I am going to share this sermon in full on my blog, because I know this is a topic which interests a lot of people - election, or predestination. You can listen to the video here.
Introduction –
Today we are beginning a new series on the book of Titus. I have chosen this book for several reasons. We want to start looking at putting on some new elders in the Church, and so we want to make sure we do this right. Titus challenges us about the roles of men and women, and this is a message that needs to be driven home a lot in the modern church, because the modern church is so confused about all of this. It challenges false teachers and gives us wisdom about how to rebuke them. And it teaches us so much more.
This morning we are going to be talking about the elect, or predestination. This is both a controversial topic in the church, and a bit of a technical topic. It is one of those topics that most of the time gets put in the too hard basket. There are a few of these in Paul’s writings, which is why the Apostle Peter says this, “15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Peter shows us two important things here: first, don’t feel bad if you find some of the things Paul writes about to be hard to understand, because even he did. I fact we all do. And second, you must seek to understand them because there are bad teachers out there who will use your ignorance of these teachings to try and fool you. And I will add a third, we should seek to grasp these concepts as best as we can, because they are in God’s word. So it is important.
Titus is going to have a lot of practical wisdom to teach us, but as with other writings of Paul, it also has a lot to challenge us intellectually as well. This is a good thing. So today we are going to talk about who are the elect, how does this work, and how is it relevant to us. But before we do, I want to talk about why it is good to allow the Bible to challenge your intellect. This is not going to be a short sermon, but it’s necessary to do the groundwork to do our best to grasp this important subject. Let’s begin.
1. Intellectualism Is A Dirty Word – I have spoken about this before, but it bears repeating, that intellectualism is a dirty word in modern Protestant Christianity, and this is not a good thing. For one, it is a sin to not seek to build up your mind. When Jesus was asked what the most important commandments were he answered in Mark 12:28-30 - “28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” Now, I understand that everyone has different strengths and different interests, and this can play into emphasis here, so I am aware of this, but think about this:
1.1 God wants us to love him not just with our hearts, not just with our souls, and strength but also without our minds. In other words, with how we think, how we train ourselves to think, how we encourage each other to think.
1.2 Christianity is a faith which is inclusive of the whole body. In fact, some of the very first heresies which the early Church wrote against were heresies that counted the spiritual aspects of our lives over the physical. These heresies were called Gnosticism, and they damaged the church in so many ways. Gnosticism came into the church through heretical Jewish teachings which were mixed with Babylonian understandings of magic in the first century.
1.2.1 Some of these heresies said you could sin as much as you wanted because the flesh doesn’t matter.
1.2.2 Some of them said because the flesh doesn’t matter you could severely neglect or even harm the flesh to be more spiritual.
1.2.3 Both these versions of this heresy denied how important it was to properly nourish every aspect of the body and soul. Christianity rejects both of these forms of this heresy, because God redeems the whole person, not just the soul.
1.3 Because of this Christianity is not just a spiritual faith, but a physical faith, an intellectual faith. It interacts with our bodies, spirits and minds. This is why Paul says, Romans 12:1-2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
1.3.1 The renewal of your mind, the training of your mind, the equipping of your mind so that it can weigh difficult ideas is an important part of the Christian faith.
1.3.2 It’s not everything, of course, but it is important.
1.4 You see it is good to want practical and straight up advice about how to live. To some people intellectual stuff is not very interesting, and our Titus series will be filled with heaps of practical stuff. But how you think about God directs how you worship him and obey him, and how you worship and obey him determines what you become as a human being.
1.4.1 I wonder, does God give us hard ideas in the Bible just for this reason, to force us to really think about him and his word? To make us train our mind?
1.4.2 The mind cannot be neglected. You may not understand how a certain Bible topic can relate to you now, but if you store away even these difficult topics you will be amazed how God uses that. Let me give you two examples –
1.5 Science - The Greeks had philosophers and famous religious texts, and the ancient Chinese Confucians had philosophers and treasured religious texts, and they both stored these up in great temples and halls and they venerated them, and memorized them in great detail and they never developed universities or science. The same with the Persians, the Babylonians and others.
1.5.1 These civilisations were revering these sorts of texts when Northern Europeans were still living in little more than complex tribal societies in wood huts with thatched roofs. But it was the Europeans that eventually built the universities and invented science. Why?
