Sermon Tone Analysis

The Mystery of Election - Part 2

The doctrine of predestination is perhaps more misunderstood and confusing than any other topic in scripture.

If God loves all people, then why only some chosen to spend eternity in heaven with him?

Wouldn't it be unfair of God to pick some people and neglect others?

Well, today we're opening to Romans 9 to shed light on this serious topic of predestination.

My message is titled "The Mystery of Election" on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Let me be just really blunt.

The church is not a place for you to come and get wet nursed.

That's not what the church is about.

The church is an equipping station where we get the supplies we need to go out into the world and share the message of Jesus Christ with others.

What I'm saying to you is, if you are unconcerned about lost people, please don't mask your apathy for the lost with the doctrine of predestination.

The same Paul who taught predestination also was the world's greatest missionary and evangelist who took the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, and we had that same command as well.

After expressing his concern for Israel, now he begins to discuss this whole issue of election.

Again, God never promised to save all of Israel.

The promise was to the elect of Israel.

Now, as I get ready to wade into some deep waters here for the next 18 minutes, and next week, I'm going to start with three statements that I want you to write down, so that whenever, over the next few weeks, you think the pastor's gone off his rocker, he's gone off the rails, he's gone to extremes, I want should come back and remember these three statements.

Statement number one.

No one is lost without choosing to be lost, and no one is saved without choosing to be saved.

Let me say it again.

Nobody is lost without choosing to be lost.

Nobody is saved without choosing to be saved.

What do I mean by that?

What I mean is, first of all, God doesn't drag people to hell kicking and screaming against their will.

That's not why people end up in hell.

They end up in hell by their choice.

No one is lost who doesn't choose to be lost, and nobody is saved without choosing to be saved.

Listen to this.

God is not a divine rapist.

God does not force his love on people against their will.

And for some of you Calvinists who were just offended by what I said, comfort yourself with this.

According to your theology, I was predestined to make that comment, so don't blame me for it.

You can blame somebody else for it.

No, nobody is saved without choosing to be saved.

Nobody is lost without choosing to be lost.

Secondly, God's desire is always to save as many people as possible, not as few people as possible.

God's desire is to save as many people as possible, not as few as possible.

Where do I find that in scripture?

All over the pages of scripture.

1 Timothy 2:4, Paul said, "God desires that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth".

Does that mean all people are going to be saved?

No, that's not a decree of God.

It is the desire of God.

Two different things.

God desires that all people be saved.

The apostle Peter said he is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.

Look at the parables Jesus told about the lost sheep and the lost coin and the lost son.

Do people rejoice when something is lost?

No. Heaven rejoices when someone is found and saved.

Just like the father when the prodigal returned, he rejoiced, he embraced him, he welcomed him.

The angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner is saved.

The heart of God is to save as many people as possible, not as few as possible.

Number three, there are truths in the Bible that appear to be contradictory and cannot be explained.

There are truths in the Bible that appear to be contradictory and cannot be explained.

In theology, we call it an antinomy, A-N-T-I-N-O-M-Y, antinomy.

These are two truths that appear contradictory, but in fact are complimentary.

And that's true about predestination and human responsibility.

Now, with that background, let's get in to verse 6.

Let me say a word about the fact of election, that God actually chooses people for certain purposes.

We see that all throughout the Bible.

Jesus chose apostles.

How many did he choose?

How many?

Come on, this is simple, 101.

He chose 12.

Why didn't he choose 14?

Why didn't he choose nine?

By choosing 12, there means there are some that he did not choose.

He chose 12.

Or think about the apostle Paul when he arrived in Troas.

Many of us have been Troas, and remember there he was trying to decide whether to go into Asia Minor or to go into Europe, to Greece, and the man appeared to him in the vision and beckoned him to come to Greece instead.

Why did God send Paul to Greece instead of Asia Minor?

By making that choice, God was ensuring that some people would hear the Gospel and other people wouldn't hear the Gospel.

You see, the doctrine of election also all throughout the Old Testament, and that's what Paul begins with in Romans 9:6.

He says, first of all consider Abraham.

Verse 6, "But it is not though the Word of God has failed.

For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel: neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants".

Now, you remember the story of Abraham.

God was ready to begin a nation, so he needed a man, a person to begin with, and he looked over all the earth and he selected, he elected, he predestined this man named Abraham.

Now, why did God choose Abraham and didn't choose somebody else? Was it because Abraham was more righteous than anybody else? Was Abraham the only righteous man on the earth?

No, the fact is Abraham was just as much of a sinner as everybody else.

In fact, the scripture says he was a worshiper of idols, but God chose him in spite of his works, in spite of who he was.

He selected Abraham.

That's election.

You say, "Okay, well, I can accept that.

I mean, after all he has to begin with somebody, so, okay I'll give you, he chose Abraham, but it has to stop there".

No, it doesn't stop there.

Consider secondly Isaac.

Look at versus seven to eight.

God said to Abraham, "Through Isaac your descendants will be named.

That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as descendants".

Remember God said to Abraham, "I'm going to make you a great nation.

I'm going to give you a child, and that child will be yours in Sarah," and Abraham couldn't believe it, and after years passed and the promise wasn't fulfilled, Abraham and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands and allowed Abraham to have intercourse with Sarah's handmaiden named Hagar, and Hagar produced a child, and that child's name was Ishmael.

And you remember it was 13 years after that that God fulfilled his promise to Abraham and Sarah through Isaac.

So you have these two sons, Ismael and Isaac.

God chose Isaac.

You say, "Well, again, that's easy to see, I guess, because after all, Isaac came through Abraham and Sarah, the true descendants, the true children of promise, not through Hagar, but surely election stops there".

No, it doesn't.

Think about the story of Jacob, Paul says.

Look at verse 10 of Romans 9. "And not only this, but there was Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac: and though the twins were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to his choice might stand, it wasn't because of his works, but because of him who calls, that it was said to her, 'the older will serve the younger'.

Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated'".