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"Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and
causest to approach unto thee"
Psalm 65:4
The message in this study
is for Bible believing Christians who have a love for the truth as found
in God's holy Word. The subject pertains to God's grace and it is a
message preached by the great men of God who sparked the Protestant
reformation. It is a message preached by Luther and by Spurgeon and by
men like Matthew Henry. It is a message that has changed in recent
history. Oh yes, there are a great many believers today who say they
believe that we are saved by God's grace alone but then they present the
Gospel in a way that is not by God's grace alone but by the will of man.
I know, for I was one of them and they taught me. But my prior opinion
and perhaps yours, was not based on a deep delving into the Word, but
rather a superficial teaching that did not deal with difficult questions,
like "Why would God predestine anyone to Hell?" or "Why do
I need to witness to anyone if God predestines people to be saved?"
or "If Jesus died for
the whole world then why did Jesus say that most people go to Hell in
Matthew 7:13?". Indeed, how could Christ die for the whole world and
also just for those that 'accept' him? Are there no clear answers in
God's Word to such questions? Does the Bible contradict itself?
Many Christians today,
both true and false Christians are preaching that to get to Heaven, one
must 'accept' Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour as if individuals
have any say in their own salvation. But when we look at the related
Bible verses, in context, we will see that salvation is entirely of the
Lord. It is His doing, from start to finish, and it is marvelous in our
eyes. Those who are in rebellion against Him will not frustrate God’s
plans. He positively will save whom He pleases, when He pleases. It is
all according to His good pleasure without any help, approval, or
acceptance from sinful man. Please don't misunderstand, we must receive
Christ into our hearts, and we will receive Him, but only AFTER He draws
us and converts us, as you will see in the scriptures, as presented
below.
WHERE DOES SAVING FAITH COME FROM?
We may think that we
choose God but it is God who gives us the desire to want Him and the
faith to be able to trust Him. God is the giver of every aspect of
salvation even regarding repentance and faith:
John 3:27 - "John
answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him
from heaven."
God has to enable sinners
to repent:
Acts 11:18 - "When
they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God,
saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life."
2Timothy 2:25 - "In
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth"
God has to give people
faith as a gift so that they can believe on Christ:
Ephesians 2:8 - "For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God"
Regarding salvation, man
has absolutely nothing to contribute: "knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked?"
(Revelation 3:17).
Until God puts a new heart
in us we are just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, who hid from
God after they sinned. Until God draws us and converts us, we have no
desire for fellowship with Him or His children. Instead we run from Him
and His messengers and we consider His commandments burdensome and His
Lordship something to be scorned.
WHO DOES THE CHOOSING?
Here are some Bible verses
that are very clear about this matter of God choosing us - without any
approval from us ahead of time:
John 15:16 - "Ye have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye
should go and bring forth fruit"
John 15:19 - "If ye
were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you."
2 Thessalonians 2:13 -
"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth"
Matthew 22:14 - "For
many are called, but few are chosen."
John 6:44 - "No man
can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day."
Psalm 65:4 - "Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto
thee"
Acts 13:48 - "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."
James 1:18 - "Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a
kind of first fruits of his creatures."
CAN OUR WILL OVERPOWER GOD'S WILL?
When we first look at John
1:12 it sure looks like it is we who choose Christ:
John 1:12 - "But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name"
But then, when we look at
the next verse, we can no longer draw that conclusion:
John 1:13 - "Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God."
So we can conclude that in
John 1:12, God, by His will, converted people into His sons, thereby
enabling them to receive Him and to believe on His name. One who is a
child of darkness will certainly not receive Him.
Then when we read the
first chapter of Ephesians, all we see are references to God and His
will, not our own will:
Ephesians 1:4 -
"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: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of
his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and
prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which
are on earth; even in him: 11 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"
Romans chapter 9 is a
section of the Bible that makes no sense at all if we are to believe that
man chooses to accept Christ, of his own free will:
Romans 9:15 - "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. 16 So then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy."
Isaiah put it well,
regarding who is in control of things:
Isaiah 46:10 -
"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure"
WHO SEEKS WHOM?
Romans 3:11 - "There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh
after God."
Romans 10:20 - "But
Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me."
