Over time, questions are expressed whether as a direct inquiry or by many other means. Some of these questions have a direct effect on our Christian life, our Bible knowledge and the church function.
Because our series on Redemption has been interrupted by vacation, and other things, I thought it a good time to address some of these questions.
In our last lesson, we took a brief look at the essence of Biblical worship. Obviously, there are many things involved in worship, some of which we did not have time to address. In the last lesson, we looked at one aspect of worship that seems to be absent in Church and personal worship.
In this lesson, I would like to direct our attention to a question. Actually, to several questions combined into one:
"How can anyone who is ‘dead’ in sin come to God?
Because if something is dead, it certainly can’t do anything on it own."
The seeming conclusion MUST be that God dictated, before birth, who would be saved and who would not, and the person has no choice in the matter.
It is a good question, based on human logic, and one that is easily answered from Scripture, if we accept what the Scriptures plainly state. Most questions of this nature are easily answered from Scripture, and I will do so briefly.
However, before I address the question, may I point out another matter that is far more important than knowing the answers to all of these "man-made" questions.
Many Believers are falling into one of Satan’s oldest tricks. They are allowing what is very clearly declared and known from Scripture to be held captive by what they, personally, don’t know.
This was one of the very first techniques used by Satan and he is still using it effectively. Those at MBF have seen passage after passage on God’s plan of Redemption and that His Redemption is available to ALL. There are hundreds of passages that deal directly with this and/or indicate it to be so.
However, some find it difficult and/or impossible to accept these many Biblical passages and the truths found in them, BECAUSE they don’t have a good reasonable answer to a question or two. Therefore, because of a human question, that they don’t have the answer to, these many passages of divinely inspired truth are unacceptable.
Look at the first time we see Satan using this particular technique, AND he has not changed his procedure much, over time.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ’You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ " 4 And the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
The very first words out of the "mouth" of Satan, to the human race, were to present a question concerning the motive of God’s declared actions. It was and still is a simple matter to question God’s motives, because the human mind can not grasp the totality of God’s greatness.
"Has God indeed said…"
Then Satan suggests a physical answer to an unanswered question regarding God’s motive. The suggested answer appeals to the nature of humanity and our pride of self logic. The suggestion, woven into the question, was that maybe God didn’t want Adam & Eve to be like God. So, if they did some little thing contrary to the clear declared word of God, they would somehow become "like God".
Satan loves to "play" on questions presented to the human mind about the infinite God. Therefore, we get hung up on these questions we can’t answer, because of our limited Biblical knowledge and our limited Spiritual logic. What a tragedy! Because of limited Biblical knowledge, we negate the clear teaching of the Word of God, itself.
In the Garden, there was no question about the fact of what God said to Adam and Eve. However, there was no way, humanly, to answer the inferred question of, "Is that really what God meant?"
The same thing is true of the MANY passages that state that Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and that Christ is the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. These passages and a few hundred more are equally VERY clear. These passages have the same clarity as God’s instruction to Adam & Eve.
However, many Christian respond like Eve when she saw that the tree looked good to her human eyes and was acceptable to human reasoning. Therefore, she refused to accept the VERY clear declaration of God.
Sad to say, people often do the same thing with the Scriptures. Even though presented with dozens and dozens of clear passages, they refuse to, or can’t accept the obvious truth, because they can’t answer a human generated question.
Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
The term "secret", in Hebrew, means something that is not clearly seen or is covered. It is not beyond discovery, but as the rest of the verse indicates, to gain such understanding, we MUST leave the "secret" things with God, believe and live what has been uncovered or understood. The same truth is also taught in the New Testament.
John 7:17 "If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
ALL Biblical information, "secret" or "revealed", is for one purpose. NOT, as supposed by some, so we can fully understand all that God is or does, BUT Biblical information, "secret" or "revealed", is so we may live in all of God’s words.
If on the other hand, we allow the "revealed" things to be set aside or do not accept them BECAUSE we (with our limited knowledge) can’t understand ALL of God’s person or actions, THEN we will not be "doing" the words of God, only following words of humans. Look at another passage (among many others) on this subject.
Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
If we were to hold to the statement, "We must have all questions fully answered", then we will NEVER accept the clear teaching of the word of God, stating that He, God, "framed the worlds by His word", BECAUSE no human alive, using any logic, would conclude that all that exists was simply made from God’s word.
So…, we must accept what God clearly says in His word, even though it defies human logic. However, we MUST make sure it is what the Bible states, NOT what some human suggests. Once we accept that God did what He said He did, even though we do not humanly understand it, THEN, through faith, we can gain further and greater understanding of that Biblical subject.
