Unconditional Election

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I want to invite you to open up your Bibles with me and go to the 8th chapter of the book of Romans.
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Last week, we began our examination of what is commonly called the doctrines of grace.
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The doctrines of grace is a series of teachings which are a big part of what make up what is called reformed theology.
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You may remember that these doctrines are often referred to by the acrostic tulip, and that is why I have chosen to go ahead and maintain that teaching.
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Just keep right on with the way it's most commonly understood.
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And we're just going to look at each of the letters.
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Last week, we looked at the T, which you may remember stood for total depravity.
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And today we are going to look at the second, which I would consider to be the most difficult of the five letters.
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The total depravity unconditional election is the U, and I consider this one to be the most difficult of the five for people to accept.
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And the reason why I'm making that point now is because a lot of people think that the L is the most difficult to accept.
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However, it has been my experience that when I press people, when I really get to the heart of the matter, when I begin to talk to them about these five doctrines and really focus in on what's really bothering them, it's not so much the L as it is the U, because the L is simply the natural result of the rest.
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So really, this is the one that creates the most controversy.
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And so I again, not as a warning, but to just tell you now, today's message is going to be one that I am going to just ask that you be open to what the scripture teaches, because it is a difficult teaching.
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This is not an easy teaching.
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Again, the U stands for unconditional election.
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Now let's just kind of break down what does the word election mean? When you hear the word election and you hear that word expressed, what does the word election mean? Well, the word election simply means to make a choice.
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We are very familiar with this language.
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We use it all the time.
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Every four years, the American people go into the voting booths for an election.
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What is that? We are making a choice as to who is going to be the next president.
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Well, biblical election is God's extending of his grace to whom he sovereignly chooses.
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That's what the term election means.
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It is God is giving grace to whom he chooses.
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One Bible dictionary defines election like this, and I like the definition, so I put it in my notes to read it to you.
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One Bible dictionary says this.
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It says that election is the gracious and free act of God by which he calls those who become part of his kingdom and special beneficiaries of his love and blessing.
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The Bible describes the concept of election in three distinct ways.
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Election sometimes refers to the choice of Israel and the church as a people for special service and privilege.
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Election may also refer to the choice of a specific individual to some office or to perform some special service.
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Still, other passages of the Bible refer to the election of individuals to be the children of God and heirs of eternal life, end quote.
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So we see the term election is used in different ways in the Bible, but it always, always, always refers to the extension of the grace of God to individuals, whether it is the individual nation of Israel, whether it is an individual who's being called to service or whether it is to an individual who is called to eternal life.
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And when I say the individual nation of Israel, I'm saying among other nations, it's an individual election of that nation.
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It amazes me when I hear someone say, and I hear it all the time, especially, you know, because I'm very upfront that I teach reform theology.
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It amazes me when I hear someone say that they do not believe in the doctrine of election, not because the doctrine of election is easy to accept.
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I readily admit the doctrine of election is hard to accept, but because these people will say, I believe everything the Bible says in one breath and then in the very next breath, they will say I deny completely the doctrine of election.
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Well, beloved, those two things are antithetical.
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They do not work together.
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You cannot say I fully believe everything the Bible says.
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And yet at the same time, I fully repudiate the doctrine of election.
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If there is any doctrine which is explicitly taught throughout the pages of the Bible, it is the doctrine of election.
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Even Jesus uses the word elect and chosen when he is describing his followers.
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He never, ever describes his followers as simply free will choosers.
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He always describes his followers as his chosen ones, the ones who have been chosen, the elect.
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For instance, Matthew 24, 22, Jesus is teaching.
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He says, and if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.
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But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
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He's talking about the time of the tribulation.
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He says for the sake of the elect, the tribulation is going to be shortened.
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Matthew 24, 24, he says for false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead as many astray and if possible, even the elect.
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He uses that word again to describe his followers.
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Matthew 24, 31, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.
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Again, he describes in Matthew 24 over and over and over.
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He describes his followers, his believers, his disciples as the ones who have been chosen.
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It's a word that he uses.
