LOVE
	Bible Church
	Madison, Tennessee

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Sermon delivered by Thor Carden

June 15, 2003

Love One Another Gospel Church

Madison, Tennessee

Background Scriptures: Romans 8:1 - 15:21 (particularly Romans 9:6-23),

Isaiah 64:8-9, Isaiah 29:13-16, and Jeremiah 18:1-10

PLEASE TURN TO ROMANS CHAPTER 8

Free Will vs. Election & Security -- This controversy has bothered me all of my Christian life. Over the last thirty years, most of the time my views tended to the side of free will but the scriptural evidence on the other side is so strong that I have frequently wavered. It is a perplexing and complicated question.

I am thankful to be in a church like this one, where such difficult issues can be discussed freely without rancor or angry disputations. Finally within the last two weeks I have come to understand the issue in a new way altogether and I am at last at peace about it. I hope by the time I am through talking today you will be comfortable with it as well.

Perhaps a little history might help. The two sides of the question might be called Calvinist and Armenian. Calvinists, named for 16th-century theologian John Calvin, believe in pre-destination and security of the believer. Armenians, named after 16th-century theologian Jacob Armenius, believe in free will. There are some people that are a mix. They are Calvinists about pre-destination and Armenians about security of the believer or vice versa. One of the fundamental doctrines of Calvinism is "unconditional election," also known as predestination or foreordination. These two schools of doctrine are much more complex than this one issue of free will vs. God's sovereignty. I am oversimplifying them to make convenient labels for our purpose here today.

Let us look at some scripture together.

First the Calvinists point of view that we are predestined to salvation by the sovereign choice of God is supported.

Romans 8:28-34 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Seems clear enough. We are called in verse 28, predestined in verse 29 and 30, elected in verse 33. Furthermore "once we are saved we are always saved" is supported here as well. He will give us all things in verse 32, "all" must include salvation. We can not be accused in verse 33. And if we read on we see we can not be separated from God by anything.

Romans 8:35-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But wait! Paul is not done. Turn over two chapters to Romans 10. Here, in the very same book, by the very same author, Paul seems to support the Armenian point of view that salvation is freely offered to all, and whosoever will accept it is saved.

Romans 10:11-13, 17 "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." … "17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Now the opposite side seems clearly supported! In verse 11 we have "whosoever believeth" and "all that call upon him" in verse 12, and "whosoever shall" in verse 13, and finally faith comes to all those that hear in verse 17. And still, Paul has more to say. Turn over to the next chapter, Romans 11 and we find support for the proposition that once saved we can again be lost.

Romans 11:22 "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

This seems to say if we do not continue walking with God we shall "be cut off."

It is not just Romans but the whole Bible that seems to support both points of view. I found at least seven passages to support each of the four propositions we are discussing here. I believe I could easily have found many more.

     1 Peter 1:1-2, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Ephesians 1:3-12

     Ephesians 2:8, Matthew 22:14, Hebrews 3:12-13

     Romans 8:28-30, 9:11-29, 11:4-10

     1 John 1:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, Hebrews 2:9

     John 3:14-16, Matthew 7:13-14, Romans 10:1-17, 11:32

     1 John 3:9, 1 Peter 1:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, Hebrews 10:14

     John 17:12, Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:31-39

     1 Timothy 5:12-13, 15, 1 John 5:16, 2 Peter 2:20-22

     Hebrews 10:26-27, Luke 8:13, Matthew 7:21-23

     Romans 11:20-24, 14:23

It seems that neither point of view can be held without going thru a torturous interpretation of the scriptures that support the opposite point of view. Nor did this controversy begin with John Calvin and Jacob Armenius. The Roman world into which Christianity was born was already wrestling with this controversy.

Romans did not all worship the same gods. There were scores of gods to choose from, each with its own temple and cult. Each person picked a subset of several of the Gods to worship. They would attend those gods' temples and get to know other people who worshipped the same god. There were two gods among the many pagan gods worshiped called Fate and Fortune. We get our words fate and fortune from these two gods' names. One cult, those that worshiped Fate, said that men's destiny was set, and could not be changed. Calvinist. Beside Calvinist, on your sermon notes, please write the word, "Fate." Those that worshiped Fortune said that if you lived well and pleased Fortune that you had some control over your destiny. Armenian. Please write the word "Fortune" beside Armenian in your notes. I think it is interesting that the words fate, fortune, and fortunate do not appear anywhere in the KJV Bible.

