UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION: Free Will VS Predestination (Calvinism Series: TULIP Part 3) | ask Theocast

Unconditional election. Predestination. Does God really choose some over others?

Man, this is a hard doctrine. A lot of people debate it, and it seems like it makes God this tyrant, this mean person who picks and choose whom he's going to love.

Let's talk about it. Stay tuned. Hi, I'm Jon Moffitt.

I'm the pastor of Grace Reform Church and host of Theocast. This is Theocast, where we answer your questions from a

Reformed and pastoral perspective. As you start walking down the different doctrines of Calvinism, we're covering, some would call it the doctrines of grace, or the acronym

TULIP. We've already covered total depravity, and now we're covering unconditional election.

If you've not heard the first two, I'd encourage you to go listen to those. We did an introduction, and then we covered total depravity.

In total depravity, or total inability, or the death of our spirit, however you want to describe that, we set up the nature of man.

You cannot understand this doctrine if you don't start there. It really is the foundation that everything else is built upon.

If you don't understand the nature of man, then what we're going to talk about next, theologically from the Bible, it's not going to make sense to you.

We start with the reality that men cannot choose God because they're dead in their sins.

They have a lot of capacities to make decisions. They have the will to choose certain things, but when it comes to their faith in Jesus Christ, the

Bible describes us as deaf, dumb, blind, dead in our trespasses and sins. The question is, how are we going to be saved then?

If we don't have it within us to be able to look at Christ and trust in him by ourselves, how is it this is going to happen?

So this is where we find ourselves here. We're not going to look at just some of these passages.

We're going to try and look at all of the Bible and how the Bible describes, really, it is the nature of God in sovereignty.

So we looked at the nature of man. Now we're going to look at the nature of God and his sovereign choice.

Let's just take the two words that they use to give us this title,

Unconditional Election. Unconditional means there is nothing that God looks upon that he would choose one or the other.

In other words, there is no condition that humans meet that God would then put favor upon that person.

That would literally be a reward. That would be a response to. So the word is helpful because it's unconditional.

We're going to see multiple times in passages where we are told that God does not choose or God does not save based upon works or responses.

Otherwise, you could boast. You could say, well, God chose me because I chose him. And then, of course, unconditional, the next word is election.

This literally means to choose or select from within. So God is saving people, and those to whom he is saving is not based upon a condition that humans have met or condition we even know about.

There is no condition. Now this is a very heavy debated subject, and I have heard statements and I have made statements in my past.

So I understand if you're sitting here and you're struggling with the idea that God chooses some for salvation and it bothers you.

Well, any real Calvinist will agree that the whole concept is contrary to the human nature, because our minds don't function like God's minds.

We're even told that the mind of God is not like the mind of humans, and that we have to be careful to try and compare the two.

I've heard people say, I will never serve a God or believe in a God like that, that he would force people like robots or he would drag them kicking and screaming into his family, that true love, real love, is to allow sinners to choose whether God's going to save them or not.

And what you're trying to do is wrestle with what you think

God is or who you think God is or the nature of God in your experience or your thoughts about him, and you're not allowing the scriptures to formulate that.

Now, I'm not saying you have to agree with me or my perspective, but we should listen to scripture, and if God's word is authoritative, then let's look into what

God's word says about himself as it relates to salvation and how we are saved.

So we're going to look at a couple of passages. We're going to start in John, and we're going to work our way through many passages here in the

New Testament. But in John 1, the author

John makes it very clear that God does not choose people because they have first chose him.

You can hear when the whole free will debate, so free will versus election or predestination, you can hear some people say, well,

God looked down the corridors of time where he saw that we would first choose him, and he responded to that choosing by then choosing us.

I think John 1, the apostle John, writes very clearly that that is not the case. For instance, he says this,

John 1, verse 12, but to all who did receive him, meaning that they received

Jesus to be the legitimate Messiah, their salvation for their sins, who believed in his name.

So he is saying, how do we know that these people are truly followers of Jesus?

He says, but to all who did receive him who believed in his name, then he says this, he gave the right to become the children of God.