Luke 19:10 - "For the
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Note that Jesus seeks us -
we don't seek him, because when we are unsaved we don't even know that we
are lost (see Romans 3:11 and 10:20 above). Once God shows us that we are
hopelessly lost Hell-deserving sinners, we can cry out to Him to have
mercy on our lost soul and to save us from the wrath of God. It is this
recognition of one's sin and God's holiness that occurs at salvation,
when God opens our spiritual eyes as He did with Isaiah:
Isaiah 6:5 - "Then
said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
The only way that Isaiah
could see the Lord's holiness and his own sinfulness was if God reached
out and gave him the ability to see:
Romans 11:7-8 - "7
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8 (According as it
is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they
should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day."
John 9:39 - "And
Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."
We cannot manipulate God
and make Him save us just because we say a sinner's prayer in which we
'accept' Christ as our Saviour. As spiritually blind sinners, we are
entirely at the mercy of God to seek us out and to heal us of our
spiritual blindness:
Matthew 20:30 - "And,
behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus
passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son
of David."
God certainly causes a
person to care about their sins, just as He enabled the two blind men
mentioned above, to have faith in Christ to heal them. However, God saves
people in His time and in His way. The two blind men in Matthew 20 were
healed by the Lord's touch. The blind man in John 9 was healed by the
Lord making clay by spitting on the ground. In either case, these three
men would never have been healed if it were not for the Lord coming their
way and granting them healing.
IS NOT SALVATION ALL BY GOD'S GRACE AND HIS POWER?
Romans 5:6 - "For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly."
There are many people
today who think they are truly saved and truly right with God because
some well meaning Christian told them to say a sinner's prayer and if
they really meant it, they would be saved on the spot (regardless of what
God had to say about the issue). A person might sincerely say a prayer to
accept Christ (on his or her own terms) but never intend to forsake their
sins because the Holy Spirit has not yet convicted them of their sins.
Whether we want to admit
it or not, the act of accepting Christ is a 'work' because it is
something that man does that he can take credit for and this kind of
thing cannot happen in God's plan of salvation because He has declared
that no one will be able to glory before Him (Romans 4:2). Also, as all
true Christians should know (even those that preach that unsaved man has
a free will) - salvation is "not of works lest any man should
boast" (Ephesians 2:9). Charles Spurgeon made this point quite clear
in his sermon "Free Will - A Slave" where he recites a prayer
that someone might pray if they believed that we 'accept' Christ as our
Saviour of our own free will:
"Lord, I thank
thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born
with a glorious free will; I was born with power by which I can turn to
thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same
with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I
know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou
givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are
many that will go to Hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I
was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; They had as good a
chance, and were as much blessed as I am, It was not thy grace that made
us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I
made use of what was given me, and others did not - that is the
difference between me and them."
The Bible says that salvation
is a gift of God (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8, etc.). It is a gift that no
unsaved sinner wants as Paul pointed out in Romans 3:11 where he wrote
that none seekth after God. The old man does not want to accept Jesus. He
wants to be his own lord and master:
Isaiah 53:6 - "All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way"
Only God can change us
into a creature that is willing to submit to Christ's Lordship:
2 Corinthians 5:17 -
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
It is this new creature
that accepts Christ's lordship. The old creature is at war with God:
Romans 8:7 - "Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Romans 8:8 plainly states
that an unsaved person cannot please God and so they cannot accept Christ
as their Saviour and Lord because they have not the will or the desire to
do anything that would please God. God must put His Spirit in us so we
will want to know Him, trust Him and please Him.
DOES GOD PREDESTINE PEOPLE BASED ON HIS FOREKNOWLEDGE?
Many Christians are told
that God has looked into the future to see who would accept Christ and
therefore those people are the ones whom God has predestined to be saved.
Where is this idea stated in the Bible? This idea is a false
doctrine, perhaps based on a misunderstanding of scriptures like Romans
8:29 and Romans 11:2. If God ever looked forward in time, the only thing
He saw was this:
Genesis 6:5 - "And
GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually."
If we look at Romans 8:29
and Romans 11:2 in context, we will see plenty of evidence for election
by God's sovereign grace and zero evidence for that election being based
on God looking into the future and seeing people accepting Christ:
Romans 8:28-33 - "28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."