Shall we see if we can settle this controversy which has raged for thousands of years in the next twenty minutes?

First, let us list some things about which we all agree. With regard to the these issues some things are not in dispute, at least in this congregation.

We all agree God can be counted on to hold his end up. The One who "is the same yesterday and today and forever" is reliable. Hebrews 13:8

We all agree nothing in creation can separate us from God. Romans 8:39

No one believes we can accidentally loose our salvation. "Oh, oops, I just dropped my salvation! There it goes rolling down the hill."

We all agree, I think, that when you are being saved it sure feels like you are the one making the decision to surrender your life to Christ.

We don't agree on whether we have the freedom to discard and cast-off our salvation. Similarly, there are two views on salvation itself. Some of us believe we have a choice whether we accept Christ and are saved, others see it as predetermined by God.

Both of these views have pitfalls to watch out for.

If we believe we have a choice about being saved we might get arrogant about our freedom of choice and believe we did something. But that is nothing to boast about. It is not our work, but God's. Romans 3:27, Romans 9:11 and Romans 11:6

If we believe we have no choice we might get apathetic about evangelizing. What's the point? God has already selected the winners.

If we believe we are secure in our salvation we might have a tendency to misbehave, taking his forgiveness for granted and become liberal in our beliefs in general.
Romans 6:1, 15

If we believe we are not secure we may get frightened and legalistic.

Of course, just because these pitfalls exist does not mean that everyone who holds these views will fall into these errors. Besides, whatever pitfalls may accompany the truth we will just have to live with it regardless.

Which of these answers is correct? Free will or election and security? Is it our choice or is God sovereign?

I believe all of the scriptures that appear on either side of this issue are true, accurate, complete, say exactly what they mean and mean exactly what they say. I no longer see a contradiction or problem of any kind. The reason it appears that there are two different answers is because we take all these scriptures and heap them in one big pile and say they are all the answer to the same question and then get confused when they do not seem to agree. They do not agree because they are answers to very different questions.

Next time you approach a bridge you might ask yourself, "Is this bridge built well enough to be safe?" If you believe the answer is, "Yes," you will drive across it. Half way across the bridge you might ask yourself, "Could this bridge fall down?" The answer is "Yes." There could be an earthquake, or a dam upstream could suddenly give way and wash the bridge away. Do these two answers contradict each other? "Yes, it is safe," and "yes, it could fall down." They seem to on the surface but, no, they do not contradict each other because they are the answers to two different questions. If there was an earthquake or a flood there would be other places besides the bridge that would be unsafe. The lack of safety caused by the earthquake or the flood is not an attribute of the bridge. The bridge is safe if it is built well.

In the same way, I believe these various scriptures we have been puzzling over are the answers to different questions. The writers of the Scripture never meant for us to stick them together the way we have. Surely Paul saw it this way. He must have been aware of the Roman gods of Fate and Fortune and yet in his letter to the Romans he ignores them completely. It seems unlikely that had the controversy of Fate vs. Fortune been important to the Christian walk, Paul would have failed to address it in this letter when he was obviously talking about issues of that kind.

The Bible was written that we may know God's love for us and learn how we can love him in return. Let's rightly divide the word of truth into two categories not based on the question of free will or lack of it but on these two categories. (1) God's love for us, and (2) Our duty to God. See John 20:31, Romans 15:4, 1 John 5:13, John 19:35, Romans 4:23-25, 2 Timothy 3:16, and 1 Corinthians 10:11

(1) "God's love for us:"

Romans 8:37-39 "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is a Calvinist scripture supporting "once saved, always saved."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This is an Armenius scripture supporting "Free will."

