Posts Tagged ‘Election’
Elect – Whose Salvation Is Kept By God
In Christendom there are two views of thought when it comes to keeping one’s salvation once they have been born again by the Spirit of God.
In short, they are Free Will and Election. Free Will salvation states that Jesus has done all He can in providing a blanket salvation that covers everyone and that now it is up to man to decide whether or not he will accept or reject the offer of salvation that Jesus gives. Basically man is responsible for his salvation because he must now do his part in receiving the salvation that Jesus has provided.
Since man is responsible for receiving salvation, by choosing, of his own free will, to accept or reject the offer, he places himself in the position of being responsible for keeping this salvation. Since it was by his decision to accept Jesus that he was saved, he now has to work daily to make sure he does not do or say anything that could cause him to lose it. In addition, he must also take care not to become complacent of his salvation and decide somewhere down the road to turn away from Christ and, in doing so, he would lose his salvation never to get it back again.
If you look at it in that respect you can see how one who believes in Free Will salvation really does not have any lasting assurance, or even peaceful assurance, of his eternal salvation still being with him when he dies. This is because it is his responsibility, by his power, that he must rely upon in order to keep the salvation that he chose to accept, that Jesus provided for all to receive.
The other view of keeping one’s salvation is that it is not by man’s power or will that this is done by it is due to the power of God that it is kept.
You see, in the doctrine of election it is God who looks at man and sees that spiritually he is dead to God. Un-saved man does not want to bow to the God of the Bible – Jesus. Un-saved man does not want God, does not look for Him and is actually at enmity with God. Basically, God sees that man, of his own will, will never chose to accept the offer of salvation because he really does not believe that he needs to be saved, that he has been good enough to get into Heaven on his own goodness.
So, God, in His great desire to have a people of His own, chose from before the beginning of time who would be saved and, in His time, they come to Jesus for forgiveness and they do so willingly. This in itself is another story for another time.
What this means, however, is that under the doctrine of Election it is God’s responsibility not only to save someone it is also His responsibility to keep that person saved. In a section of 1 Peter chapter one is a little known verse that so many gloss over that explains this well. However, in order to understand this you must read the verse in its context; which we will now do.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you(the elect), 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In writing to the pilgrims, Peter calls them the elect (select, chosen) and in talking about their salvation he finishes with saying that it has been made ready for them, for their arrival in Heaven, and that they are being kept by the power of God until then.
This way, since salvation under the doctrine of election is the responsibility of God in saving they whom He choses, it is also God’s responsibility to keep them saved. And, many time Jesus made the comment that of all that God the Father has given Him He would not lose any of them; not one soul will be lost whom Jesus has saved.
Since it is the responsibility of God to save whom He wills, it is also God’s responsibility to keep them saved whom He has chosen for salvation. To have this knowledge that it is God who works in me to will and to do of His good pleasure provides for me, as it should for all who have been saved by His power, great assurance of my eternal salvation because it does not depend on me in keeping my salvation because I am being kept saved by the power of God.
Salvation, from start to finish, is all of God. It is by His will that anyone is saved and it is by His will that they whom He has saved will be kept saved.
Jesus has given us the promise that “ALL whom the Father has given Him will come to Him and that He will not reject any of them, and that He will keep them until the end and that He will not lose not even one of them.”
I guess the question now is… who is responsibility for your salvation and for keeping it?
Knowing God’s Elect
What is amazing is that the average “Christian” of today does not like to talk about the theology of election as it is a teaching that does not allow man to believe in a doctrine of salvation in which he cannot, and does not, participate. The thing is that there are numerous Scripture verses that mention or talk about this very act of salvation.
However, in the 1st letter to the Thessalonians there is a little read and often overlooked verse that speaks volumes about election. In the 1st chapter and verse 4 the Apostle Paul writes the following:
4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.
