God's Magnificent Salvation Plan
An Indepth Biblical Study of
God's Salvation Plan for Mankind
Copyright ©1981
Preface
Chapter 1God's Magnificent Salvation Plan
God Declares Himself to Man
No Man Will Accept God's Offer of Salvation
God Will Save a People for Himself
Anyone Can Be Saved
A Summary of What We Have Learned
God's Elective Program
Chapter 2T = Total Depravity
The Gospel Is Preached to Dead People
The Doctrine of Free Will Is Antithetical to the Bible's Teaching of Our Spiritual Deadness
The Danger of the Doctrine of Free Will
But What About Those Passages That Apparently Teach Free Will?
Chapter 3U = Unconditional Election
When Did God Elect Those Who Were To Be Saved?
The Biblical Doctrine of Predestination
Our Election Is Unconditional
But Doesn't the Idea of Election Foster Fatalism?
God's Will Concerning Salvation Is Completely Sovereign
God Gives Us Repentance
God Gives Us Faith
Chapter 4L = Limited Atonement
Christ Prays Only for Those Who Are To Believe On Him
Only Those Who Are To Be Saved Are Justified
Mankind Whose Sins Have Not Been Paid For Must Be Judged for Those Sins
But Doesn't the Bible Teach That God Would Have All Men Saved?
But Doesn't the Bible Teach That Christ Paid for the Sins of the Whole World?
In All the World Christ Is the Only Way to Salvation
Did Christ Pay for All Our Sins Except That of Rejecting Christ?
But Doesn't the Bible Speak of Those Who Are Sanctified and Yet Remain in Unbelief?
Chapter 5I = Irresistible Grace
Those God Plans To Save Must Be Drawn to Him
The Raising of Lazarus Shows How Our Will Is Involved
in Our Salvation
Chapter 6P = Perseverance of the Saints
From What Has God Saved Us?
We Have Eternal Life
But What About Those Verses Which Seem To Teach That We Can Lose Our Salvation?
Israel - an Example of God's Corporate Body
The Teaching That We Can Lose Our Salvation Is a Dangerous Doctrine
Peace with God
Chapter 7Conclusion
"Good evening. Welcome to the Open Forum."
"...Brother Camping?..."
"Yes, go ahead, you're on the air."
"Well, I just had to call after that last caller.... I mean, really, the very idea that not all can be saved.... I mean, when the Bible is so clear, "...whosoever believeth in Him should not perish...' and sir, I want you to know that my Lord does not send people to Hell!" Click the conversation was abruptly ended.
Over and over, this scenario is repeated on the nationwide
evening radio program called Open Forum -- people, sincere
students of the scriptures, struggling with the enigma presented
by the issue of divine election.
The caller had captured his position to his satisfaction with
the verse he quoted from John 3:16. Others reach for the passage
in II Peter proclaiming, "...He is not willing that any should
perish..."
But the simple truth is there are other passages which seem to
declare that only the elect who have been chosen before the
foundation of the earth will be saved. Take, for example,
Ephesians 1:4, which states, "...He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world..." And how about Romans 11:5, where
God speaks of "...a remnant according to the election of grace"?
The caller's frustration was focused on the implication that
only an elect group of people is going to be saved and conversely
that those not among this elect group would be sent to hell.
Since he views God as a benevolent, loving Creator, to him such an
election not only seems grossly unjust, but downright unworthy of
decent men or God!
For five centuries this issue has been a battle cry. There
was a time when Renaissance minds were causing an intellectual
dawn to quell the Dark Ages with humanism's insistence that all
life questions be seen from the human perspective. This
insistence crept into the theological arena. From that
perspective such questions naturally arise..."If those not elected
by God are not going to be saved, how can it be true that God's
offer of salvation is truly honorable? Whatever happened to the
fairness we associate with God? How dare we tamper with the `free
will of man'?"
However, this issue is best served by looking at the question
from the proper perspective -- the divine viewpoint. Once we
capture a clear insight into God's identity, in His nature and
work, it will not be difficult to see that His program of
salvation is entirely fair and equitable.
And for those Bible students willing to struggle objectively
to see the whole issue from this perspective, they will make two
exciting discoveries: (a) this enigma can be resolved; (b) this
resolution will foster a new appreciation of the incomprehensible
love of God in providing such a magnificent program of salvation.
But make no mistake, whether your humanistic outlook is due to
the secular classroom of today's education system or gleaned from
a pulpit under the cloud of theological humanism some 500 years
old, all such viewpoints must be abandoned.
True enlightenment and joy is attainable only by viewing this
issue from the divine perspective; i.e., looking over God's
shoulder.
GOD'S MAGNIFICENT SALVATION PLAN
Going back to the very beginning in Eden, we see that man was created in the image of God. To be created in the image of God included the fact that he loved righteousness and truth just like God. Moreover, Adam could choose whether to obey God or not. He was free to obey God voluntarily because this desire was inherent in him as part of the image of God. Thus he stood before God as a responsible creature accountable for his actions. Therefore, he was also warned that he must bear the consequences of disobedience -- "...for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17).
The results of his disobedience are well known. Mankind was sentenced to death, physical death as well as spiritual death, which meant eternal separation from God in a place called Hell. There he would eternally endure the wrath of God for his disobedience.
The impact of that initial sin was so terrible that man's very nature was corrupted and disobedience to God became normative for his life. Like an adulterer senselessly and stupidly returns repeatedly to the harlot, so man continues to disobey God. It was so far reaching that the whole human race, which issued from Adam and of whom Adam was head, remains in this awful corruption. Thus Romans 5:12 declares, "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..."
In I John 3:8 we read, "He that committeth sin is of the devil." In Colossians 1:13 God declares that when He saves us it is that "He hath delivered us from the power of darkness."
In the parable of the wheat and the tares Jesus informs us that "the tares are the children of the wicked one." This enslavement to sin is described by the language of Romans 6:16, where God warns, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey."
We see therefore that man in his very nature continues in constant rebellion against God. Because he lives in this enmity toward God, the awful curse of God's wrath continues to rest on him. He became a slave of dominion of sin and spiritual darkness which ruled over by Satan, who vanquished man in Eden.
But now a question of great importance must be faced. Did
this corruption of man's nature and this enslavement to Satan,
which together produce an ever mounting condemnation for man,
minimize or reduce in any way God's demand upon him to be without
sin? Had he in any sense become so helpless in his sin that God
could no longer hold him accountable? This is a key question, for
in its answer one will be able to resolve the apparent paradox of
God's gracious offer of salvation to all men and God's elective
decrees whereby only God's elect will be saved.
