Predestination Fact or Fiction?

Predestination Fact or Fiction?                       Ephesians 1:3-14

Introduction:

1.      How many of you think you have a destiny? Or have a certain predetermined fate? Have you ever said it must be fate? Well if you have then I want you to pay special attention to this lesson. This lesson is about predestination. Some may say that doctrines like predestination in the churches of Christ are taboo or should not be spoke about, but how can we reveal any truth on the matter unless we study about those issues?

2.      Why is predestination a big topic? Well there is a guy that wrote a book called a “Purposed Driven Life”, his name is Rick Warren. He had followed that book up with a “Purposed Driven Church”. The theme of these is that man has a destiny in God. Truly the idea of having a plan for our lives makes us realize there is a higher purpose in ourselves. That there is reason for the bad that happens or for the good that happens. I believe that is why the topic of predestination is largely believed.

3.      Some of our religious neighbors believe that everyone is predestined. In fact it is part of their basic doctrine or teaching. They believe that unless God picks you and enlightens you to believe in Jesus you will never become a Christian. A fair warning, most people in the pew do not realize this or believe this to be true but their pastors do believe it and are taught it in their seminary schools.

4.      So today I want to examine the truth on the matter. Are you predestined? Is your life planned right down to this very second? Or Is God so knowledgeable He allows us to chose whatever we want but knows what we will chose? I am here to tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are predestined. Before you cast stones at me and say we do not believe that; here me out. I will show you from scripture we are predestined and not only that but that we still have free choice.

I.                    Why Is There a Heaven or a Hell for Everyone?

A.    How Sin Entered Into The World (Gen 3:1-7)

1.      God gave mankind a command (Gen 2:16-17)

a.       God told them they could eat anything they wanted, except for the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said that if you eat from this tree you will surely die.

b.      When God gives a direct command all other things are excluded. Means it was clear they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It also means they could eat from every other tree out there. Please notice the command though, he specified tree of the garden.

c.       If it was not a tree or if it was not in the garden they could not eat of it.

2.      The devil came along and became the tempter

a.       The devil decided to tempt Eve by adding to what God said. Notice the devil did not change God’s word but added a three-letter word, NOT.

b.      We do not know why the devil had it in for us humans; the Bible is silent on the exact reason. However some say it was because he was jealous of us because God made us in His own image. Some say it was because of his pride that he got kicked out and because he was kicked out he thought he would mess up everything else he could that was God’s. Heaven only knows the truth on that matter.

3.      Eve was beguiled or tricked

a.       1 John 2:16, says “for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride in possessions is not from the Father but from the world”

b.      She was tempted with all three elements: (1) The lust of the flesh- “saw it was good for food” (2) The lust of the eyes- “She saw it was” She seen the fruit as the devil held it up and was eating it. (3) The pride in possessions- She thought if she possessed the knowledge the fruit would give her she would be like God himself.

c.       She also gave unto her husband. Notice he was not caught up in the deception, he just said okay I’ll eat it because you gave it to me Eve.

d.      Sin entered into the world through trickery by the devil and free choice.

B.     The Problem and Advantages of Free Choice

1.      What is free choice?

a.       Freedom to chose whatever we want even if it is harmful or helpful to ourselves.

b.      Have you ever been with a child and see free choice work? I am sure you have you tell the children please do not do this and what do they do? You have to correct them after that.

c.       Maybe you have seen free choice in a cat or dog, they do not have the ability to reason, but none the less you tell your cat here kitty-kitty and they don’t move. Or you tell you dog after you throw the stick go fetch and they just look at you and lick you your hand as you point to the stick you just threw.

