Amen. Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about a biblical doctrine that's hated by many Christians. I'm talking about true Christians, people that really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, people that are really trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, people that really do love the Lord Jesus Christ, but when they hear the doctrine that we're talking about tonight, the hair on the back of their neck stands up, their smile becomes a frown, And a lot of anger comes out. And I know that experientially because I've been there and done that too. For the Lord saved me before I understood the doctrines of grace. And the Lord saved me before I understood the absolute sovereignty of God. And that's what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about the absolute sovereignty of God. And we want to paint a picture that is so stark. We want to paint a picture that is actually so startling that it would cause us to draw back a little bit and say, wait a minute. But one thing I want you to remember tonight, whatever we say, how in the world can we ever paint a picture of God being too sovereign? T-O-O. How can He be more sovereign than enough? By definition, His sovereignty is such that He cannot be too sovereign. And if we were to talk to many Christians, I think almost all Christians would say, yeah, I believe in the sovereignty of God. But we're going to paint the picture of the absolute sovereignty of God tonight. And may God help us to understand now. We're not going to deal with a lot of scriptural proofs. We're actually not going to deal with any scriptural proofs, yet we could. And I want to direct you to some sources that you could use to help you in that regard if you would like to do so. It would just be a three-part message if we looked up all the scriptural proofs we needed. But A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God is a great resource. Lorraine Bettner's The Reform Doctrine of Predestination is another one. Dwayne Spencer has written an excellent book that's now back in print called The Five Points of Calvinism. There's another one that we carry back in our book room, and I think we have some there even tonight. Steele and Thomas' book has been redone, also called The Five Points of Calvinism. And that one probably has more scripture proofs than any other one. It's just page after page after page of scripture proofs there. And then a lot of the message tonight, I even used some of the wordings from a man named Richard Belcher, who actually is one of my, well he's a contemporary man, he's still around, he's on the east coast there, an older man, and I love a lot of his writings, he's written some Christian novels even. Some of you have read A Journey in Grace. If you've never read that, I would commend that to you. In fact, maybe we'll get some more for our book room there. A Journey in Grace is an excellent book. It's a novel, but it's a teaching novel that has many scriptural proofs in it, too. And many of the thoughts, I thought, the way that Richard Belcher wrote these down were excellent. And so some of them are mine and some of them are his. I just wanted to let you know that as we start. Well, this absolute sovereignty of God, First of all, let's talk about some positive truths regarding predestination or the absolute sovereignty of God. Some positive proofs. First thing we can say is that God, from all eternity, has ordained whatsoever comes to pass. And that's our starting point here. I want you to think about it. God, from all eternity, has ordained whatsoever comes to pass. Everything. In other words, there is nothing that happens apart from His divine providence. The next point that brings us to is that God's predestination is unchangeable. It's unchangeable. Now, what do we mean by that? Well, as we look around at life and we look around the world, it may seem that things are very changeable because we don't know what's going to happen next, and often we're surprised at what does happen. But did it ever occur to you that nothing's ever occurred to God? Does it surprise you to know that nothing has ever surprised God? And God is never frustrated. The plans that you and I make are often frustrated, and they don't come to fruition. But all of His purposes and all of His actions, even the ones that seem to make no sense to us, and we can't figure them out, we have to believe by faith that there is a purpose, and that purpose ultimately and finally is to glorify Himself. And so that's what we must believe by faith because a lot of things that happen in this world don't look like they're going to be to the glory of God. Third of all, God's predestination of all things includes both election and reprobation. Now we're going to talk about both tonight, election and reprobation. But God's predestination of all things includes both election and reprobation. And here's where we get down to a point where a lot of people get angry. Because a lot of people can think about God predestinating all things, but the one thing they don't want to think about is God's predestination of individuals. And we're going to talk a lot about that this evening. And we're going to just... And some people will even talk about election and won't talk about reprobation. But the point we'll make is that reprobation is just the necessary consequence and the flip side of election. In fact, I'd posit to you that you can't believe in God's sovereignty without believing in election, and you can't believe in election without believing in reprobation. Those are necessary consequences of one another. Well, the next point on your outline is what God's sovereignty and absolute predestination does not mean. So we made some positive statements, and they're