The answer to the question of man's continued accountability
to God after the fall is found in analyzing the reason for his
hopeless condition of slavery to sin and Satan. His frightful
condition did not result from a whim or caprice of fate. It did
not result from irrational anger by God as God lashed out at man
for his disobedience.
Rather it was altogether the result of man's own action. God
had created him good, with every conceivable blessing; and because
he was created in the image of God he was fully responsible for
the consequences of his disobedience. Thus, the fact that his
very nature became corrupted and that he became a slave of Satan
did not diminish in any way his accountability to God for his
sins. Even to the present day, because he is still man created in
the image of God, however shattered that image may be, he
continues to be answerable to God for his actions.
Therefore one is not surprised to read that at the judgment
man must render account to God for all his works. Matthew 12:36
states, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
Romans 2:5,6 declares, "...after thy hardness and impenitent heart
treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God: Who will render to
every man according to his deeds..." Thus God is emphasizing that
an answer must be tendered.
Romans 14:10-12 makes it clear that "we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ...for...every knee shall bow...and
every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God." II Corinthians 5:10 cites that
"...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that
everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Moreover we read in Revelation 20 that at the judgment throne
Christ will have on record all the deeds of those who stand there.
And they must answer to God concerning these deeds. Revelation
20:12 declares:
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
That God looks upon man as being fully answerable for his sins is repeatedly taught in the Bible. Consider, for example, the words of Jesus in Luke 13:34:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Cf. Matthew 23:29-34, 21:23-41)
Christ is speaking in these passages to people as responsible
humans created in the image of God. He is not demeaning them by
suggesting that in any way they are no longer accountable. His
declaration is that they are fully answerable for their rejection
of God's overtures of grace. Actually it is more than an offer.
It is a command from God to the human race that they are to repent
of their sins and turn to Christ for salvation (John 6:29, Acts
17:30, I John 3:18-24).
Thus the Bible gives ample evidence that mankind is fully
answerable to God for his actions. Even though the entire human
race is altogether in rebellion against God, each and every human
stands accountable to God.
In this sad context, God comes with His gracious offer of
salvation. First of all, He gives plentiful evidence to man that
God exists. By placing man in a creation that is so filled with
incomprehensible impossibilities and delightful wonders, man
cannot escape the knowledge that only an infinite being could
bring this to pass. The stars, the newborn baby, the fragrant
rose, all testify to the power of God (Psalm 19:1, Romans
1:18-23).
Moreover, because he was created in the image of God, there is
a witness within man. Intuitively he knows that murder and
adultery and stealing are sins because to some degree God's law is
written on his heart (Romans 2:14,15). Intuitively he knows that
there is a judgment coming when he must account for his sins
(Romans 1:32).
Furthermore, God shows him that He is a merciful and loving
God as He provides man with so many undeserved blessings such as
health, the benevolent sunshine, and fruitful seasons. (Cf. Acts
14:17, Romans 2:4.)
But man's response to these evidences of the existence of God,
to the knowledge that he is a sinner who must some day be judged
for his sin, to the kindness of God as He surrounds man with His
blessings, is one of even greater rebellion against God. But
because man himself is the sinner, man himself must bear the full
consequences of his actions.
Finally, God comes with His supreme offer of love. God has
fully outlined this in that marvelous written declaration of God's
will, the Bible. He covenants with man that if he will only throw
himself on God's mercies, if he will only repent of his sins and
entrust his will to Christ as Lord, if he will only trust in
Christ as Savior for God's forgiveness for his sins, God will make
him His child, God will give him eternal life, God will free him
from slavery to Satan and make him a citizen of God's kingdom.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life."
To do this for man, to make this offer possible, requires an
enormous sacrifice by God. It requires complete satisfaction of
the price demanded by God's decree, "the wages of sin is death,"
for all who will accept this gracious offer of salvation. This
price was paid by God Himself, as He came as the God-man, to bear
the wrath of God on behalf of those who would trust in God's offer
of salvation.
If ten men out of the whole human race would believe in Christ
as their sin-bearer, Christ's suffering must be equivalent to the
punishment deserved by these ten men. If a million people would
trust in God's offer of reconciliation, Christ's suffering must be
equal to an eternity in Hell for a million men. However many turn
to God's offer of love, Christ would obediently endure God's wrath
on their behalf. For only then can God's holy justice be
completely satisfied (Romans 3:24-26, Romans 5:8-9, Romans 5:21).
But man in his perverseness, in the corruption of sin which
has enveloped his whole being, will not accept this wonderful
offer. He will not be obedient to God's command to repent of his
sins and believe in Christ. His natural enmity towards God, his
unconscious allegiance to Satan, his pleasure in his sin, all work
together to encourage him to ignore, to spurn, to ridicule this
offer. It is indeed a well-meant offer by God. There are no
strings attached. It is given to man, who originally was created
in the image of God to think God's thoughts after Him, to love
God, to worship God, and to fellowship eternally with Him. The
fact that man in his willful disobedience has become totally
corrupted and has become a slave of Satan does not diminish or in
any sense invalidate the gracious and marvelous intention of God's
salvation offer. Man is still accountable to God. The fact that
not even one man would be obedient to this offer does not make it
any less a gracious offer of love.
Even so, the offer of God's love, the Gospel, with its command
to mankind to believe on Christ, is sent forth into all the world.
But no man of his own volition will respond to it. Rather, in his
lusting after sin he will do all that he can to silence and reject
it. The deadness of man is so succinctly outlined in Romans
3:10-20 and Ephesians 2:1-3. "There is none that seeketh after
God," we read in Romans 3:11. Man is as spiritually dead as
Lazarus was physically dead after his body had decayed in the tomb
for 4 days. No wonder the Bible declares in John 6:44, "No one
can come to Me except the Father draw him." No man is able to come
because he is spiritually dead.
But God is not thwarted in His desire to have a redeemed
people. If man left to his own volition will not respond to His
gracious, well-meant offer and command of salvation, God will
reach down into the mire and misery of human sin and save a
people, whether they want to be saved or not (John 6:37). He will
take for Himself as many as He wants, and precisely those whom He
wants, so that He will be the Redeemer. He will build His church,
and the gates of Hell will not prevail. Read, for example, the
beautiful description of God's salvation plan in Ezekiel 34:11-16.
Therefore, in sovereign righteousness and justice God chooses,
even before He creates the world, those whom He will save
(Ephesians 1:4). They are not to be saved because they are in any
way, to any degree whatsoever, more holy or more worthy of
salvation than those who remain unsaved. Rather it is totally
God's sovereign grace that He saves one and leaves another under
His wrath (Romans 9:11-13).