1.5.2 Because the obedience to improving the Christian intellect caused the early church to put a strong focus on education and not just education but testing complex subjects. This kind of education led to places of higher reasoning, and examination, and more. This changed the world. A desire to examine the difficult things of God, not just contemplate them like eastern mystics did, made the civilisation called Christendom far superior to anything else before it.
1.5.3 Monks and scholars in these Christendom universities would present their theories about how the Bible fit together in their communities and then they evaluated them in peer groups, to weight up different ideas. This method was eventually applied to nature and this was how science was born. Science did not just get born out of Christian universities. Science took the Christian approach of studying the Bible to understand God and applied this to God’s other book, nature.
1.5.3.1 This began with the desire to obey God’s word and love him with all their heart, soul, strength and…minds.
1.6 The United States Supreme Court - America is supposed to be a Protestant nation. It was founded by Puritans, and mostly populated by people fleeing persecution in England. But their highest authority of review, the Supreme Court, is not made up of prominent Protestant Puritan men steering the nation in a godly direction. Their highest court is made up of 6 Catholics, 2 Protestants and 1 Talmudic Jewish religious person, which is the religion of the Pharisees.[i]
1.6.1.1 Of those two Protestants, one of them is a woman who describes herself as “nondenominational Protestant”, Kentanji Brown Jackson, who was famously asked: what is a woman, and replied: “I am not a biologist.” And the other is an Anglican.
1.6.1.2 Such is the vapid intellectual void of Protestantism today.
1.6.1.3 Thinking matters. Nations ruled by godly, thinking Protestants, are the best places to live on the earth, and we are losing that because many modern Protestants shun shaping the mind as a high and noble goal.
1.7 So, I understand that I might be biased on this issue, because this is a place of focus for me. But I genuinely think all Christians are supposed to sharpen their mind as much as they can. Not everyone is the same here, which is fine, not everyone needs to be scholars. In fact we don’t want everyone to be scholars, because most scholars can’t do push-ups and that’s not good if war is coming. But if more Christians were seeking to study, we’d have better scholars, better thinkers and better leaders throughout society.
1.7.1 So wrestling with hard issues like election is not just “theoretical”, it can make a difference to society. But what does Paul say about this issue?
2. Who Are The Elect? (Tit. 1:1) - Paul beings by addressing himself as the servant of God and the commissioned officer of Jesus, for that is what Apostle means - “1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,…” Paul is God’s minister to the elect, he is literally on a mission from God to God’s elect people. But who are these elect and how do you become one?
2.1 There are two main ways of viewing who God’s elect are:
2.1.1 They are those who were predestined to believe, God chose them, they did not choose God until after he gave them the grace to choose him. This is the Calvinist view.
2.1.2 They are those whom God foreknew would believe, and every one of them is an individual that chose to believe, they received grace through faith. This is the Arminian free will view.
2.1.3 But do either of these two views actually fit with how the bible speaks of God’s elect body, God’s church? I am going to argue for a modified version of the Arminian view, that I think fits better with what the Bible says. And no it is not open theism.
2.2 Now this is a complicated topic, and I have already oversimplified it with these three views here. I am not going to try and solve it all for you today. Because I can’t, this has been a massive debate throughout history. But we do want to understand this as best as we can to some degree, and one of the best passages for understanding this is Romans 9 to 11, because this is the passage where Paul goes into the most depth on his position.
2.2.1 I just want to give as consistent account of the Bible’s position on this as possible.
2.3 What I want you to do, while we build this argument, is picture a tree, a big tree. We will call this tree: the elect, God’s people, God’s church, Israel. I want you to picture God’s collective people as this big tree, let’s say, an olive tree.
2.3.1 Now as we go through bits of Romans 9 to 11, keep this tree in mind, and let’s see how Paul’s emphasis changes through this passage.
3. God’s Choice – The Foundational Branches (Rom. 9:4-18) – Paul is dealing with a problem in these passages. He has just said all of these wonderful things about the promises of God, but a clever listener would immediately think: but Paul, what about Israel, the nation has failed, it is in bondage, it cannot even rule itself, the promises appear to have failed. What about Israel? Paul answers this objection, and he begins by emphasizing God’s choice. Let’s read a significant portion so that no one can say I am being selective: “4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
3.1 So, what we read here might sound like an embarrassment to the Arminian position, and the Calvinist might say: aha, told you God chooses, this is absolutely clear from these verses.
3.1.1 But all this passage says is that God chooses some, and not others.
3.1.2 All this passage establishes, if we can go back to our tree illustration, is that God chooses the trunk and he chooses some of the more significant branches from which the less significant branches can grow. Let’s note a few things.