absolute statements. But now we want to make sure we don't go off into Bypass Meadow and make some errors. So let's talk about what God's sovereign and absolute predestination does not mean. And number one, we say that God's predestination of all things does not mean that God is the author of sin. If we were to go to that point, we would have erred and have gone too far. In other words, the challenge... Let me put a challenge out this way. Let me just ask you if you could explain to me how sin can exist and God not be the author of it. Have you ever thought about that? How can sin exist and God not be the author of it? Well, what was that, Austin? The Reformation, okay. Well, that was a good try. That was a good try. And there was many things that we could say about that. And I think basically you're right to tell you the truth, Austin. When we get right down to it and we start asking the harder questions, well, why did God create Satan when it was obvious that Satan was going to fall? Why did He create Adam and Eve when it was obvious that they were going to fall? Why did He create a world when it was obvious that sin was going to come in? These are legitimate questions that, in all honesty, are not answered for us in the Scriptures. And that may trouble some people. But the way I would like to look at it is this. I really think as we say, how can sin exist and God not be the author of sin? I think that we have to just say, you know what? Some things we just can't understand. I can't explain to you the Trinity tonight. I believe in the Trinity. I know the Trinity to be true. But I cannot explain the Trinity. A good man, Robert Morey, wrote a book that thick on the Trinity. It's a good book. But it doesn't fully explain the Trinity or let you know exactly for sure how it works down to the atomic detail, because it can't be done. I can't understand the hypostatic union of Christ. By the hypostatic union of Christ, I mean that he's 100% God and 100% man at the same time with no mixture or confusion. It's a mathematical impossibility, but it's the truth. So I can't understand the Trinity. I can't understand the person of Christ as 100% man and 100% God. Well, I think in that same way, we really can't understand how God is not the author of sin, since he's the first cause of everything. But we will confess that he's not. and that He works. And I think the second point helps us to understand that a little bit, and this is where you got it right for sure, Austin, is that God's predestination of all things does not destroy the contingency of second causes. And here's where we'll begin to look in our confession of faith. So turn to page 672 and just take a look there, not Hymn 672, but page 672. And we're going to deal with some difficult concepts here. But as we look at chapter 3, paragraph 1, let me just read it to you. It says, God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass. Yet so as thereby is God, neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature. Nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established, in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree." Put simply, what the confession of faith is telling us here, and I believe it's a biblical doctrine and a true doctrine, is that God ordains the means as well as the outcome. He ordains not only whatsoever comes to pass, but how it will come to pass and through whom it will come to pass. And so the point here is that God's predestination of all things does not destroy the contingency of second causes. Things happen because people really do do them. People really do take the actions that they take. But when it's all said and done, the purposes of God are behind it all. And that's an amazing mystery. And yet we need to remember, many of the actions that are taken are sinful actions, and God Himself is not the author of sin. And then a third point we would say, God's predestination does not deny or destroy human responsibility. And no doubt this is a point that we as Calvinists are often misunderstood about. And I really think it's important to note here that this is one of the points that separates us from being what we would call hyper-Calvinists. Because a person that's a true hyper-Calvinist, the truest sense of the word, would basically say, well, look, what's going to happen is going to happen anyway. It doesn't make any difference what you or I do. We can sin. And so what? It'll all work out for the best anyway. And that would be a true hyper-Calvinistic idea. Hyper-Calvinism is often associated with legalism, but it's actually just the opposite. Hyper-Calvinism in its truest sense is always antinomian. It's always against the law, and it's always that way. And I think that's important for us to understand that. And we are not hyper-Calvinists. And I'm glad to tell you that very few of them exist in this world. They have a tendency to be self-defeated and go out of existence on their own. Well, an unsaved hyper-Calvinist might talk like this. That was the way a Christian may talk. And of course, it's very wrong. But an unsaved hyper-Calvinist might talk like this and comfort their hearts by saying, well, I can't be saved unless God changes my heart. And he hasn't done so. So I'm not going to repent. I'm not going to believe. I'm just going to do my own thing. And if God ever zaps me, he zaps me. And if he doesn't, he doesn't. Well, God's predestination does not deny human responsibility. And you say, okay, explain that one, Pastor Steve. Well, I will. I'll explain it to you. Here's how it works. After we've figured out the Trinity and explained the Trinity, and then after we've figured out how Jesus Christ can be 100% God and 100% man, and we've worked that one all the way through, and then after we've worked