Robert Jeffress - The Mystery and the Blessing of Predestination
Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and welcome again to "Pathway to Victory". Over the centuries, churches have been united and divided over the topic of predestination. How could it be fair that God has chosen some people to become his children but not others? Today we're turning to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 6 to unravel one of the biggest conundrums in theology, the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. My message is titled "The Mystery and the Blessing of Predestination" on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.
You're probably familiar with the name William Randolph Hearst. He was the newspaper mogul who was the basis for Orson Welles' movie "Citizen Kane". Hearst was also known for having a vast art collection filled with treasures. In fact, it took a whole warehouse to contain them. There was a catalog that described every item that he owned. One day Hearst was reading in the newspaper about a particular art treasure that he really wanted. So he told his agent to scour the earth and pay any price necessary to obtain this work of art.
After a few months, the agent returned and told William Randolph Hearst he had located the treasure. It was in his own warehouse. Had he taken a moment to look at the catalog that detailed all of the things that he owned, he could have saved a lot of effort. You know, that's a great analogy for what is true of us as Christians. The book of Ephesians is an inventory. It's a catalog of all the spiritual blessings we have as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the theme of the book of Ephesians is in light of all that we already have, not new things we need but in light of everything we have already. We should walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. Last time we began the study of the book of Ephesians by gaining an overview of the book. Paul wrote this letter after he had been in Ephesus for two years, led a great revival there. He ended up in Rome in his first imprisonment: and he wrote this letter to the Ephesians to remind them of their wealth as Christians but of their walk as a Christian, and that's the division of Ephesians.
Chapters 1 to 3, our wealth in Christ. Chapters 4 to 6, our walk with Christ. "Therefore I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called". And now we're getting ready to enter into the text of the book itself, beginning in verse 3. We're going to look at the inventory, the catalog of spiritual wealth that God has already purchased for you. Now, this section, verses 3 to 14, in Greek are actually one long sentence. And let's see how it starts. Paul actually begins with a eulogy. First, Paul names the first blessing God has given us. He has chosen us.
Look at verse 3. "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," verse 4, "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him". Now, I don't understand all the implications of that verse. I can't explain predestination and an election to you, and neither can you. Somebody said, "Try to explain predestination and you may lose your mind. Try to explain it away and you may lose your soul".
You see, God has not only ordained the end, he has ordained the means to the end. And there is nobody who has ever been saved without hearing the gospel from somebody else or from the pages of scripture or from choosing to believe in the gospel. Let me show you where Paul says that right in this passage. Skip down to verse 13. "In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise". It wasn't enough that God chose the Christians at Ephesus to be saved. They had to hear the message. They heard it from Paul during the 2 years he was preaching to them. But it wasn't enough just to hear the gospel, they had to believe in the gospel.
Many of you know Dr. Criswell was the pastor here for 50 years and he was a follower of Charles Spurgeon, and the more I've read about Spurgeon the more I see how Dr. Criswell emulated his message and his ministry. But Dr. Criswell believed strongly in election and predestination. I remember so well when I was youth minister here I was going through seminary and starting to grapple with these issues for the first time.
One day we were having an all-day staff meeting at a staff member's home and during a break I was seated on the couch with Dr. Criswell and I said, "Pastor, I'm studying predestination and election. What do you really believe about election and predestination"? He said, "Son, if I told my church what I really believed about it, it would shock them. You can't read the Bible and believe the Bible without believing in election. You can't look at this world without believing in predestination. But," he said, "Robert, remember this. There is a vocabulary that is reserved for heaven and there is a vocabulary we use on earth. The vocabulary of heaven includes words like predestined, elected, chosen. That's the language of heaven. The vocabulary of earth is trust in, believe in, have faith in. If the doctrine of election means anything, it means that God chose us according to his grace".
In John 15:16 Jesus said, "You did not choose me but I chose you, and I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the father in my name he may give to you". If this means anything, it means our salvation did not begin with us. It began with God. 1 John 4:10 says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and he gave himself as a propitiation, a satisfaction for our sins".
The late preacher J. Vernon McGee used to say God did not choose us because we were good. He didn't choose us because we would do good. He chose us that we might do some good. Look again at verse 4. That's what Paul is saying. "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, he chose us that we would become holy and blameless before him". Left to our own devices, ladies and gentlemen, you and I would never choose God on our own.
Let me illustrate that for you. I want everybody to stand up where you are right now. Everybody stand up. Now, did I force you to stand up? Did I put a gun to your head? I simply said stand up. You chose to stand up. But would you have stood up without me saying stand up, without calling you to stand up? It's a simple illustration, but it's true. We don't choose God, God begins by choosing us. You can be seated.
Now, some people say, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. God just chooses some to be saved? That is unfair. It is unfair that God would only choose some and not choose everybody. We live in a democracy. God ought to choose everybody. That's unfair". Paul had a lot to say about that in Romans chapter 9. Go back and listen to our sermons on Romans 9. He said don't ever say God is unfair or unjust. First of all, God can do whatever he wants to do. But no piece of clay says to the potter, "This isn't right. I don't like what you're doing". Shall we say the same thing to God? But the truth is it's fair. It's more than fair.
