Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 132

00:00:00.120 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone's having an awesome day and week and life so far.

00:00:07.880 We're going to talk about a hefty subject today. Might make some of you happy, might make some of

00:00:12.720 you sad, might make some of you mad, might clarify some things, might confuse some of you. That's

00:00:18.120 typically what this topic does because we are going to talk about predestination. You know,

00:00:22.160 every Christian's favorite discussion topic. Not really. So we're going to talk about what

00:00:28.140 predestination is. We're going to ask the question, is it biblical? Is it unbiblical? And depending on

00:00:34.020 our answer to that, we'll talk about the implications. So first, let's say what it is.

00:00:38.200 It is basically the idea that God predestined certain people to be saved by Jesus and some

00:00:43.200 people to be unsaved and go to hell. That is the process that people who believe in predestination

00:00:50.120 call election. Those who are chosen through election are called the elect, the people who

00:00:56.080 will spend eternity with God, also known as God's chosen ones. Wayne Grudem, who wrote Systematic

00:01:02.200 Theology, described it this way. Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some

00:01:08.620 people to be saved, not on account of any forcing merit in them, but only because of his sovereign

00:01:13.600 good pleasure. So next question is, is it biblical? So that's what we're about to answer. We're going to

00:01:19.500 look at both sides of this because there's a lot of ground to cover and there's a lot of Christians

00:01:23.220 who fall on either side of this discussion. We're not going to cover all of it because this is a

00:01:27.780 really big topic that would take days, but I will do my best using scripture to explain what I can.

00:01:33.400 So if you are like me, when you first heard about predestination, I think I first heard and learned

00:01:38.680 about predestination in like sixth grade, you probably asked questions like this. If the Bible

00:01:44.600 does support predestination and like if this is really biblical, how is that fair? How is that fair?

00:01:50.720 Uh, wouldn't that mean that God is essentially sending people to hell? Uh, why would he create

00:01:56.620 people just to send them to hell? I thought he was good. Doesn't John 3 16 say that he loves the world

00:02:02.860 so that he sent his only son to die for whoever believes in him, that whoever believes in him would

00:02:08.760 not perish, but have eternal life. If predestination is real, what is the point of evangelism? And does that

00:02:15.180 mean free will isn't real at all? It's just a figment of my imagination. How can I be held

00:02:20.440 responsible for the things that I do if there's not free will? What kind of cruel God is that?

00:02:24.920 So those are the questions that you might ask if you are thinking, okay, if predestination is biblical,

00:02:31.140 then how, how am I supposed to square that with a good and loving God? Um, and then you also have

00:02:37.220 the other side of it. If you say, okay, well, if predestination is not biblical, if it's not real,

00:02:42.220 then you have some questions to answer too. If predestination is not real, then is God really

00:02:47.440 all-powerful and all-knowing? Can we choose to do something that is outside of the sovereign will

00:02:51.740 of God? If he is all-powerful and all-knowing, what does it look like for an all-knowing, all-powerful

00:02:56.740 God to not ordain who ends up where? Is it possible for God to not ordain anything? And what do we do

00:03:04.780 with the chapters like Ephesians one and like Romans nine that we'll get into in a minute that seem to

00:03:09.260 point to the fact that God does predestine us to heaven and hell, that God does choose people,

00:03:13.920 that there is an elect? Do we just throw those out if predestination is biblical? So on both sides,

00:03:19.360 you have some questions to ask. Uh, so these are the kinds of questions that you might have and that

00:03:24.480 I have had as I've wrestled for this, uh, for many years, this is probably the first deep theological

00:03:30.260 question that I ever thought about. So I have been thinking about this for a really long time. I would

00:03:35.800 say like, I don't know if I first started thinking about it when I was 12, maybe like on and off for

00:03:41.220 about 15 years. I mean, it's one of those questions that we could really talk about for the rest of our

00:03:46.260 lives. So first let us lay the groundwork. Like we always do. We believe on this show are, we know

00:03:53.460 on this show that the word of God is inerrant. It's sufficient, uh, for instruction and reproof.