that one out and then we've explained and understood fully how God can be the first cause of all things and not be the author of sin, Then we'll go ahead and we'll start working on this one, too, to let you know how God can be absolutely sovereign and yet man can be responsible. You see, the point I'm trying to make, I'm trying to use a little humor to do it, but the point I'm trying to make here is that God is bigger than we can imagine. He's more powerful than we can imagine. And, you know, a lot of times we hear even our Arminian friends talking about putting God in a box. You can't put God in a box. That's exactly what people do. That's exactly what people do. When they elevate their free will above God. When they elevate anything above God. When they say that God is trying to do things yet not accomplishing it. They're exactly doing that. God is higher than we can even imagine. God is more sovereign than we can even imagine. And I would say in heaven above we'll have a better idea of all those four things that I just mentioned a few moments ago. We may even come to a full grasp and a better knowledge of the Trinity and of the person of Christ and of human responsibility and of God not being the author of sin. We may come to a better understanding of each of those things. But whatever we do find out in eternity, whatever we do find out in heaven, I guarantee you the answer will not be God telling us, look, I couldn't be in control of everything. There are a lot of things I wish didn't happen. And in fact, some of the things that did happen, Well, they've surprised me just as much as they surprised you. That's blasphemous thinking. That would be blasphemous thought. I guarantee you, that will not be said in heaven. Whatever the answers will be, that won't be it. But we do know man is responsible, and man is directly responsible to God, and he will answer personally to God. And no one's going to be standing at the judgment the last day and telling God that it's his fault. that they didn't repent and believe the gospel. No one's going to be blaming God for the lack. And what does that mean for us? Well, it means that we preach the Word, and the Word presses responsibility on the creature. We could turn to many scriptures and prove that. And if we faithfully preach the Word, we will too press responsibility upon the creature. but we'll never give up the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God, and the truth that a heart will never be changed unless He's the one that changes it. That goes back to total depravity. Well, a fourth thing we could say about what God's sovereignty and absolute predestination does not mean. God's predestination is not based upon looking ahead and foreseeing what would take place. Chapter 3, paragraph 2. Although God knoweth whatever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything, because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions." Now, this is the simplistic way that many people try to explain God's predestination. They say, well, God looks ahead, sees what's going to happen, and then that's what He ordains to happen. Now I want you to just think of the logical consequence of that just for a moment. It's a shocking logical consequence. Because if that's the case, that means there's something that happens outside of God. There's something that God has to look at himself to see what's going to happen. What could we call that except fate? So let's just call it fate, because it's something that God's not controlling. It's just something that God is watching as a spectator. And the God of the universe is like a passive observer, seeing what fate is going to bring to pass, and then agreeing with fate that that is what should come to pass. That's a horrendous logical morass that I can't even imagine anyone falling into if they would just start thinking about it. In fact, just look at it this way if you would. Let me just use a human illustration on it. Let's suppose that you have a favorite television show and you really care about the characters and you really love the characters and you wait for that show to come on every week. And so you're sitting in your living room, and here comes the show, and you don't know what's going to happen. And so you're watching it, and you're watching all the characters, and there's a certain plot twist, and you're just hoping that something's going to happen. But you don't know what's going to happen. But you're just hoping it's going to happen, and you're trusting it's going to happen. And you're really, what you're doing is you're passively observing. Even though you're actively interested, you're passively observing. And the truth of the matter is it doesn't matter what you think or what you want to happen. You're not going to change the outcome. The television show has already been recorded and it's going to work its way through. And you'll either like the outcome or you won't like the outcome. Now can you imagine putting God into that passive observer role that He looks ahead to see what's going to happen? and then just watches it unfold as we would watch a television program without the input, without the planning, without the direction, without the absolute control of all things that take place. But I don't know what else to say about those that would say that God looks ahead to the future and then ordains what He sees happens by the outcome of fate or by the outcome of the free will of man. Because there are many that would elevate the free will of man to the point of fate and would say whatever happens, happens because man has decided that it should be that way. Well, my friends, people come up with explanations like this because they're uncomfortable with a God who's absolutely sovereign. And I'm trying