And the word for “election” here means “divine selection or being chosen”, but the amazing thing is that Paul follows up this statement with the reason “why” he knows that they have been elected by God for salvation. In verse five we read:
5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance,
So, what is so important about this you might ask. Anyone can “preach” the word or the gospel of salvation but it always takes the power of the Holy Spirit to effectually make it work in saving the elect. Again, Paul makes this comparison in the very next chapter in 1 Thessalonians and in verse 13 we read:
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
It is because of the Word, working in an effective manner in those whom God chooses, do they believe for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10: 17). The question, then, is this. Who are they who will hear? The answer is quite easy. In the Gospel of John and in Chapter 8 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and discussing with them about Who He is. I won’t quote the whole of Scripture, especially verses 42 through 47, you can look that up yourself, for the important verse at which we must look is the latter part of verse 46 and then verse 47. For in them we read the following:
46 ….. why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
By these verses we see very clearly that unless one belongs to God they will not “hear” the words of God. In addition in Chapter 10 of the Gospel of John Jesus makes another very clear statement. In talking about being the “Good Shepherd” Jesus says this in verses 14 through 16:
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
His sheep – they who belong to Him – will hear His voice and will respond to Him in an effectual and favorable way of submission to His Lordship, and in the receiving of the forgiveness of sins and salvation from facing the wrath of God. As Jesus says in chapter 6: 37 of the Gospel of John:
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
All who are named in God’s election, the Word of God will work in them in a powerful way in making them alive in the spirit, in giving them a new heart that will grant them the ability to respond to the call of the Good Shepherd, and they will “hear” his voice and will come to Him and follow Him; all because God has chosen to elect they who will be saved. Even though no one deserves to be saved.
Yes, we can know God’s elect. For only in them will we see that the “gospel did not come to them in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance,”. God does elect they who will be saved. If He does not do so… no one would be saved. For man, of his own will, would never choose to be saved.
Are you among God’s elect? Did the Word of God come to you in power with the effectual working of the Holy Spirit? If you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and have believed in your heart that God the Father has raised Him from the dead, and if you have you called upon Jesus as Lord in submission to Him then you can know that you have the assurance of God’s saving grace and that you, too, have been forgiven for your sins and are now in God’s hands for all eternity. That is the assurance of God’s working power in your salvation because you are among the elect of God..
Born Again By The Word Of God
As a Biblical Student of Reformation Theology, believing in the doctrine of election, I am often asked how can I believe in being an Evangelical and doing the work of an Evangelist? My response is to say, “It is easy.” … 🙂
“Easy?” they will say, “how can it be easy if God has already chosen who will be saved?” At this point I begin to remind them of a few scripture verses.
Remember how Paul first went to Corinth? In a dream God told him in Acts 18:
9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
God told Paul that He had “many people in this city.” and Paul stayed there for more than a year preaching the Word to them. It was through that preaching that God saved those who were “His” people. Only by hearing the Word of God can anyone be born again by the Spirit of God.
In Romans 10: 17 Paul says the following:
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Word of God is two-fold. First there is the written or spoken Word of God, that His disciples are commanded to share with the world, and second there is Jesus Himself, Who is the Word of God (see John 1:1), it is He Who works through the Holy Spirit to give understanding of the Gospel and opens their heart to receive it and to respond to it. As all who are saved receives a measure of faith, it needs to be applied – first, in order for it to work; so that one can respond with the faith needed in believing the gospel of Jesus.
In Ephesians 2: 8, 9 Paul writes the following:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
This is why Paul can also write in that same chapter, but in verse 1 the following:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Since we are spiritually dead in our sinful nature, and cannot understand or respond favorably to anything of God, we first need to be made spiritually alive in order to respond as God wants of us. It is because of the Word coming into our hearts and taking out the old one and giving us a new heart, a soft, welcoming and receiving heart that one becomes willing to respond to the Word, to be able to cry out to Jesus for forgiveness for our sins and to be willing to submit to Him as Lord in order for Him to be our Savior.
However, in order for all of this to happen we first need to hear the Word of God so that we can have the faith that is needed to be able to believe and be saved from the wrath of God that is to come in the end times.
Yes, I do believe in the doctrine of election but I also know that God has people, everywhere, whom He intends to save, but it takes for them to hear the Word in order for that to be achieved. As Paul tells it in Romans 10:
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
How about you? Do you want to be forgiven for your sinfulness and be given the gift of salvation? It is as easy as doing what these verses in Romans 10: 8-10 says:
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
How much more can this be any easier? Just call upon Jesus and proclaim Him to be Lord. Confess your sinfulness and believe with your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead and you, too, will find out that you have been given the gift of salvation, and that you have been born again into the family of God.
