Election And Predestination Series

INTRODUCTION

- Do you remember the days on the playground when a couple of self-appointed or duly elected captains chose members of their kickball, dodgeball, or, for some, chess teams?

- Maybe you were up for an award, and you won.

- Do you remember when your name was announced, how good it felt to hear your name called?

- I remember playing sports and the rush I felt when my name was called over the PA system as one of the starters.

- How good did it feel to be chosen?

- Being chosen is something that makes us feel special.

- • Today, we will venture into a short passage that, because of differing theological views, has been clouded in meaning today.

- When all is said and done, how many people will be saved, and who are one's

- How is one’s salvation determined?

- Did God randomly choose who would be saved and who would not be saved for reasons unknown to anyone?

- Does the Calvinist TULIP have validity?

- Or do we have free will, with the ability to choose Jesus?

- TOTAL DEPRAVITY (We are so sinful we are not capable of choosing Jesus)

- UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION (God chooses who will be saved and who will not be since we cannot choose for ourselves)

- LIMITED ATONEMENT (Jesus only died for the elect)

- IRRESISTIBLE GRACE (God brings his Elect to salvation through an internal call, which they are powerless to resist)

- PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS- (Once saved, always saved)

- My goal is not to criticize others' erroneous teachings but to let the passages speak for themselves.

- To give the message context, I would like to read Matthew 22:1-13, then we will move to verse 14.

- Let’s begin our journey together.

- READ FROM THE BIBLE.

Matthew 22:14 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I. The call.

- Jesus tells a parable about a King planning a large wedding feast for his son.

- The King sends out his servants throughout the land to invite folks to the wedding.

- To the king's surprise, no one wanted to go.

- This upset the king, who once again sent out his servants to plead with the guests he invited to come.

- The king said he had slaughtered the oxen and the fattened calf.

- Everything is ready!

- Come to the banquet!

- The plea to come did not work; the servants were ignored.

- Some folks went to their farms, while others went back to their businesses, yet some decided to seize, mistreat, and then kill the servants.

- The King was angered, so he sent his troops to kill the murderers and burn down their city.

- Those who were first called, who slighted the invitation and insulted the king, represented the Jews.

- These were destroyed and may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem.

- Now, the king gathers more of his servants and tells them that the banquet is ready and that those invited first are not worthy of the invitation.

- Then the king instructs the servants to go out and seek and invite everyone!

- Those who were called from the highways may represent the Gentiles.

- In the parable, we are told that the servants found evil and good and invited them!

- Now the banquet hall was full of people!

- We need to agree that everyone receives an invitation, no matter how you stand on the theological implications of election and predestination.

- From the parable and a plethora of other passages, everyone is invited to the great wedding feast—HEAVEN!

- Everyone has an invitation to be saved, not just a chosen few or only certain individuals whom God, for whatever reason, chose to be saved.

- If God chose only certain people to be saved, that would contradict many passages that tell us that God wants ALL to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:3–4 (NET 2nd ed.)

3 Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior,

4 since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

John 3:16 (NET 2nd ed.)

16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

- All in the Timothy passage means ALL!

- EVERYONE in John 3:16 means EVERYONE, no exceptions.

2 Peter 3:9 (NET 2nd ed.)

9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.