You see, the people who complain about God not being fair are people who really don't understand their own sinfulness or the sinfulness of humanity. When you really understand your sin and everybody else's sin, the question is no longer, why doesn't God save everybody? The question is, why does God save anybody? And it's because of his mercy, his grace. You go down to Huntsville, you'll see in the prison there all kind of prisoners locked up in death row awaiting their execution. Occasionally, the governor will choose to pardon one of those inmates on death row.
Do people accuse him of being unfair because he doesn't open the prison doors and free everybody? No. Everybody lauds the governor, or almost everybody, for being merciful. That prisoner even though he was guilty received what he didn't receive, and that was forgiveness. That's the governor's mercy. But the people who remain locked up on death row, they're not being treated unjustly, they're getting justice that they deserve. One person gets mercy, others get justice, but no one gets injustice. It is the same way with you and me and our salvation. You and I are sinners.
If we're Christians, we deserve to die eternally in hell. We were like prisoners. The judgment had already been pronounced. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We're like prisoners on death row waiting for our final execution in hell forever and ever and yet God in his mercy walked down that long corridor of spiritual death row. He passed by cell after cell, but he stopped in front of your cell. He looked at you in the eyes and he said, "I choose you". That's what grace is all about.
Our salvation has nothing to do with any good thing we did. It's not because we merited it. It's not because God knew we would do good things if we were saved. God's choice is based on his grace. God has chosen us. That's what Paul says. It's right there in the book. But he's chosen us for a purpose. He has also adopted us. He has adopted us. Look at verses 5 and 6: "God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved".
Now, let me stop here and answer a question that a lot of people have. There are some people who teach double predestination. They teach God has chosen some people for the purpose of saving them. God has created other people for the sole purpose of damning them. Just as there are some people who are chosen for salvation, there are some people who have been chosen for the purpose of destruction. Does the Bible teach that? I don't believe so. The key verse people use to teach double predestination is Romans 9:22 where Paul talks about vessels, people who are prepared for wrath.
That word "Prepared" doesn't mean they're created for God's wrath, that word "Prepared" means ripened. They are ready for God's wrath because of their own sin and rejection of the truth. Everybody has enough sin and disobedience on their own to go to hell. They don't need any extra push from God. The Bible doesn't teach double predestination, but it teaches that some have been predestined for a purpose and that is for their adoption as sons.
Think about it. A child who is adopted has been chosen by their parent. The parents said no to others so he could adopt that little boy or that girl, and in the same way God's adoption means he chose to place us into his family. But it's not just adoption: it's adoption as sons, and that's key to understanding what Paul is getting at here. You and I share the same inheritance that Jesus Christ the Son of God had. We are joint heirs with Jesus and that's why he's describing us as being adopted as sons. Whatever this means, it means we praise God the Father because he has chosen us and he has adopted us.
If you don't remember anything else I say this morning, remember this. Election and predestination are not ideas to be debated. Instead, they are truths to be celebrated. Aren't you grateful that God chose you and that God has adopted you into his family? Now, Carolyn will tell you this is absolutely true. We get emails all the time or people calling. "Is Dr. Jeffress a Calvinist"? And I say, "Absolutely not". "Well then is he an Arminianist"? I say, "Absolutely not".
My old theology professor and member of this church for so many years, Dr. Charles Ryrie, used to say to us in theology class, "Men, don't let yourself be known as a Calvinist or an Arminianist. Instead, be known as a biblicist, somebody who teaches what the Bible says". And what the Bible says is that: yes, we, if we're Christians, are Christians because we have been chosen by God. It's all of grace. But the Bible also says we have a responsibility. The Bible never divorces grace from responsibility. We have a responsibility to accept the gospel and to preach the gospel.
I close today with two principles that come out of this passage about God's selection. First of all, God's selection is rooted in love, not hatred. You know, there are some people who'll go off the deep end on election and predestination and they like to even imagine people being created to go to hell and they get excited about the wrath of God and they picture people burning in hell forever and ever, and they get a kick out of that. Those people are psychologically demented. Who would want to get a kick out of talking about the wrath of God?
Now, the wrath of God is real. Make no mistake about it. But the doctrine of election is not about God's wrath, it's about his mercy. In love God predestined us according to the kind intention of his will. Election is not about damnation. It's about salvation. Remember, God's selection is rooted in love, not hatred. Secondly, God's selection is purposeful, not arbitrary. God doesn't say, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. To heaven or hell you go". It's not arbitrary. There's a purpose behind it even though we don't understand it.
Look at verse 11. "Having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will". God has a purpose in electing some, choosing some for salvation. It's not a plan a and a plan b. God has one will. It's not God's wills. It works things after God's will, and your choice of salvation is a part of that perfect plan. God's selection is a truth we need to celebrate, not debate.
I love the story that Mary Ann bird tells in her book "The Whisper Test" about an experience she had as a little girl that forever changed her life. Listen to this. She said:
I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate. And when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to other people: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech. When my schoolmates would ask, 'what happened to your lip,' I'd tell them that I had fallen or cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored. Mrs. Leonard was her name. She was short, round, happy, a sparkling lady. Annually we had our hearing test. Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something and we would have to repeat it back to her, things like, 'the sky is blue,' or, 'do you have new shoes'? I waited there for those words that God must have put in Mrs. Leonard's mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said in her whisper, 'I wish you were my little girl'.
You know, even though we've been handicapped, deformed by sin in our life, God still whispers, "I wish you were my son. I wish you were my little girl". And the good news of the gospel is we can be a part of the family of God by trusting in Jesus as our Savior.