The Golden Chain of Redemption (3)
Salvation is of the Lord • Sermon • Submitted
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And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Introduction:
I. God’s Faithfulness (vs. 28)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
II. God’s Foreknowledge (vs. 29)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
III. God’s Formula (vs. 29b)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
IV. God’s Facilitation (vs. 30)
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
A. Predestination (vs. 30a)
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
When you speak regarding the Doctrine of Predestination, it is the Doctrine that says that God predetermines the destiny of those that He foreknew, or as we have seen literally, foreordained or Fore-loved.
And when Christ came, he died to put away the sins of the ones that, before the foundation of the earth, the Father Foreordained.
Listen, I want you to understand that this is not a force upon the text here in , but the clear reading of it.
It is clear that the word “foreknew” means to foreordain or Fore-love.
And everyone, the text says, that is foreordained is Predestined.
Someone once asked me, “what was the main idea that drew you to your understanding of this in the Scripture”.
The response that I give is that there are a plethora of passages and teachings of the Bible that draw me to these conclusions.
And I say that lightly, because I do not believe that these are conclusions that have to be forced upon the text, I believe that they are the clear teachings of the Bible.
And that an honest, non-presupposed or traditional reading of the text, will yield great understanding.
But, with that said, there is one great teaching that leads me to these conclusions and that is, simply put, the unity of the Godhead.
What do I mean?
It is unthinkable, because of the eternal relationship in the Godhead, to suppose that the sacrificial work of Christ would somehow conflict with there overall salvific intention of the Father.
Christ Himself had said that He had come to do the will of the Father.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
In other words, that there is consistency and harmony between the Father’s salvific will and work and the Son’s salvific will and work.
Harmony between the salvific will and work of the Father and the salvific will and work of the Son would demand that Christs’ purpose behind the cross would be as particular and definite as the Father’s salvific purpose, and terminate on the same objects.
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Jesus Christ is clear here that in eternity past there was a giving of the Father to the Son.
And that the will of the Father is that Jesus lose none of the ones that are given to Him.
The way that giving is secured is that the Son dies to secure the redemption of the ones that have been given.
The Father gives, the Son dies to secure the salvation of the ones given (because the will of the Father is that none that have been given be lost), the Holy Spirit convicts and draws the ones given to faith.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
And we believe that the Father draws through the agency of the Holy Spirit because the Scriptures says that conviction is the job of the Holy Spirit.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
That is the clear reading of the text of Scripture.
And that is the clear understanding of how there is unity in the Godhead in regards to the nature and application of redemption.
Jesus Christ makes a further distinction in Hid High Priestly prayer when He says that He does not pray for the world, but:
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Jesus could not be clearer in His teaching here that there is a distinction between those that are in the world and those that have been given to Him out of the world.
Jesus says that He is not praying for the world but only those that have been given to Him out of the World....for THEY (the ones given) are yours.
Notice what Jesus says:
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Someone would say, “but of course He knew, He is God and therefore must know”.
But notice the interpretation of Jesus as to why they did not believe:
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
And the word “given” there is the word “δίδωμι” and means “to be given or granted”.
Jesus says that the reason that you do not believe is because it has not been granted to you to believe.
And anyone that does not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, does not believe the Gospel because it has not been granted to them to believe.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Who believed?
The ones that were ordained.
“Ordained” is “τάσσω” and means “to put in place, to determine”.
So, it is quite clear from the Scriptures that God determines the salvation of some and gives them to the Son.
The Son dies to secure their redemption and the Holy Spirit draws those that were appointed to eternal life.
None are lost, and the Godhead works in beautiful harmony.
But you cannot every bring up this Doctrine without someone ask, “what about the ones that were not given, do you mean to tell me that God predetermined some for destruction?”
Let me answer that by first saying that we have to interpret these things Biblically, not emotionally.
An emotional objection or argument, is not necessarily a Biblical one.
Second, let me give you a verse, because that is our authority.
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
“Fitted” is “καταρτίζω” and it means “to prepare”.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
So, the obvious question that arises out of this truth is, is there a dual side of Predestination?