And he clarifies the right that came to them to be his children, verse 13, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

In just a few chapters, he's going to be describing the narrative between Nicodemus and Jesus, and he is setting it up here that it's not your birth to Israel, it's not your blood right, and it's not because of your own will or flesh that God gave you faith or gave you salvation.

He says it's according to the will of God. So it seems pretty clear from the get -go of John, and we'll come back here to John in a little bit.

So when we look, when did God choose to make these decisions? I mean, we're not left in the dark here.

When was this will enacted? Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, in verse 4, he says, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined, that means before there's a, you're determining the destination beforehand, right?

He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

So John or Paul is telling us that before the world began, God's will determined who it is that he would redeem.

And I know, stick with me, that some of you are wrestling with this. You hear these words, is that really what it's saying?

Is he misinterpreting it? Is he not looking at all of the context? Just continue to walk with me as we look at all of these verses.

And I promise you, we're going to get to the big election killers, right? The ones that knock it down all the time.

The one you're waiting for, it's probably somewhere in the title. 1 Corinthians 1 .27, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what was weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

You're hearing God making his decisions. And in the end, Paul says the reason why he does this is that you will never point to anything you have said or done or decisions that you've made and say, yes,

God has saved me because of what I have done. That gives you reasons to boast. 2

Timothy 1 .9, Paul writes, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

So in this context, he is telling us it's not a work that you've done. It's nothing that you can boast about.

You can't look at your own purposes, but it's according to his purpose and grace before the ages begin.

So he's saying this transaction, this decision was made before you were born, not in response to your birth.

We can also see here from the words of Jesus. I've heard people tell me in the past, well, that's Paul, but I really want to hear what

Jesus has to say about this because Jesus is the one who says, for whosoever will. Well, let's go to John 6 here, and he's dealing with people who will not accept him to be the

Messiah. They're rejecting him. They can see his miracles, but they can't quite understand how he's performing that and yet claiming to be

God. John 6 .39, he says this, and this is the will of him who sent me, the

Father, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raised it up on the last day.

So Jesus is still using this language that the ones he's coming to save are the ones that the

Father has chosen and given to him, his sheep. He even describes this later on in John 10.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hand. So you hear Jesus saying he's laying his life down for the ones that the

Father has given him. So these are some of the simple verses that we can use, not only from Peter, I'm sorry, from the

Apostle Paul and from Jesus, that is describing this language that he isn't choosing everyone for salvation, because if he did, he says, the ones to whom the

Father has given me, I do not lose any of them. Let me just read that to you again.

He says, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hands.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than I, and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hand. So the Father gives them to the Son, the Son saves them, he redeems them, he dies for them, and he doesn't lose any of them.

Here, if Jesus is calling, or if the Father is calling everybody, well, then everybody's going to be saved, and that can't be the case, because we do know that there are those who do not believe and who are not saved.

All right, so let's get to the big ones, right? We only got a few minutes left here. John 3, 16, it seems like to be the one that proves all

Calvinists to be wrong, but let's read it in context. Remember, we don't want to just take verses and not think about the context.

What are they trying to communicate? What's going on here? So John 3, 16 is a great example of that.

If we just read verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Why would he say that if people did not have the capacity, or only God saves those whom he chooses?

Again, when we look at it, only those who can make that spiritual decision to believe can have eternal life, but how does that come about?

Jesus actually tells us. Let's just read through the text real quick. So verse 1, it says this, now there was a man by the name of Pharisee named

Icodemus, the ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are the teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

I love that Jesus doesn't even acknowledge or wait for him to ask the question. Jesus answered him, truly, truly,

I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus starts with an immediate word picture. Of course, he doesn't get it because Nicodemus says to him, how can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter in a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus is using impossible language.

He wants Nicodemus to hear salvation is not possible in your hands. As an illustration, you have to be reborn again.

In other words, your spirit is dead, and we know he's talking about the spirit because let's keep reading.

Jesus answers, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. He's saying, I'm not talking about a physical birth.

I'm talking about a spiritual birth, and if you want to go into the kingdom with me, you have to have a spiritual birth. That spiritual birth comes from the spirit, and no one knows where that comes from.

In other words, you can't manipulate it. It's not something that you can determine or that you can watch and try and figure out where it's coming from.

