Dr Greg Bahnsen - Difficult Doctrines: Predestination (Part 2)

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonson Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Well, we welcome you back to our course on difficult doctrines of the Bible. In this class session, we're going to be dealing with the doctrine of predestination. Please open with me in your Bibles to Isaiah, the 55th chapter. This is the passage I'm using for the theme of our course on difficult doctrines in the Bible, and we'll begin reading at the sixth verse. Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. And thus far, the reading of God's Word. In order for us to be faithful Christians, we need to learn to bow our hearts as well as our minds to the teaching of God in His Word. And that means that we will not find it surprising that there are mysteries, things which go beyond our fallible and finite human way of thinking. There are things which are mysterious In God's revelation of himself, Isaiah tells us the thoughts of God are higher than our thoughts. This does not mean that God's thoughts are contradictory. It does not mean that God's thoughts are somehow nonsense. It simply means that we are not, in our finiteness, nor in our fallenness, able to fully comprehend and to think in the way that God does in his own thoughts. And so we find things that are mysterious in the Bible, even though they are not contradictory in Christian circles. Perhaps the most intellectually offensive and divisive mystery of the Christian faith that we find is that high and holy mystery of predestination. And I think we should refer to it as a high and holy mystery. It is a high mystery. God's thoughts are higher than ours. It is one that is very difficult for us to understand, but it is a very holy mystery as well. It is one that teaches us the sovereignty of God. It teaches us of his grace and of our complete dependence upon Him. It is that mystery which will lead us to bow before him in outer realm, worship as we ought to do, not only as men who are creatures and finite, but as fallen men who are fallible and sinful and in need of his salvation. Men often rage against the high and holy mystery of predestination. I would imagine that you've heard people tell you that the doctrine of predestination is either irrational, that it's something that no rational man could believe, it's something incomprehensible, contradictory, and therefore to be rejected by anybody who wants to think clearly, or you've heard men tell you that I don't want to worship a God that predestines who is going to be saved and who is going to be lost. They'll say, if God is sovereign and makes those choices, then man's nothing but a puppet, and that takes away human dignity. And I won't follow any God that deprives me of my human dignity. Now, not everybody comes out and sounds just that explicit and just that blunt about their rejection of predestination. But it's a very emotional matter for many people. They often will rage and sometimes will be just that explicit in their denial of this high and holy mystery. As we begin to look at this difficult doctrine of the Bible this evening, let me first distinguish for you a few terms, because they are often used interchangeably, or people get a little confused because they hear terms being substituted for one another. When we speak of predestination, we are also speaking of the biblical doctrine of election. The Bible sometimes speaks of God electing, or if you will, selecting those who will be saved and also electing those who will be lost. The doctrine of election is not to be understood, as some pedestrian Arminian theologians present it as well. In election, what happens is God votes for you and the devil votes against you, and then you cast the deciding ballot. That's not the doctrine of election. The doctrine of election is that God does all the choosing. He selects those who would belong to him, those who will not. And as I've indicated, this is also called the doctrine of predestination. And that's because the destinies of men, their destination, the outcome of their lives, ultimately is determined in advance by God. So he predestines whether they will be lost or they will be saved, which is to say he elects them to life or to death. And the doctrine of predestination, the idea that the outcome of your life, your destiny is. Has been determined by God ahead of time, is part and parcel of a broader doctrine of God's foreordination or God's predetermination of all things. God not only sets the destiny of men, heaven or hell, in advance, but God also chooses everything that's going to take place. He ordains in advance, he foreordains whatsoever shall come to pass. And so we'll hear these terms in any discussion of this difficult biblical doctrine. We'll hear the terms election, predestination, foreordination, predetermination, sometimes used interchangeably. But they do have these slight nuances or distinctions that I've brought up to you. Now, is this an important doctrine? I've already said it's divisive. I've already said many people get emotional and they rage against it, so why should we bother with it at all? If it's so intellectually offensive, why don't we just set it aside, not pay attention to it? Well, you know, Martin Luther once debated one of the best known scholars of his generation, a man named Erasmus. He debated him over the bondage of the will. And in order to talk about the bondage of man's will and how God saves people, Luther had to refer to God's choosing men. God's taking the initial step in changing their hearts, breaking the bondage of the will so they might believe the gospel. And as Luther got around to this doctrine of predestination, how God elects those who belong to him, he said, at last we've come to the real heart of the dispute that we have with the Roman Catholic Church. For Luther, this was the very heart and core of the Reformation. If the grace of God was going to be recovered, men needed to know about predestination and how God takes the initial steps in breaking the bondage of man's will. So if we are to believe one of the greatest of the reformers, the doctrine of predestination is not only important, it is crucial. It is a central doctrine. John Calvin, however, far more than even Martin Luther, has come to be known as the theologian of predestination. You'll have plenty, if nothing more, about Calvin, but that he believed in predestination