00:03:59.340 If, if we disagree with the Bible, we are wrong, not God. If we find that we, um, seem that we,

00:04:06.940 that we think that there are contradictions in the Bible, we do not throw out one verse in favor of

00:04:11.860 the other. We go deeper into scripture to find some kind of reconciliation, deeper into God's truth

00:04:18.160 to find the solution to that. We study the context, we ask, what does this mean? And we figure out,

00:04:24.960 uh, where we are failing to understand. We do not rely on feelings. We rely on truth. And if there

00:04:30.800 is something that we cannot figure out, we defer to God's magnificence and to his wonder and to

00:04:36.240 his greatness, rather than to him being some kind of author of confusion, because we know from the

00:04:43.300 Bible that he is not. So let us see what the Bible has to say about this. Let us look at what the Bible

00:04:49.140 says that seems to be in favor of predestination. And then we'll look at what the Bible says that seems to

00:04:54.480 be against the idea of predestination. And then we will aim to reconcile the two with a proper

00:04:59.240 theological answer. So the passages that are used in favor of this idea of predestination,

00:05:05.880 uh, that it is God who ordains where we end up when we die rather than, uh, exclusively our own

00:05:13.000 choices. Uh, so Acts 13, 48, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed Romans 8, 29 through 31,

00:05:20.960 for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that

00:05:26.340 he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called in

00:05:31.580 those whom he called, he also justified in those whom he justified. He also glorified. Uh, the Greek

00:05:37.300 word for predestined is pro-rizo, pro-rizo. I don't know how to pronounce that. It's P-R-O-O-R-I-Z-O,

00:05:45.620 which means ordained or decided ahead of time or determined beforehand. Uh, Romans 8, 33, who shall

00:05:52.660 bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. It goes on to say, who is to condemn?

00:05:59.200 Uh, Ephesians 1, 5, in love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,

00:06:06.220 according to the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1, 11 through 12, in him, we have obtained an

00:06:12.260 inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according

00:06:17.240 to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of

00:06:22.100 his glory. And in speaking of the coming tribulation, Jesus says in Matthew 24, 22, and if those days had

00:06:27.980 not been cut short, no human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be

00:06:33.420 cut short. Colossians 3, 12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate

00:06:39.020 hearts, kindness, humility. Uh, 1st Thessalonians 1, 4, for we know brothers loved by God that he has

00:06:44.500 chosen you. There are more that we won't read all of 1st Timothy 5, 21, 2nd Timothy 2, 10, Titus 1, 1,

00:06:51.760 1st Peter 1, 1 through 2, and 2, 9, 2nd Peter 1, 10, all speak of the elect, uh, election or chosen

00:06:59.940 ones, this process of God predestining believers. So now all of our questions erupt. Maybe some of you

00:07:06.900 for the first time are realizing, wow, there seems to be some kind of biblical foundation for this

00:07:11.040 thing. The question that typically erupts first is how is this fair? Uh, why would God do this? Again,

00:07:17.440 how, what, why, how, why would he create people he knows will end up in hell? And it seems like the

00:07:26.620 Romans had similar questions, uh, that Paul answers in Romans 9, which is really the quintessential

00:07:31.820 passage that is used by those who believe in predestination Romans 9, 15 through 24, for he

00:07:38.080 says to Moses, that's God for God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will

00:07:43.340 have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it, uh, it depends not on human will or exertion,

00:07:49.620 but on God who has mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you

00:07:55.440 up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. If you

00:08:00.280 remember Pharaoh in relation to the Israelites, his heart was hardened, God hardened Pharaoh's

00:08:06.800 heart. And it says that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all

00:08:11.480 the earth. So then Paul says, God through Paul says, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and