Are You Sure Of Your Call and Election?
Many people call themselves a Christian. For many different reason they believe they are and even they who have “accepted?” Jesus as their personal Savior are sure that they are going to Heaven, even though the life they live does not show it. In Matthew 7: 21 – 23 Jesus says the following:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Now why would Jesus say this if everyone who calls Him “Lord” is saved? Is it because many people believe that because they have answered an alter call of some kind and have “accepted” Jesus as their personal Savior, and go on with their life believing that they have been forgiven and that God loves them just as they are? In most cases, Yes! The Apostle Peter knew this and in his letter (2 Peter 1: 5 – 11) the Apostle wrote the following:
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter reminds those, who say they have obtained like faith, that if you are a follower of Jesus then these characteristic should be apart of their lives. If not, they are blind and unfruitful in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They may not be true followers at all. For this reason Peter reminds them about this and tells them that they should make sure that the calling they say they have received is because of God’s election of them and not because of some action they took to receive salvation; to make sure that their works and actions will show their faith and that they have been cleansed from their sins. What Peter reminds these followers basically is the same thing that Jesus preached to they who were following Him while He was on the earth. Just because someone has “accepted” Jesus as their personal Savior does not necessarily prove that they are true-born again, called by God, followers of the Lord Jesus. In fact they really are not Christians, elected of God, but workers of lawlessness blinded by their unfruitful works and not realizing that their religiosity is just for show; much like what the Pharisees of the time were doing. They were relying on their works and not on what Jesus has done for them. How about you? Maybe you should take a look at your life, your works, the fruits of your salvation and to check to make sure that your life does show your call and election is sure and real. It would be a terrible thing to hear after death the words of Jesus, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Now is the time to find out the truth of your salvation. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s Valentine
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,”
1 John 3: 1
Do you know this love? What a gift this is that God has given to His people. For the verse, quoted above, continues this way:
“that we should be called children of God!“
They who belong to God are His children. Would you not like to be a child of God?
When we were not seeking God, He was seeking us and He found us. When we could not come to Christ on our own, God drew us to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we were not willing to come to Jesus, the Father worked in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
When our heart was cold and not able to believe the Word that we heard, God removed that cold dead heart and provided us with a new heart; a warm living heart that was able to receive the things of the Spirit of God, so that we would understand our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.
When we were dead in our sins and unable to respond to the call to “come forth”, God made us alive and broke the chains that bound us. He then set us free from being a slave to Satan and from being a slave to our sins so that we could “come forth” and cry out to Jesus to “save me or I shall perish.”
The work of salvation is all of God. He seeks us, we do not seek Him. He draws us when we do not want Him. He makes us alive when we are dead. He sets us free as we are chained. He gives us a new heart as we have a heart of stone. He makes us willing when our will is not free. He places within us the Word of life when we are devoid of ability. He receives us as we call out to Jesus to save us.
Truly it is a wonderful thing to know what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. He has done so because we are His children. He has known us since the beginning of time. He keeps us safe until it is our time to join His family. He then calls us to come to Him when the time is right and He gives us the ability to respond according to His will.
We all love Valentine’s day as it is a day of love. We give our loved ones gifts from our heart to show our love for them. How much more does our Father love us? When we are saved and forgiven for our sins, when we know how the work of salvation is all of God, when we realize that we are called children of God, how much more can we praise our Father for His love for us than by saying:
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God!”
No greater Valentine can be received than the love which the Father has given to us so that we can be called the children of God. How about you? Can you make that claim? Only if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and have believed on Him to be your Savior can you be called a child of God. There is no other Name given among men by which we can be saved. There is no other way that we can receive the gift of God’s love; God’s Valentine.
How Were You Saved?
Who gets the credit for your salvation? When you answer that question then you will know the answer to “How Were You Saved?”
__________________
We know that no one can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, and that it is by His grace that we are saved. However, we argue over how man receives this grace.
