Back to Misc. ReportsBack to the Way of Life Home PageWay of Life Literature Online
Catalog Back to Misc. Reports
Back to the Way of Life Home Page
Way of Life Literature Online
Catalog
[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 3, Issue 8, 1986. David W. Cloud, Editor. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail). FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian.]
FOREKNOWLEDGE, PREDESTINATION, ELECTION
We may have grounds to fear a sovereign God if He were not holy and righteous, as we examine the subject of the trinity of grace: foreknowledge, election, and predestination. Our only hope as sinners is in a sovereign God who is holy and righteous.
When man tries to make God think like he does, he is in trouble. God says He doesn't think as we do. When a loved one dies, we weep and our hearts are torn, yet the Lord says in His word, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." God does not think as we do. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts: neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God just thinks differently than we do. And we can never master God or His Word. Throughout eternity in heaven, God will be showing us the riches and wonders of His grace. Romans 11:33-36 tells us, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again: For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen."
THE GREAT BATTLE: MAN'S PART AND GOD'S PART
The greatest and most bitter controversy in all of church history has been over one thing: the interlinking or the attempt to reconcile the human part and the divine part in three areas.
First, throughout church history controversy has arisen over THE INCARNATION. Folks said God could not become man. Jews still believe God cannot become a man and say that Jesus was a man and could not have been God. Others say that Jesus Christ couldn't be God, because He was all man or He couldn't be man, because He was all God. Church history divided over this matter of the divine and the human in the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth is that there was only one person and He was a God-man: one person and one personality. We cannot understand the incarnation: It is beyond us, however, we accept it.
Secondly, not only is there the human and the divine in the incarnation but also the human and the divine in THE INSPIRATION. The Word of God is also the word of men. It is a human-divine book. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Men's personalities are stamped on the pages.
These men were superintended and guided by God and thus we have the arguments about the inspiration of the Word of God. Actually, it is God- breathed, penned by holy men of God; it is the Word of God through human channels. I do not understand it and neither do you. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God... profitable for doctrine." I accept that!
Then we come to the matter of the human and divine IN SALVATION. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man cannot be reconciled, because to reconcile them would be to explain one or the other away. Someone made the statement that they could be reconciled. Charles Haddon Spurgeon's reply to this was, "They were never enemies. I didn't know that they had fallen out."
The Word of God reaches both sovereignty and free will. The Bible teaches it, and I accept it whether I understand it or not. I do not understand how Jesus Christ in a glorified body of flesh and bones walked through a closed door, but I believe it. The skeptic comes to the Bible and only accepts what he understands. If all through the Bible you use only what you understand, then you have a human God. We cannot think as God does, and we cannot master God and His Word. We believe it and accept it.
God is sovereign, holy and righteous. With this in mind, let us look at 1 Peter 1 and the first of the three words in our subject; foreknowledge, election and predestination. I grew up where I heard election preached on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night. I don't believe you can quote any passage of Scripture on the topic that I haven't heard. The only thing is that there are two sides to every issue, and the other side, or the other part, I did not hear.
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY - FOREKNOWLEDGE
Now I am dealing with the matter of God's side in God's sovereignty and what the Bible says. I Peter 1: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Now election is based on foreknowledge. There is a simple way out of the dilemma and many folks come to this explanation: "God looked down, saw who would believe, therefore He chose them." I don't think that is what the Scripture says, though that would be a simple solution to such a profound doctrine as predestination, election, and foreknowledge.
In 1 Peter 1:20 we see that the same word for 'foreknowledge' is translated 'foreordained'. Verse 19 reads that we are redeemed, "... with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained ..." (Now that word is 'foreknowledge' - (the same identical word.) "... before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." God didn't look down to see that Jesus Christ did die, therefore He elected Him to die! No, no, no! He died because of God's foreknowledge. It was not a matter of simply looking down and seeing it happen, but a determination that Jesus Christ would die. In Acts 2:23 we see the word used again concerning the death of Jesus Christ and God's purpose in his death. Simon Peter is preaching to the crucifiers of Christ.