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The word in the Greek is very specific.
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It means a chosen one and it is not difficult to understand.
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And it's used not only in Matthew, it's used in other gospels as well.
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Luke, he says at Luke 18, 7, And will not God give justice to his elect whom cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? Again, the word elect is used in the Bible.
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It is clear that the Bible uses the language of election to describe those people who are saved.
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What's more is that the doctrine is a part of the history of almost every single historic denomination of Christianity.
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Did you know that? That the doctrine of election is a part of almost every single denomination of historic Christianity.
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All confessing Protestant denominations have something regarding election in their confessional documents.
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They do because the language is in the Bible and because they have to deal with the language of the Bible, they deal with this doctrine.
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Anyone who says, I don't believe in election demonstrates nothing but their ignorance of biblical language because it's in the Bible.
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However, even though people can easily read the passages which say God elects, calls God's people the elect, they often try to find a way around this teaching.
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Again, even the denominations, which I said, all of them express this in their teachings, many of them because they do not believe in unconditional election, try to find a way around it.
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And they say, yes, God chooses, but he chooses based upon our choice.
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That's the argument.
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You see what I'm saying? They say, yeah, of course God makes a choice, but only after we make a choice.
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God's choices is the result of our choice rather than having any causal effect on our choice.
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Thus, they say, yeah, we believe in election.
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We just don't believe in unconditional election.
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We believe election is conditional.
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And that is a huge difference between reformed theology and what is taught in many churches.
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We all teach election in some way.
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The difference is that only reformed theology teaches that God is actually free to choose whom he wills.
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That's the difference.
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We are the only ones who say God has freedom.
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People always tout the freedom of man.
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Oh, man's free will this man's free will that.
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And they make this huge deal about man being free.
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And then you start talking about God's freedom.
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And all of a sudden God can't be free.
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No, God has to do this or God has to do that.
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God has to do this because this is the way I think God should be.
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Who then is the subservient one? If God has to be a certain way, yet you're free to do what you want.
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Who is the sovereign then? Oh, well, now we are honest with ourselves and it becomes more difficult because the reality is most people have a God that must fit into their paradigm or they won't worship him.
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They have to make God the way they want him to be or they refuse to worship him.
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And guess what that is called? Beloved, that is called idolatry.
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When you make a God in your own way that you will worship only.
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And here's if you don't think this happens, you've all heard this.
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People will say this.
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I wouldn't worship a God who sends people to hell.
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Right.
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And you heard that is idolatry.
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They are saying I will only worship a God who conforms to my understanding of the way God should be.
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As such, I will only worship a God that I create.
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It's idolatry.
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And beloved, you might not be the one who says that, but I imagine there are people in this room who said, I wouldn't worship God if I found out he chose an elected people on tiptoeing across the toes.
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Now, you see, I've heard that I wouldn't worship God if he were that way.
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You need to be careful how you express yourself, because if that's the way God is, if that's what the Bible teaches and that is who God is, then he's the one that deserves to be worshiped.
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And you are the one who needs to change your heart and mind on the subject, not expect him to conform to you.
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Again, God is free in his choice to choose whom he wills.
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He was free to choose Israel.
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Right.
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And you know what amazes me about the Reformed theology conversation with most people is most people have no problem with the fact that God chose Israel of every other nation in the world.
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God chose only one.
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And of that nation, he only chose some of them because the vast majority of them were not even saved.
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So even in this nation whom he saved, there was only a remnant in that nation that were genuinely saved.
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And yet people will say, I don't believe in election or I don't like a God who elects and they read the Old Testament with impunity.
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How? The Old Testament is all about election, folks.
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God chose Abraham.
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Why? Because Abraham was a good man.
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No, he was an idolater.
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He lived in an idolatrous family.
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God chose Isaac.
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Why? Oh, well, he was the son of the promise.
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Well, what about Jacob and Esau? He chose Esau because he chose Jacob because he was better than Esau.
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You better get your Bible straight, because Jacob was just as wily as Esau, if not worse.