or that maybe they say he was the one who killed Servetus. That, too is a slander that we can't get into tonight. But Calvin should really be known for a number of things. And I would encourage you to get the tapes on my course dealing with Calvin's institute so that you might see the depth and the breadth of his thought. But my point is that for all of that, what everyone knows about Calvin is his commitment to the doctor. So let me quote Calvin as we begin our class today. He said, we shall never be clearly convinced, as we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the fountain of God's free mercy till we are acquainted with this eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison, that he adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what he refuses to others. Ignorance of this principle evidently detracts from the divine glory and diminishes real humility. I think Calvin is right on target here, and we will return to this notion at the end of our class period today. Calvin says, when you don't understand the doctrine of predestination, you detract from God's glory and grace and salvation, and you diminish true human humility before God. The doctrine of predestination is a crucial doctrine. As I have already indicated to you. It is part and parcel of a broader biblical view of God that says that he foreordains whatsoever comes to pass. To put it very simply, the Bible teaches us that God has a comprehensive plan for everything that happens. Let's see how this is taught in the Scriptures. To us, the Bible clearly teaches that God has an eternal purpose in terms of which he has determined in advance whatever will happen. And so in Ephesians 1:11 we read Paul speaking of the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will. This is Paul's description in brief. And he doesn't choke on this. He doesn't say, okay, now I need to give a lot of explanation or I've got to excuse this doctrine. He just says it in passing, very matter of factly, very assuredly. He says, God has a purpose, and according to it works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Everything that takes place has been purposed and planned has been determined in advance by God. The Psalmist says in Psalm 115, verse 3, Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he pleased. And in Psalm 135,6 the Psalmist says, Whatsoever the Lord pleased that he did in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep places, God is the one who chooses whatever happens in the heavens, above, the earth beneath, and in the waters as well. He is the ruler over all. He is sovereign. And it's by his purpose, and it's according to his plan that everything happens that takes place. The Bible teaches us that God's plan was determined before the creation of the world, that it stands forever and is unchangeable. God has determined what will happen, and he will not change his mind. And so in Ephesians 1:4 we read, he chose us in Christ, in Him before the foundation of the world, before he founded, before he established and created the world he had already chosen us in Christ. The Psalmist in Psalm 33:11 says, the counsel of Jehovah stands fast forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations. When God makes a choice, he doesn't down the line say, oops, I made a mistake. God is unchanging. He never has to correct the choices that he has made, as though he has somehow goofed. You know, we're always changing our minds. We change our mind as to what we want to eat for dinner. We change our mind what we're going to wear today. We change our mind as to what our life's goals and vocation are going to be. We're always changing our minds. We make mistakes. We find out we can't do what we thought we could. But never God. He is immutable. He is unchanging. So the counsel of Jehovah stands fast forever. In Ephesians 3:11, Paul speaks using this language according to the eternal, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord and the author of Hebrews in chapter six of his epistle, verse 17 says, wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise, the immutability of his counsel went on to do certain things. It's that expression, the immutability of his counsel that I want you to pick up on. The Bible says God has a purpose, that he is in advance for everything that happens. And the Bible teaches us that God's purpose is eternal before the creation of the world. It is unchangeable in terms of this comprehensive plan of God. The Bible teaches us thirdly that whatever God predestines, whatever he foreordains will certainly happen. Nothing can cause God's will to fail. Nothing can make it be that God doesn't accomplish what he has determined in advance. And so in Isaiah 46, 9, 11, God says, I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed, I will also do it. Or in our Bibles we might look at Daniel the fourth chapter, verse 35, where Daniel glorifies God and tells us of his sovereign purpose. Daniel 4:35 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or Say unto him, what doest thou? When God determines to do something, his will shall certainly be accomplished. Nothing can thwart it. Nothing can turn it back. Isaiah 14:24. Jehovah of Hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. For Jehovah of hosts has purposed, and who shall annul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? God has a plan that he determined ahead of time for all things. That plan is eternal and unchangeable. Thirdly, that plan cannot fail. That plan will certainly bring about whatever God has determined. Fourthly, the Bible says that God's plan determines every single detail that transpires in history. And now listen to this. Those details include the most trivial aspects or details of life. Those details include the free choices made by men. Later we'll bring this up. God predetermines the free choices of men. And those details even include the most wicked actions of men. God predestines everything, the most trivial details, our free choices, and even the most wicked actions of men. In terms of trivial choices. Just think of Matthew 10:29 30. Jesus said, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father, but the very hairs of your head are numbered. I'm getting a little bit older, and every day when I comb my hair, a few more hairs, you know, found there. And God from all eternity foreordained the exact number of hairs that I would lose this morning