For those whom He does save He must provide payment of the
penalty required by God's perfect justice. And so Jesus became
sin. He took upon Himself the sins of all whom God planned in His
elective decrees to save. Based on God's declaration of John 3:16
that "whosoever believeth on Him should not perish," we might
declare that Christ was prepared to pay for the sins of anyone in
the whole wide world throughout time who might turn in faith to
God and accept this offer of forgiveness. This is perhaps one
truth inherent in the Biblical statement that Christ died for the
sins of the whole world. In all the world Christ was the only
possible sin-bearer. He would pay the price for anyone who
believed. This principle is surely suggested by the promise of I
John 1:9, which proclaims, "...if we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
As a matter of fact, He did die only for those who were
elected of God. For only they will obey God's command to believe
in Christ. And this includes both the believer of the Old
Testament as well as all those who will believe right up until the
end of time. This truth is surely evident in the declaration of
the angel to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall
save His people from their sins." The phrase "His people" cannot
refer to the whole human race. If it did, double jeopardy would
occur, inasmuch as the Bible clearly teaches that the unsaved must
pay for all their sins (Revelation 20:12-15).
Christ died for those who believe, but not one of these
believed of his own volition. Only because God inclined their
wills and opened their eyes did they respond to the Gospel. This
gracious intervention of God occurred only in the lives of God's
elect. These God irresistibly drew unto Himself (John 6:37,44).
These were given to Christ by the Father (John 6:37,39,John
17:9,20), who were born not of the will of man, but of God (John
1:13).
Therefore, while in principle the atonement is available for
each and every individual in the whole world, in actuality it
covers only the sins of the elect. For only they will believe in
Him. The dead Lazarus responded to the command of Jesus to come
forth from the from the tomb because with the command Christ
qualified him to come forth by giving him ears to hear, life to
respond, and the will to obey (John 11:43,44). So likewise God
qualifies those who are spiritually dead so that they will respond
to the Gospel call.
Sorrowfully, the Bible declares that the rest of mankind
remains under the wrath of God. When Christ went to the cross to
pay for sin, He was ready to pay for anyone of mankind who would
trust Christ as his Savior. But no penalty was paid by Jesus for
those who would not respond obediently to God's salvation command.
Therefore, they must stand before God's judgment throne on their
own behalf when God judges the nations at the end of time. God
declares, "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all
ungodliness" (Romans 1:18), and "There will be tribulation and
distress for every human being who does evil" (Romans 2:9).
Furthermore, in Romans 2:5 God ominously decrees:
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
In Revelation 20:12,13 we read:
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Had their sins been paid for, they would never have to stand for judgment and answer to God for each and every sin they had ever committed. God's wrath could never come upon them. Such condemnation, after Christ had already paid for their sins, would be double jeopardy. It would be a violation of God's perfect justice.
Who then can be saved? Anyone can who surrenders his life by
faith to Christ as Savior and Lord. There is not one who ever
honestly sought for Jesus who will be cast out. There will be no
one at the judgment throne of God on the last day who will be able
to argue with God that he had earnestly sought for salvation.
While he may have sought salvation, it could not have been the
salvation of the Bible. Rather it would have been a salvation of
his own design. No one will stand before the judgment throne who
had been following the Biblical prescription of a broken and a
contrite heart, which is the beginning of true salvation.
Wonderfully, anyone can know he is one of God's elect by
repenting of his sins and hanging his whole life on Jesus. God
warns man to make his calling and election sure. By turning to
Christ without reservation, in child-like trust, he is proving he
is one of God's elect. After he has turned in obedience to Him and
knows that he, too, has become born from above he will discover
from God's matchless Word that his salvation was all of grace
(Ephesians 2:4-10). It was altogether the work of God. If God had
left him to himself, he would never have turned to Him.
That the Father decided to save some and let the rest go to
Hell for their sins is God's business (Romans 9:14-23, Ephesians
1:4,5). He is the sovereign Creator and Redeemer, who is
glorified by the salvation of those who believe (Ephesians 1:6).
He is also praised by the wrath of man (Psalm 76:10).
The real wonder is not that He failed to save every last
person in the world. The real wonder is that He saved even one
out of the human race. The fact that He saved a vast company of
believers from every nation and tribe and people is gracious love
and condescending grace that no man will ever understand. This
wonderful salvation is possible only because...
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith Jehovah...(Isaiah 55:8)
We have discovered that God indeed comes with a gracious offer
of salvation to mankind, a gracious offer whereby He declares that
He will save anyone at all who will come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Indeed it is more than an offer. It is a command to believe on
Jesus as Savior. Our salvation of course can be accomplished only
through our Savior because there must be someone to pay for our
sins. Jesus as our substitute did provide Himself as that
payment. Because of His sacrifice of Himself, God comes with the
gracious offer of salvation to this world.
We learned that because man is desperately wicked, because he
is dead in his sins, he does not want to accept this offer of
salvation; he does not want to be obedient to the command to
believe in Christ as his Savior. He refuses to surrender his will
to God. In the hardness of his heart he wants to go his own way.
"There is none that seeketh after God," the Bible sorrowfully
declares.
We saw that even though man is dead in his sins he remains
accountable to God. Regardless of his spiritual blindness,
regardless of the fact that he is a slave of sin and Satan, he
still has the responsibility to face God at the judgment throne
and answer for all his sins.
Then we saw that God, in His mercy, in His sovereign will,
declared, "But I will build My church." It is God's purpose to
have a people for Himself even if no one of his own desire will
believe in Christ as his Savior. We saw that even before the
foundation of the earth God named those whom He would save; and
these He drew to Himself, opening their spiritual eyes that they
might respond to the Gospel offer, so they did indeed become
saved.
Then we examined the question, "Well then, can anyone be
saved?" And the answer was, "Yes, indeed, anyone can be saved who
will respond to the Gospel." But we learned that the only people
who will respond in submission to God's Word, the Bible, who will
obediently follow God's program for salvation, will be those whom
God has drawn to Himself. There will be nobody facing Hell at the
judgment throne who will be able to argue, "I wanted to be saved
on God's terms but I am not saved because obviously I was not one
of God's elect." Anyone facing judgment and Hell is there because
he did not want God's salvation program. He may have wanted
salvation on his own terms, but he did not want God's salvation,
and therefore he still has to answer to all his sins.
As we go on in our study of salvation, particularly as it relates to predestination and God's elective program, let's look at these questions again on a little more formal basis, following the outline that the church has followed, under the acronym TULIP:
T = Total depravity
U = Unconditional election
L = Limited atonement
I = Irresistible grace
P = Perseverance of the saints
Certainly the acrostic principles behind the acronym TULIP sound intriguing; but unless they are altogether Bibical, they shall not stand. In that view, we focus altogether on scriptural foundations.