I admire a person’s quest for knowledge and it is a thrill to see people reach out to obtain that knowledge. However, there is a real danger in so doing. The danger is not in the "quest" itself, but the manner in which the quest is carried out.
Many questions do not deal with knowing what the Bible says (although I am quite sure that may be the motive), but those questions stem from human generated questions. These human generated questions come from human logic and can not find their answers in the Scriptures. (Except by faith)
I have heard this question (and other similar questions) over and over again during my years of the ministry. To the best of my knowledge, these types of questions have never been generated because of Bible study, itself.
Instead, some human, whether through writing, tape, personally, etc., has generated the question and passed it along. Not totally unlike what Satan did in the Garden. NO!! I’m not comparing these people to Satan!!! However, they have fallen into the "trap" of Satan, just as Adam and Eve did.
These types of questions are not generated because people are trying to see what God’s word says, but instead, they are trying to see if what is stated in the Bible really agrees with what they believe.
If we are walking by faith, our "thinker" must be "adjusted" to match what the Bible says in its totality, NOT what a human says the Bible says, based on an isolate verse or even a word found in the Bible. We MUST compare Scripture with all Scripture and our conclusions MUST be in harmony with the totality of all Scripture.
Let me give you a few passages that clearly state that Christ died for all people and that salvation is available to all people. There are literally dozens upon dozens of passages that clearly state this fact. (We looked at this subject in a lesson taught on 1/30/05.) Then after presenting these few passages, I will answer the question..,
"How can anyone who is ‘dead’ in sin come to God?
Because if something is dead, it certainly can’t do anything on it own."
However, I will answer that question from Scripture, not human logic.
Acts 17:24 "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 "Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ’For we are also His offspring.’ 29 "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
Let me make a few comments. If God is "guilty" of predetermining anything, it is the "times" and "boundaries" of all mankind.
God did not predetermine their times and boundaries to preorder them to heaven or hell. Instead, the predetermination was for the express purpose of making it possible for them to "seek the Lord".
Please note that in this passage
the Holy Spirit states that
ALL
of mankind are capable of "seeking" the Lord
AND
finding Him.
(The Holy Spirit had that written, not me.)
Most of the people referred to in this passage were "dead in sin", YET the Holy Spirit clearly states that they could seek and find God. Those to whom Paul was speaking were obviously unsaved idol worshippers.
So if the "line" held by some were true, then SOME in the group would definitely be predetermined to hell. Yet, Paul said that God placed them in certain locations so that THEY could seek the Lord. Again, please note that this is not "my" idea. This was given by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
It must be kept in mind that "whoever" in the Greek means "All; Any; Every; The whole".
Acts 10:35 "But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
Acts 10:42 "And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."
Romans 9:33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 3:35 "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
I’m sorry, but if passage after passage.., after passage.., after passage.., after passage.. say the same thing and I or someone else does not agree with what those MANY passages say, THEN we must take a very critical look at what is being held contrary to such passages.
Many, who hold to the false theory that some are predestined to hell and some to heaven, use as one of their "pillars" that no one can come to Christ except God the Father draws them, AND that is true!!
However, the same people ignore passages, such as this, that state that God the Father has ALREADY given all things to Christ. Or they will answer that Christ has all "things" but not all people. Such a statement is either false exegesis or ignorant exegesis or a deliberate distortion of Scripture.
Anyone worth their salt in Bible teaching will clearly see that verse 35 proceeds and is an integral part all things included and mentioned in verse 36. There are no periods in Greek, only thought patterns. The Holy Spirit is not so ignorant of language, as to make such a mistake. More on this false presentation later.
Romans 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." 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 unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Matthew 11:27 "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
We could continue to read passage after passage for a long time, all speaking to this subject. It is hard to claim to believe the Bible and reject hundreds of clear passages dealing with this subject. Even after looking at passage after passage, the hyper-predestinationists will still fall back on their "pet" passage to prove their point, that not all have the opportunity to come to Christ, but only a select group. So, we had better look at this "pet" passage.
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 "It is written in the prophets, ’And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
It is true, no one can come to Christ except the Father draws them. Again, we could go to several other passages to see the truth, but one passage, to the wise, is (should be) sufficient.
John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
Now, let’s see. I believe, if my history is correct, Christ has died, and He died as He so indicated, by being "lifted up from the earth". Therefore ALL peoples have been drawn to Him, in some manner.
By the way, the word "all" in verse 32 is the same Greek word translated to English as "whosever" in many other places, and I gave you the Greek definition earlier. How can all people be drawn to Christ, just because He has been lifted up on the cross?
I don’t know!
There is no human logic that can comprehend that TRUTH.