2.      Why do we have free choice?

a.       It boils down to love. Can you make your spouse love you? You can do nice things to try to win them over but can you make them love you?

b.      Since God created man to have someone to love then he can not make us like robots can he?

c.       You and I have remote control cars and let us say we actually built a robot from scratch. We made it talk and tell us it loves us, we made it do back flips, drive a car, clean house, you made this robot do everything we wanted to, could you love it like you do your wife or husband? Of course not. It does those things, not because it wants to but because we made it to be our puppet on a string.

d.      God wants us to love Him above all other things (Mark 12:29-31). If we are to love Him we must do it out of our free choice. We must freely choose to lay down my personal desires to do what I want to do and obey what God wants me to do.

e.       You can not have love unless you have free choice.

3.      Advantages of free choice

a.       Love rejoices in free choice. We show our love by freely choosing to obey God and not our own desires that we would rather do. I could be fishing right now out there on the Tennessee River catching some fish, but I freely chose to come here and worship God.

b.      Our actions show us what we love. If all we ever do in life is fish and hunt then it shows us that we truly love to fish and hunt more than anything else in the world.

c.       If our actions show that we love God first and foremost everyday then we will surely gain the Lord’s favor in our life. By gaining God as a friend we have help that surpasses any that we could get from humans.

4.      The disadvantages of free choice are sin and death.

a.       God and his promise to Adam and Eve, in the day you eat of it you shall surely die

b.      It was not a physical immediate death, the tree was not full of poison that would kill their physical bodies but their disobedience would inflame God and cause separation with His love and fellowship.

c.       We can chose to love by obeying or we can chose to not obey and show dis-contempt or hate.

II.                 The Solution To The Problem of Sin and Death

A.    Debt Requires Payment

1.      Sin requires payment of wrong doing

a.       Little Johnny went out and was hitting the baseball around and he knocked it through his neighbor’s window. Little Johnny’s dad paid to fix the window but made Johnny save up his own money to pay him back.

b.      It would not be right for little Johnny not to fix the things he broke. The same is true for sin.

c.       When you and I sin there is a punishment to be had, in Johnny’s case it was the price of the window, in our case it is the cost of our souls.

2.      We have more debt than we can pay

a.       Our most valuable possession is our soul. It is worth more than any amount of money or thing. When we sin against God the cost of that window is our soul.

b.      None of us has more than one soul; so obviously we cannot give our soul to pay the debt and still have a soul left over can we?

B.     The One Who Can Pay Off Our Debts

1.      There is One who is rich enough

a.       Jesus was made in the likeness of humans and he was sinless. He never ever sinned. He took our punishment as a sinner.

b.      Because Jesus never broke a window in His entire life, and he gave his soul in place of ours. God allows him to pay for our broken window. Jesus offers to pay off anyone’s soul debt most people call sin debt.

C.     How He Paid Off Our Debts

1.      Jesus was so righteous by never sinning he is able to pay off everyone’s debt.

a.       Everyone here is like little Johnny we all have broken a window that we can not fix, but Jesus has enough money to pay for all of our broken windows.

2.      In terms of a checking account

a.       Each act of disobedience adds to our total debt that must be paid one day.

b.      When we steal from the store, or when we lie at work, or when we cheat on our spouse we acquire a certain amount of debt called sin.

c.       You and I are not and will never be rich enough to pay off this debt called sin. Because the price to pay it off is your soul and you only have one soul not two.

d.      Jesus is like the richest man in the world. He offers to pay all of your debt if you will do what He teaches or says. So Jesus takes our account balance in our checking account and pays of the debt.

III.              The Truth About Predestination

A.    Problems Associated With Predestination

1.      Jesus will pay anyone’s debt or Jesus will fix anyone’s broken window.

a.       2 Pet 3:9, “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering towards us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

b.      1 Tim 2:3-4, “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”

c.       Jesus does not care how many people you have killed, how many lies you have told, each of these debts called sin He can pay off.

2.      Those that believe in predestination have to wonder why there is a hell

a.       If God chose specific individuals to become Christians, then why is there a hell?

b.      Those that hold this view have to believe that God chose some to burn in eternity and others He chose to live in peace with Him in Heaven.

c.       Some that hold this view will say that God chose a path for each one us when we were born and if we live long enough we would become Christians. The problem with this view is that makes God unable to perform His own plan!

