Dakota Community Church
September 12, 2010
Chosen Yet Free
Ephesians 1:1-14
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
Why tackle these doctrinal issues?
In essentials – UNITY In non-essentials – LIBERTY In all things – CHARITY
I am not a Calvinist, I do not fully agree with the Reformed theologians but I do believe in predestination and the foreknowledge of God.
I also believe in the free will of man – though if I do this morning’s message justice you may be wondering why – until next week.
Proverbs 18:17
The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.
Why not just talk about tips for happy living?
I need to be engaged in my faith, I need it to be more than a passing thought, I need it to be central and that means wrestling with ideas and mind sets that got established without much searching on my part.
I want this for you as well.
I have been reading, studying, and listening to a lot of Reformed and Calvinist teaching in the last little while. I really like most of it.
It is good to be certain of things that we can be certain of:
Salvation by faith through grace
Substitutionary atonement
Division of law and gospel
Authority of scripture
It is not so good to be certain of things which are not certain:
Infant baptism
Role of women in ministry
Eternal security
Limited atonement
The good is really good; the bad is really bad. It makes me sad knowing that many of my Calvinist brothers do not consider me a brother and some would even label me a heretic doomed to eternal damnation because I do not believe that “choosing” is a work.
Let’s begin with a definition of “predestination” and then we’ll look at the biblical case for it.
Predestination teaches that God predetermined who would go to heaven and who would spend eternity in hell. Furthermore, it teaches that each person has absolutely no choice in accepting or rejecting salvation through Christ. Every move you make and everything that happens to you, good or bad, was predetermined by God. If you reject Christ it is because you never had a choice or option to believe.
Those who espouse predestination claim that if we have the free will to accept God’s salvation then we have earned our way into heaven.
Therefore we’re not saved by grace but by our own merit-- we caused our own salvation, not God.
1. Predestination
Ephesians 1:4-5, 11
4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will
Now a couple of truths that we can derive from these verses; God loves us and always has!
Before the creation of the world!
None of us is a mistake, To Kathy and I, Joel may have been a mistake – but not to God! God knew from before time exactly who, when, and where we would be.
His love is not based on our performance because He loved us before we drew breathe!
God paid the price for my sins at the cross before I had committed a single one of them!
Romans 8:28-31
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 9:10-24
10Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
John 12:37-40
37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
"Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40"He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them."
The question is – Has God unilaterally caused the eternal misery of many of His creatures in such a way that he could have just as easily caused their eternal happiness?
I do not believe the scriptures reveal this kind of God however, some further scriptural considerations:
God
- Draws people to Himself (John 6:44,65).
- Creates a clean heart (Psalm 51:10).
- Appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48).
- Works faith in the believer (John 6:28-29).
- Chooses who is to be holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4).
- Chooses us for salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
- Grants the act of believing (Phil. 1:29).
- Grants repentance
2 Timothy 2:24-26
And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
- Calls according to His purpose (2 Tim. 1:9).
- Causes us to be born again (1 Pet. 1:3).
- Predestines us to salvation (Rom. 8:29-30).
- Predestines us to adoption (Eph. 1:5).
- Predestines us according to His purpose (Eph. 1:11).
- Makes us born again not by our will but by His will (John 1:12-13).
It is man who:
- Is deceitful and desperately sick (Jer. 17:9).
- Is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23).
- Loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19).
- Is unrighteous, does not understand, does not seek for God
Rom. 3:10-12
As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
- Is helpless and ungodly (Rom. 5:6).
- Is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).
- Is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
- Cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).
- Is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:16-20). (Credit - Matthew J. Slick – Calvinist Corner)
If man is dead in trespasses and sin, if none seek God – can there be salvation without divine intervention? – Answer: No
The question is what form does this intervention take?
Break:
The story is told of a group of theologians who were discussing predestination and free will.
Things became so heated that the group broke up into two opposing factions.
But one man, not knowing which to join, stood for a moment trying to decide. At last he joined the predestination group.
“Who sent you here?” they asked.
“No one sent me,” he replied. “I considered the facts and decided on my own.”
“Free Will!” they exclaimed. “You can’t join us! You belong with the other group!”
So he followed their orders and went to the other clique.
There someone asked, “When did you decide to join us?”
The young man replied, “Well, I didn’t really decide--I was sent here.”
“Sent here!” they shouted. “You can’t join us unless you have decided by your own free will.”
Next week we’ll have a look at the Biblical case for free will.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