00:08:17.680 he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist

00:08:23.140 his will? And Paul answers that by saying, but who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is

00:08:28.740 molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make

00:08:34.100 out of the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God

00:08:39.960 desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience, vessels of

00:08:45.420 wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy,

00:08:50.360 which he has prepared beforehand for glory. Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only,

00:08:56.640 but only from the Gentiles. So here he is talking about Israel, but it seems to apply to the concept

00:09:02.740 of salvation in general, that he makes vessels of wrath and vessels of glory. He prepares them

00:09:08.800 beforehand, uh, for according to his own will and for his own glory. Now we always say on this podcast

00:09:16.140 too, that we look at things in light of all of scripture. So even though from these verses, it seems

00:09:20.620 like, okay, the concept of predestination is pretty clear in the Bible. It's pretty inescapable.

00:09:25.340 Uh, we need to look at the verses that seem, that seem to contradict it, that seem to say,

00:09:30.020 no, this is, this is on you. God gives you an offer. You accept her, you reject it. And if you

00:09:35.800 reject it, you're just out. Uh, that's the other position. And there are verses that appear to

00:09:41.140 back that up. Um, so we've already looked at John 3, 16 for God so left the world that he gave his only

00:09:47.840 son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Acts 2, 21. And it shall come

00:09:54.800 to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. John 10, 9. I am the door.

00:10:00.900 If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go and will go in and out and find pasture. Romans

00:10:07.540 10, 9 through 10. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

00:10:11.980 that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. James 4, 8. Draw near to God and he will

00:10:17.620 draw near to you. Second Thessalonians 2, 9 through 11. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity

00:10:23.540 of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those

00:10:27.300 who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. So what do we make of all

00:10:33.640 of this? So on the one hand, we have verses that say God predestined all who are saved, all who are

00:10:40.040 going to heaven, which would mean logically that he also predestines those who are not going to be

00:10:44.420 saved, who are not going to heaven. On the other hand, it seems like we have a really, uh, a really

00:10:48.720 authentic choice. We are called throughout the New Testament to repent, to be baptized, to

00:10:53.440 believe, to be saved. Paul obviously believes in evangelism. Uh, he asks in Romans how people are

00:10:59.480 going to hear the good news if they're not told the good news. And the Bible makes clear that there

00:11:03.400 is an alternative to being saved, which is Jesus says many times in the gospels and Matthew and Mark

00:11:09.360 and Luke, uh, he talks about hell. That is the alternative. He compares hell to both, uh, darkness and

00:11:15.720 burning and sorrow and anguish in the gospels. Uh, Jesus comes to share the good news. He charges us to

00:11:21.680 share the good news, to make disciples. So how can all of that be relevant or why is all of that

00:11:27.700 necessary if it really just is God's sovereign choice? So as we've already established, we're not

00:11:33.880 going to throw out a set of passages in favor of another. We're just not going to do that. I don't

00:11:37.520 think that's how the Bible is supposed to be read or interpreted. Uh, we are going to go deeper

00:11:41.160 into scripture and figure out the truth of this, because here's where we stand. Uh, here's just

00:11:45.960 the undeniable truth. Let us just stand in what seems like, if you're approaching this for the

00:11:50.620 first time, what seems like a paradox. Um, according to God's word, God ordains people. He predestines

00:11:56.840 them. He calls them the elect. He chooses them. We also, we also suffer real consequences for our

00:12:03.540 actions. We do seem to have a choice. There does seem to be an imperative and a directive, not just

00:12:09.860 in accepting Christ, but in everything that we do. There are commands we are to follow. There is a way

00:12:14.120 of life that we are told to abide by. If we had no choice, it would seem like these would be useless.

