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In the steps of the Savior Trying to follow Our Savior and King Shaping our lives by His blessed example Happy, how happy The songs that we bring How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Stepping in the light Stepping in the light How beautiful In the steps of the Savior Leaden paths Of light Pressing more closely To Him who is leading When we are tempted To turn from the way Trusting the arm That is strong To defend us Happy, how happy Our praise is each day How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Stepping in the light Stepping in the light How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Leaden paths Of light Walking in footsteps Of gentle forbearance Footsteps of faithfulness Mercy and love Looking to Him For the grace freely promised Happy, how happy Our journey above How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Stepping in the light Stepping in the light How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Leaden paths Of light Trying to walk in the steps Of the Savior The Lord will follow our guide When we shall see Him the King in His beauty Happy, how happy Our place at His side How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Stepping in the light Stepping in the light How beautiful To walk in the steps Of the Savior Leaden paths Of light Two hundred and forty-five Song two hundred and forty-five in your song books And we'll sing the old account was settled Song two hundred and forty-five There was a time on earth When in the book of Heaven An old account was standing For sins yet unforgived My name was at the top And many things below I went unto the keeper And settled it long ago Long ago Long ago Yes, the old account Was settled long ago And the record's clear today For He washed my sins away When the old account Was settled long ago The old account Was large And growing every day For I was always sinning And never tried to pay But when I look ahead And saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle I settled it long ago Long ago Long ago Yes, the old account Was settled long ago And the record's clear today For He washed my sins away When the old account Was settled long ago When in the happy home My Savior's home above I'll sing redemption's story And praise Him for His love I'll not forget that book With pages white as snow Because I came and settled And settled it long ago Long ago Long ago Yes, the old account Was settled long ago And the record's clear today Yes, the old account Was settled long ago And the record's clear today For He washed my sins away When the old account Was settled long ago When When in that happy home Did we sing that one already? Okay, we're doing the last one Oh, sinner, trust the Lord Be cleansed of all your sin For thus He hath provided For you to enter in And then if you should live A hundred years below Up there you'll not regret it You settled it long ago Long ago Long ago Yes, the old account Was settled long ago And the record's clear today For He washed my sins away When the old account Was settled long ago Long ago Amen. So welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday morning. I just want to welcome everybody here. We had a great Sunday last Sunday. We had record attendance for a normal Sunday. So we've had more when we had a special event, but that was the record attendance for a normal Sunday morning. And we had four baptisms, so it was really exciting and all that. Just, you know, coming off a good Sunday. So, but just some announcements here. The upcoming events, we had the women's prayer meeting coming up this Saturday. And then we have the soul winning marathon that we're going to be doing in Charleston. So that's going to be on the 19th, so Saturday the 19th. And the way we do this is we're going to find a Panera or something. We'll find some place that we're going to meet up down in Charleston. Around 9 o'clock or so. And we'll basically provide breakfast. And so we'll have bagels and, you know, coffee and just different things for you as far as that goes. And then we'll get teamed up. I'll have maps for where we're going to go. And then we'll go out and then we'll have a meet up place that we're going to come back for lunch. And then we'll eat lunch. That'll be provided as well. And then we'll go out for another push in the afternoon. Now if you only want to come for one of those, that's fine. If you only want to come for the morning or you want to come for the afternoon or if you want to do the whole day, you know, whatever fits your schedule, whatever you'd like to do. But just be in prayer for it. That obviously we find some receptive places and, you know, we don't get hindered or anything like that by the places we go to. But excited about that. I do think it's going to be receptive. That's just me looking optimistic on it. That we'll see many people get saved on that outing. Other just general church announcements, all the service times there are the way they're going to be. So nothing different this week as far as that goes. And then the tithe and offering box is in the back there. So if you want to give any type of tithe or offering, you can give that at any time in that box there. The mother-baby room is the main mother-baby room is behind the bookshelf and the clock there. That is for mothers and babies only. So we don't want men in that room unless your child runs in and you have to grab your child or something like that. But that is for mothers and babies specifically because mothers are usually feeding and just doing other things in there. The other two rooms are rooms that any parent can go into with their child. And we want to keep those doors pretty much open. We have those little door slam things on there. If you need to take your child out there then you can go in there. But we want to keep those doors open as much as possible. But children are welcome in the service. So all children are welcome in the service. It's only if they're wailing to the point of distraction that that's why we have these rooms and all that stuff for that. So that I just wanted to put that out there. And then also just something to put out there that I know last week there was just a lot of trash everywhere after the service. And so I know between the services we have time where we go out soul winning and then a lot of people are staying back here. And a lot of the kids stay back here. So kids you got to pick up after yourselves. And then parents we got to make sure that we're making sure that we're not just leaving trash throughout the parking lot. Throughout the church. And this area up here, this is just we're just going to say this area is off limits. Okay. So as far as getting into stuff, getting into the pulpit all that stuff. Because when we come back here we're getting ready to go to church or do church and then we have to clean up all this stuff. Get rid of all the stuff that's on the floors and all that. And so anyway just want to put that out there. You know that we want to take care of the stuff or take care of the church building here. You know I don't care about the church building. I care more about the people. But we also want to be clean. We