Of course, Nicodemus says to him, how can these things be? Jesus said to him, are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

He's telling him, you can't figure this out on your own because it's not an earthly concept that can be seen.

It's a spiritual one. No one who ascends unto heaven except he who descended from heaven, the

Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is not only giving you the mechanism, which is the power of the Spirit, but he's giving you the evidence.

How do we know that we are on our way to be with Christ in his kingdom?

He's like, this is how you know. It's those who believe. It's those who now have the power to believe.

So he's not saying all you have to do is muster up the will to do it.

It's the evidence of the Spirit's work in you. And I'm not trying to force that in the text, but just go back and look at where he's giving you these examples that it's the

Spirit, new birth coming to you by the Spirit. And how do we know that we have that? Well, if we go back to John 1, it's what he said earlier in John chapter 1, right?

But all who did receive him who believed in his name, he gave eternal life to.

So the evidence of our faith is the evidence that the Spirit has brought us from death to life.

And how do we know that? Because God chose to put his Spirit upon us. Another passage that's often brought up that says, yeah,

I don't think this is what this means is 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1. It says, first of all, then

I urge that supplication, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

That is good and it's pleasing in the sight of our God and Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

So people read this and say, you can't say that God only wants to save some or the chosen because it says here that he desires everybody to be saved.

Well, in context, if you want to say that the word all there means all humans, you're going to have a categories of people.

And he's writing to Timothy, letting him know that there isn't just one kind of people or a category of people.

He's describing kings and those in high positions. He's describing how it is that we're acting with them.

And so he says he desires that all people, not just the Israelites, but all kinds of people would come to the knowledge of our

Lord and Savior and the truth of it. And again, you can't just say, well, this is the one that crushes all the other verses.

How does this go against what Jesus has said? That only those to whom the Father draws are the ones who end up being saved.

So we have to take everything and lay it on the table and say, how do we make this all fit together?

Because God is not the author of confusion. One other one would be Titus 2 .11,

where it says, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people. And if you can keep reading, he describes who those all people are.

It's not in general. He says he's talking about older men, older women.

He's making reference to the younger women or training older women, yet husbands and wives urging younger men, slaves.

So you keep hearing this language that it's all, but it has an all with a category. In other words, he's explaining what it is.

And then probably the last one, I'll just throw in there real quick, which is 2 Peter 3 .9, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Well, who is he writing this letter to? And who does he address it to at first? He says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, the writers.

He's being patient towards you, the church, not wishing that any of you should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

So in this context, he is writing to a people. He's not writing generally about all people.

He's writing about these specific people. So I think we always have to look at the context and ask ourselves when it's talking about all, whoever, what else is it saying?

And what else does the Bible say? You would have to agree that if you watched the first video, if you're dead in your trespasses and sins, the only way you're going to be brought to life is that the

Father chooses to do so. I know that we wrestle with this and I know it's complicated and hard, but my encouragement to you is to look at these passages.

We'll put them in the notes below along with some other resources and allow the word of God to formulate these thoughts.

Allow the concept of why is it that God is so concerned about us boasting? Why is he so concerned about us seeing that unless he brings us to life, we have no life?

And I get that wrestle. Man, how is it that God can choose some and not choose others?

And so I want to just say this last phrase because I know that it's used often. God doesn't choose some for life and choose some for hell.

Because we are in sin and because of our rebellion against God and the nature that we are in,

God is rescuing sinners. He's not choosing some saying you're going to hell and you're going to heaven. But God in his providence and his wisdom has chose some for redemption.

Why he hasn't chose all and why he doesn't save all? The Arminian and the Calvinist cannot answer that one because he has the capacity to do so and doesn't.

And in his knowledge and in his wisdom and in his goodness, he always does what is right. And we know that. We know that he's good and we know that he does what's right.

So why does God choose one over the other? We aren't told that. We have no idea.

And one day when we get to heaven, we can ask these questions, but we can only go off what the word of God has told us.

If you have any questions or comments or ideas or maybe some other passages you would like for me to think about, please leave those in the comments below.

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I know this is the one that a lot of people struggle with. We're taking extra time to prepare for it. So we'll see you next week.