Thank you for being here this morning. Good to have Ricky and Wanda in. We go back friends for 40 years, I suppose. We'll just call it four decades or so. Amazing, they were down visiting some other friends in the Tampa area and then quite a few, you guys, what, Sharon Terry, Marisa, Claire, seven different families, wow. Praise the Lord. Yeah, our church spread out all over the world, really. So, good to see you all here this morning. We're in Romans 8, and we'll start in verse 29. I'm going to back up to verse 28. We'll go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank You for Your many blessings. Thank You for sending Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on that cruel cross. Give me the words to preach. Help me to say the things You would have me to say. Nothing more, nothing less, Lord. We just pray this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Alright, we're in Romans 8, verse 28. I'll go ahead and read 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Now we went over this verse already, so we'll just jump down to verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not How shall He, not with Him also, freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. When you look at these words, you see the words foreknowledge, predestination, being called. Then you see justified, glorified, and all of those other terms. And, you know, a lot of this is misunderstood. People say, well, you know, God saved some, didn't save others because they're called, they're not called. And it's this system of God birthed people into the world for the purpose of condemning them for an eternity to hell without ever giving them a choice whether to be saved or not. That's a damnable heresy. You know, to say that you don't have the free will, and then they'll say, well, you don't have the wherewithal to choose Him, therefore He has to regenerate you so you can choose Him. That's part of the teaching too. And it's amazing how these things get a life of their own. And you have to realize, when you write on a certain topic for thousands of years, then you can develop and fine-tune the heresy into a pretty convincible argument. I can take the Bible and, well, I don't know if I can convince you if you know your Bible, I can take the Bible and convince people of anything that I want to convince you with. Not that you'll take it hook, line, and sinker, because you'll say, well, wait a minute, you're talking about this, and we already know this, and we compare truth with truth. What you're saying is wrong. But people that don't have that foundation have nothing to compare it to, nothing to say, hey, this is wrong in and of itself. Then it becomes a real problem. And there are people that are damned to hell because of these heresies. There are people that are confused and they confuse other people. And then there are churches that really split up because one group believes this, another group believes this, and they never able to work the thing out. What we've got to do is we've got to come to an understanding. What is this foreknowledge? What is this predestination? What is this to, you know, and by the way, to whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate what? To be saved? That's not what it says. Just look at the basic sentence. He predestinated people that get saved to be conformed to the image of His Son. He predestinated them to do that. Well, what does that mean? Well, before Jesus ever died, He died to save souls, and those souls that He saves, He predestinated those souls that He saves to be conformed to the image of His Son. It's as simple as that. What did God determine to do? He wanted us to be conformed to Jesus Christ's image. What better image is there than Jesus Christ? So to say, well, no, wait a minute, He predestinated some to salvation, some to condemnation. That's not what the Bible says. Nowhere in the Bible, and I've got literally 50 verses I can take you to, and I don't know, we started a little bit later this morning, so I don't know, we were talking about the bread of life or something. I don't know how many I'll take you to this morning. We may work on it tonight a little bit more, and I may just slow down a little bit. But let's look at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, because I do need to take my time on this a little bit more. And go to verse 3, Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." Now, stop there. Oh, He chose some before the foundation of the world, chose others to be condemned before the foundation of the world. That's how it's read. But look at the verse. Read it again. "...according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before Him in love." What was His purpose? His purpose was so that you and I could have fellowship with Him. He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. He chose us to be holy and without blame before Him in love, verse 5, having predestined us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Him according to the good pleasure of His will. And boy, that says, whoa, wait! He's not willing that some would be saved, but that contradicts the Bible. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So you can't look at a verse and go, well, it's His will to send some people to hell. And by the way, they never say that. It's His will to save those that are predestinated, that are chosen, that are called, that are this, that are that. And therefore, and they don't ever say this, The opposite is true. Then if He didn't call you, didn't choose you, didn't predestinate you to be saved, then He called, chose, and predestinated you to go to hell. And that contradicts so much Scripture. You can't have it both ways. And listen, I have been there, I've had question and answer. I remember right before I came up here, we had a question and answer in Naples. And there was somebody that came in that believed that slant of doctrine, and we talked beforehand, and the pastor told me, yeah, this is what he believes, and he didn't have any problem telling me that. So I turned it around on him, and I looked at him, and I said, are you saying, this is from the pulpit, question and answer, are you saying that God births children into the world with no hope of salvation to eternally damn their souls? Fair question. He didn't answer me. You know why he didn't answer me though? Because when he walked out, his wife was standing with him as they, and I didn't see this, his wife walked out with him and she was great with child. If he answered my question, basically she, you know, she'd be in an uproar when they get home saying, are you saying you're being beeped at, get it. Are you saying that this child could be birthed to die and go to hell? And see, he couldn't answer that question. So you see, it sounds good on paper, this doctrine. It is a very Esoteric teaching. The reason I use that word is I can't think of another one right now. Cerebral. That's what it was. It is a very cerebral teaching. And by the way, it eliminates all true responsibility of being a soul winner. What does it matter? What does it matter? You say, well, you still got to go soul winning because you're commanded to go soul winning. But what does it matter? Here's how it works. If I know somebody's lost, and I tell them one time that Jesus died for them, was buried rose again, and I've given them the gospel, they reject the gospel, I can walk away from there. I can just go, you know, I did my job. I never have to talk to them again. I never have to be concerned. Why? It's not up to them, it's up to God. Either they're going to hell or going to heaven, they have no choice. And if I just make myself uncomfortable, make them uncomfortable around me, why would I want to do that? Why would I want to have an uncomfortable relationship whenever you just give the gospel and then back off? Where's the shedding of tears on that? It just doesn't make sense. And it destroys churches, because if you believe that, you don't need to soul-win. You don't need to talk to anybody. You say, well, yeah, you got to, because you're coming out. Okay, do it once. Are you absolved of all your responsibility? In that teaching, you are. In that teaching, you don't need to be going in there and saying, yeah, you know, Jesus saves. Hey, I got saved 40 years ago. You know why? Because I realized I was lost. You don't have to do that. You just look at them and go, hmm, I gave them the gospel. They didn't accept it. Maybe they're not predestinated. Maybe they're not chosen. Maybe they're not called. Maybe God birthed them in the world to send their soul to hell to burn for all eternity without ever having an opportunity to accept Christ like I did. And like everybody I know that is in my church, I know they all got saved because they told me they got saved. We all must have been chosen, predestinated, called because everybody else wasn't. It is a very, very, very damaging doctrine for a church. And that's why I preach on it. I make sure, listen, I'm around people that are Calvinists. And they don't bring up the subject with me. You know why they don't bring up the subject? Let me turn the page, see if it's right here. I think it is. Yeah, nope. My notes were in Ephesians. They don't bring up the subject, and it is in Ephesians. Here it is, and this is all the further we're going to get this morning. So just put down one verse. Total depravity. There's tulip. T-U-L-I-P. Total depravity is the T. No free will to choose Jesus Christ. Total inability to choose Jesus Christ. That's total depravity. The second thing that's taught is unconditional election. God decided who would get saved. Romans 3 verse 22 says it's unto all. and only upon all them that believe." By the way, I have the contradiction, the proof against it in each one of these verses too. Total depravity means total inability to believe the gospel. That was the first one. Unconditional election means that God decided who would get saved, but Romans 3.22 says it's unto all. The L, T-U-L, limited atonement. Christ's blood was shed only for the chosen. Look at 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, look at... Verse 1, My children, these things write unto you, that ye sin not. If any man sin, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Everybody has an advocate. Look at verse 2, And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Well, how come they teach Because once you get indoctrinated into a system, it is very hard to get out of that system. So you know what I do? I just chip away at it, chip away at it. If they'll listen, I'll talk to them. If I can help them, I'll help them. So you have T-U-L-I. I is irresistible grace. When God chooses, the sinner is drawn and can't stop it. That's irresistible grace. Look at Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, I believe, is Stephen, right before he gets stoned, is preaching. In Acts chapter 7, just jump into a verse, verse 51. ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Can you resist God? Can God make you do anything God wants to make you do? Yes. Why doesn't He? Because He says, I'm gonna put you in a garden, I'm gonna say you can eat of every tree, but you cannot eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because He gives you a choice. He gives every man, every woman, every person a choice. You can either accept His payment on the cross for your sins, or you can reject them. You resist God when you reject Him. Because the Bible says, you can't come to Him unless you're called. But then He says He calls everybody. If I be lifted up, you can't get saved, that one too, unless He draws you. Okay? You can't, and listen, that's true. You cannot be saved unless He draws you. Here's what the Bible also says. If I be lifted up, talking about Jesus Christ, I will draw all men unto me. So you see, when you look at one, you go, oh wow, that teaches that. You have irresistible grace. When He draws you, you'll come because it's irresistible grace. And if He doesn't draw you, it's because you were not chosen. You were not predestinated. But the Bible says that He will draw all men unto Him, so it contradicts it. And listen, it's in the same book, in the book of John. So you have these teachings that go on, and they sound cerebral. Up here, boy, it sounds right. Why? Well, it says there that you've got to be called. You've got to be drawn. You've got to be predestinated. You've got to be one of the chosen. Listen, God is not, you know, the Bible says that He even died for the false prophet, the Bible says. T-U-L-I, I is Irresistible Grace, P, Perseverance of the Saints. This one's about the closest to the truth of the five. It's eternal security. It should be perseverance of God, because nobody has to persevere on their own. It's the perseverance of God. He's the one that keeps you and holds you and protects you. And He's the one that saves you, yes. But the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It doesn't say, well, you know, the only way you can be saved is if you're part of this special group that's before the foundation of the world, that's chosen. Listen, it just means God knows everything. Now go back to Romans. In Romans chapter 8, verse 29 again. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. And I literally, when I told you I had those notes in Ephesians, I literally have a hundred verses I could take you to that I have written in Ephesians. 1 Peter 1, verse 2. The Bible says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Now, let me explain something on the elect. So there's this big deal about the elect, and I've told the church before, I'll tell you again. You are not the elect. See, they think you're elect at birth. When we had a presidential election, when did President Trump become the elect? Before the election or after the election? There you go. So when do you become the elect? After you're elected. It's as simple as that. Oh, you're elected from the foundation. Listen, that isn't how it works. You don't become the elect until you're elected, and the election doesn't happen until salvation. So here you've got two people. One accepts Christ. He's now the elect. One rejects Christ, he never became the elect. What they say is, this one's saved because he was the elect already. But that doesn't work in any cerebral context, if we want to use their terminology. Let me throw a couple of verses out to you. Matthew 11, 21 talks about Tyre and Zidon. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and Jesus said they would have repented if they'd seen the mighty works that Jesus did. If Jesus was back there in Tyre and Zion, Sodom, Gomorrah, Tyre and Zion, they were all destroyed. And Jesus said they would have repented had they seen the works. Why is that? Because they had a choice. They would have seen the works, they would have known that this is the truth, they would have repented, but they didn't repent because He didn't do the mighty works back there. But that means they had a choice. And had they seen that, they would have repented. How can you have a doctrine that says you have no choice if the Bible repeatedly says you do? You know, we could go to Genesis about Abraham being predestined. Exodus. Look at John chapter 5, and this is one we'll close on. Sort of limiting it down to just trying to keep it, you know, simple, straightforward. John chapter 5. Verse 39 is a familiar verse. Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. They are they which testify of me. The next verse, the one I want. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Ye will. What is that? That's a person's will. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Whose will? that person that's not coming to Jesus. Could they have come to Him? Jesus wouldn't have said, well, you will not come to me because I'm not letting you. He says, you will not come to me. You are willing not to come to me. That is your will. You have a personal will. Now imagine getting to heaven and God judges you at the judgment seat of Christ for something you did in your life, the life you lived. Wait a minute, God, I never had a choice. How can God judge you for the things you do if you don't have free will? None of it makes sense. Let's all stand together. It is 1045. We'll start again in about 15 minutes. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your many blessings. Thank you for sending your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on that cross. Thank you for the opportunity to look into your Bible and see some simple truths. In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. All right, you're dismissed.