God foreknew that there
were none that seeketh after God (Romans 3:11) and knowing that, He had
no choice but to call people out of the world if He was going to have a people
for Himself. God does the electing. Sinners do no elect themselves to be
saved.
Romans 11:2-7 - "2
God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Know ye not
what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession to God
against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged
down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what
saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of
works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7 What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath
obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8 (According as it is written,
God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see,
and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day."
Note in verse 5 above,
that election is according to grace, NOT according to foreknowledge. If
it were according to foreknowledge of our acceptance of Christ, it would
be according to works and not according to grace. Note also in verse 7
that God blinded the rest. He did not intend for the rest to be saved,
only His elect. Does that sound unfair? Remember, "Who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?" (1 Cor. 2:16) and
also "The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the
wicked for the day of evil." (Prov. 16:4). Also, if God were to be
fair, everyone would end up in hell.
GOD FIRST OPENS A PERSON'S HEART
Acts 16:14 - "And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."
Ezekiel 36:26 - "A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will
put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
Note how many times God
says, "I will" or "will I" in the 2 verses from
Ezekiel 36 above, because "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah
2:9). All we can do is praise God when He saves us. God will cause us to
walk in His statutes after He puts His Spirit in us. And so we can see
from scripture that it is the new heart, the heart of flesh, which
accepts Christ and His Lordship, NOT the heart of stone!
WHAT ABOUT THE LIFE PRESERVER ANALOGY?
Have you been told that
the salvation process is analogous to a man drowning? The rescuer (i.e.
God the Father) throws the drowning man a life preserver (God the Son -
Christ) but the man must do 'his part' to be rescued. He must reach out
and take the life preserver in order to be saved, or in other words, he
must 'accept' Christ after hearing the Gospel. This analogy has a huge
flaw to it. How does a dead man grab a life preserver? According to the
Word of God, fallen men are not drowning - they have already drowned -
they are dead (spiritually) and at the bottom of the ocean:
Matthew 8:22 - "But
Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their
dead."
Romans 11:15 - "For
if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall
the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?"
John 11:25 - "Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"
Luke 15:24 - "For
this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and
is found. And they began to be merry."
DO THE DEAD HAVE ANY PART IN RAISING THEMSELVES?
Jesus physically raised
Lazarus from the dead without any help or even any initiative or free
will on the part of Lazarus (See John 11:43). Lazarus could not come to
Jesus until he became physically alive again. Likewise, spiritual life
must be imparted to a person before they will want to come to God:
Colossians 2:13 -
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses"
WHO HAD OR HAS A FREE WILL?
Adam and Eve had free
will, a will capable of obeying God, until they sinned and became cursed
with spiritual death, severing their relationship to God. They then
became immediately reprobate just like all their offspring are at birth.
This was evidenced by the fact that they hid from God and they started
blaming others for their sin rather then confessing their sin and seeking
forgiveness from God. True Christians, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, have
the power and desire (i.e. the will) to accept Christ's Lordship, to keep
God's laws: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13). True believers not
only have the power to keep God's laws but they take joy in pleasing God:
"I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my
heart." (Psalm 40:8). Reprobate mankind has no such joy: "it is
abomination to fools to depart from evil" (Proverbs 13:19).
WHAT KIND OF WILL IS MAN BORN WITH?
The Bible declares that
man is born with a predisposition, a will, to sin:
Psalm 58:3 - "The
wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be
born, speaking lies."
Children go astray as soon
as they are born. They do not need to be taught sin. It is their nature
to sin. That is curse of Adam. It was a most horrible curse. It is like a
disease, a moral contamination that is passed on from generation to
generation. It has affected every one of Adam's descendants:
Romans 5:12,18,19 -
"12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned
... 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. ... 19 For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one
shall many be made righteous."
But you say, "It is
not fair. Why should I have to suffer for the sin of Adam?” Who are you
to tell an infinitely holy and infinitely intelligent God what is fair
and what is not fair? Likewise, was it fair that a sinless Saviour had to
be brutally beaten and then crucified to purchase salvation for fallen
mankind? No, it was not fair. It was grace, amazing grace. The very fact
that man does not think God is fair, is confirmation that man is corrupt,
because he has the idea that his Creator is defective in some way. Should
you not rather assume that God is right and you, with your puny imperfect
brain, just don't understand the Almighty?