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But the Bible says he chose Jacob from the womb before either one had done anything good or bad to demonstrate that his election stands.
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Romans chapter nine.
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So again, those who are young, I don't believe in election.
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You're either not being honest with the text or you are allowing your traditions to to block out what is clearly being said.
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God's choice, according to Scripture, is not conditioned on our behavior.
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How do you know that, Brother Keith? Well, for one, Romans nine, it says it's not.
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But even further, I can give you an even better answer.
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Why is God's choice not conditioned on our behavior? Because if you were here last week and you heard the almost hour-long sermon I did on total depravity, you will remember the one thing about total depravity is that we all are in one condition, and that is we are all at war with God because of sin and will not on our own submit to his law.
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Indeed, we cannot.
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Romans chapter eight.
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The only reason why anyone will bow the knee to Jesus Christ is because their heart has been changed from a heart that hates God to a heart that loves God.
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And the only one who can change a heart is God.
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So this is why Jesus could say with no problem, you did not choose me, but I chose you.
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John, chapter 15, verse 16, of course, that expression was to the disciples, but yet at the same time, it has far reaching implications.
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You did not choose me, but I chose you.
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But if the Bible is so clear that God chooses in accordance with his will and not according to our behavior, why then is there debate? Why has this gone on for centuries? I mean, I'm not the first one to bring this issue up.
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I'm on the long end of a very long string of conversations.
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Why has it been up for debate for so long? And there are people who are still arguing about a whole denomination's fuss about this one thing.
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Well, it is in my opinion and where I will base from the text this morning, I believe there's one word which is the crux of the entire debate.
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I believe there's one word which causes all the confusion, all the conversation and all the difficulty.
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And my hope today is that when you leave, you will understand this word better.
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And it is the word for new.
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I believe that word, if understood, would eliminate the vast majority of the conversation and debate on the subject.
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But I will tell you this.
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Most people who use the word for new replace it with the word for sight.
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That's the way they interpret it.
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And they end up interpreting it wrong.
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So this morning we are going to study that word for new from Romans chapter eight and verse twenty eight.
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Let's stand together and read that text.
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Romans chapter eight, verse twenty eight, and we'll read through verse thirty because we'll be looking at this whole section.
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Verse twenty eight.
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And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom he predestined, he also called.
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And those whom he called, he also justified.
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And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
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Let's pray.
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Father, thank you for this text.
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Thank you for the for the strength that you have given me to preach today.
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And I pray that you would keep me from error.
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Keep me from pride.
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Keep me from arrogance.
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Help me to preach only what the text says and to be honest with it.
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I pray, Lord, for your people, for their hearts, that you open them to the truth and protect them from error.
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And all these things we praise you and thank you in Jesus name.
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Amen.
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I got to tell you, folks, I know so many people who take great offense anytime you use the word predestination.
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If you use the word predestination in polite company, it can quickly become unpolite.
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It's such a foul word to so many.
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And when that word is expressed, oftentimes the initial gut reaction, I don't believe that.
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I don't believe in predestination because for so many people, for so many people, the predestination issue is what I call the pencil issue.
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Did God cause me to drop my pencil? Was that predestined? You know what I'm saying? Because that's the conversation you begin.
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Well, did God predestine that? You were with me when you had that conversation, right? We used to have a youth director here.
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And when he first came here, James came.
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James, good young man.
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He's a director somewhere else now.
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But when he first came here, I introduced him to a lot of these things he'd never heard before.
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And his first initial gut reaction was he wanted to have conversations.
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He never argued, but he wanted to ask questions.
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And boy, did he.
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And we had thousands of conversations.
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But one in particular, the very first thing, he pulls his keys out of his pocket.
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And he said, Did God predestine those keys to hit the ground? And I said, Are you learning something? And he thought for a minute.
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I said, Is there a purpose in it? You see, that's the key.
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When you stop believing in the sovereignty of God and the fact that he has a purpose for everything, then you start believing in chaos and that nothing really is purposed.
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So there's a lot more to this than just this.
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Did God ordain the pencil to hit the ground? But the reason why I bring that up is because the word predestined, the word election go together.
