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Transcript 322B — The Issue of Predestination
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: My question occurs in Ephesians 2:1, and also verses 5 and 8. Are grace and faith gifts of God, or is it one or the other? And the second set of scripture is Ephesians 1:4,5 and 11. I'm wondering if, in God's foreknowledge He actually sees us as persons, by name, by our very soul. And also, maybe you Could comment on the sovereignty of God in electing and predestinating.
HC: All right. I'll be glad to comment on that.
The question is raised concerning a number of verses in Ephesians 1 and 2 that seem to give us the impression that we are dead in our sins, and that we have been predestinated by God to salvation. The question really is, how does all of this tie together?
The Bible is very clear in Ephesians 2:1-3, that before we are saved, spiritually we are dead. There is no hope. We are just like the world. Notice this language: "And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation (that is, our conduct) in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
In other words, God is painting a very true and terrible picture, that we're dead. We spiritually stink. We're decaying. We're corrupted. We're slaves of Satan, we're in complete rebellion against God, just like the rest of mankind. And we were headed for hell just as certainly as anyone else.
Now immediately the question must be raised, "Well, if that is all so, then how is it that anyone ever became saved?" How could it be that if I were a spiritual corpse, without any life, how could it be that I ever could have become saved?
Well, in Ephesians 1 and in Ephesians 2 God gives us the glorious answer. In Ephesians 1:4 Gad indicates that He chose us to be saved from before the foundations of the earth. Now just think of this. God, before He ever created any of the universe, before there ever was a Lucifer who fell into sin, before there was ever an Adam and Eve who rebelled against God, before there was ever a sin-cursed earth, or even a Garden of Eden, God already decided precisely who He planned to save. He chose us to be saved. It was His sovereign good pleasure that out of the human race that was going to come forth from the loins of Adam and Eve, there would be certain ones that He would save.
And He chose us in Christ, that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love. Now after we looked at our condition in Ephesians 2:1 & 3, we know that if He chose me, then He had to save me, too, because I certainly never would have come to Him. Why, I was dead in my sins. I lusted after my sin. I was a slave of Satan, like the rest of mankind.
And therefore, if God chose me, then He also had to do the saving. And so we see this in verse 5 of Ephesians 1: "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." It's God's action altogether, you see. He did it for His own good pleasure, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then He goes on in verse 6: "to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." You see, the whole action is God's action. We were dead, but God elected us to be saved, and therefore He went about the business of saving us.
And this is reinforced in verse 11: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." His will . . . remember John 1:12 declares that to them that received Him He gave power to become the sons of God, "who were born not after the will of man, nor after the will of the flesh, but after the will of God.'' We're saved by God's will, not because of our will. We're dead. We're dead. We would never, never, never, in ourselves, turn to God. But God predestinated us.
I'm always amazed when I hear Christians say, "Oh, you believe in predestination, don't you? You believe in election. You're one of those that believe in predestination." I say, "Well, of course I believe in predestination. That's what the Bible teaches." I wasn't reading from some book that someone wrote. I was reading the Bible, when it talks about predestination here. And if the Bible talks about predestination, and tells me that I was dead in my sins, well, I better believe in it. And if you don't believe in predestination, you better start reading the Bible. You better ask yourself, "Well, what kind of a gospel do I have then, if I don't believe in predestination? Where do I get this idea that I wasn't predestinated, if the Bible says this so emphatically here? Is it possible that maybe I have been led astray insofar as what the Bible teaches?"
Any Christian who is going to follow the Bible has got to believe in predestination, because this is what the Bible is talking about here. Now let's go back to Ephesians 2 for a moment. There it says that we were dead. But now notice verse 4: "But God . . . " Not me . . . not me. "But I saw my sins, and because I reached out to God, He saved me." No, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. It says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, hath made us alive together with Christ. By grace ye are saved."
Do you see where the action is? Do you see where the action is? It's God's action. We're corpses. We're dead. We're corrupted. It is God who is doing the saving. It is God who is bestowing His mercy, His great love. It is God who is making us alive.
Do you remember Lazarus in the tomb? He was dead, dead. His body smelled like something awful. It had been dead for four days. His body was decaying. He was a mess. And Jesus stood outside of that tomb and said, "Lazarus, come forth." But Lazarus was dead. How could Lazarus ever come forth?