There they are, and Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. "Him (Jesus Christ) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God..." (delivered how? by the determine counsel and foreknowledge of God).
There is a rule of Greek syntax and Greek grammar that says "... when two words are connected together of this sort, one preceeded by a conjunction, one preceded by the article, and connected by a conjunction that the second word means the identical thing as the first word." If that be so, then that second word means the same thing, according to the rule, as 'determinate counsel': Foreknowledge means and refers to determinate counsel. Now God did not look down and see that they would take Him, therefore God determined that He would be committed to the death at the cross. No, Sir! Jesus Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now that is sovereignty!
The next part of verse 23, "... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain..." They did that because they wanted to. They would have stoned Him to death heretofore, but God guided and supervised. Jesus Christ died because of determinate counsel: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in a counsel in eternity determined that the second person of the Godhead would become man, come to this earth, die on a wicked cross for man's sins. AND MEN DID IT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO DO IT: God determined that it should be done. There is a Bible footnote on I Peter 1:20 in the old Scofield Bible which says, "The divine order is foreknowledge, election, predestination. That foreknowledge determines the election or choice is clear from 1 Peter 1:2 and predestination is the bringing to pass of election." That is true. Election looks back to foreknowledge.
Predestination looks forward to the destiny; but Scripture nowhere declares that it is the divine foreknowledge that determines that divine election.
You cannot find in the Bible cause to the contrary; you cannot find in the Bible that God looked down and saw who would believe, saw some merit in people and elected them. On the basis of His foreknowledge, the Bible is silent, except for the fact that it is by grace. The foreknown are elected and the elect are predestinated, and this election is certain to every believer by the mere fact that he believes.
Turn to Romans 8:29. This verse is often applied to everything that happens in our lives; that is not the immediate meaning. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." There is that word 'fore- knowledge'. Now look at Romans 9:11 where Paul points to foreknowledge and election and very clearly delineates that it wasn't on the part of any wickedness or individual merit. Begin with verse 10, "And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 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 calleth: it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger." This speaks about two individuals, Esau and Jacob and the matter of service in so far as they were concerned. They had not done any evil or good but God said the elder would serve the younger. He doesn't say why; He just simply makes a statement. That is God's elected grace. God chose us before sin entered or human responsibility commenced. Now, that is the first word, foreknowledge.
The second word is election. Paul wrote, "we are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God." Elect means to be laid out, to be chosen, the choice. When you think about election, it is sovereign election. We all are guilty and sovereign election is our only hope. None are righteous. The Bible says that there are none that seeketh after God - no, not one. In John 15:16, Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Jesus said you did not choose Him; He chose you. We love Him because He first loved us. There are none that seek God. There is not one man, woman, boy or girl on the face of this earth, that started out seeking God. Where you find someone seeking God, God has been knocking at that individual's door first.
I Timothy 5:21 talks about the elect angels. I Peter 2:9 says, "Now, ye are a chosen generation, an elect generation." Ephesians 1 tells us that He did not choose us because He saw we were lovely. He did not choose us because He saw we'd be different from somebody else. He chose us because He chose to choose us. That is infinite wisdom.
Ephesians 1:3,4 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him [when?] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Now, He chose us when? He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose us. He chose us to salvation.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." How was this accomplished? Through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, "Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, what did He do? He chose us unto salvation through sanctification, a ministry of the Holy Spirit, to belief of the truth - responding to the gospel of the grace of God. He chose us in Christ. He chose us before the foundation of the world. He chose us unto salvation.
In Romans 11 we see He chose us, not according to our works, but according to grace. Romans 11:1-6,
"I say, then, hath God cast away His people? [He talks about Israel and how God had stretched forth His hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people]. God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Eli jah? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. [Elijah is praying against the people of God - against Israel.] Look at God's answer to him. "But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." [By the way, fundamentalists need to know that God is still sovereign and He has re served a lot of folks that people think have bowed the knee to Baal. God told Elijah that he was not by himself in this trouble. Our God is not a defeated God.] Even so at this time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. [He said He had not cast away the people which He foreknew: there was a remnant according to the election of grace.] And if by grace then is it no more of works."