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And anytime I talk about election, I have to talk about predestination, because election is the cause.
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Predestination is the result.
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God elects a person to salvation.
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The result is that they are predestined to become saved.
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You see, it's a causal effect relationship.
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God makes the choice.
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As a result, they are predestined.
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And if you don't understand one, you won't understand the other.
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And this morning, you'll notice nowhere in this text is the word election come out.
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And the reason why is because I believe that when you understand the word foreknowledge, when you understand the word foreknew in this text, and the fact that it is a verb in the text, it is not a noun, it's not foreknowledge, it is foreknew.
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And how it works in relation to the rest of the words in that sentence, you will see that it is actually an active choice.
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As such, it is synonymous with the term election.
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But we'll see that as we go through the text.
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The first thing we need to do, though, is we need to understand what people believe about this text and why it is an error.
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Many people who have read and I remember hearing this, I remember hearing a very famous preacher preach this on the radio, and I remember hearing him preach it.
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And I thought, now, wait a minute, this guy went to Bible college.
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This guy understands how grammar works.
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And see, this is the thing that amazes me so many times is how quickly people are willing to jettison their rules of grammar and logic when it doesn't agree with the traditional understandings that they have held.
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And he said, this is what this verse means.
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It says here in Romans 8.29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
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And what the word predestination there means is simply that God knew you were going to make a choice.
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And because God knew you were going to make a choice for His Son, He went ahead and put your name on the list.
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He went ahead and predestined you, and you're predestined because He knew you were going to accept His call.
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And because He knew you were going to accept His call, He went ahead and wrote your name on the list.
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As such, that view is called, it's actually the Wesleyan view, very typical among Methodists, the Wesleyan movement, because the Methodist movement is actually the extension of Arminianism.
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This was the teaching of Arminius, and it flowed down through the ages to Methodism and is now very prominent in the Wesleyan movement.
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And that view is called prescience view, prescience, pre-science, to know beforehand, to have knowledge beforehand.
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This is a fancy way of saying foreknowledge.
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And they believe that simply God knows that you are going to be smart enough, good enough, and spiritually astute enough to accept His Son, and because God knows you're going to accept His Son, and you are going to somehow overcome your total depravity and be able to do that, because you are going to be able to do that, God knows it, and as such, His knowledge of that is unfallible, and because it is unfallible, He is going to go ahead and predestine you based on what He knows.
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And He is going to predestine you based on what you're going to do.
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You understand that? You see how that falls into the traditional mindset of, it's still my choice, it's still my thing, it's still my decision, I'm ultimately in or out based on my laurels kind of thing? It still becomes up to me, because all God did was see what I was going to do, and then He chose me.
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So ultimately, He didn't really choose me, He just reacted to what I did.
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And you see how that kind of goes against the whole choice of God.
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And it sort of means he didn't make a choice at all.
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He didn't really elect anyone.
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All he did was see what you did and then reacted.
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But the reality is that's what's taught about this verse.
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God simply looked down the corridor of time, that corridor of time always.
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That's the big one.
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You'll hear God look down the corridor of time.
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He saw the moment when you would accept his son, Jesus Christ, as savior.
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And based upon your exceptions of his son, he chose at that very moment to predestine you to eternal life.
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And that is Wesleyan theology.
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That's Arminian theology in a nutshell.
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But my question is, does that jive with the verse? Because this is the only place.
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Well, you could say over in Peter, there's a section where he says elect according to the four knowledge of God.
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But I'm going to show you how that one fits here, too.
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But this is the place where they go to make that argument.
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This is this is the this is the argumentative text.
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This is the one that we're bringing, you know, the question up.
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I'm going to show you today four reasons why I absolutely reject the Arminian Wesleyan view of this.
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I think I think the wheels fall off the cart immediately when you apply any level of logic to this and you jettison your tradition and look at the text.
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I think, again, I'm not being I'm not attempting to sound as if I am smarter than anyone.
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I am simply looking and saying when I simply apply the rules of logic and grammar, this does not mean what they say it means.