3.2 This passage is clearly placing the emphasis of election on God’s choice. “…in order that God’s purpose of election might continue…” But what has God chosen here? In Romans, according to Paul, Jesus is the root of the tree: Romans 15:12 - “12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” But he builds the tree from that root. Paul tells us here, that he has also chosen a key part of the trunk. He chose to love Jacob and to hate Esau.
3.2.1 So, Jacob is part of the tree, but Esau is not. You have to be careful not to overstate what God has chosen here, we must apply it as Paul does in Romans. Paul is showing us how God chooses to build the tree.
3.3 In the Old Testament this statement “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” referred to the brothers Esau and Jacob. Now you can read it this way here too. But Paul says, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named…”. But which child of Isaac? Jacob is chosen while Esau is shunned. And what is Jacob’s other name? Israel. In other words, God is choosing to love all who are in Jacob or in Israel, and to hate or shun all who are not.
3.3.1 God is choosing to love all who are in the tree, but to shun those not in the tree.
3.3.2 So, Paul is telling us here, that the tree, Israel, is God’s elect body, and some of the more significant branches are chosen to be a part of the tree, or part of the trunk. Why? To highlight that it is not the children of the flesh that are sons of God, but the children of faith. “8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”
3.3.3 Ishmael was the child of the flesh, but God chose Isaac, the miracle kid. Esau was the oldest, but God chose Jacob. Why? To show he does not work like the world, he raises up people in ways you don’t expect.
3.3.4 So, if only those who are descended from Isaac are children of the promise, does this mean only Israelites are saved? No, because it is not about the flesh, but the promises that comes from faith: All who believe are children of the promise.
3.3.5 God has chosen some branches to be a part of the tree, to highlight it does not come from the flesh. But he has promised that all who believe will be part of the tree, part of God’s people, because it is not the flesh that counts, but believing in the promise through faith.
3.3.6 Now where do I get that? Let’s keep reading.
4. You Can Choose To Join The Tree (Rom. 9:30-10:4) – I get that from Paul, because this is how he applies it, if we keep reading chapter 9-10 tells us, Romans 9:30-10:4 – “30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 10 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
4.1 So, Paul has just told us that God chooses some branches. But now he is telling us that some branches have been cut from the tree, because they did not have faith? He is telling us that not all branches are the same. Earlier he said God chose to put the branches of Isaac and Jacob in. But now he is saying that these less foundational branches took themselves out of the tree, because they did not have faith.
4.1.1 Romans 9:32 – “Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.”
4.2 According to Paul here, it is those who believe, those who have faith, those who trust in Christ, who are the children of the promise. Why did the Jews get Jesus wrong? They did not have faith. Why did the Jews reject their king and get judged for it? They did not have faith.
4.2.1 They were going about being God’s people the wrong way. They were relying on the works of the flesh, not on the promise. God chose Isaac to highlight that the flesh counts for nothing, only trusting in the promise does. Relying on the flesh in anyway does not work in the kingdom of God.
4.2.1.1 Relying on being a descendant of Abraham in the flesh will not work. As John the Baptist said, God can raise stones to be sons of Abraham. Esau was a son of Isaac and it did not count for anything.
4.2.1.2 Relying on the works of the flesh is not enough, you cannot earn your salvation. The Pharisees had a higher standard of righteousness than most people, and it did not count for anything.
4.2.2 The promise was always salvation through faith: Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4.3 The only way to ever be accounted as part of the true Israel was by faith, “14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Gal. 3:14). It was always, and only ever about faith in the promises of God.
4.3.1 The Pharisees misunderstood the main point of the whole Old Testament. Being part of the people of God was never about being born an Israelite. It was always only ever for those who had faith.
4.3.1.1 That is why Rahab, Ruth and Obed-Edom can be counted as Israelites, and why Ahab, Zedekiah and Saul were lost. Because it was only ever faith in God that really counted.
4.4 If you are finding this hard to follow, remember, Peter himself said Paul was hard to follow, but let me simplify it. Who are the people of God? They are the tree, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are parts of the trunk, or the significant branches. The elect are everyone that believes: Romans 10:4,11-13 - “4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes…11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The elect are everyone who believes. Jew or Gentile, you join the same tree.
4.4.1 Paul is telling us how God made the tree. He tells us that some of the significant branches are chosen, predestined to believe and are placed in the tree, others choose and are made part of the tree. All must believe to remain in the tree.