If it is election of grace then it is not based on human merit. If it doesn't depend on human merit (works) but wholly upon God, then it is grace. And it is an election of grace. It is not merit, it is not deserved, but it is the sovereign grace of God.
Let's go a little further. Now here is the fruit of election. Acts 13;48 is a verse you cannot get around. "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." You can't turn this verse around and say, "... as many as believed were ordained to eternal life." The verse very clearly states "... as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," they trusted Christ, they put their hope, their confidence in Jesus Christ as personal Savior.
Titus 1:1 says "... according to the faith of God's elect." God's elect become believers. They become people who renounce their works and trust in Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. In 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6 we see the proof of election. Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says, "You know you're of the election of God." Well, how in the world could a person know his election of God? Paul tells how in verse 3 and 4:
"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing brethren beloved, your election of God."
How could a person know that he was one of God's elect? Verse 5, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."
The word was preached and it wasn't just some word or some intellectual sayings; it didn't come in word only, but "... also in power." When the gospel was preached, it did something to your heart and life, and the Holy Ghost came into your heart and life and made salvation real. "And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord." Paul was saying, in essence, "I know you are the elect of God; because when the word of God was preached, it transformed your life and brought much assurance and power." God did that. They did not do that; God did.
In 2 Peter 1:5 the Apostle writes to some folks who had been careless about their lives. He said, " ... add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge," etc. And in verse 9 he says,
"But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
Many lack assurance because they are careless about their lives. A careless life doesn't carry assurance with it. Peter said, "Wake up; wake up. Make your calling and election sure."
In the matter of election and the salvation of people, God uses means. "Who hath chosen you unto salvation from the beginning by the sanctification of the Spirit, the belief of the truth and response to the preaching of the word of God." That is means. Look at 2 Timothy 2:10, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Paul was saying he would go to jail; he would suffer shipwreck; he would give his life; he would carry the gospel across the oceans and seas to other lands. He endured all things for the elect's sake that they may get saved just as he was saved. I know Paul believed in election. He wrote more about it than any other writer, but he said, "I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain salvation.
ELECTION SHOULD NOT RESTRICT PREACHING
Some try to make election a restriction to the preaching of the Gospel. If anything, election is a guarantee of a preacher's success in the ministry.
Election is not a restraint on evangelism or a means of not letting people be saved. No, Sir! People get saved because of election. Without election, no one would be saved. Paul came to the city of Corinth. In Acts 18:9, "Then the Lord spake to Paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace." The Lord told Paul to fire away, to really preach to these people. Verse 10 - "For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city."
What was Paul's reaction? Did he say, "Well, the Lord has much people here; I can stay home - no need to pass out tracts or pray or preach." Oh, no!
That's not what you read. "And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Paul was preaching and witnessing and giving out the word. I repeat, this matter of election is a guarantee of success in soul winning. God said, "I will save them by grace, and if it is salvation by grace, anybody can be saved. So preach the Word -- fire away." God promises that His word will lay hold of human hearts and folks will get converted. God is going to be glorified and the devil is not going to walk away with the human race, taking it to Hell. God's sovereign grace will step in and God will save people.
We have discussed foreknowledge and election. Let us look now at predestination which simply means "to mark off beforehand". Predestination is never used as predetermining people will go to Hell or to Heaven. It is basically concerned with the future of believers. However, it does have application to the unsaved. Psalm 76:10 is a verse that we all need to firmly grasp. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee." God makes the wrath of man to praise Him. He made Pharaoh's wrath praise Him. The last part of that verse reads, " ... the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." The wrath of man crucified Christ. God did not put the wicked inclination in their hearts; they wanted to stone Him again and again. God channeled. And they crucified Christ according to the plan and purpose of God. God directed the river of man's sin. He did not originate their river; He channeled it. God never allows anything to happen on this earth that will not bring honor and glory to His name. He will make the wrath of man praise Him, and what will not praise HIm, He will not allow to happen. That is sovereignty.