T = TOTAL DEPRAVITY
The matter of total depravity is a very ugly concept, and it
is this doctrine that divides the church as no other teaching
concerning salvation. Many, many people in the church can agree,
"Yes, I believe that God draws us to Himself: I believe that once
we are saved, we are always saved."
But they have difficulty crossing that line where they would
acknowledge that man is so depraved, that he is so spiritually
dead that he is incapable of taking that first step toward God.
They really insist on the possibility of free choice or free will
on the part of man to choose for Christ. They conclude that God
has done all that He can do, and now it is up to man to take the
next action.
Let's examine the Bible very carefully in regard to this
matter because we want the Bible to speak to us. We are interested
in knowing God's truth on this. Some of the verses we will look
at will be a repetition of what we have already covered in this
study, but they bear repeating because they are so very important.
In Ephesians 2:1-5 we read:
And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation (conduct, behavior) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved...
In these verses God is speaking about someone who has become
saved. He is not talking about the desperately wicked of the
world who remain in their wickedness and end up in Hell, but He is
talking about someone who actually has become a child of God.
And what does He say about him? He was dead. He was
spiritually a corpse, without any spiritual life of any kind.
Notice the description, "walked according to the course of this
world." In other words, he had been living exactly like the world
that remains in unbelief.
Then God adds, "according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
By these words God is declaring that this person was a slave of
Satan, walking after the ways of Satan. Remember that Jesus said
to the Pharisees, "Ye are of your father the devil."
Moreover, verse 3 declares he was living "in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath even as others." This is the
terribly rebellious condition in which God finds us when He saves
us. The description fits any unsaved in the world, even the most
wicked. This is the way we are, the way God sees us before we are
saved.
How can this person exercise free will? How can this person
decide to come to God? He is spiritually dead, his will sold out
to Satan. He is a corpse. While he might argue that he has the
freedom to choose for God, in actuality he will never choose to
come to God through Christ. In the freedom of his will he will
always choose against God because in his depraved nature he is
altogether in rebellion against God.
The terribly rebellious state of man's heart is further
described by the language of Jeremiah 17:9, where God declares,
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:
who can know it?" Jesus pointed out the awful depravity of man's
heart by the language of Mark 7:21,22:
No wonder Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27:
Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
In these words our Savior was pointing out the unsaved
condition of these church rulers. But the description of their
hearts fits the heart of every unsaved person.
In Romans 3:10-18 God emphasizes and underscores the sorry
state of mankind when measured by the standard of God's holiness.
In verse 10 God declares, "As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one." Thus we are made to realize there is no
one in the world who is righteous, not a single individual. God
has in view here the whole human race, including those who will
become believers. The Bible continues, beginning with verse 11:
There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
This is an awful indictment of the human race. God is showing
us what miserable sinners we really are compared with holiness of
God. This language shuts the door on any possibility that anyone
of his own free will would turn to God..."There is none that
seeketh after God..." The language is that of a desperate sinner,
one who is spiritually dead. His throat is an open sepulchre. That
is, all the words of his mouth proceed from a grave of decaying
flesh. What an ugly statement declaring our spiritual deadness.
How can we say that any person would turn to God of his own free
will? We have to absorb this terrible truth. It is God's truth,
that we are spiritually dead before we are saved. We are so
depraved in our nature that we would never seek Him of ourselves.
Our spiritual deadness is further emphasized in John 5:24,
where God says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life
and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
into life." We are dead in our sins. Only God can give us life.
This same truth comes to light in I Peter 4:6, where we read,
"For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are
dead." Of course we don't preach to the physical corpses; we don't
go into a cemetery and preach to the bodies that are in the
graves. We preach to someone who has life and breath, who has
conscious existence. But God says here that the Gospel is
preached to those who are dead. You see, we are spiritually dead
before we are saved. Therefore, we of our own volition will never
come to God.
Wonderfully, this verse tells what happens to those who do
respond to the Gospel as they are experienceing God's salvation
love. Verse 6 goes on, "...that they might be judged according to
men in the flesh." That is, they still will experience physical
death. But then the next phrase declares, "...but live according
to God in the spirit." In their spirit or soul existence, where
they have experienced the resurrection at the time they were
saved, they will live to God.
In John 6:44 Christ declared, "No man can come to Me except
the Father which hath sent Me draw him." The word "can" in this
passage is a word that signifies that no one has the power to come
to Christ. No one has the strength to come to Him. Why? Because
we are dead. Only because our Heavenly Father draws us, do we come
to Him.
Remember, earlier in our study we mentioned Lazarus. Lazarus
was in the tomb, and he had been dead for 4 days. He was a
stinking corpse. Yet Jesus spoke to that dead man just as we
speak to the spiritually dead, according to the language of I
Peter 4:6. Jesus said to Lazarus, "Lazarus, come forth." Did
Lazarus have the ability to come forth? Could he come forth
because he heard the voice of Jesus? No, he couldn't even hear
the voice of Jesus. He was dead. He could never come forth. One
might go to a cemetery and call for a thousand years for people to
come forth. But not even one person will even come forth because
all in the cemetery are dead.
That is how dead we are spiritually. The corpse of Lazarus in
the tomb is a picture of our spiritually dead condition before we
are saved. God is using this particular historical event to teach
us the spiritual truth of the nature of salvation.
That the death and resurrection of Lazarus is a picture of
salvation is shown by the language describing this miraculous
event. As Jesus is talking to Martha and Mary about the dead
Lazarus, He said to them in verse 25 of John 11, "I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he
were dead, yet shall live." This beautiful promise relates
altogether to salvation. Jesus is going to raise Lazarus to prove
that this promise is trustworthty. Even as Lazurus was raised
physically, we who believe in Christ are to be raised spiritually.
Lazarus had no power in himself. He was dead, so that he of his
own will could not rise physically. Yet he did rise physically.
So also we are spiritually dead before we are saved. We have no
power whatsoever. Therefore we cannot rise spiritually.
Nevertheless, as the Gospel comes to us, we will rise if it is
God's will to raise us, even as Lazarus was raised from the dead.
This is the teaching of the Bible. We are dead, and our
actions cannot contribute in any sense toward our salvation.
There is no such thing as free will insofar as the Bible is
concerned.
I am afraid that the idea of free will is clung to so
tenaciously by some because it affords them a little bit of credit
for their salvation. Oh, we know that it is by grace that we are
saved. We are ready to admit that. But oh, how we want to
receive a little credit at least. Can't we have a little bit of
recognition that we have contributed something toward our
salvation? This is our nature.