00:12:20.060 Um, both of these ideas though are found in scripture. So both of them are true. So what do we say? How do

00:12:27.140 we reconcile these things? So I think part of the answer is found in this phrase by grace, by grace

00:12:35.980 through faith. I want to go first to Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, which says for by grace, you have been

00:12:42.880 saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work

00:12:48.380 so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God

00:12:54.120 prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Then there's Romans 3, 23 through 25 for all have sinned

00:13:00.300 and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is

00:13:05.680 in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Paul in

00:13:12.240 Galatians 1, 15 through 16. But when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his

00:13:19.220 grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did

00:13:24.560 not immediately consult with anyone. Titus 3, 4 through 7. Then when the goodness and loving kindness of

00:13:30.480 God, our savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according

00:13:35.640 to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out

00:13:41.560 on us through, uh, poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that being justified by

00:13:47.260 his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So what do we, what do we read

00:13:55.300 in these passages? That it is by grace that we are saved, that it is not our own doing, that it is by grace,

00:14:02.300 by definition, something that we did not earn or come up with on our own, that we did not muster,

00:14:06.900 that gives us faith to accept the son of God. And so, yes, we do, according to scripture, make a choice

00:14:14.720 in faith to call upon the name of the Lord and to be saved. But that faith was given to us by the

00:14:20.940 grace of God. So we can't even take credit for that. John 6, 44, Jesus says, no one can come to me

00:14:26.680 unless the father who sent me draws him. So even our coming to the Lord is the result of God drawing

00:14:34.520 us to himself. And I realize that that might not seem to solve all of our so-called issues. So let's

00:14:41.980 hang on for just a second. Uh, let's think about what we know from scripture about the nature of God.

00:14:48.020 He is all powerful. He is all knowing. That means that nothing, if he is all powerful and all knowing,

00:14:54.780 the scripture says, not a single thing happens outside of his knowledge. Not a single thing

00:14:59.780 happens that escapes his grasp. Not, not, not one thing on earth happens that is not within his

00:15:06.220 sovereign will. Jesus says in Matthew 10, 29, that not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from

00:15:10.700 the father. Think about how insignificant the falling of a sparrow is. A random sparrow in the forest or

00:15:18.420 in a field falls. And yet that not even, that's not even, uh, outside of God's will. Two sparrows,

00:15:24.900 Jesus says, uh, are sold for a penny. And even God pays attention to them. Even the flight path,

00:15:30.960 the ups and downs, the life and the death of a sparrow all falls within the will of God. So don't

00:15:36.020 you think that something a lot more significant like salvation would also fall within the sovereign

00:15:41.520 will of God? Uh, and also remember about the nature of God that he is not limited by time and space.

00:15:47.600 He is not moving forward linearly as we are. He does not age. He does not change. He is an eternal

00:15:53.860 being. That means he is just as present right now as he was, or as he is when the world was created.

00:16:01.600 So according to his own nature, predestining things is really the only option. That means

00:16:07.400 that predestining believer, something as significant as salvation is really the only option. It all happens

00:16:14.100 within his sovereign will. Predestining everything is the only option. If we are to believe that he is

00:16:19.640 all powerful and all knowing that not even a sparrow falls from the sky without his will being

00:16:26.320 involved in that. Uh, we know that he hates sin. We know that he grieves for the brokenhearted and the

00:16:32.640 oppressed. We know that he loathes evil and promises retribution for evildoers, but not a thing that's done

00:16:38.500 is outside of his control. Uh, if something could happen outside of his control, he would no longer

00:16:43.880 be all powerful or all knowing. Uh, now a lot of you are thinking, well, what of Satan? Satan has

00:16:50.560 power, doesn't he? And that's true. The Bible calls Satan in Ephesians two, the prince of the power of

00:16:55.260 the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, AKA all unbelievers. So God has

00:17:01.320 allowed Satan to have some power, but even that allowance necessitates God's will. God could stop

00:17:07.500 anything if he wanted to. Uh, the relevance of this to our conversation is that if God is all knowing

00:17:14.480 and if God is all powerful, as the Bible, his own word says that he is, then it is not at all

