they were rejecting what God was doing. It's so clear in the Bible. Look at John chapter number one. Go to John chapter number one. Let me show you a few more verses here. The Bible could not be clearer. And I hate this doctrine. It's a foolish doctrine, and there's so many people wrapped up in it. And, you know, obviously our church may not be that wrapped up into it, but, you know, it's good to understand what the Bible really teaches here and get a firm grip on free will so that you can educate people and you yourself can realize your decisions matter. You know, when I think about a sermon like this, you know what it does? It tells me every decision I make is important and that I have the ability to make any decision I want and affect my future. You know, you should realize, not just for salvation, everything. Obviously we're focusing on salvation here, but your decisions matter. Look at John chapter one. Look at verse ten. I'm sorry. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even of them that believe on His name. So it's saying specifically to those that believe on His name. That's what it means to receive Him. You know, if someone says, I received Jesus, then that means they must have believed on Him, or they're misunderstanding what receiving means. But notice there's a difference. Those who received not and those who received Him. And those are the ones who He gave that power to become a child of God. And they'll say, yeah, but it's not of work. Keep reading, Pastor Shelley. Look what it says in verse 13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And so they say, oh, see, it's of God. It was just granted unto them. Because notice what it says, Pastor Shelley. It says, nor the will of man. Okay, let me interpret this verse for you. Let me help you understand this verse. Which were born, not of blood. It wasn't a physical birth. Salvation's not physical. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual birth. What's the second part of this? Nor of the will of the flesh. What's the will of the flesh? Your strength. You can't wrestle with God and get saved. It's not basically how strong you are. It's not like you're lifting the power like you're saved. Saved! Yes! It's not the will of the flesh. Or it's not any subduing by the will of the flesh. Your strength to overcome sin. Or your strength to overcome something by something physical. It's not a physical strength. It's not you're born. It's not your physical strength. Now what's the other one? Nor the will of man. What does that mean? It's not based on your desire. Okay? In the sense that you could sit here and just be like, I want to be saved. I just want to be saved! Saved! You know, it's not like Dragon Z or whatever, where you just, you just like, gah! And you just explode into salvation or something. There's people that really, really, really, really, really, really want to be saved, and it's not going to get them saved. Because it's not how much you desire it. You have to go the right way. You have to receive that salvation. Hey, there's plenty of people that have all kinds of works to try and get saved. Didn't save them. Their desire was there potentially, but it was the wrong desire. It was not according to knowledge. Hey, they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. What is a zeal? Your desire. Hey, the Jews had a zeal of God, but it wasn't according to knowledge. They weren't saved. Why? Because salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. It's based on the decision that you make of placing your faith in Him. Look at Romans chapter one again, and look at verse number 16. Romans chapter one, look at verse number 16. John Piper. Five reasons to believe in or to embrace unconditional election. Number one, because it's true. Okay, well that's weird. Also, why would you entitle an article, Reasons to Embrace Unconditional Election? Well, if that's true, then I'm just going to automatically embrace it anyways. Or not. I guess God ordained it that I would never embrace unconditional election, you know. Riddle me that one, John Piper. Because I'm just not getting it. Why? Because it's not true. Why? Because there is no basis in scripture on this. He has to twist the hardest passages in the Bible to try and make it sound like it's true. We can show you so many clear verses that say it's not. Romans chapter one, look at verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. Hey, the Bible's crystal clear. It's based on if you believe. Verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed Okay, so we have people that are saved and we have people that are unsaved. Why were they unsaved? Well, look at verse 26. For this cause, God gave them up. Why would God give up on people? Well, verse 25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie? Based on what they did. One believed, saved. The other one that changed the truth of God into a lie? Not saved. Now, he says this in his article. He says, well, when you get to heaven, you stand before God and he asks you this question to the people that are not saved. Or, no, I'm sorry, he's asking this question to people that are the elect, okay? And he says, why did you believe on my son while others didn't? He's basically trying to ask the elect why they're elect versus other people. He's like, why did you believe on my son and others didn't? And then he gives these rhetorical questions. They would say, why did you believe on my son and others didn't? Because I was smarter? Because of your grace? Wait a minute. Because I was smarter? And he's trying to mock the idea that someone believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay, is a more intelligent decision than not believing. As somehow it was a bad question. But here's the thing. When in the Bible does it show a group of people that are being confronted with God and they're saying, why did you believe on my son? The question's real obvious, okay, because I don't want to go to hell, all right? Because you commanded me to. You told me to, all right? Go over to Proverbs chapter one. And let me just say this. Because I was smarter. Sure. That's what the Bible actually teaches anyways. He's like mocking the idea, because I was smarter. Look, it's not that I go to heaven because I'm smarter, but you know what, it is a smarter decision. It's called the wise decision. What if the Bible says that? Look at Proverbs chapter one. Look at verse number 20. Wisdom cries out, she heard their voice in the streets. So she's saying, you know, hey, this is wisdom. And then it shows people that reject them, refuse them. I read a lot of that this morning. But look what it says in verse number 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. It's talking about people that have been rejected by God. It says in verse 29, for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Now, here's the question. How can God say that if he was forcing them to do it? He's saying, why did these people get rejected? Because they didn't choose the fear of the Lord. Now, what's the fear of the Lord? Well, look at verse seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now, would you say that's a smarter decision? Hey, why did you believe and others didn't? Because I chose the fear of the Lord. Was that a smarter decision? Yeah, it was a smarter decision. So yes, John Piper, why did you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and others didn't? Because I feared the Lord. Because I chose life. Because I didn't want to go to hell. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 30. You say, well, that's not fair. Why is that not fair? Why is it not fair that God sets before every single person an option to believe or not to believe and those that choose to accept that are saved and those who don't choose are not saved? How can they literally ridicule that and then say, you know what's way better is that people were just automatically damned and automatically saved based on nothing? What? How is that better? And so it's more glory to God. How is that more glory? Just to have robots and just to reject robots. You know what's glory? Is to have people truly love you back. Sincerely love you back. That's what's real glory. And you know what's another thing that's really glorious? Is the fact that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not only the people that accept Jesus are going to call him Lord, everyone that rejected him also has to say that he's Lord. What's a picture of sovereignty? That. Hey, I'm going to give every creation free will. But guess what? There's going to be a day when you all bow to me. Supreme. I mean the highest. That's the real picture of sovereignty. Not saying, you know what, I built 100 robots and they all bow down and they say, we love Pastor Shelley. What if I had my whole church filled with robots and they were just like, Pastor Shelley's sermons are the greatest. I love them so much. Dude, look how glorious, you know. Look how wonderful. Or what if people willingly showed up and willingly want to listen to the preaching? Wouldn't that be a little bit more of a picture of the fact that, hey, maybe there's something good going on? What if all the reviews for your business on Google were just bots that you got? They're just the Russian bots. Five star, greatest service ever. I loved it so much. Or what if you had 100 people that did business with you put a five star of their own free will? Wouldn't that be more glory? The Calvinist god is really just a troll god. He just has troll robots just worshipping him and praising him with no opinion. And look, even the angels aren't robots, my friend. Hey, the angels had an option and the angels that sinned are going to be cast down into hell. But the ones that stayed, hey, they're going to worship God. Why? Because God doesn't want robots to worship him. What kind of sick person wants that? And what kind of sick, perverted person would dream up all the evil that exists in the world today and then blame it on God? And then say that it's God that's causing it ultimately and that it gives God glory? Hillary Clinton's not giving God glory, my friend. Elton John didn't give God any glory, okay? He gives us a choice and that's what makes him truly sovereign. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. Notice God gives us a choice today. Praise the Lord that he gives us a choice. Praise the Lord that God, even though while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And he did everything that he could possibly do to try to get us to love him. And he said, you know what? I'm perfect and holy and righteous and I gave you life and you still rejected me. And then you still sinned against me every single day. And you're still going to keep sinning against me and I still love you and I'm still giving you mercy and I'm still giving you a choice. Look, God did everything. All you have to do is just accept Jesus to be saved. It couldn't be easier. That's how much God loves you. But you know what? God's still sovereign and then man has free will. And we should reject, you know, the stupidity of unconditional love. He had five points. I'm not even going to get through them all. The other four points he had just one verse just taken way out of context. It had nothing to do with even Calvinistic beliefs, just a proof. I'll just give you his points, the title. I'm not going to preach through it. Go to Ephesians chapter two. This is the last place I'll have you turn, okay? Ephesians chapter two. The second reason why we should embrace unconditional election. Because it makes us fearless. What? Why does that make me fearless? Number three, it makes you humble. It's actually the opposite of humility. You know, humility would be the reality that I need to choose God. Not just it's automatically going to happen, you know? The fact that I need to humble myself and accept God. The problem with most people is they're not willing to humble themselves and say they need a savior. That's their real problem. Number four, he says it's a powerful moral impetus for compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. Now, you say, what's impetus? He tries to cloud everything up with these fancy words, all right? Basically, they just take a normal word, look up the weirdest one in the thesaurus and put it in there to try and hide what they're trying to say. Empedest means motivation, okay? So he's saying the greatest motivation to be compassionate, kind, and forgiving is to embrace unconditional election. To say that the majority of your creation you're going to damn to hell is the greatest motivation to be kind and merciful and loving. What a pervert. What a sick, sadistic person. You know what's actually motivating real compassion and love? There's nothing compassionate about hell, okay? God did everything he possibly could to keep people out of hell while giving them free will. Everything. I mean, think about it. You just have to one time call upon the name of the Lord. That's it. How could he have made it any easier? He did everything. He did all the hard part. And you're competing with lies