Now that we are asking the right questions this "Calvinist" scripture in Romans 8 and this "Armenius" scripture in John 3 agree instead of conflicting. They both proclaim God's love for us. How are the two phrases, "Once saved, always saved," and "security of the believer," better than these two powerful Scripture passages? How could these two phrases that we invented, which appear no place in the Bible, be more reassuring of God's love for us than the actual words of God as recorded by the Apostles John and Paul?

Similarly for the second great division of the Scriptures "Our duty to God" let us compare two scriptures. The 'Armenius scripture' Romans 11:22 "…continue in his goodness…" agrees with the 'Calvinist scripture' Ephesians 1:4 "…we should be holy and without blame…" The Scriptures, rightly divided, do not conflict.

But what about our original question about free will you insist.

The Bible was not written to answer every question that it occurs to us to ask.

Romans 9: 20-21 "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" See also Romans 11:33-36, John 21:25 and Revelations 22:18-19

We are not a lawyer putting God on the witness stand and grilling him with whatever questions we like. Instead Jesus is our defense attorney and he has taken our punishment so we don't have to get on the witness stand and make fools of ourselves. Just because we can ask a question does not mean it should be or must be answered by God. Nevertheless, it has been my experience that God never refuses to show us an answer to our questions if we ask them properly.

Look at how Jesus answers questions. He answers the heart.

In Matthew 22:17-18 Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees "Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" He answered them according to their hearts, not their questions. See also Mark 10:4-5

In Matthew 21:23-46 the chief priests accuse Jesus, using a question. They demand that He explain on what authority He does what He does. Jesus avoids answering it and instead condemns the high priests for not recognizing Him for who He is. On the same topic, after refusing a direct answer to the Sadducees He confirmed his Messiahship to His disciples in Matthew 16:18, apparently because he saw that the question was still on their hearts after the confrontation with the Sadducees. When John the Baptist asks via messengers if He is the Messiah, He sends John an answer with evidence of his Messiahship. Luke 7:19-23 The point is that Jesus answered what was basically the same question three different ways, four different times, all according to the hearts of the questioner.

Look at how He handled Nicodemus in John 3:1-21 and the Woman at the Well in John 4:5-42. He spoke with them according to their hearts. Jesus always answers the question the heart is asking, not the mouth.

Do we have free will or not? That is our theological question but what is in our heart when we ask it? God is not on trial. He is not worried about the foolish wisdom of a bunch of sophomoric theology scholars. 1 Corinthians 3:19 "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." He is not concerned about defending himself against accusations. But He is very interested in our hearts.

Why do we ask these questions about free will and predestination? What is on our heart when we ask?

Are we trying to put God to the test? Do we want to determine whether He is being fair or not? That's arrogant. Romans 9:14 I do not believe He will even bother to answer us. Besides we already know that God is not fair otherwise we would all be in Hell right now, this very moment. Thank God He is not fair!

Are we trying to find the answer to a complex theological question so we can impress people with our religious acumen? It will never make sense to us approaching it from that direction. The wisdom of men is foolishness to God. The Bible was not written so we can scientifically dissect God like some frog in a biology class.

But if we are trying to understand what God expects of us and how we can better serve Him, he will show us. James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." Listen for His "still small voice" and he will answer you. 1 Kings 19:11-12

Are we afraid we may have offended God too much and He has lost patience with us? The Bible clearly teaches that if we are still worried about it we have not yet been given over to a reprobate mind. Romans 1:28 If we are still concerned about God then that is proof He is still concerned about us.

What is in our heart when we ask this question about once saved, always saved? Are we trying to escape responsibility for our actions? Perhaps we are just trying to determine exactly how much we can get away with. Do not expect comfort from the Holy Spirit for that kind of heart!

That we see these issues of free will and security of the believer differently is not a difference in the scriptures but a difference in our gifts. Those of us strong in faith need to be warned about our limits. Without the warning we may have so much confidence in God's mercy that our responsibility to live a holy life is forgotten, or it least given diminished attention. Those of you strong in love need to be reassured of God's love otherwise your tender hearts begin to worry about your standing with God. God answers the needs of our hearts. Romans 12:4-8

As you study to try to find the answer to your question God will show it to you but do not expect to get an answer to give to someone else. You can not see their heart. You do not know how to answer someone else regarding this particular issue unless they are willing to share their heart with you.