Nowhere in the Bible is there Scripture that says God predetermines some folks to go to Hell. That is just not in the Bible. All are going to Hell; God saves some. You do not have to predestinate folks to go to Hell; just let them alone and they will go. Look at Acts 4:28. The believers have been beaten, have gone into their own company and are praying. They quote the Psalms,
"Who by the mouth of thy servant, David, hast said, why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up; the rulers gathered against the Lord and His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together."
The Jews alone did not crucify Jesus; all of us did - the whole world did.
What were they gathered together to do? "For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." They did what they wanted to out of hate. What did God do? He channeled their hatred to do what He determined beforehand was to be done: Jesus Christ would die on a cross for the sins of the world. God made the wrath of man to bring salvation to the world, and bring praise and honor to His name. God did not put their desire to crucify Christ in their hearts. He was not the author of their wickedness. He was the author of the fact that Christ was to die on a Roman cross for the sins of the world. That is God's policy.
God has predetermined something to happen in the lives of believers.
Ephesians 1:4,5, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." An inheritance has been predestinated, and we have been predestinated and placed as adult sons who reign with Him on earth. In Romans 8:28 we see that he predestinated us to be conformed believers -- conformed to the image of His Son. He is working on us to make us new -- not just bodily but morally. He puts us under pressure of the word to conform us to His Son that we be holy and without blame before Him in love.
THE COMFORT OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
Let's look at the comfort of the sovereignty of God. The greatest passage of Scripture on security is like an unbreakable chain. The security of the believer is a fact, and those who do not believe it just can't read. Romans 8:28-39 gives us the comfort of the sovereignty of God and the security of the believer. "And we know that all things work together ..." What are all those things? What things is he talking about? Put the next part of the verse in its place. "... for good to them that love God" It is only to those who love God and "... to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."
Back in eternity past we see His foreknowledge; then we see it stretched right through time in that those he foreknew "... he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." The same ones He foreknew, He predestinated. You cannot break predestination. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified them he also glorified." What did He do?
He foreknew us; He called us: He justified us with His Son. "What shall we then say to those things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" What does Romans 8:28 mean then? God's foreknowledge; God's election; God's calling; God's justification; God's glorification; God's predestination -- that is the "all things that work together for good", and you cannot break that chain. You can rattle that chain in time, and it will rattle in eternity future and in eternity past. You can't break it. "He foreknew -- called - justified - glorified." You cannot get any more secure than that.
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."
Who is going to lay anything to the charge of his own? Who is condemning?
Christ died and is now interceding at the right hand of God. Even though Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us, even though God chose us and predestinated us, there can still be some stormy weather for believers between here and heaven. But no stormy weather, regardless of how severe, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Verse 35 tells us, "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He loved me, and I didn't deserve it; He loved me, and there wasn't any merit. What is going to keep Him from changing His love? What is going to stop Him or change Him from loving me? Nothing! The greatest passage on security and comfort goes back again to this matter of a sovereign God. Back in the far reaches of eternity, a sovereign God foreknew and predestinated you to be conformed to the image of His Son, and " ... He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." "Though the angry billows roll o'er my tempest driven soul, my anchor holds!" Why? because that is grace!
What is the character of God's elect? What should it be? Colossians 3:12, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, [God has been merciful to us] kindness, [God has been kind to us] humbleness of mind, [who can be proud?] meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you so also do ye."
This is not pride -- strutting around like a bantam rooster -- no, this is security -- knowing that I am what I am by the grace of God.
We have looked at sovereignty and election; now let us look at sovereignty and freewill. There are many misunderstandings about this matter. If a person sees any Scripture in God's word and uses it to say he is allowed to live a careless life, then he has misunderstood the Word. Truth (God's Word is truth) leads to godly living. 1 Timothy 6:3, "... truth which is according to godliness." If we say eternal security gives us license to live ungodly lives, we do not understand eternal security. Eternal security is that which makes us want to live for God and not live carelessly.
