Predestination

Read in Spanish: predestinación

God loves the world and sent His Son to pay the price for our sins. He has given a general call to the world to repent and believe in His Son. The sacrifice of His Son was made for all, but is only effective for those who accept Christ.

God has an eternal purpose and plan that includes everything – every thought everything person or creature has ever had or will ever have, every action everything will do, every word everyone will ever say. As part of His plan, God chose those who would become believers and worked to cause them to want to make the right choice. God did not simply look down the passage of time to see who would choose Him; He actively interacted with men to ensure certain people would desire to choose Him.

Predestination, in the context of man and salvation, is God deciding before He created time who would believe in Christ. God did this based solely on His grace, not on anything we would do (not even based on our choosing to accept Christ). God does not force people to choose Him, but He causes them to desire to want to make the choice He wants them to make. People have the ability to make a different choice, but they will not. It is God’s choice, according to His plan and for His purpose – our choice is our responsibility. If it were not certain what choice we would make, God would not know everything and could make a mistake. If He did not do it, our accepting His Son would be based on our action/choice, and so would be our work, and not His. Yet even so, Scripture teaches a tension between God having chosen us, and us having to accept what He has done. We are each responsible for what we do and choose.

Once chosen, we still have certain responsibilities. Our first responsibility is to choose Him so we can be saved and bring God glory. Our next responsibility is to grow in our relationship with God and knowledge of Him and His Word, so we can become more like Christ and bring God more glory. Our next responsibility is to share God’s love with others so that they may choose to accept Christ.

 

 

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Predestination verses

I. God ordains all things

a.    God ordains people to live (Numbers 24:23)

b.    God ordained the moon & stars (Psalm 8:3)

c.    God promises beforehand (Genesis 24:7)

d.    God said beforehand that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21)

e.    God foretells & acts & it occurs (Isaiah 48:3-6)

f.     God ordained His precepts (Psalm 119:4)

II. God has a time for everything

a.    God has determined a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)

b.    God destined things before time began (1 Corinthians 2:7)

c.    God will judge at the appointed time (1 Corinthians 4:5)

III. God has a purpose

a.    God’s purpose is eternal (Ephesians 3:11)

b.    It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13)

IV. God’s thoughts and counsel can be hard to understand

a.    We can not understand God’s counsel (Job 38; Isaiah 40:13; Romans 11:33-36)

b.    God’s works are great and His thoughts are profound (Psalm 92:5)

c.    God’s thoughts are not ours, and His ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8)

d.    Man may intend harm, but God uses that for good (Genesis 50:20)

e.    God’s wisdom has been hidden (1 Corinthians 2:7)

f.     Christ chose to let the disciples know the truth (Matthew 13:11-16)

g.    God revealed who Jesus was to Simon Barjona (Matthew 16:14-17)

V. God has a plan and decides beforehand what will happen

a.    God has a plan, and it will come to pass (Isaiah 14:24-27; 19:12; 22:11; 23:9; 37:26; 46:10-11; Jeremiah 49:20; 50:45)

b.    God knows His plan (Jeremiah 29:11)

c.    God’s plan can be difficult to understand (Micah 4:12)

d.    God’s plan does not change (Psalm 33:11)

e.    God’s plan includes everything (Proverbs 16:4; Ephesians 1:11)

f.     God’s plan is concerned with the welfare of God’s chosen (Psalm 27:10-11; 37; 65:3; 91; 121; 139:16; Daniel 12:1; Jonah 3:1-10; Matthew 6:25-29)

g.    God’s plan prevails over man’s plans (Proverbs 19:21)

h.    God sometimes warns of His plan (Jeremiah 18:11)

i.     God’s plan sometimes seem to depend on our actions (Jeremiah 36:3; Hebrews 4:7)

j.     God’s plan does not always depend on our actions (Micah 2:3)

k.    All the days of your life were ordained & written in God’s book (Psalm 139:16)

l.    God has determined the places and times people shall live (Acts 17:26)

m.    God’s power & will decided beforehand what would happen (Acts 4:27-28)

n.    God allows some things to show His power and to proclaim His name through all the earth (Exodus 9:16)

o.    Christ was handed over by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23)

p.    Paul was set aside from birth (Galatians 1:15)

VI. God can do what He wishes and it is still just

a.    Every living soul belongs to God (Eze 18:4)

b.    God has a purpose and it is just (Romans 9)

i.     God decided only the descendant of Abraham through Isaac would be counted as Hebrews (Genesis 21:12)

ii.     God gave Sarah a son (Genesis 18)

iii.     God destroys (Isaiah 10:22-23)

c.    God is sovereign and can do as He wishes (Matthew 20:1-15)

d.    People are not equal to their creator, we are like clay in the hands of a potter (Isaiah 29:16)

e.    People should not argue with their Creator (Isaiah 45:9)

f.     People’s lack of faith does not nullify God’s faithfulness (Romans 3:1-23)

VII. God knows the future

a.    God warns us of an appointed time for His wrath to come (Zephaniah 2:1-3)

b.    Christ warned us of the future (Matthew 24:4-31; Mark 13:20-27)

c.    Jesus foretold His betrayal (John 13:19)

d.    Jesus foretold His death (John 14:29)