Suppose we have baked a beautiful cake, or done something else
that displays our handiwork. We have slaved over this, and our
work is very lovely. Indeed then, we are very disappointed if our
friends fail to commend us on the work of our hands. This is the
way we are designed; we want some kind of commendation. And so we
also want some kind of commendation with regard to our salvation.
If it was my free will that caused me to turn to Christ, then
somehow I am a little bit better than my unsaved neigthbor. After
all, somehow I responded to the Gospel while he didn't, and
therefore I can receive a tiny bit of credit, even though I know
that basically my salvation depends upon what Christ has done.
But the Bible says no. We are dead in our sins, and there is
no way that we can be saved except that God will draw us. It is
God's work altogether. Therefore, God declares, "A broken and a
contrite heart I will not despise."
I might point out something very ominous in connection with
this doctrice of free will. Really, it is a very serious matter
that we are discussing. The Bible shows why.
In Numbers 15:32-34 we read about a person who picked up some
sticks on the Sabbath Day:
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath Day; and they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation, and they put him in ward because it was not declared what should be done to him.
This man apparently has committed a very, very incidental sin. He has picked up a few sticks. As near as we can tell, he has kept the Sabbath Day as was commanded, but he just picked up a few sticks. Certainly that isn't a very grievous crime, is it? But God indicates in verse 35...
And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp; and all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses.
What a horrible penalty for such an incidental sin! Why is
this? Why did God put this in the Bible? You see, this is a
dramatic warning to us not to mix work with God's grace. Let me
explain.
The Old Testament Sabbath Day was a picture of our salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the nation of Israel rested on the
seventh day from all its labors, they were not to do any kind of
work at all. So, too, when we are saved, we are to rest
altogether in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has done all the work
required to bring us to salvation. The Old Testament Sabbath Day
therefore was a figure of the salvation that God would provide
through our Savior. Until we are saved, we are working so that in
some way we might obtain entrance into Heaven by our own actions.
But once we are saved, we rest from our labors altogether and
simply trust in Christ, who has done all the work. It is by
resting in God's grace that we have been saved, just like the
children of Israel who rested on the Sabbath Day.
Therefore, when this man picked up a few sticks, his action
paralleled the action of someone who is saying, "Yes, I am saved
by grace, but my work has contributed just a tiny bit. I can do a
little bit of work toward my salvation." God ordained that the man
who picked up sticks was to be stoned to death. To be stoned to
death in the Old Testament was the equivalent of coming under the
damnation of Hell. This is the grievous thing that happened to
those who were particularly sinful. Their death was a picture of
God's wrath that comes upon sin, that results in damnation in
Hell. Thus by this account of the man picking up sticks God is
really teaching that if we have a salvation program that is mostly
grace, but also requires a little bit of our own work, then we
still are under damnation.
This is an ominous thought. This is a terrible thing. But we
don't have to worry about this if we'll just follow the
scriptures, if we'll accept what we read in Ephesians 2 and Romans
3 and John 5:24 and these other passages, that we are dead and we
don't have free will. It is God Himself who does the saving
altogether. Only He is to receive all the glory for our
salvation.
I know there are passages that seem to indicate that we do
have free will. For example, in Revelation 22:17 God declares,
"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." But this
verse isn't indicating that anybody will of himself turn to the
Gospel, which is the water of life. This verse is simply
indicating that God's gracious offer of salvation is available to
the entire human race. If any person does turn to Him, God will
save him. When we read this verse in the light of the rest of the
Bible, we know that no one of his own volition will turn to
Christ. There is none that seeketh after God. Thus, while
Revelation 22:17 stands as a promise of God, it will never prompt
a response in anyone unless God Himself is drawing him.
Revelation 3:20 is frequently used by those who want to retain
some aspect of free will. There God declares, Behold, I stand at
the door and knock. If any man hear My voice and open the door, I
will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me."
This verse to seems to indicate, when we read it quickly, that
the action by the one responding to Christ is doing so of his own
free will. But when we read this verse very carefully, we'll
notice it says, "He who heareth My voice..." Can a dead man hear
the voice of God? Could Lazarus hear the voice of Jesus? And the
answer is, "Of course he couldn't hear the Savior's voice. He was
dead." But he did hear the voice of Christ, didn't he? He did
hear Christ's voice, and he did come forth.
Likewise there are those who are spiritually dead who of
themselves cannot hear with understanding the Gospel call. Those
who respond do so only because God gives them spiritual ears to
hear. Even as He gave the dead Lazarus physical ears to hear so
that he could respond, and gave him the strength to respond, so
God gives us spiritual ears if He is drawing us to Himself.
Revelation 3:20 is not teaching free will in any way. It is
simply indicating that if we have ears to hear, then we will
respond. But we know that those ears to hear must come from God
Himself.
It is very significant that repeatedly in Revelation God
declares, as He does in Revelation 3:22, "He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Only those whom
God is drawing, those whom God is saving, will have that kind of
ear. We see therefore that this verse also gives Biblical
corroboration to the historical treaching to total depravity.
We must conclude therefore that the principle of total
depravity is altogther Biblical. It is a teaching that will stand
the closest scrutiny of the scriptures. But it is absolutely
antithetical to the idea of free will. Any Gospel program that
promotes the idea that I have a free will to choose God is
contrary to the Bible. When we are unsaved, our will is sold out
to sin and to Satan.
We might insist our will is free, but in our unsaved condition
our will is always contrary to the will of God. We shall never
will of ourselves to come to God because "there is none that
seeketh after God." This is what the Bible insists. If you want
to call that free will, that we shall always of ourselves go
against the will of God, so be it.
Call that free will if you like, but that is not the meaning
ascribed to free will when people say, "I, because of my free
will, decided to become saved." Their meaning is that by an act of
their will, which is under no constraint of God, they can come to
Christ; and indeed those who are saved did become saved because of
an action of their will. Likewise those who remain lost of their
own free will reject Christ, and God will never impose His will
upon them to make them want to come to Christ. But that idea or
doctrine is a Biblical impossibility. Moreover, it is a very,
very dangerous doctrine, as we have seen.
But doesn't the Bible teach that we are to choose for Christ,
that we are faced with the choice of believing or rejecting
Christ? And doesn't this imply free will on the part of those who
do make the right choice? When Joshua commanded ancient Israel to
"choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15), was
Joshua suggesting that man has a free will? When we read Joshua
24:15 carefully we discover that Joshua's command to choose was
not to make a choice between God and Baal. Rather it was a choice
between one false religion and another. This verse reads:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
God does not give us a choice to believe in Christ or not. He commands the human race to believe in Christ. We read in I John 3:23:
And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ...