to make you uncomfortable tonight. I'm trying to make myself uncomfortable. I'm trying to talk and preach a God that is so sovereign that really all we can do when it's all said and done is just bow our head. Because we should be uncomfortable when we're contemplating God. And we should be in awe of His majesty and power. And what we're presented with too often is a God that makes us feel all warm and cozy inside. But that's not the God that we see in the Bible. Because the Apostle John, when he was with the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, dared to lean his head on the bosom of his precious Lord at the Last Supper. But that same Apostle John, when he saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ on the Isle of Patmos, fell down before his feet as a dead man when he saw Him in His glory. And we need to see God in His glory. Well, faith is not a god. There is not an impersonal force that simply causes things to really be determined. God is God and He brings about all things whatsoever come to pass. Now let's talk about election and reprobation. Truth regarding election and reprobation, election is simply the fact that God has chosen some to eternal life and reprobation is probably the most hated doctrine that exists. because it's the belief that there are some that God has not chosen to return to life and they will be damned. And how could you believe that? Well, we believe it because we believe the scriptures do teach that. Chapter 3, paragraph 3, is where we get our very first point here tonight. Truth regarding election and reprobation. First of all, the goal of both election and reprobation is ultimately the glory of God. By the decree of God, For the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace. Others, being left to act in their sin, to their just condemnation, to the praise of His glorious justice." That last phrase there is reprobation, even though it doesn't use that exact term there. That's what we're talking about. Second of all, we can say, number of the elect and the reprobate is absolutely fixed and it cannot be changed. Paragraph 4, these angels and men, and it's interesting the Confession would use that type of terminology for it's not just men that are predestined but angels and men. Remember there are fallen angels too and there are angels that are safe for all eternity. These angels and men, thus predestined and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished." This morning we saw Ahithophel, as he tried to defeat God and control his own life, took the ultimate act of suicide and took his life. And yet we realize what a fool he was, because all he did was plunge himself into eternity. He didn't defeat God at all. Men continually try to defeat God, but they never do, whatever purposes there can be. Abortion is a horrible, terrible, wicked, ungodly sin. We say it without reservation. Yet the very wrath of man praises God, for who knows what happens to those souls of those aborted babies. I'm intended and inclined to believe that they go to be with the Lord and belong to Him. And the very sin and most wicked, degrading act of man, if that be true, works to His glory. But I can tell you this, even if that were not true it still works to His glory, because man cannot defeat God. But isn't it kind of an ironic thing to think about? That man would do the very worst thing that he possibly could do, the most horrendous thing, to kill an innocent child that's in his mother's womb. And yet God would gain for himself the glory in an action such as that. Now, this is where we've got to be careful. You see, you could see where people could then become very complacent about abortion and not want to stand against it. But we always have to be careful with biblical doctrines. The very fact that the number of the elect in the referendate can't be changed could cause us to say, well, then why preach the gospel? Why care about souls? Why witness to people? If such is the case, then why don't we just do nothing? And again, we see a misuse of the scriptures and a misuse of responsibility. So we have to hold these truths, and we have to even admit that the truths appear to be contradictory one to another. But the answer again is that God is bigger than we can imagine, and God is absolutely sovereign and He's told us what to do. A third thing that we can say, we find, election and reformation both took place in the counsel of God before the foundations of the earth, or in other words, before time began. go one step further and say there is never really a time that God elected the elect and reprobated the lost, it was done forever. In fact I like to say the decree of election is as old as God Himself, which means that it is an eternal decree along with the eternal God. We see in paragraph 5 this truth, those of mankind that are predestined to life are God before the foundation of the world was laid according to His eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of His mere free grace and love without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving Him thereunto." And I would hope if we really got an understanding of what was being said. that we would be driven to cry out, just like they did in Acts chapter 2, men and brethren, what shall we do? It should bring us to a hopelessness and an end of ourselves, that there is absolutely nothing that we can do. And without the good grace and mercy of God, yes, we shall be damned. And we need to look to Him alone. There's no other hope. A fourth thing that we can say, or yeah, the numbering got off there on your system there, but the fourth thing we say is the means of election is God's free grace and the love of God in Christ. And this we see in paragraph six. The means of election, the means of election is God's free grace and the love of God in Christ. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he by the eternal and most free purpose of his will foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by His Spirit, working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only." And there's another biblical truth. Christians sometimes debate whether a man can lose his salvation or not. Well, it's a ridiculous debate because he can't save himself to begin with. Of course he can't lose it. He can't gain it, and he can't lose it. It's not up to him. It's up to God. And we're kept by the power of God. The mighty power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that saved us and regenerated us, and it's the same power that keeps us until the final day. And some people say, well, Pastor Steve, maybe we shouldn't talk about these things because it makes us uncomfortable. And it certainly isn't the way to grow your church, because I've never seen a church that was built and grown on the fact of the absolute sovereignty of God and telling people that God is absolutely powerful and man is nothing. And maybe all you're going to do is confuse people and all maybe you're going to do is discourage people. Well, let's look at paragraph seven of chapter three. The doctrine of the high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending to the will of God revealed in His Word, and yielding obedience thereunto may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel. It's true, the doctrine needs to be handled carefully. But the doctrine, if used properly, will let us see that God is absolutely high, holy, and lifted up. We'll see God for who He is, and we'll see man for who he is, low and in the dust, and absolutely unworthy. True story, while I was in Bible college, I'll never forget this happened. It was probably one of the means, even though at the time I wasn't a Calvinist, but I think it's one of the means that God used to show me the doctrines of grace, although it would be later when I would finally embrace them. A man, a lecturer, I don't even know who he was, I forgot who he was, but he was a guest lecturer. He was coming to our pastoral theology class, our pastoral counseling class is what it was. And as he came into our pastoral counseling class, he was talking about many things, and he was fielding questions from the students after he gave his presentation. And somehow he got on the subject, and I can't remember how it happened, but I remember the statement he made shocked me, and I never forgot it. Because after he's talking and talking and talking, all of a sudden he starts saying, well, wait a minute. Calvinism is true, but don't teach it because it'll kill your church. I remember all of a sudden sitting up going, what? And that's what he said, he said, Calvinism is true, but don't teach it, because it'll kill your church. And that created quite a stir in the class, and people got angry, because they didn't believe Calvinism was true, number one. And his point was, oh no, it's true, it's just you can't preach it, because you'll empty out your church, and it'll be small. And so his point was, it was true, but you can't preach it. And the students were arguing back, well, it isn't true. And I'm sitting there thinking, I don't think it's true either, but if it was true, I'd preach it. I remember thinking that. I didn't say it out loud, but I remember thinking it very strongly. I said, I don't believe it. But if I did believe it, that's what I'd preach. And I can't imagine. I'll tell you, friend, I draw a paycheck from the church, and I'm very thankful for it. But I would be very sorry if the church could pay me enough to preach something that I don't believe is true. I'd be very sorry for you if you could hire a pastor. that would preach to you something he didn't believe and couldn't prove from the scriptures. That would be a sorry, sad state of affairs. And may God preserve us from ministers like that. May God keep us from sitting under ministries like that. It's our job to preach the whole counsel of God and preach the truth, even if it makes us uncomfortable. And we'll admit, nobody's perfect. And everybody has error. And we can all learn. And we can all grow. And may God help us to do likewise, but to preach a lie simply to be popular. Not enough money in the world to make that be worthwhile. Well, let's conclude with some practical considerations regarding reprobation. Reprobation is that horrible, if I can use that word, that horrible doctrine that really does appall us. I mean, there are some doctrines that offend me. I'll be honest with you, the doctrine of hell offends me. I humanly would like to tell you that I wish there was no hell. But I don't understand the ways of God. I'm just talking about my human mindset now. I believe in hell because the Bible teaches it. Reprobation is a doctrine that's offensive. It's a difficult one. And we say, how can it be and why is it? But it is. But there's some practical considerations regarding reprobation that will help us and keep us on the proper track. And that's what I'd like to conclude with here tonight. And number one, on your outline there, just as election is a secret decree, so is reprobation. In fact, the truth of the matter is, reprobation is more secret than election. Now, election is a secret decree because we don't know who the elect are. But there's one thing that happens. We find out who they are, right? Because they repent, and they believe the gospel, and they confess Jesus Christ as their Savior. And we can see that they have the Holy Spirit in their heart. We see that they have the Holy Spirit in their life. And we have every reason to believe that they are the elect of God, that they are God's people, that