I heard one preacher say one time, “well, God does not saying anything in the Bible about the reprobate”.
Well, I disagree because yes he does.
Ok, so to summarize.
We are all conceived in the womb of our Mothers haters of God.
We would not repent if given an opportunity to repent, people go to Hell because they love their sin.
God has, according to the verses that we have been looking, ordained some of those hatred of God to eternal life.
And He:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
That is the only reason that they repent and believe is because God does the regenerating work.
But what of the others, did God Predetermine them to destruction?
This always comes up and is a natural question.
Because it is one thing to say that God determines some to eternal life, but is another to say that God determines some to reprobation.
But I believe that by natural conclusion that Predestination has to be double.
So that really is not the question.
The question is what is the nature of the reprobation?
How is it double?
Let me give you the view of Double Predestination that is completely wrong.
Even Calvin himself said:
Calvin’s Doctrine of Predestination The Biblical Source of Predestination
is not to divert the ears with chatter, but to strengthen consciences by teaching things true, sure, and profitable.”
Calvin’s Doctrine of Predestination The Biblical Source of Predestination
“For our wisdom ought to be nothing else than to embrace with humble teachableness, and at least without finding fault, whatever is taught in Sacred Scripture.”
The Scriptures do not teach what has been labeled as “equal ultimacy”.
Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology Double Predestination?
It sees a symmetry between the work of God in election and his work in reprobation. It seeks an exact balance between the two. Just as God intervenes in the lives of the elect to create faith in their hearts, so he similarly intervenes in the hearts of the reprobate to work unbelief.
This is what R.C. Sproul called:
Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology Double Predestination?
“sub-Calvinism,” or even more precisely, “anti-Calvinism.”
I would call it “anti-Bible”.
There is a crucial distinction between God’s negative and positive decrees.
Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology Double Predestination?
The difference between positive and negative does not refer to the outcome (though the outcome indeed is either positive or negative), but to the manner by which God brings his decrees to pass in history.
The positive side has to do with God actively working the life of the elect, intervening and causing faith to arise.
The negative side is that God simply leaves others to themselves, He leaves them in their willful sin.
No one received injustice or unfairness.
Some receive mercy, others receive justice.
God passes over the reprobate.
He does not coerce them to sin and does not add new unbelief in their hearts so that they will not embrace Christ.
He leaves them to their devices.
Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology Double Predestination?
I once heard the president of a Presbyterian seminary respond to a question about predestination by saying, “I don’t believe in predestination because I do not believe God brings some people kicking and screaming, against their wills, into his kingdom, while at the same time he refuses access to those who earnestly desire to be there.” This response surprised me, not only because the president’s public disavowal of predestination blatantly violated his ordination vows in the Presbyterian church, but also because it revealed a radical misunderstanding of a doctrine with which he should have been quite familiar.
Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology Double Predestination?
God so works in the hearts of the elect as to make them willing and pleased to come to Christ. They come to Christ because they want to. They want to because God has created in their hearts a desire for Christ. Likewise the reprobate do not want to embrace Christ earnestly. They have no desire for Christ whatever and are fleeing from him.
We need to remember what the Scriptures says:
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Notice what God tells Moses in the book of Exodus:
Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
And ultimately God did harden Pharaoh’s heart:
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.
So, if God was the one who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, how then could He then turn around and justly punish Pharaoh for his sin?
How could God hold Pharoah, or anyone else for that matter, accountable for sin that flows out of heart that Himself hardened.
The key to answering that question properly is not only in recognizing the fact that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but how he hardened his heart.
There are really only tow options.
God either did it actively or passively.
If He did it actively, God would have infused sin and unbelief in the heart of Pharoah hearts, but that would make God the author of sin.
And when we reconcile that with the rest of Scripture, we find pretty quick that that is not an option.
But passive hardening is a total different story.
While passive hardening is a divine judgment, the difference is that it is a divine judgment on sin that is already present in the heart.
In other words, all that God needs to do to harden a heart that is already hard because it is desperately is to:
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And just let that person do what comes naturally.
There is not infusion of sin, but only letting that person do what is natural and that is sin.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
gg