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Let's let's look at the first first thing I said, therefore, things stay with me today.
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Don't be thinking about lunch.
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It ain't that good.
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Think about what we're talking is real.
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This is the this is the nuts and bolts of it.
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I'm telling you, if you understand what the word for new means and you get this, none of the rest.
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None of the rest will be hard.
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But if you trip on this one, you'll you'll you'll tumble.
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This is the key.
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I promise.
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So the text is for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son and whom he predestined.
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He called whom he called.
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He justified him.
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He justified.
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He glorified.
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The first thing I want to know, if you're taking notes, this is the first thing.
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The object of the verb for new.
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Remember how we talk about verbs, objects, you know, if, you know, she ran, you know, she's she's running, she's doing this action, you know, and the object that she ran to the store, you know, how how do verbs work subjects? Look at this.
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I want you to think about this.
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The context of the sentence, God is doing an action, God foreknew someone.
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Right.
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The object is that God foreknew someone.
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Look at it again.
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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined.
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I want to ask this.
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Just think about it.
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Does it say in the text anywhere that God foresaw faith or choice or anything? What is the object of the verb? The person, not the action.
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God foresaw whom he foresaw, not something about them or what they did.
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Here's my point, beloved, to say that that text is saying for whom he predestined or for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined is making the argument that in that word foreknew is that he knew something about them.
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That is not what the text is saying.
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It is saying that he knew them as individuals.
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And why that is important is this says whom he foreknew, not what he foreknew.
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And the object of the verb is the person who is an individual.
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And I want you to look at it in context with the rest of the verbs used.
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This is not the only verb there.
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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified.
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Who is the one doing the action? God, he foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified.
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Right.
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He did these things.
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It's a verb.
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Who is the one being done to? The one who is foreknown, who is predestined, who is called, who is justified, who is glorified, who is acting in this sentence.
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God, is there anything in this sentence that says anything about the actions of the recipient? No, there is not anything in this entire context about the actions of the recipient.
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Faith is never mentioned, though it is often placed there by those who want to forward a view that is not upheld in the text.
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And this is what Dr.
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Sproul says.
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He says to add that this is a foreknowledge of what people are going to do before God predestines them runs contrary to the rest of the list, because this is not about what the person is going to do.
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This is about what God already has done.
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This whole section is about what God has done, not about what the person is going to do.
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And when you say God saw faith in them, you are introducing something into the text that is not there.
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That is called eisegesis.
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And that is not the way you're supposed to interpret the Bible.
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You have introduced an idea that you have produced from your mind and not from the text.
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You understand? Remember, there's four.
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This is the first one.
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But the first thing to remember is the object of the verb.
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The object of the verb is the person whom God foreknew.
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The person doing the action is God.
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If one wants to argue that this means God foresaw faith in the person, the burden is on them to give proof because it's not stated in the text.
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They have to prove that and it's not there.
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Right.
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We all agree it's not there.
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They have to prove that it's there.
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The other three will show you how that's unprovable.
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But the first thing you can demonstrate is what they are saying is in the text just ain't there.
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Now, bear with me on that.
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The object of the word foreknew is the individual.
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It says nothing about the character of the individual or what the individual is going to do or their faith.
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If it said for those whom God foreknew would believe.
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He then predestined there would be no debate.
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You might say, well, that's implied.
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Well, beloved, I can take you to 1500 passages where you could apply a lot of things and turn the Bible on its head.
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I don't believe it's implied at all based on the other three things.
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But the first thing I want you to understand is it's not there.
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What they're saying, it says it don't say.
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So keep that in mind, because the second thing you need to understand is what that verb means.
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We understand the context of the verb.
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Now, let's look at the second thing, and that's the definition of the word foreknew.
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The definition of the word foreknew is very simple.
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The word know is the root.
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It's progenosko in the Greek to know beforehand.
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But the root of that would be the word know.
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And let me ask you this, beloved.
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I want you to really be honest with yourself and ask yourself this question.