B.     We Are Predestined Without a Doubt

1.      We are absolutely predestined without a doubt.

a.       Earlier I mentioned I would show that we are predestined and still have free choice, this is the time I want you to pay close attention because here is the heart of the matter.

b.      Eph 1:3-15…Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,--in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints...Ephesians 1:3-15.

c.       Notice the words in this text; according as He has chosen us- God chose us we did not chose Him right? That is what some of our religious friends say is predestination or predetermined.

d.      Notice also in him before the foundation of the world: Paul told the Ephesians that they were chosen to be adopted in Christ before the world was formed!

e.       It absolutely clear that we are beyond a doubt predestined to be Christians. Don’t cast stones yet, let me make a few more points then I will wrap it up where it makes good sense.

2.      Clearly the text in 1 Pet say Christ was planned before the world began

a.       1 Pet 1:19-20, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without a blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you”

b.      Notice 1 Pet 1:19-20, Jesus was foreordained before the world, - as in before God decided to make dry land and before he made man Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection had been planned to redeem man before he ever created man.

c.       This answers some people’s question of why did God make a mistake when Eve and Adam sinned. God knew when He gave us the ability to freely choose we would sin. So He made a way for us to be reconciled. Jesus was not a backup plan to sin and mankind. He was the plan.

C.     Freedom To Chose Our Predetermined Destination

1.      We all have been chosen before the world began

a.       Ephesians chapter 1 says that clearly.

2.      Jesus was predetermined to die, be buried, and be resurrected in order to save from sin

a.       1 Peter chapter 1 clearly says that Jesus was not an after thought but that had been planned before God ever created even dry land.

b.      Jesus was the Saviour of mankind the day God formed man out of the earth and blew in life.

3.      What does it mean to be predestined in Christ according to the scriptures?

a.       Think about the time period. With the book of Ephesians Paul was writing about AD 60. This is about 27 years after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. This was not before Jesus came to earth but after the cross of Jesus.

b.      Paul was simply saying that because the sacrifice of Jesus causes us to be reconciled to God,  if we are going to become right in God’s sight we have to come through Christ.

c.       Paul was not teaching individual election, but that all of mankind has been predetermined to be Christians if they want to go to Heaven.

d.      It is not a matter of God choosing the individuals at Ephesus, but that because of the time period in which they lived, i.e. after the death of Christ and establishment of the church, they were predestined to be Christians. God did not predestine individuals but mankind to become Christians if they are to be saved or reconciled with God.

4.      These scriptures do not teach individual election, but teach individual choice.

a.       We still can chose to follow God or not to follow God. We still can choose to believe the saving message or not to believe it. It is our free choice.

b.      If we choose to give ourselves over to God to be saved then we are predestined to be followers of His son Jesus, because Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the truth the way and the life no man comes to the Father but through me”

c.       There is only one way to be saved and that my friend is through the precious blood of Jesus.

Conclusion:

1.      We all have the same choice that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden. We can chose to obey what God has said, or we can chose to do what we want to do. It is our choice. If we hear the message of how to be saved and do nothing we will be lost if we die or if Jesus comes back before we repent..

2.      However, we can exercise our free choice and become a Christian. If we chose to do so then Jesus will pay for all of our debts that have been made. Jesus is the only One who has enough money to pay for your sin. The cost of sin is our soul and we don’t have two souls, so Jesus is the only way. By becoming a Christian today you will make the same choice the Ephesians did when they chose to follow Jesus and not to follow sin. Will you as everyone else in heaven has; choose to be predestined to be a Christian? Yes or no?

3.      In order to become a Christian you must:

1. Hear the message of salvation (Rom 10:17)

2. Believe the message (Heb 11:6, John 3:16-17)

3. Repent of sin (Luke 13:3,5, Act 17:30-31)

4. Confess Jesus as Lord (Mat 10:32-33; Rom 10:9-10)

5. Be Baptized (Acts 2:38-39; 1 Pet 3:21; Gal 3:27)