Who makes the choice as to who will be in heaven — God or the sinner? In these notes we tackle the difficult doctrine of Predestination. This one is sure to make some sparks fly!
Leadership Training andDevelopment
Systematic Theology
The Doctrine Of Predestination
Intro: We will examine the doctrine of predestination under two main headings — election and reprobation, both of angels and men.
THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
1. The Election of Angels
A. Scriptural Proof of Angelic Election: 1 Tim.5:21
B. Author of Angelic Election: God Lu.12:8-9
C. The End of Angelic Election: Preserved from apostasy, confirmed in a state of holiness, chosen to eternal glory, communion with God and elect men to all eternity.
2. The Election of Men
A. National Election: Deut.7:6-8
B. Vocational Election: Acts 9:15 (examples: Saul, sons of Aaron, 12 apostles)
C. Salvational Election:
1. Definition Of Election: “Election is God’s free, sovereign, eternal and unchangeable purpose to glorify the perfections of His chaacter in the salvation of a definite number of the human family by Jesus Christ, without regard to any foreseen faith or good works on their part, as the ground or condition of this choice.”
2. The Necessity of Election: Man is a slave of sin, a child of Satan, hostile to God, blind to truth, dead in sin, unable and unwilling to seek God (Jn. 6:44; 8:34, 44; Rom.8:5-8; 1 Cor.2:14; Eph.2:1). Therefore, election is the ONLY hope any man has!
3. Author of Election: Election is By God and in Christ
By God – 1 Thess.1:4; Rom.8:33; Eph.1:4; 1 Pet.1:2.
In Christ – Eph.1:4 (election does not find men in Christ, but puts them there. It unites men to Christ. Certain men were given to Christ, put into His hands to be saved by Him)
4. The Objects of Election: Sinners headed for hell – Rom.9:22; the foolish, weak, base, despised – 1 Cor.1:26-29; vessels of mercy; few in comparison with those outwardly called – Mt.20:16; a little flock – Lu.12:32; considered by themselves a great multitude which no man can number (Rev.7:9)
5. The Date of Election:
a. Before men were born – Rom.9:11
b. From the beginning – 2 Thess.2:13
c. From before the foundation of the world – Eph.1:4; Rev.17:8; Mt.25:34
d. From all eternity – 2 Tim.1:9
6. The Cause of Election:
a. Not foreseen faith: Acts 13:48; 2 Thess.2:13; Eph.2:8; Titus 1:1
b. Not the good works of men: Rom.9:11; 11:5-6
c. Not personal holiness: Eph.1:4
d. Is only the Sovereign Good Pleasure of Almighty God! Eph.1:5; Mt.11:25-26
7. The Means God Uses To Accomplish His Purpose of Election:
a. Redemption of Christ: 1 Pet.1:2
b. Sanctification of the Spirit: 2 Thess.2:13
8. The Blessings Of Election:
a. Faith: James 2:5; Acts 13:48
b. Adoption: Eph.1:5
c. Obedience: 1 Pet.1:2
d. Progressive Sanctification: Rom.8:29
e. Salvation: 1 Thess.5:9; Acts 13:48
f. All spiritual blessings: Eph.1:3-14
g. Effectual Calling: Rom.8:29-30; 2 Tim.1:9
h. Communion with God: Ps.65:4
i. Justification: Rom.8:33
j. Glorification: Rom.8:30, 9:23
9. The End of Election: The glory of God! Eph.1:6; Rom.11:36
10. The Properties of Election:
a. Eternal: Eph.1:4
b. Sovereign: Rom.9:18, 22-23
c. Unconditional: Rom.9:11
d. Immutable: Rom.11:29
e. Particular: Acts 13:48
3. Objections To the Doctrine of Election:
A. Election is Based on Foreknowledge: He knew I would choose Him, so He chose me. This one sounds so good! We love it! We want to believe it! Why? Because in our fallenness we want some responsibility for our salvation; and in our fallenness the other sounds unfair. But this view cannot be correct, because:
1. This Makes Man Sovereign: Jn.15:16. If we are sovereign, then God is not. If He’s not sovereign, then He’s not God, because there is something more powerful in the universe than He.
2. This Gives Man The Credit for His Salvation: It allows him to share in the glory. If my salvation is based on the right use of my free will, then I will have something to boast about in heaven. “The reason I’m in heaven and that sinner is in hell, is because I made the right choice, and He didn’t!”
3. This Assumes That Man Seeks After God: Rom.3:11 He doesn’t!
4. This Makes Salvation A Result of a Human Work: Bible teaches faith comes from God as a gift. Eph.2:8-9; Acts 18:27; Phil.1:29.
5. This Makes God A Victim of Man’s Choice: But God is never frustrated! Eph.1:11; Ps.115:3.
6. Foreknowledge is Linked to God’s Predetermined Plan: 1 Pet.1:20; Acts 2:23. Foreknowledge doesn’t mean foresight. Means God’s prior knowledge of what He plans to do. To know in Scripture means to have an intimate relationship with (Mt.7:23). Foreknew = foreloved. Long before they were created God’s elect stood present before His mind, were foreknown by Him and were the definite objects of His eternal love.
7. Foreknowledge is Spoken of in Connection with a People and Not in Connection with Any Action Which People Perform: Rom.8:29
B. Election Is Unjust: No! Election does not damn any man who ought to be saved. It only saves many men who ought to be damned! God does no injustice to those who perish. They receive what they rightly deserve. God will be just to all men. He is just to the elect by bringing them to heaven, because their sins were justly paid for. He is just to the wicked by sending them to hell to perish in their sins. We must remember that God is the Creator, the Potter, and can do what He likes with His creatures.