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When the Bible says God knows someone, does that simply mean that he has an understanding or knowledge of who they are? Or does the word know from God to man express relationship? Well, let me say it like this.
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Jesus said, many will come unto me on that day and will say, Lord, Lord, have we not done many miracles in your names? Have we not cast out demons in your names? Have we not done many mighty works in your name? And I will look to you and I will say, I never knew you depart from me.
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You who work lawlessness.
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What's the word no mean there? No, he didn't know who they were.
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He is God.
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He knows where everybody is.
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Right.
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What's the word no mean? I never established a relationship with you.
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It's where no, I could say I know someone or I could say I know Nathan.
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And what's that word mean? I have a relationship with Nathan.
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And I have established a relationship with Nathan based on friendship and mutual respect.
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Right.
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I know him.
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Right.
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That's the word.
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And here, think of it like this.
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When Peter was talking about Jesus, he talks about Jesus being foreknown.
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He says Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world that was made manifest in these last times for your sake.
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Do you mean to tell me God just simply knew Jesus as in like knew him passively or when it says he was foreknown from the foundation of the world that that established an understanding of the relationship God had with Christ? The word foreknew is based on the word no.
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And when God knows someone or a group of people that establishes a relationship, for instance, Amos chapter three in verse two.
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Speaking to Israel, God says these words, you only have I known of all the families of the earth.
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Therefore, I will punish you for your inequities.
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God is speaking to them as a father.
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He's saying of you only have I known of all the land, all the nations.
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As a result, you're going to be punished because you're mine.
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Right.
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That whole statement in that verse is talking about God's relationship to Israel.
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And did God use the word love or in relationship with? No, he says, you only have I known, because when God talks of knowing an individual, it's in relationship.
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As such, I want to read to you.
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Definition, how many of you have a lot of you probably have this book, I didn't go to deep theological commentaries for this one, I actually went to the Nelson's Bible Dictionary, Nelson's Bible Dictionary.
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It's a pretty standard fare.
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A lot of people have it in their library.
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Not a big, fancy dictionary.
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But I went to it for this one reason.
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It's sold in every lifeway in America.
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It's sold in every family bookstore in America.
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Everybody who I know, every preacher, every lay person that has a library has the Nelson's Bible Dictionary on their shelf.
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And listen to the definition of foreknowledge and foreknew.
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And this, listen, the unique knowledge of God that enables him to know all events, including the free acts of people before they happen.
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God's foreknowledge is not just foresight.
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God does not know future events and human actions because he foresees them.
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He knows them because he wills them to happen.
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And it gives a lot of verses to go along with that.
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Thus, God's foreknowledge is an act of his will.
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In Romans 8, 29 and 11, 2, the Apostle Paul's use of the word foreknew means to choose or to set special affection on.
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The electing love of God, not foresight of human action, is the basis of his predestination and salvation.
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End quote.
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That's from the most standard, basic.
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It's printed by our main company.
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That's printed by Armenian companies, print this dictionary and the very definition of this word throws Arminianism out the window.
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It amazes me that it's even a question.
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And that's not a reformed publication.
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I didn't go to R.C.
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Sproul's library and pull that out.
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I make that point for this reason only.
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It's not as if they don't know what the word means.
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It's they do not.
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They know the word does not jive with their tradition as such.
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They twist it to make it fit their tradition.
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And that, beloved, is error.
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All right, we've got two more.
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Don't lose.
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Don't lose it now.
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Lunch is still going to be there.
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Number three, God's foreknowledge is not passive.
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It is determinative.
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All right, the first two were the first two was one was the object of the word for new.
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Is the person second definition of the word for new means to choose or to set special affection on number three, foreknowledge is not passive.
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It is determinative.
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God doesn't just know what will happen because he can see the future.
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He knows what will happen because he has determined what the future will be by divine decree.
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If God doesn't allow it or doesn't command it, it doesn't happen.
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Here it again, if God doesn't command it or allow it through divine decree, it doesn't happen.
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Beloved, if you don't believe that, then your God is impotent.
