problems with the doctrine of election and predestination. And we come to the fifth one, the fifth problem. If God chooses beforehand whom he is going to save and we don't have anything to do with his choice, then why in the world will we need to pray? Why do we pray for someone to be saved? Why should I pray for my Aunt Liz and Uncle Omer and my brother Juan if they're not elect? Why should we pray? Well, that's one of the common objections. And the answer, I'm not sure how far we got last time, but I have two answers to that. And first of all, it's the answer. The first answer is the doctrine of election is a very positive God-honoring doctrine. It really is. It's very positive. If there were no such thing as election, there would be no salvation. It's that simple. If God had not chosen me, or if he had not chosen you, you would not come and neither would I. None of us would be saved. I want to ask a question. Are we saved, and this is multiple choice, A or B, OK? You have a 50% chance to get it right. Are we saved, A, because before the foundation of the world, God chose us for salvation, or are we saved, B, because we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Which is it, Shannon? A or B? A, because before the foundation of the world, God chose us for salvation. B, because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You say it's A? Okay. A? How many say A? How many say B? The answer is both. The answer is both. Yeah, that's a tricky one. I guess it's tricky. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us. Is that why we're saved? Yes, it is. It's true. But we have to believe. We have to believe. The scripture says if we believe, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. So that's true too. So the answer is both. Where do we find that in the scriptures? We have it real clearly presented to us in 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. And verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose you for salvation. That's A. Through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. That's B. So, whomever He chooses, they're going to believe. And the whole issue is, we have to realize that we have responsibilities. The first A is, God chose us. That's His sovereignty. That's what He does. B is our responsibility. We have to believe. We must believe on Christ. Election by itself doesn't save us. It's election plus our faith. We have to believe. We must believe. Now, it's a given that if he chooses us, he's going to give us the grace of faith and we're going to believe. That's true. But we have to be responsible. We have to exercise our responsibility. So it's not about It's not about, well, if God didn't choose them, then they'll never be saved. Well, it's because they don't want to be saved. Neither did we. So my first answer is that this doctrine is not negative, it's positive. Election is a very positive doctrine. The second answer that I have, and let me just kind of rephrase the question, if God is sovereign, and He already knows what He's going to do, then why pray? Why pray? If God, in his sovereignty, has already chosen whom he will save, why should we pray? What's the answer to that? OK, it was a. We do not know what. Right. And the other one is. We did not pray for. certain people. God uses this prayer. Absolutely. So so we're commanded to pray, so we should pray. We have to pray. And if we don't do what God tells us to do, what is that called? Sin. Not not conforming to the will of God, not doing what he tells us to do, sin and negligence, the most common sin of all. So God commands us, so we better do it. But he's also, not only does he ordain the end, but he ordains the means to the end. And the means to the end is prayer and belief in the truth. And so we need to pray. We don't know who God's elect are, but we need to pray that God would save his people. J.I. Packer, in his book on the sovereignty of God, And evangelism writes this. He says, Prayer is a confessing of impotence and need, an acknowledging of helplessness and dependence, an invoking of the mighty power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. In evangelism, as we saw, we are impotent. We depend wholly upon God to make our witness effective. Only because He is able to give men new hearts can we hope that through our preaching of the gospel sinners will be born again. These facts ought to drive us to prayer. It is God's intention that they should drive us to prayer. This is the universal rule in evangelism as elsewhere. God will make us pray before He blesses our labors in order that we may constantly learn afresh that we depend on God for everything. I hope you remember that when we're speaking this morning in the morning worship. This is the universal rule in evangelism as elsewhere or in every other way, every other thing. God will make us pray before he blesses our labors in order that we may constantly learn afresh that we depend on God for everything. The knowledge then that God is sovereign in grace and that we are impotent to win souls should make us pray and keep us praying. Does that make sense? I hope so. And so, we must never live our lives based upon the assumptions of things we don't know. We don't know who gods elect are. We know what they kind of look like. How do we know what they kind of look like? Okay, but that's afterward. That's after they come to Christ we see what they look like. In that sense, by their fruits. You're right. But how do we know beforehand? How do we know to pray for... Is your dad Cecil? Yeah. How do we know to pray for him? He may not be elect. How do we know? We don't know. But what do his elect look like? They're human and they're sinners. Good answer, huh? They look like us. 1 Corinthians 1. They look foolish and weak and despised. You know, so he gives us a little bit of a picture of what the elect look like in 1 Corinthians 1. But they do. Ken's right. They look like us. They look just like you and me. And so we really can't differentiate. We need to