00:17:19.540 outside the realm of possibility that he foreknows and predestines believers from the beginning of time,

00:17:25.480 that he would by grace offer us the gift of faith to accept and to turn to him. Uh, remember Galatians

00:17:33.640 115, Paul says, but when he, who, when he, who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by

00:17:41.720 his grace. Uh, remember the scripture that we talked about in the beginning, Romans 8, 29, for those whom

00:17:47.420 he foreknew, he also predestined Ephesians 1, 5 in love. He predestined us for adoption Ephesians 1, 11 through

00:17:55.040 12. In him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined. First Thessalonians 1, 4, for we

00:18:00.960 know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you. Then of course, Ephesians 2 that we just read by

00:18:05.660 grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing so that no one can boast. The

00:18:10.340 chapter even says that God prepared the good works that we do beforehand. And Romans 5, 8 says that while

00:18:16.660 we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So it would seem that the idea that God predestines

00:18:23.840 believers is really theologically inescapable, not easily comprehensible, but inescapable.

00:18:30.560 If we look at the verses we listed that seem to maybe our minds contradict these verses, verses

00:18:35.940 about calling upon the name of the Lord, verses saying that God wants everyone to be saved, verses

00:18:40.760 saying to draw near to God. It's obvious that God found a reason to have people write things down

00:18:46.340 through his spirit as directives. He knew that we needed commands, that we needed guidance. He tells us

00:18:52.200 to do things. So again, how is that possible if he also ordains everything, including salvation? And

00:18:57.860 again, why would God have created human beings to go to hell? And that is a question that is,

00:19:04.040 let's just admit, exceedingly difficult to answer in human terms beyond a theological term called

00:19:09.620 concurrence. This idea that what happens or that there are things that happen that are

00:19:15.420 simultaneously in act of humans and simultaneously in act of God, a God who is ultimately over all of

00:19:22.340 it, whether he allows things to happen or like he did with Job and Job being tempted as he did in

00:19:28.480 the death of Jesus, not desiring evil to occur, but allowing it to happen to accomplish his purpose or

00:19:33.660 whether he actually causes it to happen, like hardening Pharaoh's heart. Either way, he is still in

00:19:39.200 control of all of it. He could stop anything that he wanted to. Therefore, it is all technically,

00:19:44.280 logically ordained. He is in charge because he is an all-powerful and all-knowing being at all times.

00:19:52.340 And indeed, in many ways, this is a mystery. Let's go back to Romans 9 because Paul acknowledges all of

00:19:59.160 the questions that we have. It seems like the Romans had a lot of the same questions that we do. Paul

00:20:03.500 says, you will say to me then, why does God still find fault? Who can resist his will? That's a great

00:20:09.720 question. How can he still find fault in someone if his grace is truly irresistible? If those who

00:20:17.460 are Christians were called to be Christians and who were chosen as believers, how can he still

00:20:23.400 find fault in those who he did not choose? And this is Paul's answer. And we know that this is God

00:20:29.240 speaking through Paul. But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its

00:20:35.580 Mulder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over its clay to make out of the

00:20:39.820 same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show

00:20:44.740 his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for

00:20:49.160 destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared

00:20:53.540 beforehand for glory? So this is our answer for why he does things this way, for why concurrently

00:21:00.740 it is a full act of him for which he can take complete and total credit. And why also at this,

00:21:05.660 at the same time, he, he tells us that there is a choice to accept or reject, to draw near or to turn

00:21:11.640 away. These two things that seem like a paradox are happening at the exact same time, according to the

00:21:17.080 word. And the reason why he does this, why it's still his sovereign will, uh, overall, but why he still

00:21:24.480 tells us to do things and to repent. It's for his glory. That's what the Bible says. It is for his glory

00:21:31.000 by grace, through faith, for his glory. This glorifies him. He gets to take full credit for our