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He stands as a powerless God who is just watching the world go by and he's unable to change it.
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But beloved, that's not the God of the Bible.
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And don't say you worship the God of the Bible if that's what you believe, because the God of the Bible, if you look at the life stories of individuals in the Bible, you will see this expressed so clearly.
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And the one I like to use an example, some of you have heard me use this example, but the example I like to use is the life of Joseph.
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People always say, well, God, God has no part in bad things that happen.
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Joseph was thrown into a well, sold into slavery, wrongfully accused of attempted rape, thrown into prison.
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And while in prison, he was treated unjustly by his other prison inmates, even after providing them a blessing.
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And yet at the end of all of this, when his brothers were finally brought before him, it says in Genesis 45, verses four through eight, so Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please.
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And they came near and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
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And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life.
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For the famine has been in the land these two years and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
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And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth and to keep you alive for many survivors.
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So it was not you who sent me here, but God.
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Genesis 50 and verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
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Same verb, by the way, what you did was evil, but what God did in that same action was good.
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Well, if anyone understood God's foreknowledge is not simply just passive, but it actually is purposeful.
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It was Joseph.
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Joseph knew that his life and all that had happened in his life was purposed by God to be as it was.
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Somebody says, well, my life's really hard and I don't understand why God would purpose it to be this way.
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You might not ever know.
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You might not know until glory.
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But here's the thing, I try to express this to people sometimes as hard as life is, as hard as things are to get over, which would you rather believe? That God actually has a purpose for what we're going through or that God is out there going, I don't know what to do.
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It's just bad.
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I'm trying.
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That's what gets me.
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The same people who don't believe in election will pray, God, please open the heart of my child.
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So that he'll be safe, if you don't believe that God elects or that God does open hearts, but he just stands up there hoping like you are hoping, why pray? You see, people pray like pray like reformed people.
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Because in their heart, they know.
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But they don't want to admit it.
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If you really believe it was 100 percent up to the free will of your friend and God had no part in it, why pray? Well, God's given grace to everybody equally, and there is no specific electing grace of God, why pray? Because I know people try and turn that on me.
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Well, if you believe that God elects, why pray for their salvation? Because it's God who's going to save them, not them.
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It's God who's going to open their heart.
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They're not going to open up their own heart.
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They're impossible to do so because they are dead in their trespasses and sins.
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And I've never worked.
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I worked many years in a funeral home.
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Never did I walk into the dressing room of a funeral home and see a body choose to wake up.
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The Bible describes that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
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Lazarus was dead in the tomb for four days when Jesus came.
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And had Jesus not commanded his resurrection, he'd still be dead.
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But Jesus commanded his resurrection.
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So, too, does Jesus resurrect dead souls, which is why the Bible says you who were dead in trespasses and sin, God has made alive.
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You don't make yourself alive any more than you produce your own faith.
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God opens the heart to believe.
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Believers Bible commentary, another very, very midline, mainline book.
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Believers Bible commentary.
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A lot of people have it on their shelves.
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It only came out a few years ago, but I like it because it simplifies a lot of things.
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Here's what it says.
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It says some have tried to reconcile sovereign election and human responsibility by saying God foreknew who would trust the Savior.
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And those are the ones whom he elected to be saved.
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They base this on Romans 8, 29 and 1 Peter 1, 2.
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But this, listen, but this overlooks the fact that God's foreknowledge is determinative.
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This is in the book.
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A standard commentary.
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It goes on to say it is not just that he knows in advance who will trust the Savior, but that he has to predetermine this result by drawing certain individuals to himself.
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It's in their book.
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I say their book.
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It's the books that they're using say these things.
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But because it does not jive with tradition, we overlook it.
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Finally, number four, we've seen the context.
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We've seen the definition.
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We've seen that the prescient view is lacking support because it's not what the word foreknowledge means.
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It's not how it's being used in context.
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But the last one, I think, is the most obvious one.
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And here it is, folks.
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The Bible teaches that faith is a gift from God.
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So logically, if God is the one who gives the faith, why does he have to look down the corridors of time to see who's going to believe? Just think, that's the heart of the matter.