A strange thing about the Bible is that it says Christ did a lot of things that are not reasonable to the human mind. We accept most of those "strange" things as Biblically sound. Those strange things are called miracles.
Yet, some want to choose and pick which "strange" things they accept. When it comes to Biblical truth, we can’t pick and choose.
So we can
either say,
"I won’t believe what the Bible says"
OR
"I will accept it by faith."
(If we reject "part" of God’s word,
we have rejected ALL of God’s word
AND
we have rejected God, Himself.)
The Bible says that anything that is not of faith, is sin and without faith, it is impossible to please Him. We have to accept the fact that the death of Christ "drew" all people to Him, in the same way we accept that the worlds were framed by the word of His mouth. BY FAITH!!!
We can’t chose and pick which truth we believe. When the Bible clearly states something, we MUST accept it and leave the understanding for later. This "drawing" is not human, it is divine. Therefore it is a miracle!
You see God IS sovereign, and He has a right to do things that humans can’t understand, except by faith. God has a right to do things that are beyond integrated circuits, chips, plasma screens, etc.
What God has done, is so far above our thinking that we will go bonkers trying to figure it out by human logic. It wouldn’t be so bad if we stopped with simply being "bonkered", BUT so doing will lead to false doctrine.
However, once we accept the mysteries stated in the Word of God by faith, we will see that there is real logic involved in each transaction, and that brings us to The Question..,
"How
can someone who is
‘dead’ in sin
respond to God?"
First of all, we MUST not confuse two issues here:
(1) Seeking and coming to Christ
OR
(2) Performing any Spiritual act
None of us can, of ourselves, do anything Spiritual before OR after salvation. After salvation, we can have Spiritual actions accomplished through us, BECAUSE of God’s provision. We often refer to such actions as the Fruit of the Spirit. That is true, but not the complete teaching on this matter, but that is not the subject for now. What we must see is that:
If a Believer does anything of a Spiritual nature,
it is because of
a provision by God,
not "dead" mankind.
Likewise..:
for an unsaved person to seek God,
it must be through
a provision by God,
not "dead" mankind.
So we must study the Bible, not human logic, to see if God has provided some means for sinners to seek and come to Christ, even if, and they are "dead" in sin. If God clearly states, in His Word, that He has made such a provision, THEN we must accept it OR declare God a liar. This "stuff" is important! It is not just a theological "plaything".
We have already seen in John 12:32-33 that by Christ’s death and His being lifted up on the cross, He drew all people to Him. Look at another passage that adds another dimension to the subject.
John 1:6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name:
To really get into this passage, we need a great deal of background and study. However, there are some truths that are self-evident. Those I would like to point out.
Verse 7--John was bearing witness of the LIGHT (Jesus Christ). "THAT" introduces the purpose clause for his witness. John was testifying of the Light (Jesus) because ALL through Him (Jesus) might be saved.
Verse 9--This light is given, by Jesus, to EVERY person who COMES INTO THE WORLD!!!!
If there was nothing else, and there is a LOT more, that would be enough to settle the point, if we are looking to see what the Bible says.
Christ, PERSONLALLY, gives light to EVERY person who comes into the world. I do believe that all of us here, and every other person past, present and future "came into" this world. I don’t believe that any of us were simply "materialized" or were "beamed down".
EVERYONE, not just the so called "chosen ones". Every person!! I do believe that if Christ gives every person light, it must be good light. We will see later, in this passage, that this light was SO they might receive the right to become the children of God.
Just in case we didn’t understand who these "every" persons were, who came into the world, the Holy Spirit spells it out for us in verses 9 & 10. He (Christ) was in the world that He made with the word of His mouth, a fact that we must accept by faith, just like we must accept by faith that He gives light to every person who comes into the world.
If Christ could (and He did) make the world, then it is a small thing for Him to give light to every one who comes into that world. Having this "light", makes it possible for every person to accept or reject that light. Just having the light was not enough to produce Spiritual life within a person. Therefore, the world did not know Him, because they rejected THAT light.
Then the Holy Spirit points out a special group within the world group. Christ came to "His own". This is a reference to the Jewish people, which included His disciples.
These who came into the world, could not become Spiritual beings just because they had the light, or were borne into a special family line. Even His disciples did not receive Him until after His death. The Holy Spirit, by this type of repetition, wants us to know for sure just who He is talking about.
ALL
(in verse 7)
through Him might believe.
Notice it says "might".
It didn’t say that all would,
but it was possible that all could.