or tomorrow morning when I brush my hair. Jesus says, that's how much God's in control of everything. There isn't a single trivial detail of what takes place in history that he has not purposed in advance. Indeed, God predestines even the choices of Men. Proverbs 19:21 says, There are many plans in a man's heart, but it is the counsel of Jehovah that shall stand. We go over all these things. We say, well, maybe I'll do this, maybe I'll do that. You know, maybe I'll have vanilla ice cream, maybe I'll have chocolate. But it's the counsel of God that will stand whatever you choose, whatever your own plans are. God's counsel has determined it in advance. And indeed Luke 22:22 assures us that when men do wicked things, when they choose to sin against God, even that has been chosen in advance. Jesus says, the Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. Judas is going to betray Jesus The Son of Man is going to be turned over, but this is going to take place as it has been decreed by God. In Lament 3:38, we read, out of the mouth of the Most High comes there not evil and good? God predestines everything. And he predestines not only the good things that happen, not only the happy things that happen, things that we easily praise him for, but God predestines the wicked, evil things that take place in this world as well. The leading example of that, indeed, the very arch crime of history, is referred to in Acts 2, 3. Him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay. The Bible tells us that when Christ was turned over to die, this was done according to the determinate plan of God. And yet the hands of those men that performed that wicked deed did it wickedly, lawlessly. They were responsible because they chose to do it, and what they did was wicked. And yet their wicked free choice was already determined in advance by God. And so the Bible teaches us that God has a comprehensive plan. It is something he has determined in advance, which pertains to every detail of life, the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will. The Bible tells us that this plan was before the creation of the world is eternal and unchangeable. The Bible tells us that the plan of God includes even the choices of men, the wicked choices of men, and the trivial details of life. The Bible tells us that what God predestined will certainly come about cannot fail to take place. Now, in light of that, obviously, if God chooses everything, right down to the trivial detail of the hairs on our head, or another example is in Proverbs 16:33 we read, the lot is cast into the lap, somewhat like casting dice. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. We look at what takes place in Las Vegas as games of chance. But there are no games of chance. From a theological standpoint. God determines even the casting of the dice, even the casting of the lot, every trivial detail. Now, if that's true, what I want to tell you is that God's choices must also include the destinies of men, whether they end up in heaven or in hell, whether they will be believers or not. The Bible teaches us that God even determines in advance the salvation or the damnation of individuals. Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Notice that he chose us, having predestined us unto adoption, as his sons, according to the good pleasure of his will. And not only has God chosen those who will be saved, he has chosen those who will be lost. Proverbs 16:4 tells us, Jehovah has made everything for his own purpose. Yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. God has determined who will be wicked and will come to the day of evil. Paul puts it this way in Romans 9 for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it is written, jacob, I loved Esau I hated. There are vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction, Paul says, and vessels of mercy, which he before prepared unto glory. Now we could spend our whole class period just going over Bible verses. I think you begin to get a sense of that. The Bible teaches very clearly that God has a comprehensive, unchanging plan that predetermines whatever shall take place. The Bible also teaches us that this doctrine of God's comprehensive plan has great practical significance. In the first place, it has great practical significance for our belief in predictive prophecy. How could God predict what is going to take place? How could God be utterly certain and speak with assurance as to what will take place if He Himself did not control everything that comes about? Isaiah 14:24 says, Jehovah of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Because of that, God can tell us the future in advance. He doesn't choose to tell us a lot about the future. But when God does give us predictive prophecy, you can count on it always being true. Because what God is describing is his own purpose that is going to stand and come about. Secondly, this doctrine of God's comprehensive plan has great practical significance for our comfort and affliction. I can tell you that you don't believe in a predestinating, foreordaining God that you have deprived yourself of one of the greatest comforts the Bible offers. That's in knowing that all things work together for good, for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. Just imagine with me for a moment, if you will, going to the hospital and how to give pastoral comfort to parents who have lost a child, maybe that died in an automobile accident tragically. What do you tell such parents? You say, well, it's really too bad even God couldn't have stopped this. You know, Satan must have done this. You know, I know some Armenian pastors who say things like that. Is there any comfort to be found in that? That God somehow is overruled by Satan? That God cannot determine the course of events, that this is somehow out of the sphere of his plan and control? There's no comfort in that at all. In fact, it makes the suffering that we undergo totally meaningless. It makes the world in which we live futile. Because there is so much in this vale of tears we go through, so much affliction, so much discouragement and sadness, so much disease that the Bible tells us that not a bit of that takes place. Without God's grand sovereign plan. Nothing is by chance. Nothing is under the ultimate control of the evil one. Everything that takes place takes place according to God's sovereign choice and therefore has meaning and has