If any verses in the Bible do imply a choice is to be made,
God always commands what that choice is to be. It is always that
we should turn back to God. As we faithfully bring the Gospel, we
should present this command of God that should be obeyed.
However, as we bring this command to believe on Christ, we
must fully realize that the only ones who will obey this command
are those whom God is drawing--those whom God has chosen to
salvation. They alone will respond to the Gospel offer. We must
fully realize that we have been commissioned by God to make this
Gospel offer so that God's salvation program will come to fruition
in the lives of those whose wills are being inclined by God to
respond to the command to believe.
Therefore we must never add to that Gospel presentation the
statements that are so frequently made to the effect that the
final choice is man's rather than God's.? Too many preachers add
such concepts as, "God has done His part and now it's up to you;"
or "God by His grace has paid for your sins but it's up to you to
accept His pardon;" or "God has done all that He must do; the rest
is up to you;" or God is a gentleman. While He has provided for
your salvation, He will not force you to accept."
All these statements imply that our salvation is based on
God's work plus our work, that God's work will never be complete
without our work. These statements are part and parcel with the
concept that man has a free will. They do not recognize at all
that our salvation is "not of works" (Ephesians 2:9). They do not
recognize that man is dead in his sins. They do not recognize the
awful import of a works/grace gospel.
I am afraid that the common assertion of many today that man
must "accept" the Lord Jesus as his Savior is based on the premise
that man has a free will. The fact is, we receive Christ because
God has given us Him as a gift. God inclines our will, God draws
us, God gives us salvation. We receive this gift of salvation
without any work or effort on our part.
Now then, which of these two hymns are you ready to sing?
'Twas not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord That could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me.'Twas not that you did choose me,
For Lord that could not be;
Your heart would still refuse me,
Hadst I not chosen Thee.
The first of the two verses is the Biblical one. When "we have
decided to follow Jesus," it is actually God's action moving us.
We can take no credit whatsoever. The phrase accrues to the
precious Lord Jesus Christ. God gives repentance! To God be the
glory!
Let us now see what the Bible has to say about unconditional
election. What does this phrase mean?
U = UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
Thus far we have examined the first principle that is
suggested by the acronym TULIP, a word that outlines five
principles that relate to the nature of our salvation. That first
principle is the matter of total depravity. We have discovered as
we looked in the Bible that indeed, we are dead in our sins. We
are incapable of ever deciding to come to Christ. We are slaves
of Satan. We obey the lusts of the flesh. We are as spiritually
dead as Lazarus was physically dead in the tomb before he was
raised.
But now we are going to examine the second principle that is a
part of this acronym TULIP; namely, the principle of unconditional
election. The subject of election is not a happy idea to many who
are concerned with salvation because it brings with it the fact
that God is the one who did the electing, rather than the fact
that we have chosen for God. Man by nature does not like this
particular point of view. This is so because it underscores the
spiritual deadness of man. It robs him of any self-pride. It
reminds him that he is not the master of his fate, the captain of
his soul. But this is the point of view that the Bible very
clearly teaches.
In examining this question of election we see first of all
that it is required. That is, it is a necessary part of God's
salvation program. Without it, no one would be saved. Let us see
why this is so.
We have already discovered that man is altogether dead in his
sins. He will not seek after God. Of his own volition he will
never elect to come to God. Therefore, if Christ had gone no
further than offering salvation to the world, there would be no
body of believers. This gracious, loving offer of salvation could
be proclaimed for a thousand years to mankind, but not one
individual in the whole human race would respond of himself. As
we have already seen so clearly, man is dead in his sins. He
loves his sin too much. In his very nature he is altogether in
rebellion against God. And so no one seeks after God. Therefore,
if God had not acted in man's heart no one would become saved.
But Christ has determined that He would build His church. The
gates of hell would not prevail against Him. Therefore, in order
to build His church, He elected certain ones who were to be saved.
Thus the truth of election is absolutely essential to God's whole
program of salvation.
We might wonder when God elected or decided whom He would
save. When did this election take place? The Bible tells us in
Ephesians 1:4 that He chose us in Christ from before the
foundations of the world. In other words, God already decided
whom He would save as part of the salvation program before man had
ever been created, before man had ever fallen into sin.
In Revelation 17:8 God speaks of those whose names were not
written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. He
is speaking here of the wicked, those who are slaves of the Beast
or of the kingdom of Satan. The fact that they were not written in
the Book of Life from before the foundations of the world implies
very strongly that the believers in Christ, who are not slaves of
Satan, were written in the Book of Life from before the
foundations of the world. That accords altogether with Ephesians
1:4, where we are told that "we are chosen in Him from before the
foundation of the world." Therefore the Bible shows us that this
election did take place before time, before God had begun His
creation.
Because God knows the end from the beginning, He knew that
man, whom He would create perfect and without sin, would of his
own volition rebel against God and be plunged into sin. Therefore
our Heavenly Father made provision for this eventuality by giving
to the Lord Jesus Christ those whom He planned to save. We read
in John 6:37, "all that the Father giveth Me..." These were the
elect who, before the foundations of the earth, had been chosen by
God and had their names inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life.
The next logical issue we should face concerns the nature of
this election. We find this word election in some fifty places in
the New Testament. It is found in the Greek language as three
different greek words... ...ekloge, eklektos and eklego. These
three words are translated either as elect or chosen in the New
Testament.
We find, for example, that God says in Romans 11:5, "There is
a remnant according to the election (ekloge) of grace. In II
Peter 1:10 we read, "Make your calling and election (ekloge)
sure."
Again He declares in Colossians 3:12, "Put on, therefore, as
the elect (eklektos) of God..." or in Titus 1:1, "According to the
faith of God's elect (eklektos)." We find this idea of election
in Matthew 22:14, "Many are called, but few are chosen
(eklektos);" and in I Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen (eklektos)
generation..."
And again, we read in Ephesians l:4, "According as He has
chosen (eklego) us in Him..." He has elected, He has chosen those
whom He planned to save.
A corollary doctrine of the Bible describing God's elective
program is predestination. Predestination, like the word
election, is a very uncomfortable word for many. Many are hoping
that the word predestinate is not in the Bible, that it is some
kind of theological word rather than a Biblical word. They want
nothing to do with it.
But the fact is that the Greek word proorizo, from which
predestination comes, is found six times in the New Testament. We
find it in Romans 8:29, where God declares that "those whom He did
foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
His Son." We read it in Romans 8:30, where He says, "Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and those whom He
called, He justified; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified."
Further, we read of this predestination in Ephesians 1:5.
There God declares, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will." Again, in Ephesians 1:11, "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."