C. Election Is Unfair: Well, if what you mean by that is that God does not give equally to all men, then you are right! He decides where a person will be born, when they will be born, what natural gifts they will possess, whether they will hear the gospel, etc. But God has never told mankind that He is going to give all men exactly the same thing. He reserves the right to do as He pleases (Mt. 20:15).
D. This Doctrine Seems Like Somethng New & Novel – Nobody Believes It:
1. It Is Stated in the Following Creeds: Waldensian – 1400’s; Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism – 1560; Helvetic Confession – 1564; Canons of the Synod of Dort – 1619; The 39 Articles of the Church of England – 1562; the Westminster Confession, the Savoy Declaration, the Baptist Confession of Faith – 1689; the New Hampshire Confession -1833.
2. It Was Believed and Taught By Almost All Major Denominations Between 1517 and 1800: Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican, Congregational.
3. It Has Been Believed by Great Men of Church History: Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale, Jn. Owen, Jn. Bunyan, Matthew Henry, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Isaac Watts, Jn. Newton, William Carery, Robert Murray McCheyene, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Donald Barnhouse, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A.W. Pink, R. C. Sproul.
C.H. Spurgeon: “It is no novelty then that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by the nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and truly the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimmage into the past and as I go I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr standing up to shake hands with me. If I were a Pelagian or a believer in the doctrine of free will I would have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and there a heretic of no very honorable character might rise up and call me brother, but taking these doctrines of grace to be my standard of faith, I see the land of ancients peopled with my brethren. I behold multitudes who’ve confessed the same as I do, and I acknowledge that this is the religion of God’s own truth.”
E. This Is Fatalism! No – fatalism is the belief that the affairs of men are controlled either by whimsical sub-deities (the Fates) or impersonal forces of chance. Predestination is rooted in the character of a personal and righteous God. Would you rather have your destiny in the hands of an impersonal, cold force called Fatalism, or in the hands of a loving and gracious God?
F. But Doesn’t The Bible Say God Desires All Men To Be Saved?
1. Must understand the the Bible speaks of the will of God in three different ways:
The will of His Purpose – this is His sovereign efficacious will. Nothng can resist the will of God in this sense.
The will of His Command – this is His will that we obey Him by keeping His laws & commands. It is resistible.
The will of His Desire – He takes no delight in the death of the wicked.
2. Both 1 Tim.2:4 and 2 Pet.3:9 may be understood as the will of God’s desire. But additionally, there are some very good reasons to suspect that the apostles may have had the elect in view in both cases.
G. But This Doctrine Would Cut the Nerve of Evangelism! No! God not only foreordains the end of salvation, but also the means to that end. Far from causing man to cease evangelizing, it gives us the certainty that our efforts will not be unsuccessful. If there were no such thing as election, there would be no converts! Jn.10:16. Only look at Church History to see that this doctrine increases evangelistic zeal: Whitefield, Edwards, Carey, Spurgeon.
4. Application of The Doctrine of Election:
A. It Ought To Crush Our Pride: We had absolutely nothng to do with our salvation!
B It Ought To Exalt God: Salvation is of the Lord! Ps.115:1.
C. It Ought To Produce Joy: Ps.65:4. We would have no hope of salvation apart from election!
E. It Ought To Give Us Strength: Jn.6:39 – We are secure in Christ!
F. It Ought To Quicken the Church to Evangelize: There is an elect people out there. Results are certain!
THE DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION
1. The Reprobation of Angels
A. God Decreed Not To Give Confirming Grace to Some of the Angels: 1 Tim.5:21;
2 Pet.2:4; Mt.25:41
B. God Decreed Not To Provide Salvation For the Rebelling Angels: Heb.2:16
2. The Reprobation of Men
A. The Definition of Reprobation: “God’s intention from all eternity to pass by the non-elect, leaving them in their sins to endure their deserved punishment.”
B. The Biblical Proof of Reprobation:
1. The Rest: Rom.11:5,7
2. Those He Never Knew: Mt.7:23
3. Those Not Given To Him: Jn.17:6,9
4. Those Whose Names Were Not Written in the Book of Life: Rev.17:8
6. Those Not Of His Sheep: Jn.10:26
7. Those Appointed To Doom: 1 Pet.2:8
8. Those Marked Out Long Beforehand For Condemnation: Jude 4
9. Vessels of Wrath Prepared for Destruction: Rom.9:22; 1 Thess.5:9
C. The Cause of Reprobation:
1. Not Sin: otherwise all would be reprobated
2. The inscrutable sovereign purpose of God! Rom.9:11, 17,22; Mt.11:25-26;
D. The Date of Reprobation:
1. Long Beforehand: Jude 4
2. Long ago: 2 Pet.2:3
3. Before Birth: Rom.9:11
4. Before the Foundation of the World: Rev.17:8
E. The Properties of Reprobation:
1. Eternal
2. Sovereign: Rom.9:18
3. Immutable
4. Particular
F. The End of Reprobation: The glory of God seen in the magnifying of His justice and holiness (Pr.16:4; Rom.9:17-18)
3. Application of the Doctrine of Reprobation:
A. Humble Yorself Beneath His Awesome Sovereign Hand!
B. Bless God That He Decided to Have Mercy on You!
C. Fear God!
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