Then in verse 9 the Holy Spirit tells us how it is possible for ALL to believe. The reason? Because He, Christ, personally gives light to EVERY person who comes into the world. In verse 7, we have "the all" who can believe. In verse 9, we have the "every person" who receives the light. That’s pretty inclusive.
Then in verses 10 & 11, the Holy Spirit speaks of these "all" and "every" in a different way. He says that even though "all" and "every" have the light and can receive Christ, they don’t receive Christ just because of having this light.
Then in verse 12, the Holy Spirit says that out of "all" those who have the light, some will receive Him. This was a choice on their part. No one receives Him simply because they have the light, they must personally choose to receive Him.
The particular point here, directed to the present question, is that Christ, personally, gives light to every person who comes into this world, therefore making it possible for them to receive or reject.
Here is the "kicker"! If we say that not everyone has received the light, therefore unable to make the choice, we are saying that Christ did not do His job of giving light to everyone who came into the world. And that would be blasphemy. Hard words, but true.
Equally bad, if we were to say that "not every one who comes into the world receives the light, so as to be able to make the choice", we are saying that Holy Spirit lied in this passage. If the Holy Spirit lied, then He is not God. That’s not a good way to go, either.
Romans 2:13(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
This passage also needs it’s background, but many of you have been through the "Walk-Through", so you have some of that background. Tragically, some have not availed themselves of this study opportunity.
Again, let me just hit some of the highlights that bear directly to the present question. The reference here is to "Gentiles" (any one not a Jew), and it is spelled out that they do not have the Law, the Mosaic Law. This is pointed out so we would know that the "law in their hearts" was not there because of training in the Mosaic Law.
Please note, that Gentiles (all Gentiles) have a law written in their hearts. That "law" makes it possible for them to act in the same or similar manner as the Jews, who had the Law written on stone, given by God through Moses.
So we have seen in this short study, that Christ personally gives light to every person coming into the world, AND every person has a law written in their hearts that can produces works similar to the Law of Moses.
Now…,
I wonder Who wrote the law in their hearts?
It wasn’t the Gentiles, themselves.
It wasn’t Moses, or the Jews.
That leaves only one source for that law…
GOD!
Please look at a couple of other passages. We could keep going all day looking at passages that deal with this subject, but time is running out.
Romans 1:18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Notice who the Holy Spirit is speaking of here. All who have participated in any ungodliness or unrighteousness. That just about takes in everybody (except you and me..ha!) By the way, the "all" of verse 18 is the same Greek word translated elsewhere as whosoever, etc. SO.. it is all inclusive here as well as every other place it is used, in regards to salvation.
Please note. These "ALL" have SUPPRESSED the truth. We had better see what truth they suppressed. Verse 19 tells us that these "ALL" had knowledge of God.
Wait a minute!! Many, if not most of these were "dead in sin", yet they had knowledge of God.., AND that knowledge was IN them. We saw that fact earlier in Romans 2:15 . They had the law written in their hearts.
Not only did they have knowledge of God,
it WAS God Who personally showed it to them,
or made it possible to see that knowledge.
(I believe God has the right to do so,
EVEN if it goes contrary to some manmade theology.)
I’m sorry for those who have troubled you with such questions. Some of what they have said may be partly true, such as "Dead people can’t come to God." That statement does contain some truth, but does not contain all the truth on the subject.
NO!! "Dead-in-sin" people can’t come to God, BUT like Adam in the Garden, God can and does come to them with a provision to make it possible for them to make a choice of accepting or rejecting God.
Over and over again, even in this short study, we have seen that God, personally, came to ALL people with information, light, law, etc.SO THAT THEY MIGHT COME TO GOD FOR SALVATION.
Not only do all people have this light from God and a law written in their hearts by God, now in verse 20, we see that ALL people can clearly see the divine attributes of God--with understanding--and this comes from creation.
What more could a person need to choose for or against God? But most choose against God and in that choice they are without excuse (last part of verse 20). They are without excuse BECAUSE they made a choice, NOT because God predetermined them to be lost. Notice WHY these people are given up by God.
Romans 1:22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
If language tells us anything, then verse 24 tells us that the reason God gave them up was not because of a pre-choice by God, but by a deliberate choice by these people.
God gave them up, NOT because of some predetermination by God, BUT because of their own actions or lack therefore. At least that is what the Bible says. I know that other religious "experts" have other ideas about this matter, contrary to what the Bible teaches, but so what? It is the Bible that is given by God and is eternal.
You can rest easy, the choice is still yours. You still have the opportunity to decide which you will accept: (1) What the Bible clearly says or (2) What some human wants the Bible to say.
© Clyde White, Austin TX, 2005
(Scripture Text NKJ unless stated)
(Many illustrations from sermoncentral.com)
