Predestination

Genesis 45:7-8

And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. [8] So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Carnal People Cannot Explain Predestination

         When carnal men try to explain what Calvinists believe about predestination, they end up describing fate instead of predestination. Fate has nothing to do with man’s free will. Fate says, “What will be will be. Que será sera.” It is not possible for the carnal mind to explain what we believe and what the Bible teaches. Even some who say they believe in predestination do not understand how it works when they say men have no free will.

Both Free Will And The Bondage Of The Will Exist

         Martin Luther wrote, The Bondage Of The Will, and Jonathan Edwards wrote Freedom Of The Will. They agreed with each other. Father, help me to explain it today.

         We are all slaves to our fallen nature. For that very reason we freely decide to sin. We cannot decide to obey God until God freely decides to convince us of the truth. Once convinced, we freely choose for the very same reason. We are enslaved to what we believe in the heart.

Joseph Said, “God Sent, Not You”

         His brothers were afraid Joseph would get even with them now that their father was dead. They had sold Joseph into slavery. He later says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20 ESV).

Did God Make Them Sell Joseph?

         Or did God have no control over what they did and just turned it around for good? That is not what Joseph said. He said, “It was not you, but God.” God did not make them sell Joseph. They freely did it because of their jealousy.  Did God make them jealous of Joseph? No. Their own fallen nature, to which they were enslaved, is what made them freely do it.

Problems Are Opportunities

         Whenever bad things happen, God means it for good. The disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered that the real reason was that the works of God should be revealed in him. That is why you were abused. That is the real reason for all your trials. It’s not a problem; it’s an opportunity for the work of God to be revealed in you. That’s what happened to Joseph.

God Predestined The Crucifixion

         The disciples prayed, “there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27-28 ESV).

         To predestine means to settle beforehand. Did God make these people crucify Jesus? It says God predestined this. God settled this beforehand. Is God then the author of evil? No. They freely did what they did. God simply used evil to bring about good. Salvation and redemption are always messy because we live in a fallen world.

Post-Destination Is Not Pre-Destination

         Some say God has no control over what men and devils do. They say God foreknew Joseph’s brothers would do it and then God destined a way to turn it around for good. They say God predestined men to salvation after He saw they would make a decision for Christ. That is not “pre;” that is post-destination. The same people who cling to man’s freewill refuse to give God the freedom to choose who He will convince of the truth.

God Uses Evil For Good

         When Assyria carried Israel into captivity, God said, “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets” (Isaiah 10:5-6).

God Used Wicked Pharaoh

         God said, “But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exo 4:21). God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so He could multiply signs and wonders. He also hardened his heart so he would chase Israel and destroy his army. This shows what God is like and it shows why He lets the devil do the things he does.

Satan Is The Tool Of God’s Anger

1Chronicles 21:1 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

2 Samuel 24:1 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” Because of this, God sent a plague that killed thousands. But it ended with God choosing the place where the temple would be built. Redemption is always messy.

Joseph Was Not Wounded

         He was not wounded because he did not hold grudges. His brothers did him wrong, Potiphar’s wife did him wrong, and the butler forgot him.

         No one was ever hurt by what happened to them. What hurt them was their not believing that God was with them. What hurt them was the way they reacted. Hurt people hurt themselves. If we react in hatred or self-pity, or unforgiveness, that is what does the damage. The blame game is what hurts. Joseph forgot the past and pressed toward the future. He was a born dreamer.

         Joseph sided with authority and told on his brothers. Losers side with losers. Winners side with authority. He had tremendous self-confidence because he believed God was with him. If you don’t believe God is with you it’s an insult to God.

         But if you’re living in sin, it is impossible to believe God is with you.

         Were you abused? Were people cruel to you? Do you feel that people don’t like you? Cut it out! God says, “I’m with you. Why are you discouraged? Am I not enough for you? God has assigned a special place for you in life. There is a nook that only you can fill. Be grateful and contented with it.

         Joseph did the best with what he was dealt in life whether it was as a house servant or living in a dungeon. He always rose to the top. If ya think like a loser, you’ll be a loser. If ya think like a victim, you’ll be a victim. God’s people are not victims; we are victors.

God said to, Pharaoh

          “Let My people go” (Exodus 9:1). But God had said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” so he would not let them go (Exo 7:3). What kind of a God would command men to do what He knew they could not do? Why did God do this?

         He tells why in Exodus 9:16: “…for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” “I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them’” (Exodus 10:1 ESV).

Before Adam Fell

…he had no sin nature. He was free to obey or disobey. But in Adam’s fall we sinned all. The whole human race inherited Adam’s death and fell into sin. Every one of us was headed for hell. But God decided to save some.

God Says, “Do You Begrudge My Generosity?”

         The human race belongs to God. God says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15 ESV)

         Does it strike you as interesting that those who demand that all men should be free to choose God are also demanding that God not be free to choose with what belongs to Him? “God is not a man… that He should repent” (Num 23:19). God does not obey man’s rules. That would make man the sovereign god. This is the meaning of God’s sovereignty.

         All men freely choose to sin. God did not make Pharaoh sin. He simply used Pharaoh’s nature from Adam’s fall.

         Think of the arrogance of begrudging God of what He does with what belongs to Him. All men deserve hell fire. When God generously chooses to open the eyes of some of them in order to save them, would it be better to not save any?  “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

Christ Chose To Heal Only Some

         At the pool of Bethesda many sick people were lying there to be healed when the angel stirred the water. But Jesus walked through the crowd and healed only one. There were many blind men in Palestine, but God chose to heal only some.

         Some would say there must have been something good in me that God saw. That’s why He chose me. No! There is none righteous; no not one. That is pride. That is not grace.

         Peter said, “Make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).

TULIP

         …is the acronym we use to describe God’s sovereignty.

         T stands for total depravity. All humans are basically sinful. Their will is in bondage to their fallen nature because, when Adam died, we were all in his body and we died, too. We are born corrupt and in sin.

U stands for unconditional election.

God chooses unconditionally whom He enlightens. His choice is not based on how good a person is. He many times chooses the worse person over a better person. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

L stands for limited atonement.

Only those who believe get their sins atoned for unto eternal salvation under special grace. Under common grace, the whole world gets atoned for. If it weren’t for that, God would have already destroyed the world.

I stands for irresistible grace.

When God extends special grace to His chosen ones, He does it by opening their eyes to the truth. Once they are convinced of the truth it is irresistible. No one can resist what he believes in his heart.

P stands for perseverance.

God’s chosen ones endure to the end. They cannot lose their salvation. They cannot forget what God showed them. They believe unto the end of life. The righteous fall 7 times but they get up.