Let us consider some other questions. "God, how may I serve you better?" "Jesus, have I offended you? Please, show me how to seek and win your forgiveness. Lord, please help me to understand you better so that I might love you more." "God, I want to be a better man. Please, show me how to be a better person. Lord am I in danger of losing my salvation?" These are important questions. I believe if you ask God He will answer these questions according to your heart.

Is it possible for someone else to lose their salvation? This is an important question for them but basically it is none of your business. The answer to that question is between them and God.

Romans 14:4 "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand."

But what about the original question you insist. Do we have free will or is God sovereign? It is like the safety of the bridge questions. It is really two different questions. Do we have free will? Yes, we do. Otherwise we would not be commanded in so many places in the Bible to make the choice to follow and serve Him. Is God in sovereign control of the universe. Yes, He is. Can there be any doubt in this gathering that the God who spoke the universe into existence is still in control? When we try to combine these two very different issues we do not get a very useful question. It is like asking "If God can do everything, why can't He lie?" or "Is God powerful enough to create a rock so heavy he can not lift it?" On the outside these appear to be an intriguing puzzles but inside they are just a foolish questions.

Titus 3:8-9 "This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."

PLEASE TURN TO 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 3

The people of this congregation may choose to continue the discussion about predestination/security of the believer/free-will, once saved always saved, Calvin vs. Armenius, Fate vs. Fortune, etc. It certainly makes people study the word of God more carefully and more often. That is a good thing I suppose but I am not sure it is as profitable as it could be.

I am planning to choose a different path. I will no longer worship the pagan gods of Fate or Fortune. In fact God tells us not to worship them in Isaiah 65:11 when he says, "But you are those who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who prepare a table for Gad, And who furnish a drink offering for Meni" -- Isaiah 65:11 NKJV

Gad was the Babylonian god of fortune and Meni was the Syrian god of destiny or fate. I will not worship them, their Roman counterparts who gave us the words fate and fortune, nor their modern versions promoted by Calvin and Armenius. Instead I will worship the Lord of Lords, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Jesus, Sovereign King of the Universe. Fate & Fortune belong in books of fairy tales along with - Venus and Aphrodite - Mercury and Nike - Thor & Woden - the wizard of Oz - and all those other charming little myths that enrich our vocabulary but have nothing to do with reality. There is no such gods as fate or fortune. There is only the Lord God Almighty.

1 Corinthians 3:1-5 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of" John Calvin; "and another, I am of" Jacob Armenius; "are ye not carnal? Who then is" John Calvin, "and who is" Jacob Armenius, "but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" Perhaps I may have misread this just a little but I think you see my point.

If you do have this Fate vs. Fortune discussion again that will be just fine. But do not expect me to come between you and God's answer for your heart. Romans 15:18 I plan to only listen.

When you say that it is possible to lose your salvation I will hear the voice of God warning me that I should "go and sin no more."

When you say that it is impossible to lose your salvation I will hear the voice of God reassuring me of His love.

When you say that salvation is thru election of those predestined for heaven I will be comforted by the voice of God that it is not all up to me to save the world and thankful that I am among those who are saved.

When you say that people may use their free will to choose to be saved or not I will be reminded by the voice of God that I am a missionary of the Gospel and I need to get busy preaching and witnessing.

Perhaps this did not bring you to that same place of comfort with this issue that it has given to me. Perhaps you still have questions about it. Do you want a final answer to your questions? I do not have them for you, but God does. Please feel free to come to this altar and ask Him, Him who knows your heart, Him who understands why you need to know.

I will pray with you if you like. If you want to reveal your heart to me I will try to help you search the scriptures for the answer to your heart's questions.

Perhaps you realize that you really need to be asking other questions altogether. Questions you have neglected perhaps, questions about how to serve Him better.

I hope that you have decided, as I have, to no longer worship at the altars of fate or fortune and will come here to this altar and rededicate yourself to the worship of Lord God Almighty. If you have other business at this altar it is open for that as well.

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