against the truth. And he sacrificed his own son. What could be more compassionate than that and loving than that? What's the point of God doing all that for a bunch of robots to serve him? Couldn't he have just done that without sacrificing his son? It's bizarre. This is the last thing. It's a powerful incentive in our evangelism to help unbelievers who are great sinners not to despair. You know what the most powerful evangelism motivation is? The fact that nothing you do matters and nothing they do matters. How do you make this stuff up? You know what? I've never run into somebody and they said, Man, I've got a fire to start preaching the gospel because of John Piper, because of Calvinism. You know what it does? It destroys your motivation to preach the gospel. It destroys your motivation to serve God or do anything right. Where are all the great evangelists being like, Man, John Piper, he fired me up. He got me so excited about life and all my choices that don't matter. Everything that I do doesn't matter. Everything you do doesn't matter. Hey, knock on someone's door. Do you want to go to heaven? Sure. Well, nothing you decide is going to have any impact on that. See you later. I hope you enjoyed that. What kind of nonsense is this? And then you know what they do? They say, Well, basically, if God elected you, you're going to come to our church. You're going to believe all of our doctrine. You're going to turn from all your sins. And if you're not doing that in backslide, it was evidence that you weren't really elect. And people were like, I don't want to be elect. You know, because y'all are creepy and weird and sadistic. And I don't believe like you. And I don't want to be like you. And I don't like anything about you. Basically, it's just like we're a cult. And if you don't join our cult, you're not saved. That's what Calvinism is when you boil it down to its nutshell. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 8. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Okay, verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now what kind of a statement is that if we're automatically puppets by God? We're not. We have a choice. And look, what should you take away from the sermon? First of all, Calvinism is stupid. You already knew that. Unconditional elections, not legitimate. You already knew that. You're already saved, probably. But here's the thing. You still have free will. And I've just demonstrated to you beyond any shadow of a doubt that free will is what we've been given. And God gave it to us to be saved. But you know what? Your free will is not just for salvation. It's also to do the works that God ordained you to do. And here's the thing. You have a choice every single day what you're going to do. Every single moment. Every single... And look, you can't change the past. All you can do is the decisions you're going to make in the future. Every decision in the past has already been made. Quit worrying about it. Start worrying about every decision you have in the future from right now. And say, you know what? I need to exercise myself in the Bible and the Word of God and try to walk in the Spirit because my free will is going to determine the things that I do. And you know what? My free will inside my man doesn't want to serve God at all. That's why it's important to actually crucify the flesh and try to walk in the Spirit so the rest of your free will will be put in the right direction. Choose life today. You know, don't choose death. Don't choose all the destruction. And look, obviously we use that in connection with salvation, but it can also just be in your daily decisions in your life. Choose life today. Choose going to church. Choose reading the Bible. Choose serving God with your life. You know, stop worrying about all the things in this world. You have free will. And God gave it to you for a purpose, for a reason. He wants you to want to choose to serve Him. But here's the question, will you? Don't believe the Calvinist lie. You know why people want to believe Calvinism? Because they're so lazy and they don't want to serve God and they want something to blame it on. Stop blaming God for you being a lazy jerk. Stop blaming God for being backslidden. Stop blaming God for having no zeal. Stop blaming God for not knowing the Bible. Stop blaming God for being stupid. Stop blaming God for all of your problems. Stop blaming God for all the evil that happens to you. You know what, it's your fault and it's my fault today. And we have the free will today to choose to serve God. So why don't we serve Him? When you understand this, hey, let's rag on Calvinism. Great. But you know what, let's rag on ourselves a little bit and say, you know what, I have this free will and the result of where you're at right now is based on the free will choices you made in the past. And if you don't like where you're at, then start making better decisions in the future. Close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for the free gift of salvation and what you've given us. We understand that your sovereignty is actually magnified by giving us free will and giving us the option to choose to serve you or not. And I pray that with such a blessing and an honor that you've given us that all the decisions we make matter, that we would realize the importance of that and that we would be sober to realize that our decisions are super important and that we should not take them lightly, but rather we should exercise our free will to serve you. And I pray that you would actually stir up our hearts today, that you would motivate us to have a desire to serve you, to have a true zeal of God inside and that we would walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. With that, let's go to our last song for tonight. Go ahead and take out your white handout and turn to Holy, Holy, Holy. Again, that's Holy, Holy, Holy in your white handout. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, Holy, Holy Merciful and mighty God in three persons Blessed Trinity Holy, Holy, Holy All the saints adore Thee Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee Which word and or death evermore shall be Holy, Holy, Holy Though the darkness hide Thee Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see Only Thou art holy There is none beside Thee Perfect and power and love and purity Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea Holy, Holy, Holy Merciful and mighty God in three persons Blessed Trinity Amen. Thank you all for coming. Y'all have a good evening. Drive safe. Thank you.