purpose. And for those who are called according to his purpose will bring good to them. I realize it's very hard to accept the death of children. But if it's going to be acceptable, it's only going to be so because you believe God will overrule the tragedy for good in some way that we don't at this present moment understand. I think about the hardest thing probably that I've ever gone through in my life in terms of heartache and feeling just truly depressed and crushed and broken emotionally. And when I was going through that experience in my life, I came across a book entitled Trusting God Even When Life Hurts. And this book made a great difference to me in terms of enabling me to overcome, not perfectly, not consistently, but to take the major step out of that depression and to understand that God does love me and that because he has planned everything, things will be okay. Now, the amazing thing to me is I'm supposed to be a theologian. I'm supposed to teach these doctrines probably in this book. To be honest with you, there was nothing new theologically. But the way in which the sovereignty of God was presented by this particular author just brought home to my heart the practical significance of what I already believed about the foreordination or the predestination of God. That because God controls all things, I could be confident that somehow this would work together for good. Yes, this belief in the comprehensive plan of God is of great practical significance. We believe in predictive prophecy. We must believe in a predestinating God. We believe that the tragedies and afflictions of life have meaning and purpose. We must believe in the sovereignty of God, that he foreordains even these horrible things that have happened. And thirdly, it has great practical significance, I think, for Our assurance as believers in the ultimate salvation that will be ours. In Romans 8:30, Paul says, and whom he foreordained, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. You see, there's an unbreakable golden chain of salvation referred to by Paul here. And he says, if God has foreordained that we be saved, then it will come about that we are called, that we are justified, and ultimately glorified. We can be perfectly sure that he who has begun a good work in us will perfect it to the day of Christ Jesus. Now do you have that confidence in yourself? You know, when I find Christians rarely. But when I find Christians who say, oh yeah, I have no doubt that I'll be saved ultimately I usually know I have here somebody who's very either young in the faith or very shallow in their self understanding because there aren't many godly mature Christians who don't realize it's a day by day battle. Will I be faithful? Will sin have the upper hand? Will I be consistent? Will I persevere to the end? Will persecution or will affliction turn me away? Will it discourage my heart? Will we worry about these sorts of things? If we trusted only in ourselves, we should rightly worry. How do I know that I'll persevere to the very end? Well, I know that I will because the Bible says if God is work, God will perform it. God will perfect it, he will bring it about. Jesus tells us in John 10:29, my father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. What's my assurance that I will be saved? No one will snatch me out of the Father's hand. He is sovereign. He has chosen me and he will not let me go. I want you to think that the doctrine of predestination as it expresses the comprehensive plan of God is some abstract, some dry, dusty or some cold, impersonal doctrine. It amazes me when I hear those who don't believe this particular doctrine when they portray it the nasty way, the snide tone in which they present it. They don't understand what a wonderful doctrine it is, how it leads us to praise God and have confidence in him, how it takes away the sting of our affliction, gives us confidence in prophecy and even our ultimate salvation. Very practical, very significant doctrine. But I want to turn to another biblical doctrine as well. This evening I want to talk not only about God's Comprehensive plan for all things. But we need to talk about the biblical doctrine of moral depravity. The Bible teaches us that man was created good, but he was created able to do evil. He was created good, but with the freedom to do evil. And after man exercised that freedom to do evil, after Adam rebelled against God and fell into sin, all mankind became enslaved to sin. Ecclesiastes 7:29. God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. Consider Romans 6:20. When you were slaves of sin, you were carefree. Regarding righteousness, the Bible says that in our natural state, as we are born, as children of Adam, we are slaves of sin. We seek out many inventions, many ways of going contrary to God and His will. In fact, man has such a sinful character that he is unable unable to do what is pleasing to God. Romans 8:7, 8. The mind of the flesh, that is to say, the sinful nature with which we are naturally born. The mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Slaves of sin who cannot please God cannot be subject to his law. And indeed, the Bible tells us that we are so much in bondage to sin that we do not have the ability in ourselves to accept Christ. We do not have the ability to believe the Gospel. Here's what Jesus says in John 6:44, and then verse 65, he says, no man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. No man can come unto me except to be given unto him by the Father. We do not have the ability to come to Jesus. He pleads with us to come. He invites us to come. He offers us the good news of salvation. And. And he says, and you're unable to do anything about it. Only my Father can give you the ability to come. So the Bible teaches us of the moral depravity of man. Now, why am I bothering to tell you about the moral depravity of man when our class today is on predestination? Are you able to kind of bring these two things together? Moral depravity, over here, predestination. Here, moral depravity is the doctrine that we're unable to choose for Jesus. In First Corinthians, chapter two, Paul tells us that the natural man cannot discern the things of the Spirit. The natural man cannot understand these things. In our natural state, we flee from Jesus. We don't comprehend the gospel. We don't believe it to be true. Moral Depravity says you are unable to be saved. I remember very vividly my