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That's the one that I told you I was building up to something.
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That's it.
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That's the one that I think is is impassable.
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The only the only way to get past that is if you somehow believe faith is something that you produced inside of yourself and faith is not a gift of God.
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Because if faith is a gift from God and you believe that, you believe God opened your heart to believe.
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And the only difference between you and the unbeliever is not because you were smarter, more spiritually sensitive or more able to understand your Bible, but because God was gracious to you.
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Then the argument is over and the debate is done away with.
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The Bible teaches the doctrine of total depravity, which means that man is by nature a sinner, has no natural affection for God.
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In fact, it teaches that mankind naturally rebels against God, is at enmity with God.
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And as we studied last week, man is dead in his trespasses and sins and the dead do not bring about their own resurrection.
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As I've just said, the dead must be acted upon by an outside force to come alive.
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Based upon this, we can rightly believe that faith is not something that is mustered up by sinful men.
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It is something that is granted by the Father, which is why Jesus said, no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by my Father.
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Simple linguistics.
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When you look at that statement, what is the it that must be granted? It's the coming in faith.
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The carnal mind is at enmity with God and doesn't want to do what God wants it to do until it is changed.
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This is the thing that always people say, well, I believe man has free will.
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I believe man has a sinfully bound will, because the Bible says that we are either slaves to sin or we are slaves to righteousness.
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Never once does the Bible say we are free.
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It says we are either sold to our flesh or we are sold to Christ.
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But neither ever once does the Bible use the word free will in any sense except offerings.
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In the Old Testament, there was an offering called the free will offering.
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Never.
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I believe I don't believe in election, but I believe in free will.
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I don't believe in a word that's in the Bible, but I'll hold fast to a word that is created by human psychology and personal tradition.
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The Bible says Jesus said, John 6, 37, all the father gives me.
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Will come to me.
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Who's doing the action there, folks? God is doing the preceding action.
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The ones who come are coming because God did an action.
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He gave the elect the ones he had chosen.
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He gave them to the son and the ones he gives to the son will come to the son.
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And in the same context, he says no one will come unless God grants it to them, which means the ones who don't come have not been granted to the son.
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You are a gift to God.
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Son, you're a gift to God's son from God.
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You have been given to the son as a bride from the father.
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It's a different view of salvation, isn't it? Oh, wait a minute.
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My salvation is not so I'll be happy in heaven.
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No, it is so that the son will have a bride who will glorify him.
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Now, I take you back to the text because I want you to look at the text with me, because this is the final thought.
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The final thought is in the text.
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What is the argument of the Armenian, the Wesleyan? What's the argument? God looked down the corner of time, saw who would accept the call of God and based on those who would accept the call of God, he predestined them.
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That's the argument of the Armenian.
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Listen again, please, please, please listen to the text.
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For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom he predestined, he also called.
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Please stop right there.
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If you underline your Bible, that's the word.
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Logically.
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Logically.
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The argument of the Armenian is that God calls everybody and those who receive the call, he predestined.
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Right.
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God gives everyone a call and everyone gets the call.
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Those who receive it, God predestines.
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He knows he's going to accept the call.
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That's the logic of Arminianism.
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Beloved, what precedes the call, the predestination, the logical, the logical, those whom he predestined, he called.
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Guess what? What does that mean? Means he didn't call everybody because he's already limited his scope before the call has even gone out.
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He's foreknown a group.
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He has predestined that group.
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And as a result, that group will be given a call.
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And guess what? Everyone in that group will receive the call because it goes on to say those whom he called, he justified.
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Notice it doesn't say and some whom he predestined, he called and some whom he predestined, he justified.
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No, no, no.
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The ones who are predestined are called.
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The ones who are called are justified.
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The ones who are justified are glorified.
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That means they're going to go to heaven.
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And God talks about it in the past tense because in God's economy, it's a done deal.
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God can speak from the beginning about the end with certainty because he is the one who declares the end from the beginning, says that in Isaiah.
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Now, again, I know none of this is popular.