Here is further biblical
confirmation that unsaved man is not free to choose what is right. He has
a will indeed, a will that is certainly free to commit any and all kinds
of sins and a will that delights in doing just that. But man's will is a
will that is in bondage to sin, a will that only Christ can set free:
John 8:31-36 - "31
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye
shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you; Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the
servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed."
Let us not be like the
Pharisees who protested against Christ's declaration that they were in
bondage to sin (John 8:33). Let us just humbly and honestly admit that
such is the state of unsaved man, precisely as scripture proclaims.
CAN WE GIVE BIRTH TO OURSELVES?
John 3:3 - "Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
We have about as much to
contribute towards our spiritual birth as we had with our physical birth.
God is the potter. We are the clay. He makes us without our help:
Romans 9:21 - "Hath
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"
Jeremiah 18:3-6 - "3
Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on
the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed
good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to
me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?
saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in
mine hand, O house of Israel."
God is not sitting around
somewhere waiting and hoping for sinful man to accept him. Christians are
God's people because God makes them His people, His sheep:
Psalm 100:3 - "Know
ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not
we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
ARE PEOPLE SAVED AGAINST THEIR OWN WILL?
Nothing is too difficult
for God. He is capable of saving people in spite of their own will, as it
was with the apostle Paul who was quite busy about his work of
persecuting Christians when God decided it was time to convert Saul to
Paul on the Road to Damascus (Acts chapter 9 and chapter 26). Has God
converted you yet? If not, pray for Him to have mercy on your soul. Cry
out to God; plead with Him, to deliver you from the wrath to come.
What kind of a will do the
unsaved possess? Not a will to please God:
Romans 8:8 - "So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
The Bible has nothing
positive to say about unsaved man's ability to do anything pleasing to
God:
Isaiah 59:1-4 - "1
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither
his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled
with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have
spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for
justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak
lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity."
SHEEP VERSUS GOATS
One point that can help us
to understand this matter of "who accepts whom" has to do with
Bible references to sheep and goats. Here are some related verses:
"And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world ... Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:32-34,41).
Matthew 10:5 - "These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way
of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Note that lost sheep
become found sheep but goats do not become sheep. Also, lost sheep do not
find themselves nor is there ever any mention of them seeking the
shepherd, but there is mention of them going astray and going their own
way:
Isaiah 53:6 - "All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Notice that the words
"us all" refer back to the sheep, God's elect, as confirmed
just two verses later in the same chapter of Isaiah, by the use of the
term "my people":
Isaiah 53:8 - "He was
taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression
of my people was he stricken."
Note also how it is the
shepherd who seeks the sheep and not the other way around:
Matthew 18:12 - "How
think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray,
doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh
that which is gone astray?"
WHAT IS LIMITED ATONEMENT? IS IT SCRIPTURAL?
Limited atonement (also
known as Particular Redemption) refers to the fact that Christ's death
was not literally for every person ever born or conceived. It was a
transaction whereby God paid for the sins of those He came to save and
those alone:
Acts 13:48 - "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."
"As many as were
ordained" is a clear reference to limited atonement, is it not? John
17, verses 2 and 9 indicate the same thing:
John 17:2 - "As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him."
John 17:9 - "I pray
for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me; for they are thine."
Christ was a ransom for
many, but not for all:
Matthew 20:28 - "Even
as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many."
No one would end up in
hell if the ransom for his or her soul were paid.
1Corinthians 6:20 -
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
Are the unsaved bought
with a price? Was the ransom payment on their behalf? No. The ransom was
only for "as many as were ordained" and not one more.
To further clarify this
issue of limited atonement we need to look at what the Bible is referring
to when the word 'all' or the term 'the whole world' are used in regards
to salvation. Otherwise, we will think there is a contradiction when we
look at various scriptures that appear to be saying that Jesus died for
every single person in the entire world, even those that do not receive
Him.
WHAT IS MEANT BY 'ALL', 'THE WORLD', ETC.?