Romans 9, 10, 11 are the deepest passages in the Scriptures on the sovereignty of God. John 6:37 gives us sovereignty and freewill in one passage. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 1 Timothy 2:4, "Who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth." I used to read that and say God would elect to have all saved. Companion to that verse is 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Some say everywhere we read the word "all", we should substitute the word "elect". These would have 2 Peter 3:9 read, "And God is longsuffering to usward [that means elect] not willing that any should perish [that means elect] that all should come to repentance." No, Sir! That's not talking about elect. The Bible says that God is not willing that anybody go to Hell. God said to Israel through Ezekiel, "... as I live I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his evil way." Jesus wept over a city that rejected Him,
"Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stoneth them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children to gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."
"I (Christ) would - you (Jerusalem) would not."
"For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Here we see God's love for the world. John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" Christ died for the sin of the world. 1 John 2:1,2, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 2 Peter 2:1, "Even denying the Lord God that bought them ..." The Bible closes with Revelation 22:17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come, And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely." There is not a hungry-hearted sinner on the face of God's earth from whom God would take away salvation. He is the author of the desire to be saved the desire to be saved does not come from man.
Look at the use of this matter of election in soul winning. How do you do that? I have already quoted, "There is none that seeketh after God, no not one." On the other hand, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) God is in the seeking business. Man is not.
If we go forth trying to seek people that are lost and win them to Christ, we do so knowing that Christ promised us in the Great Commission, "Lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world." We can claim in a special sense the ministry of the Holy Spirit when we go soul winning. Christ said,
"If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I go away I will send him unto you and when he is come he will convict the world of sin, righteousness and of judgment."
He promises to go along and do the work that he alone can do. A man who does not believe in the sovereignty of God will do everything in the world -- twist a man's arm, put words in his mouth, drag him down the aisle, spend hours with him -- trying to lead a man to Christ. Don't try to do the Holy Spirit's work. If you have talked to a man for five minutes and he has said "No," he will usually still be saying no two hours later unless the Holy Spirit is doing his convicting work in his heart. The Holy Spirit has to do a work in the sinner's heart. We must recognize that.
If we do not believe in sovereignty, we rush in and get a profession; but it may be a profession empty of conviction. If there is no conviction, and they make a profession, it is just profession, not salvation. When we witness, we must acknowledge that the Holy Spirit must be dealing with the person. Take the Sword - the Bible - and deal with the first part - conviction of sin. I don't want to get off the first part until I feel in my heart the individual is being convicted that he is a sinner. If he is not convicted, I don't go on to Romans 6:23 or Romans 10:13; I pray and leave. I leave God's Word with him for the Holy Spirit to do his work in his life. You must acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has to deal with the human heart. My belief in the sovereignty of God prevents my going out and deliberately forcing individuals to make professions.
On the other hand here is a man that rejects the freewill of man and he stays home. He doesn't knock on doors, pray, go visiting, doesn't confront people and witness to them. Why? His idea is that God is going to do it all. This is wrong. You must use both: sovereignty and free will.
You will never find Jesus Christ using sovereignty on a sin-sick sinner.
Here is a woman at the well. She is thirsty, Jesus said, 'Give me to drink". She said she was a Samaritan and Jews did not have any dealing with her kind. Jesus said, "You'd have asked of me living water, and I would have given you living water." That woman was thristy: Jesus did not talk to her about sovereignty. He did not even talk to her about hell. She was already living in that as far as her conscience was concerned. Jesus was whetting her appetite, prying deeper to bring her to Himself. When Christ used sovereignty it was on the self-righteous, haughty, loud Pharisees. See John 6:44: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw Him."
God said, "... preach the gospel to every creature." You don't tell a broken sinner that he has wasted his life, and you don't know whether he is elect or not. You read, "Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." A young woman who had committed every crime possible, I suppose, came in to my office and poured out her broken heart. She said, "Preacher, tell me, please, that God loves me." And I reared back and said, "Now, I don't know whether I can tell you that or not; you may not be one of the elect." Do you think I told her that? No! I said, "Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound." I did not talk about sovereignty; I didn't talk about hell; I talked about God's mercy and grace that is greater than all sins.
