Posts Tagged ‘free-will’
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?
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…
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