A great deal of confusion about
the issue of man having a free will to receive Christ is caused by the
use of the words 'all', 'whosoever' and 'world'. These terms come up in
the verses that many people try to use to justify the idea of a 'free'
will. We will see that Bible writers use these words to point out,
primarily to Jewish believers, that the Gentiles are now to be included
in God's plan of salvation. Careful examination of scripture verifies the
above statement:
Romans 10:13 - "For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
At first glance this verse
looks like anybody and everybody can be saved UNTIL we look at the verse
immediately preceding it:
Romans 10:12 - "For
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." ... That is,
God plans to save both Jews AND Gentiles. There are many other verses
that can be confusing if taken out of context such as shown here:
2 Corinthians 5:15 -
"And that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and
rose again.
The confusion is cleared
up if we read further:
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 -
"18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Obviously in verse 19, God
was not saying that He would not impute trespasses to anybody at all in
the entire world, but rather He had to be speaking of the elect - both
Jews and Gentiles. The fact that a verse says "whosoever" or
"all" does not negate scriptures like John 6:44 which says that
no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him or Romans 9:15 which
says that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. God does not
contradict Himself. So when we see a verse like:
2 Peter 3:9 - "The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance."
We know it must mean that
God desires that none of His elect should perish, especially when we look
at the verse in context. Because then we will see that two verses above,
God is planning to destroy ungodly men, which makes verse 9 (i.e. not
willing that any should perish) sound like a contradiction to what was
stated in verse 7:
2 Peter 3:7 - "But
the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men."
Since God does not
contradict Himself, we know that when we read John 3:16, the phrase
"for God so loved the world" must mean that God loves people
(His elect) from all nations:
Revelation 5:9 - "And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to
open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
nation".
Charles Spurgeon, in a
sermon on particular Redemption, had some additional light to shed on
this issue of how words like "all" and "world" are
used in scripture:
"... "The world
has gone after him" (John 12:19). Did all the world go after Christ?
"Then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan" (Matt
3:5). Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem, baptized in Jordan? "Ye are
of God, little children", and the whole world lieth in the wicked
one" (1John 5:19). Does the whole world there mean everybody?
The words
"world" and "all" are used in some seven or eight
senses in Scripture, and it is very rarely the "all" means all
persons, taken individually. The words are generally used to signify that
Christ has redeemed some of all sorts -- some Jews, some Gentiles, some
rich, some poor, and has not restricted His redemption to either Jew or
Gentile...”
WHAT ABOUT THE SIN OF UNBELIEF?
Some people that claim
that man has a free will to accept Christ are also saying that the only
sin that keeps a person out of heaven is the sin of unbelief. That idea
probably comes from this verse:
John 8:24 - "I said
therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe
not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."
Now, are we to understand
that Jesus died for all the sins of all the people in the world EXCEPT
for the sin of unbelief, so that everyone in hell has had ALL their sins
paid for by Christ, EXCEPT for the sin of unbelief? How do you get such
theology from John 8:24 or similar passages dealing with believing or not
believing in Christ? Any single sin of any kind will damn a person to
hell:
Isaiah 59:1-4 - "1
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither
his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that
he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your
fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath
muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for
truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and
bring forth iniquity."
Ezekiel 18:4 -
"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the
soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
Romans 6:23 - "For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Luke 12:48 - "But he
that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they
will ask the more."
Note that there is no
special mention of the sin of unbelief in the above verses. People who end
up in hell will be punished for ALL their sins, not just the sin of
unbelief. Believing in Christ is something that all men are commanded to
do, yet all men are incapable of doing unless the Father draws them:
John 6:44 - "No man
can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and
I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6:65 - "And he
said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except
it were given unto him of my Father."
In addition to believing
in Christ, God commands the human race to do a multitude of things that
they are incapable of doing in their fallen state. And let us not forget
this declaration either:
James 2:10 - "For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all."
HOW DOES GOD SAVE SOMEONE?
God saves people through
the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God:
Romans 10:17 - "So
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
God has chosen to use
believers to get the Word of God out, to sow it in men's hearts:
Mark 4:15 - "And
these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when
they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the
word that was sown in their hearts."
