God's Sovereignty In Salvation Series

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY IN SALVATION

Acts 8:26-39

I hardly ever use pop culture references in my sermons. However, there is a reference from a classic movie that I have not been able to get off my mind in recent days. How many of you remember the movie “Forrest Gump”? There is a moment in that film when a very angry and bitter Lieutenant Dan asked Forrest if he had “found Jesus”. Forrest responded, “I didn’t know that I was supposed to be looking for Him?” In most cases that would be just another moment of Hollywood blasphemy. But in that context (and knowing the mental capacity of Gump) he was being one hundred percent serious.

Whether he knew it or not, Forrest was on to something. We do not seek Jesus! It has been rightly said that a lost soul seeking a Holy God is the equivalent of a hardened criminal looking for a police officer. Lost men and women can only experience salvation because Jesus comes looking for us. The Savior said in John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. A few verses earlier Jesus said - v37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Then in John 6:65 the Lord said, “no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

We have a great example of this reality in the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. There is no question that this man was searching for something, but the only way that he experienced true conversion is because God came looking for him.

The same is true for us! If we are born again, it is because God first did an amazing work of regeneration in our lives. Prior to our conversion we were “dead in trespasses and sins”. There was nothing that we could do to deserve salvation. There was no way possible for us to work our way to God or make ourselves worthy of eternal life.

If you are a follower of Christ, it is only because of God’s divine election. This is an undeniable Biblical truth that is seen throughout the New Testament:

- Speaking to the Apostles, the Lord said “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide… (John 15:16)

- Paul said in Ephesians 1:4-6: “(God) chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

- The Apostle also said in: Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

- Then in - Romans 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy….18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

- He went on to say in: 2 Timothy 1:9 (God) saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”.

- Also, in - Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If lost mankind took any initiative in the process of salvation, then we would have something to boast about, but we know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone and in Christ alone. With all that being said, God’s sovereign election does not negate our personal responsibility to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

Lost men and women are commanded in scripture to repent and believe in Jesus for salvation. From the outset of His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed this requirement to the multitudes. He said in - Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news”! Christ’s Apostles continued to preach this imperative truth after His ascension. On the day of Pentecost, the people were convicted of their sins and they asked Peter “what shall we do”. He responded “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38). When preaching to the crowd gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade Peter again said, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19)