00:21:37.340 redemption. He takes full credit for our salvation. It was not us. He chooses us. So we have nothing to

00:21:42.600 boast in. Uh, Paul understands that this is mysterious. And that is why in Romans 11 33, he says,

00:21:48.420 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable his judgments

00:21:54.100 and his paths beyond tracing out. That is where we kind of conclude for predestination. His paths are

00:22:03.160 beyond tracing out. We take this to the limits of our finite minds. And then we erupt into praise

00:22:09.420 in the same way that Paul does not into complaints of this isn't fair, but into praise, how untraceable

00:22:16.200 are his paths, how rich is his wisdom and knowledge. So beyond our comprehension, but he tells us it's

00:22:24.460 for his own glory. And so we live in this kind of divine tension that are limited minds, uh, that we

00:22:32.220 can't really fully understand what this means, but we trust because the Bible is so clear that it is.

00:22:39.080 So, uh, our actions matter that God is completely sovereign over them and everything that happens,

00:22:44.860 including salvation. So here's one question, uh, why evangelize? If people are chosen, why share the

00:22:52.900 gospel? Uh, I, I always say this word wrong. Legionnaire, Legionnaire, Legionnaire, um, is, uh,

00:23:00.220 a ministry by R.C. Sproul. And I found that they answered this question that I have had for a while.

00:23:05.260 Why evangelize if God truly predestines believers? Um, I thought that Legionnaire had a really good

00:23:10.500 explanation of this. And so I'm going to read how they answer it. It's what I would have said,

00:23:15.420 but they answer it in a lot more concise and better way. Uh, it says we evangelize because

00:23:19.960 our creator commands us to evangelize, but that is not the only reason we engage in evangelism and

00:23:24.940 world missions. The doctrine of predestination means that the Lord does not ordain the end

00:23:29.640 salvation without also ordaining the means to that end, the way in which people will receive salvation.

00:23:34.900 God's plan is comprehensive. He works out all things according to the counsel of his will, as

00:23:39.640 Ephesians 1 11 says, and the counsel of his will has determined that he will use his people to reach

00:23:45.780 the lost and call them into his kingdom. He has decided that in the ordinary course of events, people

00:23:51.300 will be saved through the explanation of the gospel on the part of Christian. So he predestines

00:23:55.640 salvation. He also predestines the means by which people will be saved and he commands us to

00:24:00.560 evangelize. So that is why we evangelize because it's a command that again, it goes

00:24:04.840 back to his own glory. So how should we feel about all of this? Because I know there are still people

00:24:11.760 who say that's not fair. That's not what love really is. We've already said that's for his own

00:24:16.220 glory, but here's the reality is that this is more gracious than we could ever comprehend. God's plan of

00:24:22.240 election is more merciful than we could ever comprehend. Even though it seems heartless to us,

00:24:27.020 it is beyond loving because you know why? Because we all stand condemned without Christ. We are dead in

00:24:33.580 our sin. God didn't have to save anyone. God didn't have to choose any of us. God did not have

00:24:39.280 to extend his grace and mercy to any of us, but he chose to. He chose to send his son to die for us

00:24:46.060 and he chose some of us to be saved in him. That is grace. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have

00:24:53.300 to have a plan of redemption. He could have left us dead in sin. He could have separated us forever

00:24:57.980 from him. He could have condemned us all to hell and he would have been completely righteous to do so

00:25:02.400 because we have no holy standing on our own. We have no justification on our own, but he chose

00:25:07.900 to justify some and it's all for his glory. That would be fair. That would be fair if God gave us

00:25:16.280 what we deserved. But instead of that, he gives the elect what we do not deserve through Jesus Christ.

00:25:22.660 And that should give us confidence. You don't need to worry, well, what if I'm not chosen? What

00:25:27.380 if I just am outside the election of God? No, it should give you confidence. If you believe

00:25:34.620 that Jesus Christ is Lord and you endure through grace by faith until the end, you don't have to

00:25:42.960 worry about that. It doesn't come from you. That's the beautiful thing about election is that

00:25:48.160 it has nothing to do with our will. We didn't do any of it by faith that we were given by grace.