This word predestinate is found in two other places in the New
Testament. In one, Acts 4:28, it is actually translated in our
English language as "determined before." There God is speaking
about the will of God that Christ would suffer for our sins, and
so He is indicating that as part of His divine plan Herod and
Pontius Pilate and others were gathered together against Him. In
that context He declares in verse 28, "For to do whatsoever Thy
hand and Thy counsel (God's counsel) determined before
(predestinated) to be done." So we see, God's counsel had
predestinated beforehand what was to be done.
The last place we find this word proorizo (predestinate) is in
I Corinthians 2:7, where it is translated "ordained:" "But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained (predestinated) before the world unto our glory."
Here He is speaking of the whole Gospel plan that was
predestinated by God.
You see, in these verses we find that God has predetermined
from before the foundations of the world, not only every aspect of
the salvation program, but also who were to be saved. He did not
predestinate those whom He saw would of themselves come to Him.
That's an impossibility because all mankind are dead in their
sins. There is none that seeketh after God. But as He looked
down the corridors of time and saw the miserable human race as it
would become after the fall of Adam, He chose some of these
miserable, rebellious sinners and elected them to salvation. He
predestinated them to be saved. This is what the Bible teaches
concerning salvation.
We must realize, if God had simply looked for those who would
come to Him of their own free will and saved them, then He could
never speak of them as being chosen. This would be incorrect
language for it would not have been God's choosing but man's
choosing. It would have been man who had elected to come to God
and God would simply be recognizing those who would be saved. He
could only speak of them as being the recipients of the grace of
God and could not speak of electing those who were being saved.
But no, God uses the word elect because He chose out of the
rebellious human race those who were to be saved. We read in John
15:16, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." This, you
see, is what the Bible teaches concerning our salvation. We are
the elect of God if we have begun to believe in Christ as our
Savior and Lord.
We must remember, even as the acronym TULIP suggests, that the
principle that is laid down in the Bible is unconditional
election. That is, God elects us regardless of how terrible our
sin really is. He does not elect us because we were good. He
does not elect us because we were beautiful people. He elects us
in spite of our sins. Remember, in Romans 3:10-18 we saw that God
speaks about the whole human race, without any exception, in the
most ugly language, to indicate the natural wickedness, the
murderous, viperous nature of man. It is these kinds of people
whom He elected to be saved.
The Bible does not teach that Christ came to save those who
were good but that Christ came to save sinners. The Bible declares
in James 2:5, "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in
faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that
love Him?" We are rich in faith, of course, because that faith is
given to us as a gift. We read in Ephesians 2:8, "By grace ye
have been saved through faith, but that not of yourselves. It is
a gift..." In I Corinthians 1:27 God declares, "But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things
which are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not, to
bring to nought things that are."
In these verses God is very clearly indicating that in His
choice of those whom He would save He is speaking of that which is
despised, that which is of no value in itself, that which is
foolish. That is our state when God saves us. Our election is
absolutely and altogether unconditional. We did not deserve to be
elected of God in any way.
Remember that we looked several times at Lazarus as he was in
the tomb. There were many people in cemeteries in that day, as
there are at any time in history. Christ could have gone to any
one of those tombs and called to the dead person within the tomb
to come forth, and that person would have come forth.
But Christ in His sovereign will decided to raise up Lazarus.
He came to the tomb of Lazarus, and He said, "Lazarus, come
forth." Lazarus did not meet any conditions at all in order to
respond to this command, or to be the one who was elected to be
raised from the dead. He was simply one of the dead. His body was
corrupting. There was nothing that qualified him to come forth,
nothing whatsoever; yet he did come forth when Christ elected to
raise him and then commanded him to come forth.
Thus in the raising of Lazarus God gives us a dramatic picture
of unconditional election. We are elected of God to be saved by
Him. We come as we are, in our rebellion, in our perverseness, in
our spiritual rottenness and spiritual bankruptcy. God declares,
"A broken and a contrite heart I will not despise." That's the
doctrine of unconditional election.
Of course the question might be raised, "If God has elected
from before the foundations of the earth those whom He would save,
and if there is nothing that I can do about my election, then what
is the use of trying to bow to command of the Bible to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ? If I am elect, I will believe. If I am
not elect, I won't believe. There is nothing I can do to make
myself elect because this is altogether God's sovereign plan."
The fact is that when God commands us to believe, we are to
obey that command. Occasionally, there is someone who does obey
that command. Whether he is elect or not is none of his business
at that point in time. When we hear the Gospel, we are to be
faithful in obeying the Gospel by believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Those who do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will afterwards
begin to wonder, "Why did I believe? Why did I turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ when many others around me did not?" Then, when they
examine the scriptures to find out why, they will discover it is
because God had elected them. It is because God had drawn the
sinner to Himself so that he became a believer. God had opened
the spiritual ears and heart of this individual. God had
qualified this person so that he would respond to the Gospel, even
as He qualified the dead Lazarus in the tomb so that he would be
obedient to the call of Jesus, "Lazarus, come forth." This is the
doctrine of election.
Moreover, as we send forth the Gospel, it's not our business
to know who are God's elect. We know only that there are those
amongst the unsaved who are God's elect. These are the lost sheep
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and to save. Christ knows
who they are; and as we witness to the Gospel and send forth the
Gospel, there will be those whom God will bring to Himself as they
hear the Gospel presented by us. God will draw them through this
Gospel. God will draw them as we pray for them. We don't know
whether they are elect or not, but God knows. We will only
discover the elect as we see those who indeed do become born
again.
This is a wonderful doctrine, a marvelous promise. This
insures success as we bring the Gospel. The success of our Gospel
presentation does not depend upon our winning ways; it does not
depend upon the splendid rhetoric that we can offer; it does not
depend upon our salesmanship. Rather it depends upon God's
faithfulness to His own Gospel. Through the Gospel He will seek
and save those whom He has predestinated to be saved. He will
call them, He will justify them, and He will glorify them (Romans
8:30). This is the absolute promise of God. This is the teaching
of unconditional election. What a wonderful doctrine this is! A
pity it is that there are those who are afraid of this teaching.
If the doctrine of election and predestination is so
beautiful, why then are so many afraid of it? I believe many do
not like this doctrine because they would like to believe that God
does not predestinate against the will of man. That is to say,
man would like to believe that God predestinates those persons
whom He knows will turn to Him. Man wants at least a bit of the
credit for his salvation.