Of course he couldn't come forth. Never in a billion years could he come forth. But he did come forth. He did come forth. Did Lazarus do this of his own will? Did he do it of his own strength? Ridiculous! Of course not! He did it because God bestowed His love on him. God made him alive. And so it says here, in verse 5, "He hath made us alive together with Christ. Well now, Christ was in the tomb, wasn't He? Wasn't He? Was Christ dead when He was in the tomb? Yes, He was dead. He died for our sins. Did He become resurrected? Yes, He did. On that Sunday morning long ago, there was an empty tomb. Yes, there was!
And here God is saying, "You who are saved He made alive with Christ. Christ rose from the grave; we have risen with Him. We, too, have experienced the resurrection.
And now comes the insistent point. "By grace ye are saved." All the time God is saying, "I've done it. I've done it. God has done it. God has done it. God has done it out of His love. God has done it out of His grace. God has done it out of His mercy, to His glory." And now He's making the point stick.
"By grace you have been saved." Don't get any ideas now, that you contributed anything to your salvation. Nonsense, nonsense, you were dead. By grace you have been saved . . . "and hath raised us up together." He has "raised us up together." We've experienced the resurrection.
And that's a very real resurrection, incidentally. It's the resurrection of our souls. We're made alive. We're a new creature. We're born again. And therefore, when we die, in our souls we don't go into the grave. No. No, in our souls we can leave this body and go to live and reign with Christ in Heaven.
And so in verse 8 He says, "For by grace are ye saved," driving home that point." By grace are ye saved, through faith." Now what's that faith? Can a dead person have faith? Of course not. No dead person can have faith. To trust in God when you're dead? That's impossible.
Well, where did the faith come from? He declares it here: "and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God." The faith whereby He saved us is a gift that has come from God. It's not of works, "lest any man should boast."
Now do you see the sovereign good pleasure of God? Now having said all this, let me underscore this. The Bible says, "Make your calling and election sure." If you are unsaved, or think you might be unsaved (and I hope that many, many Christians, as they listen to this program, will become disturbed . . . "Am I really saved?"), I can't be happier than to know this is happening, because then I know there are those who are being stirred up in their souls to really face the question of what salvation is.
It is so much more wonderful to face it now, while you're still physically alive, then it is to face it at Judgment Day, when it's too late. All kinds of people are dying thinking they're Christians, and really they have never known what salvation is. They have just been lulled into spiritual sleep. And they're going to wake up and face the judgment throne, because they have never been saved.
Read Matthew 7:21, or verses 15 through 24, if you don't believe that is so.
Well, here we have the fact that God says, "Make your calling and election sure." And if you're not sure you're saved, you can begin to call out to God for mercy. You can begin to cry out for His saving love. You can begin to turn from your sins and ask God for strength to continue to repent of your sins. And God promises you that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will truly seek Him with all your heart, you will really and truly find Him. God will save you.
There will be nobody at all before the Judgment Throne of the last Day who will be able to say to God, "I earnestly sought for salvation, and because I was not elect, therefore now I have to pay for my sins." That is absolutely an impossible idea. That cannot happen.
Because you see, there is no one that will earnestly seek for God unless God Himself is drawing him. And He will only draw those who are His elect. And so if you begin to call upon God and say, ''Oh, Lord, I don't know whether I'm elect or not elect, but I know I'm not saved. And I want to be saved." And if you mean business with the Lord, and repent of your sins and cry out to God for mercy, and ask for a faith to trust that Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, you will be saved.
But then when you start searching the Bible to find out how it was possible that you finally became saved, you're going to find that it was because you were one of God's elect, and God was drawing you. Jesus said in John 6:44: "No man can come to Me unless the Father draw him." And you can see why that is. We're dead. We're spiritually dead. There's no life. There isn't the slightest sign of life. All the life signs are gone long ago. We're in spiritual corruption and decay. It is absolutely necessary that God draw us.
And the evidence of this drawing power of God is that we begin to earnestly seek for salvation. We begin to really cry out for mercy. We begin to turn away from our sins.
Praise God for such a wonderful salvation.