00:25:56.140 We accepted Christ, but we don't even get to take credit for any of that. The Bible says so that no

00:26:01.040 one can boast that should give us confidence. And because we have that confidence, we can live out

00:26:05.860 the good works that God prepared beforehand. Ephesians two said that we would walk in them. And part of

00:26:11.700 that is sharing the gospel. And because of election, we also have a guarantee that some will be saved

00:26:16.800 because they were chosen to be saved. And so our response to all of this is thank you, God. Thank

00:26:23.280 you so much for your mysterious, crazy, gracious plan of redemption that you decided to choose us,

00:26:29.380 not because of any merit, not because of any deservedness, not because of anything we've done,

00:26:33.720 not because of our ability to clean ourselves off, but because you're good. Because in accordance

00:26:38.360 to your perfect will, you decided that some of us should be saved and reconciled to you

00:26:42.180 through Jesus Christ. That's amazing. You didn't have to do that, but you did. And so like I said

00:26:47.800 in the past, my fallback, if I'm trying to understand something theologically, my question

00:26:53.940 that I ask myself is what makes God bigger and makes me smaller? What gives God more glory and

00:26:59.860 me less glory? And predestination also ends with that, that I can't boast on anything. It's based on

00:27:08.920 that, that this gives God the most glory because he can take all the credit for my salvation,

00:27:13.540 all of it. Um, and so that's, that's the best explanation that I can give. Like I said,

00:27:20.660 there's a lot of people that could go even in more depth into this. There's a lot of different

00:27:26.560 places in scripture that we could look. Uh, there's so much that we could talk about. There's so much

00:27:31.900 literature on this. There are so many brilliant theologians. I'm not a brilliant theologian. All I do

00:27:37.960 is read my Bible and look for answers and ask people who are much smarter than me and ask for

00:27:43.840 wisdom from God and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. And I searched the scriptures instead of falling

00:27:47.780 back on my own feelings, because if I did fall back on my own feelings, I probably wouldn't have

00:27:52.900 entered in the place of believing that God predestines believers because feelings don't get

00:27:57.980 me there, but the truth of God does. And the Holy Spirit moves us to worship because of that. So thank

00:28:02.720 God, thank God for his grace and all of that. So I'm sure that I will be getting questions from you

00:28:07.580 guys. Maybe not. Um, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts. So feel free to email me,

00:28:12.360 Allie at the conservative millennial blog.com. Make sure to follow me on social media. Also hope

00:28:19.860 that you guys are enjoying this series. If you have recommendations or ideas for after I get back

00:28:26.240 from maternity leave, feel free to, uh, email me and to message me. Like I said, I'm probably not

00:28:32.220 going to be responding right away. Kind of have a lot going on right now, but I always love hearing

00:28:38.380 from you guys. And as always, if I've missed something in scripture, if I've missed something

00:28:43.160 theologically, then of course I, I, I wants to hear your feedback. I want to hear your ideas, but

00:28:49.300 always when you come back and you have a question or you have an argument, if you have an argument

00:28:55.080 against something that I say about scripture, please come with scripture, because if that's not the

00:29:00.000 authority that we're both appealing to, if we're appealing to some random philosopher, if we're

00:29:04.480 appealing to our feelings, then that's not really a worthy conversation in my eyes. I, I want us to go

00:29:10.480 back to the foundations of scripture because it's the only inerrant source of wisdom that we have.

00:29:15.940 And so that's the way that we can have a productive dialogue about these, you know, crazy and complex

00:29:20.980 theological things that I truly love to discuss. So anyway, thank you guys so much for listening and

00:29:28.320 I will see you all soon.

00:29:58.320 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 01, 2019

Ep 132 ｜ Predestination

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