One man says that even though God, by His grace, draws us to Jesus, we must still choose, by our own “free” will, to accept or reject Jesus as our Savior.
Another man says that God saves us by making us willing to receive Jesus, and that we do not have the power nor ability to make this decision for ourselves; that is, of our own “free” will.
The first man says that man is to determine whether or not he is to be saved. Thus he can say, “I know that it was by God’s grace that I was saved but, I had to choose whether or not I wanted to be saved. After all, I could have rejected Jesus, and I would have been condemned if I had done so, but I chose to trust Jesus instead. God didn’t save me until I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Besides, God won’t make me do anything against my will. He won’t do anything until I give in.”
Now the second man says that he was saved because it was by God’s will and not his that he was saved. He says, “When I was dead in my sins I did not see my need for a Savior. I did not see myself as a sinner, so there was no need for me to be willing to be saved. However, God gave me ears to hear His word, and He took away my heart of stone and gave me a new heart, a soft heart, where His word would take deep root and grow into understanding so that I would believe in Jesus.
Then He placed within me a new spirit, His Spirit, to free me from bondage to Satan and to make me alive so that I could respond to His calling. When these things happened I saw myself as the detestable sinner I was, and I was filled with a great sorrow. I knew I was destined for Hell.
Finally, I understood why Jesus died for me, to set me from sin. He saved me from God’s wrath, and that if it had not been for God’s divine influence in me, to show me all these things, I would never, of my own “free” will, have believed in Jesus. Whereas, I had been unwilling, God came in and made me willing. I had no choice because where I once was a slave to Satan, and unwilling to be saved, I was now a child of God and willing only to obey Him. It was by God’s will that I was born again, not mine.
Now, who gets the credit for your salvation?
In the case of the first man, man gets the glory because, in effect, he saved himself. His salvation came to him because of “his” actions. This is salvation by grace “plus works”, man’s works, because of his actions, for he (man) can say that he contributed to his salvation.
In the second man, God gets the glory for man was saved because of what “God” did. It is God who “wills” for man. It is by the faith that is given to him that he believes. It is God who gives an understanding to man. It is God who gives faith to man. Salvation in man is all of God. Man does not tell God what man will do.
So, who gets the credit for you salvation? When you answer that question truthfully, then you will know how you were saved. I pray that it was by God’s will and not yours…
For further study:
John 6:37, 39, 40, 44, 45, 65… Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23… Mark 4:3-9, 11-12, 13-20… Luke 8:5-8, 10-15… Jeremiah 31:31-34… Ezekiel 36:21-28, 31, 32…
What Defines A Christian?
From an early age, I was a very religious person. I attended Church twice on Sunday. I went to Sunday School and in the Summer I was a teacher in Vacation Bible School. I was the President of our Church’s youth group. At one time I was the youngest Acolyte in the diocese of Maryland. All of this, and more, while still a child.
However, I was not a Christian.
Like so many people today, who call themselves Christians, I was involved in all kinds of church activities and enjoyed them all. Yet, when away from church I was a completely different person. I definitely was not “Christ” like.
What is a Christian? What is the difference in being a religious person and in being a Christian? What is it that defines a Christian?
If you ask the average Christian today to describe what makes one a Christian, you would almost always hear, “someone who has accepted Jesus as Savior”. However, that does not make one a Christian. You want to know how I know this to be true? Just look at them when they are not in church. How do they act?
Accepting Jesus as Savior does not make one a Christian. Nor does going to church or being baptized make one a Christian. So, if none of these actions makes one a Christian, what does?
In the Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 3, verse 3, we find an excellent and short verse describing a Christian.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…”
First, in referencing “circumcision”. Now circumcision represents a covenant. In regards to God and man, a covenant is an agreement that God states that He will do such and such and that this agreement is based solely on God and not on man. So here, in stating that “we are the circumcision”, Paul is saying that a Christian is one chosen by God for salvation, and this covenant is based solely on what Jesus has done and not on man’s will or ability. (See John 1:13 & Romans 9:16)
Second, we see that a Christian is one who worships God in the Spirit. Only a person who has been born again, that is made alive in the spirit, by the Spirit of God, has the ability to worship God in the Spirit. Only when one is led by the Spirit of God, do we have the ability to approach the throne of God in a manner worthy of God.