Once we have preached the
Gospel to someone it is up to God to do what He wills with our seed
sowing. Nevertheless, we are obligated to pray to the Lord of the harvest
to send out workers to water the seed that we sow and to pray to God to
have mercy on the souls of men just as Moses interceded for Israel.
A WORD PICTURE OF THE NEW BIRTH
John 16:21 - "A woman
when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon
as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish,
for joy that a man is born into the world."
What a wonderful picture
of the new birth! This passage in John 16 is ever so descriptive of being
born from above. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, our souls
become grieved over our sins to the point of not being able to bear the
grief any more, comparable to a woman giving birth to a child, as the
Word says. We then cry out to God to 'deliver' us and He graciously does,
since it is by His grace that we are going through the birth pangs -
being convicted of the depth of our sin. (Why else would we sin all our
lives and then all of a sudden start caring about our sins, if not for
God opening our eyes at this point?) Then, by God's grace, the burden of
sin is lifted off of us and placed on Christ, just as a woman is relieved
of her travail when her child is brought forth. Similarly, as a woman is
joyful that a new life has entered the world, the new creature in Christ
experiences the joy of their salvation for the very first time, as the
burden of their sin rolls away.
Note that it is the woman going
through childbirth that is a picture of a person being converted, and not
the woman's child. There are many parallels here to the new birth of a
Christian. I'm sure it is not uncommon for a woman to call upon God as
the time of her delivery approaches, just as a sinner calls upon God to
save him from the wrath to come. The birth of a child must be a time of
great concern and fear for a woman because it can be a matter of life and
death, for herself and for her child. Likewise, the birth of a believer is
a time of great fear of the Lord, seeing how the Bible says, "the
fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). God
causes us to have a holy and reverent fear of Him when He saves us. We
see this in Isaiah chapter 6 where we read the prophet's description of
what it is like to stand before a thrice-holy God:
Isaiah 6:5 - "Then
said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
When God saves a person,
they are awakened to the fact that, without Christ's righteousness, they
themselves as well as the people all around them, are spiritually
unclean... morally filthy... their works are detestable... their thoughts
loathesome:
Ezekiel 11:18-20 -
"18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable
things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will
give them an heart of flesh: 20 That they may walk in my statutes, and
keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I
will be their God."
Notice again (as was
mentioned above in the section "GOD FIRST OPENS A PERSON'S
HEART") that it is God's will and not our own that brings about a
conversion of the human heart.
WHY DOES GOD SAVE SOME PEOPLE AND NOT OTHERS?
This is a question that
can best be answered by another question: "For who hath know the
mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" (1 Corinthians 2:16). We
do know that whatever God does, it is for His own good pleasure:
Luke 12:32 - "Fear
not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom."
Ephesians 1:5 -
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will"
Ephesians 1:9 -
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself"
Philippians 2:13 -
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure."
If we look at Romans
chapter 9, we will find one reason why God saves some and not others. It
is a very sobering passage:
Romans 9:22 - "What if
God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory"
Is not God saying that He
is showing the redeemed just how much a gift of grace they receive from
Him? When we look at how hard-hearted and rebellious the unsaved around
us are, we are reminded of our own sinfulness, especially before we
became saved. We also get a striking picture of the depravity of man that
serves as a testimony to how fair and just God is in the damnation of
sinners. If not for the grace of God, no one would be saved.
WHY WOULD GOD SEND ANYONE TO HELL?
This is surely a
sixty-four thousand dollar question. It of course relates to the
paragraph above (Why does God save some people and not others), but it
goes beyond that question to the real heart of the matter - the matter of
man's heart:
Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can
know it?"
The heart of man is wicked
and deceitful, and so he will never have a proper or perfect
understanding of the justice and mercy of God. In his unsaved condition,
he will always think that God is not fair with regards to the damnation
of sinners. How can we tell God whom to love and whom to save? If you
were king of a kingdom, and you were infinitely smarter and holier than
any of your subjects, would you not think it presumptuous of any of them
to tell you whom to love and whom to have mercy on?
To better understand the
doctrine of predestination we must come to grips with the fact that God
does not love everyone even though that may be what we were taught in Sunday
school or in seminary. Not all popularly held beliefs in the Church are
scriptural, as these verses point out:
Psalm 5:5 - "The
foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of
iniquity."