seminary professor, Cornelius Van Til, would tell us the significance of moral depravity. He told the story this way. He said, imagine man has developed a life giving potion. He's worked in his lab, you know, all these years and put all these chemicals together and tested all these things. And finally he's developed this medicine, if you will, that can make dead people live. And he says, and imagine that this scientist then loads up his truck with all these chemicals or this medicine that he's mixed together and he drives out to the graveyard one night and he sets up realistic stage and he says, all who are out in the tombs, come to me and I will give you this medicine that will allow you to live. Dr. Van Till was doing that to show the utter absurdity of the Arminian concept of evangelism. You see, the problem is dead people can't choose to come get the medicine. We who are dead in trespasses and sins, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter two, we who are children of disobedience, we who are captured and ensnared by the devil, are not able to answer the call of the Gospel. And so moral depravity tells you this, that no man will choose for Jesus in himself. The doctrine of predestination, on the other hand, tells you that God takes the sovereign initiative to change the hearts of dead men, that they will now be able to respond. It's because of predestination that we believe anybody can be saved. You see, predestination tells us that we love him because he first loved us. If God had not been first in this process of loving, if he had not taken the initiative, we'd be just like the people in those graves, dead and unable to respond. We would have no love for him. We would not be subject to the law of God. We would not be able to follow after Jesus. But since God loved us first, since he predestined that we would end up in heaven with him for all eternity, God then does the miraculous work of taking the initiative to change hearts and to grant the gift of faith. Ephesians 2 says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift. The faith that you exercise isn't because you're smarter than others. It isn't because you're wiser than others, or you've accomplished more than others, or you're more righteous or more fit for salvation, or more somehow appropriate to the kingdom. Of God. It's not of you at all, Paul says, but it's God's gift. And if it's God's gift that comes by his initiative, right? We don't demand gifts from God. We don't barter to get a gift from God. He grants it sovereignly. And so the doctrine of predestination. What I'm trying to tell you is the doctrine of predestination is the only hope for those who understand the biblical view of man as lost in sin, depraved and unable to make a choice to come to Jesus. And that's why I say predestination is good news. I hate it when people present the doctrine of predestination begrudgingly as something. Well, I have to believe it. I guess it's in the Bible. Begrudging the doctrine of predestination. It's the heart of the gospel. It's the sweetness of the good news of God that he does everything for me, even giving me the gift of faith. No, I'm not a begrudging Calvinist. Of course, I'd rather not call it Calvinism. It's just Paul's theology, which is just Isaiah's theology, which is just Moses theology. It's just the theology of the Bible. And everything that's in the Bible is good news, ultimately. So I believe in the good news of predestination. And the good news here is that he takes the initiative and he applies salvation to us. As I said, we love him, but only because he first loved us well. But this good news of predestination has not been so cheerfully accepted by everybody, as you know. Let me see if I can't deal with the difficulty of this doctrine, at least some of the difficulties that are raised. The first difficulty that will be raised is that people will say, how then can men have free will? How is it possible that men could have free will if God predestines every detail of their lives? You know, they have all these different plans in their heart, but it's God's counsel that determines which one they'll follow. Even the casting of the dice or the lot is determined by God, the hairs of our head. So it just seems like man's in a straightjacket. He can't do anything but what God has predestined. What happens then to free will? We probably could use an entire class period, just on this convoluted, ambiguous concept of free will. I'm not going to give an entire class to it, but let me just summarize for you. Let me point out first of all that the notion of free will is very slippery. When people speak of free will, they have all sorts of different ideas in mind and often don't realize that they're jumping from one to the other or they're slipping from one version will into another. When we speak of free will, we could be referring to the voluntariness of a person's actions. To say that he did it freely or he chose to do it is simply to say he was not compelled, he was not forced against his will. The choice was genuinely his own. In that sense, of course, free will is a redundancy, isn't it? To say that man exercises his will is that it's free. If it's not free, then it's not his will. It's contrary to his will. Now, does the Bible teach us that men make voluntary choices? Well, it certainly does. Just consider this. Deuteronomy 30:19. I have set before you life and death. Therefore choose life that you may live. The Bible says that men are to choose. The Bible tells us that men choose. And the Bible holds men accountable for the choices that they make. In that sense, the Bible says men have free will. They have a will. They actually choose the things that they do, and they do it without compulsion, without being forced. Another notion of free will is that the choices we make, the actions we take, are determined and thus limited by our own internal character. That is, the kind of person that I am will determine the choices that I make. The Bible says in Matthew 15:19, from out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries. It tells US In James 1:14 and 15, every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires, his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And so I make my own choices. There's no doubt about that. And the Bible says when I choose sinfully, I'm choosing according to my internal character. You know, a good tree doesn't bring forth bad