Third, since a Christian belongs to the true covenant of God and has the ability to worship God in the Spirit, we can rejoice in Christ Jesus, Who has given us the ability to do so. Only by the person and work of Christ are we given the faith with which we believe in Him, and because of His resurrection from the dead are we promised eternal life in Heaven with God.
Fourth, becoming a Christian is a work that can only be done by God and not in any way accomplished through the work of man. That is why there is “no confidence in the flesh.”
Therefore, we can then say that “what defines a Christian” is what we see in the life of a person after having become “born again” by the Spirit of God.
As I said in beginning of this essay, I was a religious person but not a Christian. Only years later, when I had an exciting experience in being shown by the Holy Spirit that I had been chosen by God unto salvation that I realized that my only hope of being forgiven for my sins and for spending eternity in Heaven had been based solely on what Christ had done for me.
I saw how sinful my religiosity was and that all I had done was to show how good I was, and it was all based on what I was doing and not on what God had done. I was looking to myself for being “good” enough to be worthy to go to Heaven. I was rejoicing in myself and trusting in my works to save me. Just like so many people, today, who call themselves a Christian.
In short, the life of a person who calls themself a Christian, defines what a Christian is.
Look at your life. Do you worship God by the Spirit of God? Do you rejoice in Christ for what He has done? Do you trust in yourself, as I had done, for being “good” enough to get to Heaven, or do you place your trust in Christ with the faith of Christ given to you to do so?
If you call yourself a Christian then you are the best definition of what a Christian is. I pray that it Is a definition with which Christ would agree. For you see, you are what defines a Christian…
The Work Of Christ On The Cross & The Resurrection
Was He Successful?
Before you answer make sure you have all the information that you need to make an informed decision. The reason I make that recommendation is that much of what the average Christian sitting in the Pew believes is only what they have been told, and they know very little of what the Bible actually says. You may be one of them.
Here’s a test. In Matthew 1:21 we read, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
The key words in this verse is “His people”. Who you believe these people are will determine whether your answer is correct. Now, either Jesus was successful and effective in His work, the reason for which He came, or He was a big failure; in which case He was not who He said He was. If He is a failure then He is a fraud and the biggest purveyor of lies that ever lived.
Let’s look at another verse. In 1st Corinthians 1:18 we read, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The message here is about those who are saved by the power of God because of the work that was done on the cross. Specifically, it talks about those who “are being saved”. In other words, the work that Jesus did upon the cross was only for those who will be saved.
Here’s another example. In Colossians 2:14 we read, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
In this verse the key word is “us”. In short, sins were nailed to the cross. Redemption was made for those that, here, are called “us”. Now who are the “us”? In Colossians 1:2 we see this, “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:”
The “us” of Colossians 2:14 are the “saints and faithful brethren” of Colossians 1:2. Again, we see specific people were mentioned, those who had been saved, and only they had their sins nailed to the cross and it was for them that redemption was made.
If we are to believe the Bible then we must believe that the work of Christ on the cross was for a specific people and in this He was successful. Now, what about the resurrection?
In Colossians 2:11 – 13 we read, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,”.
In addition, in Romans 4:23 – 25 we read, “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses (cross), and was raised because of our justification. (resurrection)”.
Again, in these verses we see that specific people are in mind in the work that Christ did on the cross and in His resurrection. In fact, God makes it clear that they who are being saved were in a condition of being “dead in your trespasses” and that it was because of what Christ did you were made alive, having forgiven you all your trespasses”.
In other words, before you were born again, if you are a Christian, God had already forgiven you of your sins because of what Christ did for you. In addition, you are also included in the resurrection assuring you of everlasting life, again because of what Jesus did for you in His being raised from the dead.
Before we finish let’s look at just three more verses. They are all found in the Gospel of John and they are all in chapter six. The first verse we will look at is found in verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” A similar statement is found in verse 65, “And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
I bet you thought that anyone could choose to come to Jesus anytime they wanted too, didn’t you? Well, here Jesus tells not just once, but twice, that “NO ONE” can come unless the Father draws him. Now let’s look at the last of these three verses.