they do belong to Him. And it's not a secret anymore. Reprobation is a secret decree that remains a secret decree. Because we really don't know. And just because someone's lost today doesn't mean they're going to remain lost. And just because someone has not come to Christ yet does not mean that they'll never come to Christ. In fact, that brings us to point number two. As long as there's life in the body, we can have hope that the person is not reprobate and may yet come to Christ. And how do we know they're not reprobate? When they come to Christ. repent, and when they believe, and when they turn to Him. And that ought to encourage us, because we should never lose hope that God may even save our loved ones. In fact we need to be telling our loved ones the truth, and we need to be telling them the Gospel, because the truth of the matter is I don't ever like to declare that somebody is in Hell for the simple reason that the Judge of all the earth will do right, and you never know. A person even that is dying in could repent, if he's elect he will, repent with his very last breath and turn to the Lord and you'd never even know that he did. So you could be grieving the rest of your life thinking, oh, my dad or my mom or my brother or my sister have gone to hell. And you know, the truth of the matter is we don't know. We don't know 100% for sure because God can do that. And God under sovereignty at times has done that. We've seen people. Now we don't encourage that but we would say that is absolutely in God's sovereignty too. It's the Gospel that God will use to save sinners. So we have the means that we need, we give them the Gospel and then we trust the Lord for the results. And the elect will come to Christ even if it's with their dying breath. But you know the reprobate will never come to Christ no matter how many invitations you hold, no matter how many dog stories you tell to make them cry. no matter how you convince them and have them make a decision. The fact of the matter is they'll never come. They'll never truly come to Christ. Third thing we'll say, reprobation does not mean that God takes innocent creatures, infuses sin into them, and then causes them to act against their free will. That's sometimes what we're accused of believing. Now, the truth is that God can and does harden men. As a general rule, he doesn't. As a general rule, men harden themselves just through the natural course of living their lives. And the truth of the matter is, the longer a person lives, statistically now, the longer a person lives, the less likely it is they'll come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see very few 80-year-olds coming to the Lord and repenting in faith. Now, if you were to step back from the whole doctrinal situation and just look at things, and you were just to be objective and think that man was a neutral creature, you would think that an 80-year-old man would say, I'm going to die soon. I better cover my bases and come to the Lord. That's what you would think, right? I mean, let's face it. The insurance companies will tell us that it's much more likely for an 80-year-old man to die than a 20-year-old man to die. and a 90-year-old man than a 30-year-old man. Statistically, it works out that way. But it's also true that sin has a hardening effect. And as men live in this world and as women live in this world, they become harder and harder and harder. And it's not that no old people come to Christ, but it's that few do. Bible tells us to remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years pile up and you say, I have no pleasure in them. And it's something to strongly consider. Well Reformation does not mean that God takes innocent creatures, infuses sin into them and causes them to act against their free will for one very simple reason, show me an innocent creature. Where is this alleged innocent creature? Where does he live? Where does he inhabit? Where can we find him? God has never looked at me, Steve Markadant, as a morally neutral creature. I've never been a morally neutral creature. Why? Because he's never looked at me that way. Why? Because it's never been true. I was born in sin. That was the way I was from the very beginning. I have never existed as a creature apart from total depravity. I've never existed apart from a fallen nature. So God can't look at me as an innocent creature in and of myself because He'd be looking at a lie. He'd be looking at something that doesn't exist. He sees me as lost, which was true, And then he sees me in Christ because of the work that he's done. And men love to praise free will. They love to think they have a free will. And they do have a free will. But what they forget is that they have a will that's free to choose within its own sphere. And that's really something that really is kind of hard to understand, but you contemplate it. and you think about it, and many times it drives home and it makes sense. Lost men have a free will, but they're free to choose within their own sphere. The illustration I like to use about that is, you know, I can desire all day long to fly. I may want to fly. I may think that I can fly. And I can get on the top of this building and jump off, believing in my heart that I will fly. But it is not within the sphere of my choices to exercise the fly. And no matter how much I believe, I will fall just as quickly to the ground and plummet. And such it is with men as they exercise their free will. They can exercise within the sphere of what is allowable, but they can't exercise anything. And free will cannot save you. You can only be saved by grace. And no one will ever be saved by the powerful exercise of their free wills. Fourth of all, The doctrine of reprobation does not conflict with the truth of God's