go and we need to talk. to dads and moms and sisters and brother-in-laws and just talk to them and tell them about Jesus. And sometimes we don't know what to say. You know, the best thing to say is just to tell them what the Lord has done for us. You remember Jesus cast out the demons from that demoniac? And the demoniac said, I want to follow you, Lord. And he said, no, I want you to go back to where you came from. Tell them, the people, the great things that God has done for your soul. And so he went back to his home because he'd been living in the tombs and cutting himself for years and years and years. So he went back to his home and he told them the great things that Jesus did. And that's what we needed to tell people what he did for us. This is what the Lord's done for me. And a lot of these people, especially family members, they remember what we used to be. They remember how we were. We must live our lives in obedience to the things that we know, not the things that we don't know. And what we know is this, that God has his people. We need to go into the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Here's what John Calvin writes on the text of 2 Peter. You remember 2 Peter 3.9? God is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. What's his promise? To come again. God is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness, but is longsuffering to us. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the will of God as far as his perceptive will. We need to act on that. The things that are revealed belong to us, that we may do them. Here's what John Calvin says in 2 Peter. I'm not willing that any should perish. He says, so wonderful is God's love toward mankind that he would have them all to be saved and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost. But it may be as if God wishes none to perish. Why is it that so many do perish to this? My answer is that no mention is here made of the hidden purpose of God, but only of his will as made known to us in the gospel. For God there stretches forth his hand without difference to all, but lays hold only on of those to lead them to himself, whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world. And that's what we believe. I guess that's called Calvinism. I don't know. But that's what I believe that. Any questions? Do we go to the sixth problem? Any questions? Problem number six. Doesn't the doctrine of election lead to fatalism? Doesn't it lead to fatalism? And fatalism is the belief that that all things happen by chance or by some non-moral impersonal force. So a hurricane or a tornado, it kind of moves and it happens and it's impersonal and just happens to us. And so what's going to be is going to be. And so the doctrine of election kind of leads to fatalism. It leads to, well, what's the use of doing anything? If God has already chosen, why should we do anything? pray or evangelize or anything. You know, if people who believe in the doctrines of grace, they don't believe in missions because, you know, what's the use? Does the doctrine of election lead to fatalism? It can. Yes, it can. And it has. For some people, when they misunderstand it, If it's improperly understood, it can lead to a fatalistic attitude toward missions, toward evangelism, toward prayer. There are some people like that. You know what they're called? Hyper-Calvinists? Yeah. Sometimes they call them hard-shell Baptists. Did you know that? You heard that expression? Hard-shell Baptists. Yeah. But on the other hand, if we have a biblical understanding of what the scripture says about God's sovereignty and about our responsibility, if we've got a biblical balance, then the doctrine of election does several things. Number one, it encourages diligence. It encourages diligence. It makes us very diligent. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 10. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. Why? Because we need to be diligent to make our call and election sure. And everything we do in this life as a Christian, we need to exercise diligence. We need to do it well and we need to be aggressive and we need to be faithful to what God wants us to do. It requires diligence. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into his kingdom. And that's what we want. That's what we want. But it requires diligence. We've got to be diligent in the Christian life. What's the opposite of diligence? Laziness. What happens to lazy people? They never get anything done. They've got a lot of excuses for not doing what they're supposed to do. But as Christians, give up on the excuses. There are no excuses. God sees through them. He knows them. And some of us are very lazy, very lazy. for lots of different reasons, perhaps, but we're lazy. We need to be more diligent. But the doctrine of election, if understood correctly, makes us very diligent. Another text, John 15, 16, Jesus said, You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. On the basis of what? On the basis of his election. You didn't choose me, but I chose you. Therefore, go and bring forth fruit. Why? So that my father may be glorified. Because fruit glorifies God. And so, it encourages diligence. The doctrine of election, when properly understood also, stimulates perseverance and evangelism. stimulates not just going, telling people, but persevering in our effort. We keep on going, we keep on telling people, and we persevere in it. 2 Timothy 2, verse 10, Therefore, Paul says, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He says, I endure all things and just not one thing, but all things, everything that comes my way, all the troubles and trials and persecutions, they come my way. I endure them for the elect's sake, because God has a people. In fact, let me see. Yeah, that's the next text, Acts chapter 18. Let's look there, Acts chapter 18. Paul is in Corinth. And verse 9. Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by vision. Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. Now why did he say this? Why did he appear to Paul? Any ideas? You don't really have to read somewhere else. You just read that verse. Yes, yes. I mean, if Paul's saying, let's go get him, let's go get him, Jesus wouldn't have came to him in a vision and said, don't be afraid. The issue is, and the reality is, he was afraid. And there were things going on there in Corinth, and he was afraid. And he wasn't going to say anything. Perhaps even, he made up his mind, I better keep silent here, I better be quiet. And Jesus says, Don't be afraid. Don't be silent. And then notice, He says, For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you. Don't worry about those people. Don't listen to their threats. I'm with you. Listen to me. And then He says, For I have many people in this city. How did he have them? He chose them for the foundation of the world. They were there at Corinth. Paul, don't be afraid, speak to them, because I've got some people in this city that you need to preach to all of the people, but some of these people are going to believe, because they're my people. I've got many people in this city. So it stimulates perseverance and evangelism because we just don't give up, we just don't quit. Can you imagine someone in Pakistan, a missionary that's gone there to Pakistan, and the Khans are killed three years ago. And they say, well, we've got to get out of this place. We just leave. Because it's too dangerous here. And so Satan is able to stop and negate the work of God. God has his elect there. As long as he has his elect there, we need to be faithful to bring the gospel. Because he has his elect everywhere. And we need to be faithful. Any questions? Yes, Father. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. That was a vision that was given to the Apostle Paul. But the point that I'm making, in this case, is the idea that they are our elect. And he has his elect in every nation, among every tongue, among every category of people. And sometimes we think about the poor people in Appalachia, or the poor people in the Caribbean, or in Africa. He has rich people, too. He has people who are wealthy. He has people who are highly educated, not many noble, not many wise, but there are some of them. And so wherever God puts us in our sphere of influence, he puts us in a certain world setting. And in that world setting, we need to be faithful, whether we work at a bank or on a farm. Doesn't matter. We need to be faithful to where we go. And He has promised to be with us always, even unto the end of the age. And in that context, in Matthew, chapter 28, is not just to disciples, but for all of us. He doesn't promise that nothing's going to happen to us, but whatever happens is going to be good because all things work together for good. That's right. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But again, my point is this, the whole idea of election should stimulate us to persevere in evangelism because God has a people. That's a good point. Any other questions or comments? True or false? God in his omnipotence can respond to our prayers God, in his omnipotence, can respond to our prayers and save any person. Yes, true. In other words, there's no one beyond the reach of God's salvation. No one can. I mean, he his grace is irresistible. And he hears our prayers. And a lot of times he links his saving purposes to our efforts and to our prayers. That doesn't mean if I pray for Aunt Doreen that she's absolutely certain going to be saved. It doesn't mean that. means she can be saved. God's able to save her. And somehow we've got to find it in our hearts to plead with him for our aunt or whatever. And then the Lord and what happens oftentimes and all of us know this when we pray for certain things, when we ask the Lord to do certain things, And it's a one time affair maybe, or maybe a two times, but there's sometimes that the Lord stirs our hearts. He stirs our hearts in such a way that we keep on praying and keep on praying. And then we've got some kind of a guarantee God is going to do something. There's some people out there, Stephen, ask them to come in. OK, the third thing about if we get a biblical understanding of the doctrine of election, the third thing that that we should change for us or help us with is it's not only encourages diligence and perseverance, but it also is very, very comforting. It is very, very comforting. Second Peter, chapter one, let's turn their second Peter, chapter one. 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a bondservant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now, where does the grace and peace come? to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And these were God's elect and these were God's people. And that's not very clear text, but let me show you a real clear one. Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, verse twenty eight. How many of you know that by heart, Romans eight, twenty eight? Where's how's it start? Close. How many know it? Anybody else know it? To those who are called according to His purpose. But the first part is, and you got that, Stephen, you had that right, and we know, or for we know, we know, we have a conviction. And what's the conviction? All things work together for those who love God and for those who are called according to His purpose. And so, what is His purpose? For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, those He marked out before time, He called in time. And whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who is he talking about? His elect, those he predestined. Those He's called. Those He's justified. And those He is going to glorify. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. With all of my sins, and all of my problems, and all of my failures, and all of my mistakes, and I can't get anything right, God justifies me. He justifies me. who shall bring a charge against God's elect. I don't know if we, we kind of look at ourselves as kind of average, normal, normal people, everyday, common, low middle class people, whatever, you know. But the reality is, we are very special people because we have been chosen by God. Not because of something we've done, but because of God. And that makes us very special. And I don't know if we've gotten a hold of that. We're justified and we're going to be glorified in the process of being between justification and glorification. I'm being sanctified and being sanctified. I'm being saved for the pleasures and the practice of my sin. God is working in me. And God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us? God did not spare his own son. He said, if I didn't spare my son, neither will I spare anything to give whatever you need. And we need to pray with that realization. Listen to Spurgeon. He says, I am persuaded that the doctrine of predestination The blessed truth of providence is one of the softest pillows upon which the Christian can lay his head, and one of the strongest staffs upon which he may lean on his pilgrimage along this rough road. Cheer up, Christian! Things are not left to chance. No blind fate rules the world. God has purposes, and those purposes are fulfilled. God has plans, and those plans are wise and never can be dislocated. Oh, trust thou in him, and thou shalt have each fruit in its season, the mercy in its time, the trial in its period, and the deliverance in its needed moment. Amen. OK, any questions? Ready for a test? No, not yet. I want us to do something a little bit differently. Let's turn to Luke chapter 9. And I want to look at a little a little Greek word, because I think it's really important. And it's a little word, dei, D-E-I. And in Luke chapter 9, verse 22. Will, would you read that, please? Luke chapter 9, verse 22. He's speaking to his disciples. Okay, and here's that Greek word translated must. The Son of Man must suffer many things. Keep your finger there and turn to John 3, verse 14. John 3, verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so day, there's the word again, must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now, I want you to, I want you to, here's another multiple choice. These scriptures, Luke 9 to 22, John 3, 14 were written because a God knew what men would do to his only begotten son. Look at the text again. Number 14, Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so, must the son of man be lifted up? And Luke 9.22, the son of man must suffer many things. Because God knew what man would do to his only begotten son. B. Because Jesus understood the deceitful heart and real nature of man. C. God determined beforehand or ordained what man would do. Which is the most correct? There's a sense that all of them are correct, but what's the most correct? Yeah, God ordained. That's why it's a must. That's why that day is there. It's a must. It has to happen. Okay? Turn to Luke chapter 4. Good to have you folks. Luke chapter four. We're doing a study on our confession on the doctrine of election. We're in chapter three in our confession, but Luke chapter four and verse 43. Let's read verses 42 and 43. Jesse, would you read that, please? Oh, you don't have it. OK. Shannon, would you read that? Yes, please. There's the word again, I must. I must preach the kingdom of God to these other cities, because for this purpose, because God ordained it, I have been sent." Now, why was it necessary for Jesus to preach to the other cities also? I kind of gave the answer. Why was it necessary for Jesus to preach to the other cities also? If everything's all going to work out, and God has already purposed it, then why was it necessary for Jesus to preach to these other cities also? So, even though God has a purpose, that's His secret will, His will and decree, He also has decreed the means by which he's going to promote his will of decree. And that is the Scriptures, the truth must be preached to these other cities. Jesus says, I must go and preach to these other cities. Another text, Luke, chapter 24. And verse 44, Luke 24, verse 44, Jesus appears to his disciples. And he says, then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things, here's the word, must be fulfilled. Which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. And then he said to them, thus it is written and thus it was necessary. There's the same word day. It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and arise from the dead the third day and that repentance And remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things." And the question is, why was it necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead? What does it say there? Why was it necessary? Well, why was it? Why was it written? Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead? Because it was written, because it was written. And how was it written? Because God had ordained it. And in Bob, he also ordained that repentance should be preached. So there's responsibility. Jesus had to go to the cross to save us from our sins. God had ordained that we would be saved before the foundation of the world, but Jesus had to go to the cross and repentance had to be preached to the nations, to the people, to these other cities. One more, one more text, Acts chapter one. And I want to try to answer the question, does the decree of God limit the free actions of man or negate his accountability? And you might be able to answer that question before we even read it, but I want to read it first. Does the decree of God limit the free actions of man or negate his accountability? Acts chapter 1 verse 26. And this is after Judas had committed suicide. And let me go back up to verse 24. And so they selected two men, verse 23, and they proposed to Joseph called Barsabbas, who is surnamed Justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen. I'm sorry, I need to go back up to 16. Verse 16. Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled. which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus, for he was numbered with us and obtained a part of it in this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem, so that that field is called in their language, Akaldama, that is the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his dwelling place be desolate and let no man live in it, and let another take his office. Therefore, of these men whom have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning with from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness which with us of his resurrection. Why is the must? Because of what it was written, it was written. Someone must take his place, let another take his office was written by the psalmist. So So he says, someone must take his place and become a witness with us. And they proposed to Joseph called Bersabbas and surnamed Justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen. to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And the question is, does the decree of God limit the free actions of man or negate his accountability? Now, what man? The apostles? What other man? Judas? And the question is, does the decree of God limit the free actions of a man, or men, or does it negate their accountability, according to this passage? Will is saying, it's too early in the morning to think like that. Okay, where do you find he did it limits the free actions of men In this text or in any text really I Well, the way that our action. I think you would agree with me that. That we are morally hopeful person. Yes, so responsible person. Yes. But. The fact that God has restraining grace upon our free will means that he limits our free will. No, no, no. restraining grace just makes us, I don't know how to describe it, but it works along with our will and our choices. We still make choices, but we make choices based upon outward influences. And so if someone comes in here with a gun and says, stop preaching, sit down, so I sit down. Well, it's my free will that I make this change. I decide. I've got a choice. I can keep preaching if I want to, but I choose to live, and so I sit down. And so that happens. It happens a lot. It happened with Abimelech. Abimelech says, I haven't done anything, and God says, I've restrained you, and I'm still restraining you. He chose, but he was constrained in his choice. He didn't change his free moral agency at all. This is what he chose to do. In fact, the thing is here, that there's this issue regarding Judas. And and we have this which is written in the psalm. This text is just plucked out of the Psalms. Let his dwelling place be desolate. Let no one live in it. So why? Why all this happened to Judas? Because it was prophesied in the Psalms way before Judas was ever born. But that didn't affect his free will or his free moral agency to make his own choices. God didn't force him to do anything. He did those things because he was a sinful man. That's why he did it. And there was something else involved in it. He was not only a sinful man, but Satan was driving him in that direction. Satan had entered him. And so he was not only driven by his sinful flesh, he was driven by the devil. And that's surely, I mean, in one sense is free moral agency and another sense that there is he was a bondage to sin and a slave to sin. And so and so he hangs himself. And. And by the way, there's two people. Well, I'm not going to go there. And so then it says, let another take his office. Now they're saying, now we've got to do something because somebody is supposed to take his office. He died as the scripture prophesied. So now we've got to do something. We've got it. And in the words of John, we've got to exercise a free will. We've got to do something. And so they did. And the way I put it, does the decree of God limit the free actions of man? Certainly not of Judas. It wasn't of the disciples, because they saw the scriptures, they realized this was according to prophecy, and therefore now we've got to have someone take his place. And so they selected, of their free agency, these two men, and then they cast lots. We don't do that today, but that's what they did. They cast lots. And Proverbs 16 says the lot falls on the left, but every decision is from the Lord. And Matthias was chosen. The answer to this question is no, God's decree does not limit the free moral agency of man. No, It does not limit his accountability, man's accountability. Man is still accountable. Judas is accountable. Those disciples were accountable for what they did. Any questions? Everybody had a real hard Saturday, didn't you? It just seems like everybody's kind of... Well, I've got some good news for you. We need to pray that the Lord will help us in the morning worship, because I am absolutely excited about Ephesians chapter three and that end of that passage regarding prayer. So we're going to talk about the purpose and the power of prayer this morning. And I'm just excited. And may the Lord convict us of our little tiny prayers. May the Lord help us to be men and women who pray stupendous prayers, big prayers. OK, so that's my goal. So before you leave here, let's not just go into, you know, talking mode, but let's go into the praying mode. OK, I'm going to pray and then I'd like you all to pray. Lord, help me to get something out of this message this morning and that my heart would be stirred so that I might be a man or woman of prayer. OK, let's let's do that. And I'll pray right now and then you keep on praying, all right? Our blessed God and Father, we thank you for your word. And there are many things that we do not understand. But we know that you are good and gracious and great and awesome. And all your ways are right and just. Please help us. Please help us this morning. We pray for the hour to come that you would so stir our hearts with the realities of what it is to be your children who can pray and how you are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think according to that power that works within us. Oh, work in us, we pray. Grant us the faith to trust you and believe as we should. Save us from our tiny prayers, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.