Again, staying in John 6 but this time in verse 37 we read, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
Did you notice what it said? It said that “ALL” that Father gives Me will come to Jesus.
Now I am sure you have never been taught nor even told that these verses exists and that they were said by Jesus. In these three verses Jesus is telling us that unless you are drawn by the Father to come to Him you will never, of your own free-will, ever choose to come to Him, but if you are drawn by the Father, then you will have been given the ability to come to Jesus and you will come to Him of your own free-will.
When you take these three verses that were said by Jesus, and combine them with the other verses that we have looked at, we can only come to one conclusion. We have to believe that Jesus was successful in His work upon the cross and in the resurrection, and that both were done for specific people.
The people of Matthew 1:21 for which He came to save are those whom He chooses to save and to assure them of life eternal with His resurrection from the dead. In one last verse, John 5:21 we read, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”
Yes, Christ was successful in His work upon the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. Every person for whom Christ died upon the cross, to give them forgiveness of sins in His redemptive work, and to provide everlasting life through His resurrection from the dead, will be saved and will be given life eternal.
This brings us back to Matthew 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
After looking at the verses that we have, now who do you think are the “people” who Jesus came to save from their sins? Knowing that not everyone will be saved and only those for whom He came to save will be saved, you will have to conclude that these people are those for whom Christ died upon the cross and to apply to the same life everlasting with His resurrection from the dead.
His people – His sheep – the Elect of God.
Anything else will make Jesus into a failure and a liar. I don’t think you want to be the one to accuse of Him of that. Do You?
Making Sure You Are A Christian
How Can You Tell?
So, you say you are a Christian. How do you know? You accepted Jesus as your Savior, you say. That doesn’t prove you are a Christian. There are many people who say they have done that but just because you have made some kind of a decision is not proof that you have really been born again. In 2nd Peter 1:10 we read,
“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure.”
This is a stern warning to take a look at your life, believing that you are a Christian, and make sure, very sure, that you have been called of God and that He has brought you into His family.
Once a person becomes a Christian a life change begins to take place. With some it will be slow and gradual, and with others there will be a quick and a dramatic change in the way that they live. We just need to look at the verses right before the one we quoted above to see what should be seen in your life.
2nd Peter 1:5 – 8, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Do you see any of these signs in your life? If not, then there is every reason to question whether or not you have been born again. No one, who become a Christian, stays the same as they were before regeneration (being born again). A new person begins to appear and that new person now wants to be obedient to the Lord. You see, Jesus will not be a Savior to anyone who will not bow the knee to Him as Lord.
You will never become perfect in this life, as there will always be a battle between your old self and the new person that has been made alive in you, in your spirit. There should be a change in your language, in how you look at others and how you now see God.
You do not do this on your own. For one thing you can’t. You need the work of God in your life in order for this change to take place. In Philippians 2: 12 – 16 we read the following.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
Once you become born again, God does not leave you on your own. In these verses we see that God is very much active in your growth as a Christian. He is constantly working in your life to make the changes that He wants to see in you. God will cause all kinds of events in your life, both good and bad, in order to cleanse you of your sinful ways and to remove from you that which has become common place in you that is not pleasing to Him. That is why, no matter what happens, you should become obedient to what God is doing so that you will shine as lights in a perverse and sinful world.
As lights you will be different from others. You will not talk like them, you find that you no longer have the same desires and interests that you had before, especially if they were the kind that is not pleasing to God. You should see that some of the things that used to be important in your life is no longer your driving desire. You should be seeing that you want, more and more, to be obedient to the Lord and to do what He wants and not what you want.
In short, you no longer belong to yourself and to Satan. You now belong to God and He will work in you both to will and to do what He wants. If that is not evident in your life, if there is no difference in how you are, how you live after having become a Christian, maybe you haven’t been born again after all.
