The Gospel - A Real Offer
The writer does not know how many
critics there are regarding the doctrine of predestination and sovereign
election; that is God in eternity past deciding who he would save totally
independent of anything that man would ever do. God’s choosing of some was
strictly of His own autonomous free will. The clear implication is that there
are those that God did not choose in eternity past, leaving them to remain in
their sins and ultimately perish.
What the critics are saying is
that is totally unbiblical, and blasphemous to declare that God would be unfair in any way to His creation. What
do I mean? The critics of predestination and sovereign election have stated for
Reformed Thinkers to insinuate that the God of the Bible would choose some and
exclude others is heresy. Is their assessment true? I do not believe so, and I
will try my best to explain why, but before I do that I will point out some
shocking things I read in an article recently that totally rejects the
Calvinistic View.[1]
One of things mentioned in the
article is that if God has already made a predetermined choice who He is going
to save, what is the point in praying for the lost – what is the point of
evangelism? They are going be saved no matter what right? The reason we are to
pray and evangelize everyone is because God commands us to do so. Yes God has
indeed predetermined the salvation of many, but that does not negate our human
responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to these words, “For
everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How will they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? And how are they to believe in whom they have not heard? And how
will they hear without a preacher? And how are they to preach unless they are
sent (Rom 10:13-15a)?
So we see there is an absolute
necessary condition for the elect to be saved, they must hear the gospel
message from an ambassador of God, a preacher so that they can believe and be
saved. Salvation does not come by osmosis. The gospel is the means God has
chosen to bring about His desired end; the salvation of his elect chosen before
the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
Some Non-reformed thinkers see preaching
the gospel with a Reformed thinker mindset an exercise in futility. This writer
who rejects the Reformed view also believes that “Calvinists” (I’m using that
distinction because that is how a lot of non-reformed people describe Reformed
thinkers) are presenting the gospel as a hollow, disingenuous offer to sinners
because in the final analysis, they are “pre-doomed” (according the opponents
of Calvinism) since most of them are non-elect.
Listen to what the Lord commanded
the prophet Ezekiel to say to the nation of Israel, “And He (the Lord) said to
me, “son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. For
you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the
house of Israel, not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language whose
words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen
to you. But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel
have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart” (Ezek 2:4-7).
These verses speak volumes
regarding God’s commands and man’s response to those commands. Although God
told Ezekiel in advance that Israel
would not listen to the word of the Lord, Ezekiel still had the responsibility
to deliver God’s word. Now, on the surface, it appears that this is a waste of
time on the prophet’s part, but it could never be because God commanded him to
do it. The word of the Lord never returns void (Isa 55:11).
My point is preaching the gospel
is never an empty exercise for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone
who believes (Rom 1:16). How could it be empty since God has placed His chosen
seed throughout the entire world to be reached with His precious truth? The
gospel is an absolute genuine offer to everyone, elect and non-elect alike. The
gospel is the only engrafted word
that is able to save our souls (James 1:21). And, since God has kept it a
secret who is actually chosen, and who is not, we must preach to everyone so
that God can grant repentance and faith to those He has chosen (Acts 11:18b;Eph
2:8-9).
So, what about the non-elect?
This is where it gets sticky. 1) Is there any chance of them being saved since
they have not been chosen by God? 2) Has God pre-ordained their destruction? 3)
If so, why did God even create them if in the final analysis they are going to
hell? These are admittedly very, very tough questions.
The elephant is definitely in the
room.
And admittedly the writer
probably cannot adequately answer these three questions, but I am willing to
try. The passage that comes to mind regarding the non-elect is in Proverbs
16:4, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of doom.” This verse I believe provides the purpose for the
wicked’s existence.[2]
Even the enemies of God serve a purpose in this earth realm albeit most
negatively – a sovereign decision by God. It is a reality we are not
comfortable with if we are honest. However, God’s purposes will always prevail
over man’s objections. No one has the right to ask God, “what are you doing, or
why did you do that?”
That type of questioning is
foolish.
Well for most Christians, they
believe that God sent Jesus to die for all people indiscriminately – for
those He knew would never believe. If
this is true, then Jesus died and paid for in full the sins of those who will
die in unbelief, go to hell, and ultimately go to the Lake of Fire to pay for
their own sins forever. This makes the atonement of Christ powerless to save and
His mission to earth an utter failure. In addition, if a person dies in
unbelief it proves their sins were never forgiven and paid for. How can Jesus
pay in full the price for someone’s sins yet they die in unbelief? Is not
unbelief a sin Jesus shed his blood for to? Why is the sin of unbelief a game
changer, a maverick atom so to speak that can somehow escape the power of the
blood of Christ to wash it away so the unbelieving can be made by God to
believe? We need to carefully think these things through.
I guess conventional human wisdom
tells us that since God loves the world and sent His only Son to die for it,
then Jesus died for all sin; even for those who never believe. This makes
salvation only possible, not guaranteed or actual. God now has to hope the sinner makes the right choice
to choose Christ on his own with absolutely
no power to do so because he is a dead man spiritually (Eph 2:1;Col 2:13). The
natural man can and will not incline him or herself to repent and believe apart
from God’s resurrecting power. It is impossible (Rom 8:7-8).