Moreover, man desperately wants to be sovereign in his own
right. This was the nature of Lucifer when he fell into sin. He
wanted to be a king. He wanted to be like God, as we read in
Isaiah 14. So man, too, wants to be king on the throne of his
life. It is reprehensible to him by nature to acknowledge the
sovereignty of God. Howerver, the doctrine of unconditional
election, which the Bible very clearly teaches, underscores that
God is sovereign. He saves those whom He will save! Under no
circumstances is it man who does the choosing. It is God who is
doing the choosing.
God insists in Romans 9, for example, as He uses Esau and Jacob as a figure of His doctrine of predestinating election:
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand; not of works, but of Him that called us; it was said unto her: the elder shall serve the younger; as it is written: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Now there it is, you see; God is indicating that He was
completely sovereign in this. Again in verse 15 of Romans 9 He
declares, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion." We have here
emphasized all these "I wills" because this is what God is
emphasizing. He is the One that Makes the decision, and He adds
in verse 16 of Romans 9, "So then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." This
verse pointedly and plainly excludes man's will.
Further reinforcement for this marvelous doctrine is seen in
verse 18: "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and
whom He will He hardeneth." There is the doctrine of sovereign
grace as it works out in God's elective program.
In Romans we were reminded of the hymn, "Thou art the potter;
I am the clay; Mold me and make me, after THY will." This plea is
based on the teaching of Romans 9:20-23:
Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?' Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
Here, you see, God emphasizes the fact that He is supreme; He
has the power, the right to save those whom He wished to save.
God is under no obligation to save a single person in the whole
human race. We deserve to go to Hell. We deserve to spend
eternity under His damnation. The fact that He has saved some
according to His divine choosing, His elective program, is God's
business altogether.
Futhermore, in John 1:13 God insists that we are born, not of
the will of man. John 1:12 introduces this truth: "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." If we stop right there, it
would appear as if the choice is altogether man's, those who
received Him. But notice the qualifying statement in the next
verse, "which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God." God is insisting that He does
the electing. It is His will that decides who is to be saved. It
is not our will that we would want to be saved because our will is
altogether sold under sin.
The doctrine that salvation comes only to those who are elect
of God is further taught in Acts 13:48. As the Gospel is going
out producing converts in the early church, we read, "As many as
were ordained to eternal life believed." That says it all over
again, does it not? Not everybody was believing, but only those
who were ordained by God to believe.
It is true that God commands men everywhere to repent of their
sins (Acts 17:30). It is easy to assume, therefore, that even
though our salvation is all of grace, at least it is a product of
my independent will that I have repented. I am the one who turned
away from my sins. Logically I might conclude that because I have
turned away from my sins, God will save me. Somehow I want to
believe that repentance has to do with my will altogether, apart
from any action on God's part.
But even this thought of independence apart from God's action
will not be tolerated by the Bible. In Acts 5:31 we read:
Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
How plainly God declares that even our repentance is given to us of God. God requires that no conditions be met before we can be saved. God takes the most unworthy, rebellious, wicked sinner and gives him repentance so that God's salvation program can proceed in his life. Small wonder then that Ephesians 2:8-10 declares:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk them.
Can we see now that even the good work of repenting of our sins is also a gift of God?
Amazingly the Bible further strengthens the total role of God
in our salvation as it discusses our faith. When we read Romans
4:3, which declares, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness," we might conclude that even though
our works are not at all meritorious toward our salvation, in some
way at least our faith must be counted toward our salvation.
However, when we look at the Bible more carefully, we will
discover that it was not Abraham's faith that was counted for
righteousness, but it was God Himself who was counted for
righteousness.
Let us develop this thought a bit. In Galatians 2:16 we read:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law.
Reading this verse very carefully, we see that God declares
that it is by (Greek dia - through) the faith of Jesus Christ,"
and "we might be justified by (Greek ek - out of) the faith of
Christ." In other words, the basis of our salvation is not our
faith but Christ's faith. Because He was perfectly faithful in
caring out God's salvation plan, we are saved. No wonder Christ
is called "Faithful and True" in Revelation 19:11.
Moreover we see that in Galatians 2:16 God is declaring that
we are not justified by (Greek ek - out of) the works of the law.
In John 6:28 the Jews asked Jesus, "What shall we do, that we
might work the works of God? Jesus answered them in the next
verse as He declared, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on
Him whom He hath sent." In this declaration the Lord Jesus is very
definitely teaching that our faith whereby we believe on Christ as
our Savior is a work. Therefore we know that we can be justified
only by Christ's faith and not ours. For, as Galatians 2:16 has
indicated, we cannot be justified by works of the law.
The grand truth of Galatians 2:16 is further strengthened by
the language of Galatians 2:20, where we read, "the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by (Greek en - in) the faith of the
Son of God." See also Romans 3:22 and Philippians 3:9.
Returning to Romans 4:3 and Abraham's salvation, we should now
read Romans 4:5, where God declares:
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for (Greek eis - into) righteousness.
The phrase "his faith" can only refer to God's faith, that is,
God's faithfulness which brings the believer into righteousness.
This then explains to us the meaning of the phrase we find in
Romans 1:17, where we read:
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from (Greek ek - out of) faith to (Greek eis - into) faith.
God is teaching us here that the salvation of Jews and Greeks
is out of faith (Christ's faith) into faith (our faith), which is
a reflection or result of Christ's faith.
Thus we can understand the language of Ephesians 2:8, where
God declares:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
In every aspect of our salvation we merit nothing at all. To
God must go all the honor and glory. It is by virtue of Christ's
faithfulnss that we are counted righteous. His faith is given to
us as a gift, so that we have begun to trust in Christ as our
Savior.
One last verse, and then we'll be through with this principle
of unconditional election, and that is John 6:37. Jesus declared
there: "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and Him
that cometh to Me I shall in no wise cast out." Christ is here
insisting that it is those whom the Father has given Him that will
come to Him. There is no implication here that the whole human
race would come to Him, but God has chosen out of the human race
those whom He would save.
Therefore, the logical question follows, "If God has decided
by His sovereign will to save some, leaving the others to face the
Judgment Throne on their own account and be sentenced to eternal
damnation in Hell because of their sins, then did Christ go to the
cross on behalf of every last human being? Or did He pay only for
the sins of those who actually would believe on Him--those whom He
had chosen to be His own--a limited number?"
Historically, the church has spoken of this third principle as
limited atonement or particular atonement. That is, Christ's
payment at the cross was effective for only those who were elect
of God. There was no provision made for those who would not
believe on Him.
You see, there are those who teach that Christ actually paid
for the sins of each and every person in the whole world, and it
is only our rejection of Christ that sends us into Hell. It
follows along with the idea that it is by our own free choice that
we turn to Christ. This supports the erroneous idea that God has
done all that He could, and now it's up to us. These are some of
the ideas we shall explore in the next chapter.