Just because you make a decision or “accept” Jesus as your personal Savior does not guarantee that you are a Christian. Only if you have been called and made alive in the spirit by God, which does have the evidence of Repentance of your sins towards God and of having Faith in Jesus for unselfishly paying the penalty for your sins, and in your submission to Him as Lord, will there be any work or transformation of your life with God directing the change.
People who say they are a Christian, but there is no proof of that in their life, most likely have been deceived and are not Christians at all; and they are heading for Hell.
How about you? Have you made your call and election sure? If not, maybe now would be the time to do so. Why would you wait until you die before you find out? By then it will be too late.
Parable of the Sower & Hearing God’s Word
Think about this question…
Do you know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God or have you believed in a Parable? The answer you give will indicate whether or not you know the truth about the salvation given by God. You can believe man or you can believe the Word of God.
In the Parable of the Sower, as found in Luke 8: 4 – 8 we read, ” And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
From this parable, the most important phrase is in the last sentence… “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” This we will look at in a moment. Instead, we will first look at the next two verses ( 9 & 10).
In them we read, “Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘ Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’ “
From these, the most important phrase is, again, in the last sentence where we read, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God… “.
Most people focus on the parable itself and not on what Jesus says about those who will hear the true explanation and why they will believe. The answer is in the two verses I’ve mentioned.
First, let’s look at the first of the two verses at which we are looking. At the end of the parable Jesus say, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear!”. After reading this we have to ask the question, who are they who will hear? Is it just those who want to hear? Or maybe it’s those who choose to hear? Well, we do have Jesus telling us exactly who they are who will hear the words of God, and they are found in the Gospel of John. We’ll look at those in a moment.
However, in the explanation that Jesus gives about this parable, He also indicates who they are who will believe. In verse 15 Jesus says, “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Jesus tells us that they who hear have a noble and good heart. Interestingly we know that no one has a good heart. All of us are a sinful people and we all are born with a heart bent for evil. You can find this all through the Bible.
The Second clue we have is found in verse 18. Here Jesus says, “For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”
So, we see that basically they who will hear the word of God are not just people at random but, there is a group of people specifically in mind that Jesus had in telling the parable of the Sower.
Who are these people who will have ears with which to hear? In the Gospel of John, chapter 8, Jesus is talking with some Pharisees about who He is. He keeps telling them certain things about Himself and finally in verses 45 & 46 Jesus says, “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
He pointedly asks the Pharisees, “why do you not believe Me?” Then before they have a time to respond Jesus tells them exactly who it is who will hear the words of God and believe. In the next verse, verse 47, Jesus says this, “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Now here is the conundrum. Most people believe that no one belongs to God until they are first born again. But, if they are not born again they will not hear the word of God, and if they cannot hear the word of God they will not believe and become born again.
However, if there is specific people in mind, chosen by God to hear and believe, then they will hear and believe when God gives to them the ability to believe. This is what Jesus is saying when He says, “to you it has been given to know the mysteries of God.” It was given to a specific people the ability to hear and believe.
They who are not chosen will not hear and believe, and this is what Jesus is saying when He says, “but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘ Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’ “
In addition, this is also indicated in verse 18 of Luke 8 when Jesus says, “For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” In other words, they who have been chosen by God to hear and believe they already have Gods grace and because of that, they also are given the ability with which to hear and so believe. They who do not have God’s grace, are not given anything that will allow them to believe.
Now I can hear so many of you saying that I don’t know what I’m talking about. That’s understandable because I, too, at one time did not believe this, until I became a Christian. It was then in studying the Word of God that I began to realize that the only reason I was able to hear and belive the Gospel, when for so many years I scoffed at it, was because it was God’s purpose for me to believe. The reason it was given to me to hear and believe was because I had already belonged to God and, in his timing and for His pleasure, I was then born again by the Spirit of God.
They who will hear the word of God and believe are those who belong to God and are given the ability to do so. They who do not belong to God are those who will hear something that will not be effectual to them and “Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.”
This brings us back to the question I asked at the beginning. Do you know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God or have you believed in a Parable? Most likely your answer will be determined on whether you will believe the words of man or if you believe the Word of God.
As for me, I believe the Word of God. For it is God who has worked His effectual Word in me both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. I pray that you can say the same…
Riff's Christian Journal 