goodness. Many times people think that it does. But he is a good God. And he even treats the lost with mercy during this life. Some people deny that, and they make a point that can be a pretty solid point. But I think as we just look around, we can see that the very breath that the lost man takes is a mercy from God. And the very breath that he uses to curse God with, he allows man to continue on. And that's a temporal mercy. It doesn't last forever. But there is a goodness of God that extends even to the lost. Lost men can be happy. Lost men can smile. Lost men can have a good time. Lost men can enjoy themselves. And they can enjoy themselves apart from sin. They can enjoy themselves in good, clean, wholesome activities. And they can enjoy eating food. They can enjoy good drink. They can enjoy a lot of things. God's made us creatures that we can enjoy temporal things. God even treats the lost with mercy during this lifetime. But it's temporary. The doctrine of election is a difficult doctrine. The doctrine of reformation is even a more difficult doctrine. People answer back, I've had said many times to me, you're probably up to. People that don't understand, I've said it before I understood. I wouldn't believe in a God like that. If that's true, then God's a monster. The God you're portraying to me is nothing but a monster. And really, all they're saying, we shouldn't get too offended when people say like that, because maybe the Lord will open their heart. It's just another form of the old question. If there's a God, why do bad things happen? Who hasn't thought that? Who hasn't thought, where's God in all of this? If there's a God, why has that happened? Well, the answer certainly isn't to stand there and say, well, God didn't want this to happen in the midst of a hurricane or in the midst of a tsunami. That's certainly not the answer. Because the lost man that has any reasoning at all will just scoff and say, well, God didn't want it to happen, then why did it happen? And he's right. Well, they say to us, well, your God's a monster. He creates people just for the purpose of damning them to an eternal hell. And then we come to our fifth mystery that we can't explain. And I can't explain it, and I'm not going to be able to, but I'll tell you this, my friends. There's only one group that I know of in Christianity, and I'm using Christianity in the biggest sense of the word now. There's only one group I know of in Christianity that adequately addresses that whole problem of God being able to, or God creating people, and then the purpose is to damn them to hell. And there is a group, we've talked about them in the church here before, they're called open theists. And open theists believe something very interesting about God. They say that God doesn't know the future. And God doesn't know what's going to happen. And they have a lot of reasons for how they theorize that, but a lot of times they say, well, God could look ahead to the future, but chooses not to. That's some of them. And some of them just say that God has purposely made it such that he doesn't know the future so that he can be surprised and he can find things out and God can learn and God can grow. And Mormonism is a form of open theism in a different sense because they do believe in a God that learns and understands, makes mistakes, but he gets better as time goes on. Well, that's certainly not a Christian doctrine by any sense of the matter. And so for those that would say that our God is a monster and we're portraying a monster God, I would just have to ask them a very difficult question that they're going to have to think about and answer. If God looks ahead and God then infallibly knows who's going to choose Him and who is not going to choose Him, even though it's been left wholly to their own free wills, if God looks ahead to see that, Why does God allow people to be born that will never choose Him? We're told that our God's a monster. But the problem exists for the Arminian, too. They've got the same problem. All we can say is it's an unknowable thing. It's an unknowable thing that should cause us to bow instead. Well, I know. What we've given tonight is a difficult message and a hard message, but it's one that I want us to think about and to contemplate. And let me just close with this, the last point, finally. Reprobation does not mean that God refuses to save those who earnestly desire to come to Christ. It doesn't mean that. It's another error. There are some hyper-Calvinists that refuse to preach the gospel to lost men because they're afraid that maybe a non-elect person will come to Christ. I scratch my head and go, what? We're not going to preach the gospel because we're afraid a non-elect person is going to come to Christ? You know, all that shows is there's an absolute misunderstanding of total depravity for one thing and it's a and it's a simple ridiculous thing. Well, Reformation does not mean God refuses to save those who earnestly desire to come to Christ. There's nothing that His people want more than the Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him. And we present the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. That's what we're told to say. We're told to tell people, repent and believe the gospel. And all men everywhere are commanded to repent. And it's our commission to preach the gospel. And it's our privilege to tell men and women about the Lord Jesus Christ and that He's the Savior of sinners. And I can prove that He's the Savior of sinners because He saved me. But we do need to understand when the end of the day comes, it's not our job to save people. That's God's job. It's our job to give people the good news and tell them that God saves sinners. Let's bow in prayer before the sovereign and holy God.