Psalm 11:5 - "The
LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence
his soul hateth."
Believe it or not, a
Christian cannot honestly go around saying to everyone indiscriminately
"Jesus loves you." and "Jesus died for you." Nor can
a Christian honestly state "God loves the sinner but hates the
sin". Before and until God saves a person, they are His enemy:
Romans 5:10 - "For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life."
Why, you ask, would God
create people that He hates? Certainly a 'fair' question, but I am not
God and so I cannot necessarily answer such a question to your
satisfaction. However, I can tell you what God has said this about the
subject:
Psalm 76:10 - "Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain."
God uses the wrath of man
to glorify Himself. In spite of what anyone may think, God really is in
control of this earth:
Proverbs 16:4 - "The
LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil."
God will restrain evil
when He sees fit and He will allow the wicked to commit evil to bring
glory to Him at some later date:
Psalm 2:1-4 - "1 Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against
the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
The wicked and their
demise are a testimony to the justice of God. We must remember, if God
were to be fair, then He would cast every single human being who was ever
born and who will ever be born, into Hell for all eternity. But, in His
infinite mercy, He has gloriously decided to save some, to have a people
for Him, who will share in His glory for all eternity, through no merit
of their own whatsoever. Thanks be to God, for saving a wretch like me!
WHY WOULD GOD TELL US TO RECEIVE CHRIST IF WE CAN'T?
Why indeed, would the
Bible say over and over that in order to become saved we must believe the
Gospel, we must repent of our sins, we must receive Christ, we must do
all sorts of things that we cannot possibly do as spiritually dead
beings? The Bible is full of commands that no one is capable of obeying.
Take just this one for instance:
Mark 12:30 - "And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment."
Does that mean we are not
responsible for obeying? Should God lower His standards and get rid of
all His commandments and give us commandments that are easy to comply
with? Should our nation get rid of its laws because so many people are
having trouble abiding by them? Are not the people in prisons the ones
who seem least able to keep the laws? Does that make it unfair to punish
them for their crimes?
Admittedly, there are many
scriptures that say we must believe in Christ to be saved. So how can we
believe in Christ if we don't have a free will? Don't fret, God has given
us the answer to that puzzling question:
Philippians 1:29 -
"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only
to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake"
So being able to believe
in Christ requires a work of God, as further stated here:
John 6:29 - "Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent."
John 6:65 - "And he
said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except
it were given unto him of my Father."
So we see that God is
quite capable of doing what is impossible for man to do in and of
himself:
Matthew 19:24-26 -
"24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God. 25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed,
saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto
them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are
possible."
UNSAVED MAN COOPERATING WITH GOD?
Have you ever witnessed to
a Catholic, a Catholic apologist in particular? Do they not say that a
person must cooperate with God's grace in order to maintain their
works-based salvation? They consider this cooperation to be a lifelong
process. In a similar fashion, free-will Baptists and others say that the
will of God works with the will of man to effect a man's salvation. This
idea is unscriptural. The Bible says that the will of God works AGAINST the
will of man and vice versa:
Galatians 5:17 - "For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would."
To say anything else is to
make man better than he is. He has a sin nature that is continually
rebelling against his Creator as we quoted earlier:
Genesis 6:5 - "And
GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Look at what Paul said,
and this after he was already saved:
Romans 7:18 - "For I
know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:
for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I
find not."
Paul said, "To will
is present with me" because as a saved individual, the Spirit of God
was in him, warring against the flesh, in which dwelleth no good thing.
However, an unsaved individual does not have the Spirit of God and so
that individual cannot cooperate with God.
As mentioned earlier, the
Bible says that the unsaved man wants nothing to do with the will of God:
Proverbs 13:19 - "The
desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to
fools to depart from evil."
WHERE DID THESE MODERN METHODS COME FROM?
Where did people get their
modern-day ideas for presenting the Gospel? Certainly we can learn wrong
doctrine when verses are taken out of context and combined with plausible
explanations. When error is repeated often enough, it can easily become accepted
as fact. Also, in the interest of seeing people saved, we can invent
methods of evangelism that give us the results we are looking for -
tangible evidence that our efforts are bearing fruit. The problem with
this approach is that "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9)
and so only God can give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:7). Any attempt on
our part to give the increase will yield false fruit or at the very
least, fruit that is not ripe yet. This is not a numbers game where we
can use psychology or other techniques to coax a decision out of people.