fruit. That's what Jesus said. And so when I choose things that are evil, I'm choosing according to the evil character that is mine. And that doesn't mean it's not free. It's truly my choice determined by my own character. And so in these senses, the Bible says man does have a free will. But then when we get into arguments with people, they have other concepts of free will. For instance, people think that if you have free will, you can choose contrary to, or sometimes independently of, the decree of God. God, predestined certain things, but you can choose contrary to it. And if we say, no, the Bible doesn't teach that, then you say, oh, well, then we don't have free will. Well, my suggestion is when somebody says, well, that's my concept of free will, I think I say, well, just tough. I mean, that's your concept, but that isn't what the Bible teaches. The Bible doesn't teach that you can choose contrary to the predetermined plan of God. Somebody says, oh, well, then I'm in a straitjacket. It's not a voluntary thing. I'm being compelled. And it's at that point we have to say, whoa, just wait just a minute. The Bible says whatever you choose will be according to God's predetermination. But it doesn't say that you will choose it by compulsion. You know what the problem is? Person is going to say, well, how does God do that? How does God make it certain that I will do whatever he is predestined? And yet he doesn't force me to do it? And the answer is, I don't know. But the fact that I don't know how God does it has nothing to do with whether he does it or not. Because God is not limited by my abilities, much less by my understanding. You see, the problem is that people want to think of God in human terms. Although Isaiah says his thoughts are above our thoughts and his ways above our ways, we want to bring them down to our level and understand them on our level. Now, let's try to understand predestination on our level. Let's see if it works out. What if I want one of the members of this class to rob a liquor store and I want to make it absolutely certain that you do it? Of course, one of the things that irritates me is that you've got your own free will. And so if I'm going to make absolutely certain that you do the things I want you to do, what do I have to do? I have to override your free will. And there are many ways. I mean, there are a few ways I might do that. I might drug you. I might put a gun to your head and, you know, and force you to go into the liquor store. That'd be a funny scene, right? I'm forcing you to force the guy to open the drawer and so forth. But nevertheless, on a human level, if I'm going to predestine that men do things, I can only bring it about by what, taking away their free will. But is God limited to Doing only the things I can do. I mean, God said that Mary would have a baby and she wouldn't have sex with a man. Now, if I want to make sure that some woman has a baby, that there's only one way I can make sure of it. It's either going to be me or some other man impregnating her. But, you know, God's not limited by my inability. God is not somehow penned in to do things only in the way that I can understand or do. I don't know how Jesus walked on water, but I believe he did it. And so when the Bible teaches us that God predestines that I will actually choose to do, and to say that I choose is to say that I do it freely. Not contrary to my nature, mind you, but according to my own nature. But when I choose to do these things, and it's been predestined by God, the Bible says that it's certain in advance, and yet I'm responsible for what I have done. God's predetermining something makes it certain. But the fact that he predetermines that I do it freely says that it was not done by compulsion. You're just going to have to take my word for it here because our time is short in class. There is no logical contradiction in saying that God predestines that something will take place, certainly. And he predestines that I will do it freely. There's no logical contradiction. But as you can tell, there's a very, very, very great mystery. Because we don't know how God does that. We don't know how he brings it about. But Romans, the ninth chapter, assures us that he does not bring it about by compulsion. I freely decided to come to this class. And when it got time for me to leave my room and walk down the hall and to stand behind this lectern and teach, it wasn't as though I felt like I had been picked up. And now I'm being pushed down the hallway by the will of God, God didn't have to accomplish that by compulsion. I can't tell you all that God does to bring about the free choices of men. But I can tell you that when he chooses that I do it willfully, then I do it willfully. John Calvin used an excellent analogy that I want to share with you tonight. Calvin was trying to teach that when God predestined something, it does not change the true character of the things that he is predestined to take place. And he used this Example, he said, God predestined that the bones of Jesus would not break. And so I ask you, if God predestined that the bones of Jesus would not break, does that mean that Jesus had unbreakable bones all of a sudden? Did the bones of Jesus lose their true bone like character? They're no longer brittle in the way that human bones are. They were unbreakable. Maybe they became steel bones inside him because God predestined. No, that doesn't mean that at all. If God predestines that the bones of Jesus not break, they still remain true human bones and they do not break. Likewise, when God predestines that I choose something, I truly choose it. His predestining my choice doesn't take away the choicey ness of it doesn't take away the freedom of is still my decision. And yet it's been made certain in advance that I'll decide according to his counsel. Yes, it's a great mystery. I don't know how God does it. But let's not listen to this idea that there's a logical contradiction there. In Romans, the ninth chapter, Paul entertains this objection from somebody who says, well, who can resist his will? He, if he determines everything in advance, no one can fight against the will of God. And you know, Paul won't even play that game. He says, who are you to talk back to God? He has the right to do what he's doing. Just like a potter has the right to make from one lump of clay two different kinds of vessels. Paul doesn't get into a long metaphysical, philosophical