Last I checked it is impossible
for a dead man to do anything but be dead.
And since it’s true that the
natural man is indeed dead in trespasses and sins, he will never come alive
unless God resurrects him from death. In other words God regenerates him, or
causes him to be born again, preaches the gospel to him so that he can believe
and be saved. Jesus didn’t die to make salvation possible, He died to save His
people from their sins for real (Matt
1:21).
I am arguing that God does not save everyone.
Why doesn’t He? That is God’s business, not ours. He is not obligated to save
anyone, nor is He accountable to us since we are by nature children of wrath
(Eph 2:3). We all deserve to go to hell right now! We as a result of our sinful
nature we are no good at all. Like it or not that is the Biblical diagnosis of
man.
So, since God has decided to pass
by some sinners, the outcry for most will be, “How can God blame me for sin if
I don’t believe? Isn’t that what he has determined for me?” The one asking the
question isn’t sincere about repenting. Rather they are asking facetiously so
they can excuse their sin and unbelief. They
are also insinuating that God approves evil. It is our responsibility to
believe when we have the knowledge of the truth. Just like someone chooses not
to believe, someone can choose to believe. God does not put a barrier in front
of them preventing them from believing, but because of the corrupt nature of
man, God knows they will not. This is not God’s fault, it’s the sinners. People
today are just like they were in Ezekiel’s day, a hard forehead and a stubborn
heart. In regards to those who question God’s justice regarding how he handles
man, listen to Paul in Romans 9:20, “Who are you O man to answer back to God?
Will the thing molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Man never has the right to accuse
God of wrong doing. God made us, and it is up to Him how he wants to deal with
each human being. God will have mercy and compassion on whomever He wants (Ex
33:19; Rom 9:15). Want God on your side? Then repent of your sins, and believe
on Jesus Christ! Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).
When dealing with Divine
sovereignty and human free will, we see two parallel lines running infinitely
in the same direction that never intersect. Many have asked where do the two
lines meet? Answer, they don’t. Otherwise they would not be parallel. Let me
give the reader some Biblical illustrations of these parallel truths.
Although God has chosen some
before the foundation of the world for salvation, the Bible says whosoever will
may come, and come all you labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt
11:28; Rev 22:17).
Also Jesus commands everyone to
repent (Matt 4:17). Yet we know that no one can repent unless it is granted by
God (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25). Scripture
also tells us that God desires that all men be saved (I Tim 2:4) yet He does
not save all men and most refuse to believe sealing their doom. God is not
willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
We know many will perish. The death of Christ was predetermined by God, and yet
the Romans crucified Him (Acts 2:23; 4:28). These verses appear to be
contradictions, but they are not. They are paradoxes that the human mind cannot
resolve. It transcends us.[3]
Concluding, God has never treated any of his creation unfairly no matter what our finite minds may think. God’s ways and thoughts are not ours, and we must remember that (Isa 55:9-10). Since none of us deserved be saved, God who is rich in mercy made a sovereign decision to save some because it was His pleasure in doing so (Eph 2:4-5). God also has reserved the right to execute justice on His enemies. Remember this world is not innocent toward God. We have broken His laws which is an offence to Him. This means God will exercise His sovereign right to destroy the perpetrators. At this point someone will say, “Now wait a minute, God is love right? Why would He destroy anyone?” This question has always astounded and annoyed me, and I will tell you why. Man has this audacious, narcissistic attitude; he thinks he is good in the sight of God, and that he does not deserve eternal punishment. That proves how loss and hell bound he really is. Because man refuses to look himself in the mirror of God’s word to get the absolute truth about his terminal sinful condition he will continue to be defiant in God’s sight and incur His holy wrath (Rom 1:18-32).
So yes, God is a God of love,
grace and mercy. Praise Him for that! For if He weren’t none would ever be
saved. But, He is also a God of justice and wrath. Praise Him for that as well.
What that means is He must punish evil doers in hell and ultimately the lake of
fire for their sins. It is a tragic reality, but it is good that God punishes
the wicked as well as save His elect. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our
sins–death. So those that refuse to accept Jesus’ substitutionary act as the
sole means of mankind’s salvation MUST pay the ultimate punitive act for their
treachery; eternal damnation! It’s only fair. If this world is ever going to
have perfect peace, God must preserve the righteous and destroy the wicked. Any
person with any common sense should desire true world peace. Only God Almighty
can bring it to pass.
[2] Although God created the wicked, does not mean He
creates unbelief in their hearts
Or makes them sin.
Pharaoh of Egypt, Judas Iscariot, Adolf Hitler fall into this infamous
category.
These three men along
with countless others served God unknowingly in their wickedness. They
providentially fulfilled
God’s purposes yet are
totally culpable for the evil they committed. They willfully chose the evil
that they
Did.
[3] Although God purposely sent Jesus to die for mankind’s
sins, His motives
Were pure and right. The
result the salvation of a multitude of people. God’s
Enemies that crucified
Christ motives were evil which makes them culpable
For his death. They
crucified the Lord out of hate and envy.
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