In addition, we are not
doing God a favor by accepting Him. When did Jesus ever tell people to
bow their heads and close their eyes, so that lost, Hell-deserving
sinners would not be afraid or embarrassed about raising their hands to
'accept' Him? In fact, did not Jesus say:
Mark 8:38 -
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels."
Did He not also preach
repeatedly and strongly about Hell, saying:
Luke 13:3 - "I tell
you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
His message is not a
gospel molded to fit the comfort zone of the sinner. His Gospel is an
ultimatum: "EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH",
albeit an ultimatum that we cannot comply with until He enables us to.
The modern methods put man in the driver's seat, believing that he can
choose God anytime he wishes, just by raising his hand in church or by
reciting a "sinner's prayer". Man is not the sovereign Lord of
the universe nor is he even the master of his own fate. God alone is
Supreme, and anything that happens in this world of His is by His own
choosing for His own glory.
Rather than asking people
to raise their hands while nobody is looking, to 'accept' Christ as their
Saviour in secret, as it were, would it not be more scriptural to just
warn the lost as fervently as possible, to flee the terrible fury of the
wrath of God. We cannot fail if we generously and prayerfully give out
God's Word, avoiding words of men's wisdom. God's Word is powerful and
will not return void. We should always urge people to come forward after
a service is over to talk to elders or counselors about any concerns they
may have regarding the condition of their soul and regarding the only way
to escape the coming judgment. In this way, people who have questions can
be more thoroughly instructed in the doctrine of salvation so that they
do not get the impression that they are saved when they are not.
WHY PREACH IF SALVATION IS ALL UP TO GOD?
This is one of the main
concerns about Calvinism of the free-will camp. They think that if all
Christians were Calvinists, no one would share the Gospel. Not to worry.
A good Calvinist knows his Bible. For instance, he knows what it says in
Romans chapter 10:
Romans 10:14-15 - "14
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good
things!"
He also knows what it says
in 2 Corinthians 5:20, James 5:20, 2 Timothy 4:5, Ezekiel 33:8, Hosea
8:1, 1 Corinthians 9:16, Luke 14:23 and elsewhere, about the need to
preach the Gospel of grace. If we truly love the Lord we will be anxious
to tell as many people as possible about Him and to warn them to flee the
wrath to come, just as He himself did and just as He commanded us to do:
Mark 16:15 - " And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature."
We will preach the Gospel
even if we believe we had no 'free' will to choose to be saved, because
we know that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13) and it is His good pleasure
to use vessels of clay to preach the Gospel and to give those vessels the
desire and ability to preach what God wants preached. This does not mean
that we are mere puppets of God. What it means is that before God saves
someone, they are slaves to sin (see John 8:34). When they become saved,
they become servants of Christ and they receive power to do the will of
God: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him
be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21).
SO WHAT IS A HYPER-CALVINIST?
Contrary to the claims of
some free-will gospel promoters, a hyper-Calvinist is not the same as a
Calvinist. A Calvinist believes that the doctrines of grace are the
doctrines of the Bible. Also, a Calvinist understands His total inability
to participate in raising himself to "newness of life" (Romans
6:4) and he also is grateful to God for having mercy on his soul, so he
does his best out of thankfulness to God, of sharing the Gospel with
those who are lost. Now a hyper-Calvinist is a selfish, slothful and
disobedient person who uses the doctrine of election and predestination
as an excuse not to share the Gospel, claiming that if God has
predestined people to be saved, then there is no need for him to share
the Gospel. In contrast, a Calvinist understands that if not for the
grace of God, if not for the good pleasure of the Almighty, he too would
still be a spiritual blind man wandering about in the darkness of this
sin-cursed world, oblivious to the fact that he is running headlong into
the eternal fires of Hell where the smoke of their torment ascends for
ever and ever and they have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11). I
venture to say that a true hyper-Calvinist has no real understanding of
God's grace at all and so he is not a true blood-bought disciple of
Christ. If he thinks he is, he had better examine himself promptly and
carefully to see if he indeed is in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
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