4.5 To summarize so far, there is one people, one God, one promise and one tree. It was never about the flesh, it was never about who your parents were or the works you did, it was always about God’s choice for some, and faith for everyone. Let’s keep reading.
5. Faith Obtains Grace (Romans 11:1-8) So what comes first then? Grace or faith? Well the Calvinist would say Paul gives us faith through grace. The Arminian would say the opposite, God gives us grace through faith. What does Paul say and why does it matter? Paul says salvation only comes by grace and grace comes from faith - Romans 11:1-8 – “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
5.1 Here Paul is telling us that the tree has been pruned, but as bad as it now looks, there are still branches left. There are still branches that have obtained grace.
5.2 The Calvinist reads this and automatically reads here that grace must come first. Because this passage here is about grace: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” So, by grace you are added to the tree, by grace you are saved. Now this is correct. But Paul tells us that the Israelites failed to obtain this grace:
5.2.1 “7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” So where does faith come in here? Well this passage is building off of an earlier passage.
5.2.2 How did they fail to obtain grace? Because God took it out of their reach? No, because they did not seek it by faith. We read that before, Romans 9:31-32 - “31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.”
5.2.3 So why did God give them a spirit of stupor? Because they were predestined to have it? Nope, because they were self-righteous, they became wicked. Because they were not people of faith they failed to obtain grace. God judges the wicked, not the innocent.
5.3 They failed to maintain their place in the tree, because they tried to get there by works, and the only way is by faith. Therefore, they needed to be pruned out. But not every branch was pruned. God still had his “seven thousand” you could say.
5.4 So, we can see a consistent teaching about the elect here: they are the people who pursue righteousness by faith. So, are they predestined to do it? Or do they become the elect by believing? Well, to answer this, we shall now see what Paul himself says directly about the tree.
6. The Tree (Rom. 11:11-24) – Through this entire sermon I have told you about the tree, to think about the tree, to picture a tree. Why the tree? Because Paul tells us about the tree and this helps us bring all of this message together. Let’s read what he says, “11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.”
6.1 You see, up until this point the Calvinist would have said, “Ah, but Matt, those who believe are just showing evidence they were chosen by God. That is what those whom God has chosen look like.” But just as God choosing Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is an embarrassment to the fully free will Arminian position. So is the fact that branches can be cut off and cast into the fire an embarrassment to the determinist Calvinist position. And other passages teach this as well:
6.1.1 For example, the very words of Jesus, John 15:5-6 – “5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
6.1.2 Or Hebrews 6:4-8 – “4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”
6.1.3 These similar passages, with similar illustrations, teach the exact same thing: unbelieving branches can be cut off and thrown into the fire and burned.
6.1.4 All of these passages make the Calvinist position that no one can be lost impossible.
6.2 However, if you read these passages to say: God has chosen Israel to be his elect people, he has chosen some of the foundational branches, but has not pre-ordained everyone, others can choose to join, and all must believe to remain. Then these passages all make much more sense.
6.3 But you might respond: Matt, that’s not fair. God is not treating everyone equal there. But this is where I bring in Pharoah, which you might have thought I skipped for some reason. What does Paul say, Romans 11:14-18 – “14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?””
6.3.1 One thing we know here at our church is that equality does not exist amongst people. And when you shake the lens of equality, the entire Bible and this passage make far more sense. Paul is literally saying here: don’t complain about it not being equal. Don’t complain about it not being fair.
6.3.1.1 Some people are born with Charles Spurgeon as their father.
6.3.1.2 Some people are born with Ghengis Khan as their father (a lot of people, if you know his story).
6.3.1.3 How is any of it fair? Don’t complain about life not being fair. Give glory to God that you got the chance to know him. Which is what Paul does - Romans 11:33-36 – “33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
7. Conclusion – God get’s the glory for your salvation, but you are responsible to believe in him. So who are they elect? The elect are the children of God, they are all who believe. Whether the natural branches, or the unnatural branches. Don’t reject God. Because those who do not have faith, no matter what you have done, no matter who your parents are, will be cast into the flames. But all who believe, get to enjoy God and heaven and the company of the redeemed forever.
7.1 Have I given a consistent account of this passage today? I think so. Have I answered every objection and question? Probably not. Will everybody here agree? Likely no. But you know what, if we seek to learn this together, and better, then we will probably sharpen each other’s minds, and use more of our minds to glorify God. And is not glorifying God, what all of life is about? Let’s pray.
[i] https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/391649/religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx
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