She began to weep and cried unto the Lord and was gloriously converted. She didn't get off her knees for a long time, weeping and pouring out thanksgiving to the Lord. I didn't open my mouth; that was between her and the Lord. Today that woman is living a life of honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
There is a crowd that needs sovereignty. This generation needs some sovereignty. Everywhere the cry is raised, "My rights!" I was in a revival meeting with a pastor friend in Alabama. We were out soul winning and went to a particular house. The pastor had told me he had talked and talked and talked to this man and had gotten nowhere. He had dealt with and pleaded with him, "Please, sir, won't you get saved?" Sometimes you give an attitude that the lost would be doing God a favor by getting saved. A drowning man doesn't give the lifeguard a favor when he gets saved; he gets pulled out! He does himself a favor. At this particular man's home, as the preacher talked and pleaded with him, the guy just sat there laughing and smirking. Finally, the preacher asked if I would like to say anything. I said "Yes". I opened my Bible and read,
"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
You see, the only thing that saved Israel was God's sovereignty. They had sinned and sinned and sinned, and God said He would wipe them out and start all over. Moses said, "Oh, Lord if I've found grace in your sight, don't do that." And God retreated into His sovereignty. His sovereignty would have destroyed Israel. God backed up and said, "All right, I can be merciful if I want to." And He spared Israel. God retreated into His sovereignty and said, "I am sovereign and I can have mercy if I want to." Romans 9:16 deals with Pharaoh. God used His sovereignty and destroyed Pharaoh. He didn't make his heart wicked he hardened his own heart again and again and God said, "All right, I am sovereign," and judged Pharaoh for his wickedness.
God was sovereign in both instances. He exercised His justice in one: He exercised His mercy in the other. I read that from Romans 9 to this man. I said, "You are sitting here smiling when the sweetest story ever told to you is being given. You think it is smart and funny and I have news for you. I am going to tell you something straight and kindly. If God leaves you alone, you will be smirking and laughing fifty years from now, and you will laugh yourself right into Hell unless God deals with your heart.
Unless God deals with your heart this preacher can come by every day for years, and you will still be thinking it is funny and you will die, go to Hell, and wake up in the regions of the damned." I closed my Bible, didn't offer to give an invitation, and walked out of that house. That day he had laughed and told us it had been seven years since he had been in church, he thought that was funny. When I stood to preach that night, that guy was in the congregation.
[Charles Haddon] Spurgeon was a great evangelist and today thousands quote him. He used sovereignty to strip people of their pride and then he would preach, " ... Whosoever will may come." That is what I was doing that day.
God wasn't obligated to save that man. God wasn't obligated to wait on him.
So, I left him with sovereignty, and the sovereignty sobered up a "smart alecks." Use the sovereignty of God on "smart alecks" Leave them with it and let them stew and soak. Sovereignty gets to a man's heart.
Sovereignty and freewill are both in the Word. We need to know when to use each. Go forth with the Word; win souls; be wise. God is interested in souls. That is why the Bible is here; that is why the church is here. "Whosoever will may come."
These truths should not take away your burden. They should not affect your prayer life. They should not hinder your going out and inviting others to come to Christ. If they do, you have misunderstood them. Wait on conviction by the Holy Spirit. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit's work, and go forth. "He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing..."
Some will come along and seize sovereignty and no one will be saved. Along comes someone else preaching "whosoever will" and all of a sudden there are a lot of "elect folks" in the same place who get saved. Isn't that strange?
It goes back to the truth that the Great Commission belongs to us. Election is family business. We have been saved. It has been worded like this, "Before salvation we see a sign on the outside, 'WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME'; we go inside; we turn back and look over the door and see a sign, 'CHOSEN IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.'" I do not understand it; but I praise the Lord it is so.
I am grateful for my salvation. I was not saved because of my grace, but I was saved because of His grace. You are saved because of grace, not merit.
That ought to beget a burden for others: ought to beget a concern for others; ought to beget humility and gratitude to God that He saved us and we should serve Him. Let us not be careless; let us walk humbly before Him.