VIII.  God knew and loved Christ (in an intimate relationship) before time began

a.    God loved Christ before the creation of the world, implying both are outside time (John 17:24)

b.    Christ was foreknown before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:20)

IX.  We are known by God (in an intimate relationship) before we are born 

a.    All the days of your life were ordained & written in God’s book (Psalm 139:16)

b.    God calls people by name before they are born (Isaiah 49:1-5)

c.    He knew you before you He formed you in the womb (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

d.    God foreknew His people (Romans 11:2)

X. God desires everyone to believe

a.    God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)

b.    Jesus invited all to come to Him (Matthew 11:28)

c.    The will of God is that all the Father gives Christ will come to Him & be raised up in the last day and all that see & believe in Christ & will have eternal life (John 6:37-40)

d.    God commands all people to repent (Acts 17:30-31)

e.    God wants all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

XI. God finds no pleasure in people dying

a.    God takes no pleasure in the wicked dying and would rather they turn back (Ezekiel 33:11)

b.    God wants all to repent (2 Peter 3:9)

c.    But some are still destined to doom (John 17:12)

d.    God has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for a day of disaster (Proverbs 16:4)

e.    Christ chose eleven disciples who would believe and one whom He knew was a devil (John 6:69-71)

XII. Only those that God gives to Christ will come to Him

a.    No one can come to Christ unless the Father who sent Christ draws him (John 6:44)

b.    Everyone who has heard and learned from God the Father will come to Christ (John 6:45)

c.    Only those God has specifically granted permission can come to Christ (John 6:65)

d.    All the Father gives to Christ will come to Him and never be driven away (John 6:37; 17:24)

e.    Some people’s names are not written in the book of Life (Revelation 13:8, 17:8)

XIII. Faith and salvation are from God

a.    The work of God is that we believe in Christ (John 6:29)

b.    Jesus is the author of salvation (Hebrews 2:9-10)

c.    Jesus is the author & perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2)

XIV. People are sinners and unable to respond in faith without God

a.    God hates sin (Psalm 5:5)

b.    God is not responsible for our committing sin (Ezek 28:15)

c.    All have sinned (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 1 John 1:10)

d.    Sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:23; 6:23)

e.    Wrath of God comes to men who exchange what they create (image of animals) for God (Romans 1:18-23)

f.     Unbelievers can not please God (Romans 8:7-8)

g.    It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6)

h.    God does not hear sinners (John 9:31)

i.     Godly sorrow leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-11)

j.     God leads us to change (Romans 2:4)

k.    The law was intended to teach of our need for Christ, not save us (Romans 3:19-31)

l.     Satan blinds people (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

m.  People are blind to their need and the truth (Isaiah 6:9-10; Matthew 13:14-15)

n.    All people are under the power of sin (Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:9-11)

o.    Some people will stumble and are destined to disobey the message (1 Peter 2:8)

XV. God chose the elect

a.    God chose Abraham (Genesis 18:19)

b.    God chose Jacob (the younger) over Esau (the older) (Genesis 25:23-26; Malachi 1:2-3)

c.    God decides who are His people (Hosea 1:10; 2:23)

d.    God chose & predestined believers before creation of the world according to His good will for His plan and purpose (Ephesians 1:3-14)

e.    The elect were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God (in an intimate relationship) (1 Peter 1:1-2)

f.     Believers were chosen from the beginning (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

g.    People who love God are those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

h.    Those God foreknew (in an intimate relationship) He also predestined, called, justified, & glorified (Romans 8:29-30)

i.     You did not choose Christ, He chose you (John 15:16; Acts 9:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)

j.     All who were appointed for eternal life believed (Acts 13:44-48)

k.    People are chosen because of God’s grace, not because of what they do

i.     God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. (Exodus 33:19)

ii.     Jesus saves us because of God’s mercy, not because of good works, to do God’s work, which He prepared for us in advance  (Romans 11:5-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5)

iii.     God chose from the weak, the foolish, the base, the despised, the poor (1 Corinthians 1:27-29; James 2:5)

iv.     God chooses so that His purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. God has no injustice but it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9:6-33)

l. People are chosen to display his glory (Ephesians 1:6,12,14)

XVI.  We are each responsible for our choices.

a.    Each person dies for his own sins (Deuteronomy 24:16; Eze 18:4)

b.    We must warn the wicked of his sin, but we will not be accountable for his sins. But if we do not warn him of his sin, he will die for them, and we will be responsible for his blood (Ezekiel 3:19)

c.    If we do not believe Jesus is the Christ, we will die in our sin (John 8:24)

d.    Each person will be judged according to what he has done (Hebrews 12:23; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 Peter 4:5-6; Jude 1:14-16; Rev 20:12-13)

XVIII. Even if we are elect, we must do God’s work

a. God works to make us want to do His will, for His own purpose

i.   He began a good work in believers and will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6)

ii.  God causes growth (1 Corinthians 3:6)

iii. It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13)

iv. People are chosen to live Godly lives (Colossians 3:12; 2 Peter 1:10)

b.    People are chosen to be conformed like Christ (Romans 8:28-29)

c.    Paul was an apostle of Jesus for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, promised before the beginning of time (Titus 1:1-3)

d.    Paul endured everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10)

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