discussion. He just says, you can't talk back to God. Don't try to blame God for what you are, as though somehow it was compulsion that brought this about. That's the objection. He compels us to do these things. Who can resist his will? No one has to resist God's will. Because by his choice and will we decide to do exactly what we want to do. And so it is a mystery. But you know, all Christians accept mysteries. You know any true Christian that doesn't accept the doctrine of the Trinity. Can anybody explain the doctrine of the Trinity to human satisfaction? No. That's a great mystery. We accept the two natures in the one person of Christ. We accept the virgin birth, and on and on it goes. We all accept mysteries. The only question is, does the Bible teach this particular mystery? And that's why I began where I did. So there can be no doubt. Text after text after text present the comprehensive sovereignty of God by which he predetermines whatsoever comes to pass, even the destinies of the saved and the lost. But then there's another objection. Somebody say, well, that's not fair. It's not fair that I came into this world with a fallen, depraved nature. Now, the objection is not against the sovereignty of God, against the federal headship of Adam. People will say, well, Adam made that choice. Why should I be held accountable for that? You know, it's not a complete answer, but I sometimes want to say, you think you would have done any better? I mean, that. That is so proud and arrogant. But nonetheless, people will say, why should I be held accountable for what Adam did? I want to answer in two ways real quickly. First of all, the Bible is not presenting anything to us in this view of the federal representation or headship of Adam is not presenting anything to us that we are not familiar with in our own human experience. I know people who object say, oh, no, we would never. That would never be fair. We don't do things that way in our, you know, in our lives, in our behavior. We don't conduct our affairs that way. And I say we don't. I want you to think about the NCAA punishment of a college or a university. Say the NCAA takes the basketball team for this university out of postseason competition or says it can't compete on television this year or something. Now, why is it doing that? Well, because certain coaches or alumni or players were involved in violations of the code of the ncaa. All right. Does that mean that only those individuals who actually did the violations are prohibited from postseason play or play on TV? No. The entire university is condemned by the NCAA for the violations of what may be six, seven, 10 people. And that's because those coaches, those players, those alumni even represent the entire school. If they were to do it in the way that people object, according to the thinking of those who object to God's making us depraved by Adam's choice, the NCAA will say, those five, six, seven, 10 people are not to be allowed out on the court. But you can field another team, go ahead and take 10 other people from your student body, put them out there. But it doesn't. It says those players or coaches, alumni stood for all the rest. This is not something we're unfamiliar with, and we all accept that. We know it would be ridiculous to think that you can only exclude the particular players or coaches they do stand for their college when they are out on the court. That is the university out on the court. No one's forgetting the math that There are thousands of other students besides them. But that's the team the university fields and that's the whole university for the purposes of basketball. And when they get tossed out, the whole university gets tossed out. God does the same thing. God says adam stands for all of his posterity. I have a second observation to make. If we don't want God using representation or federal headship, let's remember that we can then not appeal to Jesus as our federal head and representative. Anybody who thinks God shouldn't be using one man to stand for others cannot allow for the substitutionary atonement, cannot allow for Jesus to stand in my place. And frankly, I know that I'm going to lose if I argue with God. And so I'm not going to get into a dispute over whether it's fair or unfair for him to do that. I know that it's fair when humans do it. Why shouldn't it be fair when he does? And when all is said and done, I don't want to lose the great privilege, the gracious privilege of having Jesus be my substitute, my federal head before God. Well, people will tell us it's still not fair because God hasn't chosen all men to salvation. At first they said it's not fair because it takes away free will. And we've seen, well, that isn't what the Bible teaches. You by your rational objections may say that it's impossible, but the Bible doesn't say it's impossible for men to make free choices that God has determined. And then people say it's unfair because I come into this world depraved by the choice of Adam. But we see there's nothing unfair about that at all. In fact, it's at the very heart, on the other side, the very heart of the Gospel, that Jesus represents us. But now thirdly, people say it's not fair because if God were doing this, he should choose everybody. Well, maybe at this point we should point out that for all the discussion of fairness and therefore all the discussion of justice when it comes to salvation, I'm really glad that God doesn't rest simply on his justice. Because the doctrine of predestination tells me that God is just, but he's also merciful because God owes salvation to nobody. Turn in your bibles to Ephesians 1. Let me begin reading at the third verse. Just hear how Paul describes the doctrine of predestination. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Even as what he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blemish before him in love, having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, unto Himself. And how did God do this? What was the plan? Why did God do it this way? According to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. You see this, that God's choice of us, having foreordained us to be adopted into his family through Christ. God doing this by the pleasure of his will, brings praise to the glory of his grace. No man has a claim on God. No sinner can say, you owe me salvation. When God grants salvation, it's to the praise of the glory of his grace. We sometimes say grace is unmerited favor. And it is. That's alright as far as it goes. But you know, when we talk about salvation, grace is much more than being given something I don't deserve. It's being given the very opposite of what I deserve. Now you want to talk about fairness, you want to talk about what we deserve, you want to talk about justice? Then forget anybody being saved. The Bible says predestination shows the glory of the grace of God, that He takes all those who are in Adam, all who deserve to die, and he grants eternal life to some through His Son, Jesus Christ. Praise be to the grace of God. Second Timothy 1:9 teaches us the same thing Paul says who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal. You see, it's the grace of God that gets magnified in predestination. And moreover, the Bible tells us in Romans the ninth chapter that this grace of God, this predestinating work of God sovereignly determining the destinies of men, is an unconditional work. God did not choose me because he looked down through the corridors of history and he saw what a good person I'd be, much less that I'd choose Jesus. And then he plays this game, oh, I see that Greg will choose Jesus and now I'll choose Greg. That's not predestination. That's post destination where God pretends to be the one who's in charge, when in fact he's only going after my own choices and your own choices. No, God chose those who would be saved in advance. And the Bible says he did not do it because he saw they would be good People. With respect to Jacob and Esau, Paul says, the children, being not yet born, having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. It says, jacob, I loved Esau, I hated God makes a choice which is totally unconditioned by the quality and character of our lives and our own works. In Romans 9, Paul says, God hardens the heart of Pharaoh. God hates Esau, and on the other hand, he loves Jacob. Was Jacob better than Esau? Absolutely not. He was a wicked, deceitful, evil man. The difference between Jacob and Esau is the choice of God. It's the grace of God. And thus it comes down to our realizing that he is the potter, we are the clay, and he does with the clay whatever he chooses to do. If you don't believe in predestination, then you can't fully praise the grace of God, and there is not requisite humility in you. If you don't believe in predestination, then you will not submit really to the sovereignty of God, and there is not requisite humility in you. The doctrine of predestination shows us God's graciousness, God's sovereign glory, and our humble position before Him. But then there will be people who say, but it's not fair, because God chooses who's going to be saved. And there may be some people who want to be saved and want to believe in Jesus, and then they're not able to do so. As long as you have that conception that somehow God doesn't connect the means and the ends of things that God predestines the end, but he doesn't care about the means to getting to that end, then you might come up with this absurd notion that God doesn't predestine some people, but they still want to be saved. The Bible doesn't teach us that you mustn't think that there are going to be people who are at the gate of heaven someday wanting to get in. And then God will say, I'm not on the reservation list. You were not chosen. As long as Arminians have that absurd conception of God, then of course they'll reject this doctrine. I would object as well that God doesn't have everything under control and that he has some people with changed hearts wishing to believe the gospel but just arbitrarily get rejected at the gate of heaven because they were not invited to the party. That isn't the doctrine of predestination. In John 6, verse 37, Jesus says, All who come to me, I will in no Wise cast out. You see that Jesus says he will turn nobody away who comes. You know what else he says in that verse? All that the Father gives me will come. All that the Father gives a desire to come to Jesus. They will come and he will receive them. You don't have to worry that people will be turned away because they were not on the reservation list. No one will come apart from predestination to Jesus, and he will reject none of them. Well, this is a high and a holy mystery. I began today's class by indicating that in Deuteronomy we read that the secret things belong to the Lord our God. And we should keep that in mind. It isn't for us to peer into, you know, the sovereign mysteries of God and how he controls the universe and what his plan may be. Those are secret things. He determines the end from the beginning. He knows what his character is. He knows how he does these things. He's the one who makes these choices. These secrets are not for us. It is rather for us to take those things that are revealed by God and to live according to them, and our children to live according to them through throughout our days. Job, the 11th chapter, verses 7 and 8. We read the rhetorical question, who can find out the Almighty unto perfection? Nobody can plumb. You see the very nature of God and understand predestination, how he works these things. But we certainly can understand that the Bible teaches this high and holy mystery, that he is the one who determines the end from the beginning. He is the one who brings all things to pass, and that in so doing he does not take away human freedom or human responsibility, but rather is the one who is praised for his grace in saving those who would be saved. Let me end class today by reading Romans 11, beginning at the 33rd. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him, and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. You see the doctrine of predestination, even as John Talbot told us at the beginning of our class, the doctrine of predestination leads us to glorify God as we should. It leads us to worship and wonder, even as it did the apostle Paul. Oh, the depth of the riches of God. Let me quote Calvin one more we shall never be clearly convinced, as we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the fountain of God's free mercy, till we are acquainted with this eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison. That he adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what he refuses to others. Ignorance of this principle evidently detracts from the divine glory, and diminishes real humility. Let's pray.

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