don't want to have to clean up after everybody else. Stuff like that. So just be cognizant of that. Bible memory. We have our chapter memory for the month. So we're coming to the end of the month here. So I guess tomorrow is the last day of May. Right? So today is the 30th. So last part for Galatians 1. Hopefully some of you are trying to memorize that. And then we're going to be going into Galatians 2. Romans 8 29 is our memory verse for the week. For whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren. And if I misquoted that, I'm sorry. I get that mixed up with Hebrews too sometimes. That he might bring many sons unto glory. And sometimes I mix those. Anyway you'll see why that's pertinent to the sermon that we got today. And sowing times. We have our normal sowing times after the service today. So we'll have a little bit of time to go get some lunch or whatever. And then at 1 p.m. we're going to be going out for our main sowing time. So if you want to be a part of that, then we'll get you teamed up. Or try to find people to be teamed up with if you already know what we're doing there. And then Monday and Tuesdays are regional sowing times. So brother Richie leads up to Monday time and then brother Charles leads up to Tuesday time. And so you really want to be on the Mountain Baptist WhatsApp. If you want to get on that, just let me know. All I need is your phone number and you have to have the app on your phone and then I can add you into that group so that you'll get those notifications as far as where they go. Because each week they're figuring out different places that they're going. And so that seems to be the best way to do it as far as that goes. And then birthdays we have Elizabeth McShea coming up on June 3rd. So how old is Elizabeth going to be? Or 2nd? She's going to be 2. Is it the 3rd? Is it June 3rd? June 5th. It does say June 5th. I just can't read. Well I'll give myself the benefit of the doubt because the next thing I was going to say is that brother Levi and Miss Rachel's anniversary is on June 3rd. And so I'm reading it and yeah. Or I just can't read. So we'll sing Happy Birthday to Miss Elizabeth. And then we'll sing Happy Anniversary to the Hiles. And then also the last thing I want to mention here is the pregnancy. So we have 5 ladies on here on the pregnancy list that you can see on there. And so we just want to be praying for all these ladies throughout their pregnancies. And so our church is going to grow one way or another. But no I'm just kidding. But obviously it's a blessing to have more children to see all these pregnancies. But do be in prayer for all these ladies and for the babies and all that. That's it for announcements. Brother Dave is going to come and sing one more song. We're going to sing Happy Birthday to Miss Elizabeth. And then we're going to sing Happy Anniversary to the Hiles. Oh yeah. And then we're going to be reading Ephesians chapter 1. Who's reading this morning? So brother Anthony is going to be reading Ephesians chapter 1. All right. Take your song books and turn to song number 10. Song number 10 in your song books. And we'll sing Near the Cross. But before we do that we need to sing Happy Birthday to Elizabeth. All right. You know what? I just want to make her stand up. I don't know if she wants to hold her up like Lion King or something. All right. So we'll sing Happy Birthday. Here we go. Ready? Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday God bless you Happy Birthday to you How old is she? Two? Amen. That's awesome. Great, great, great. And the Hiles. You've got to get Rachel out here. You've got to stand up. When we get done you've got to kiss. All that stuff. All right. All right. He's not in a good mood this morning. All right. We'll sing Happy Birthday. Nope. Happy Anniversary to the Hiles. Ready? Happy Anniversary to you Happy Anniversary to you Happy Anniversary God bless you Happy Anniversary to you How many years is it, brother? Ten years? Man, this is a big one. All right. Nice. Congratulations. All right. And we will sing song number ten. Ready? Jesus keep me near the cross there a precious fountain free to all a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross my loving soul love and mercy found me there the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross O Lamb of God sings before me help me walk from day to day with its shadows o'er me and the cross and the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross I'll watch and wait hoping trusting ever till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river and the cross and the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river All right, take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter number two one. There we go. Have brother Anthony read that for us. Ephesians chapter one Bible reads Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath about abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the council of his own will that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ in whom in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also that also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this morning. We can gather together and hear your word preach. I pray God you would be with Pastor Robson and fill him with your Holy Spirit. Help us all to learn this morning. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. I'm going to put my coffee down here. I'll drink that while I'm preaching. So you're there in Ephesians chapter 1 and we are continuing our study or our series I guess through exposing Calvinism. So last week we hit on the first part of the TULIP doctrine. So some of you may not even know what that is and that's fine. But basically Calvinism is basically a false you know false doctrines that are encompassed in this TULIP so T-U-L-I-P and so we hit total depravity last week and total depravity like I said has truth to it but not everybody is born totally depraved. People can become totally depraved. And then the next one is the U which stands for unconditional election which is funny because I accidentally in my sermon like said unconditional grace and because there's irresistible grace is like the I and when I looked up the term actually that's another way they say it. So you know I slipped and actually said something else that they they even call it. But here's the definition for you as far as what they mean by unconditional election. Okay. Unconditional election also known as unconditional grace is a reformed doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world in their sins and receive the just I'm sorry in the world when he predestined some people to receive salvation the elect and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment eternal damnation for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. God made these choices according to his own purposes apart from any conditions or qualities related to those persons. Okay. So basically unconditional election means that God from the foundational world picked who is going to go to heaven, who is going to go to hell and had nothing to do with what the person chose what the person's qualities were anything like that. Okay. So remember total depravity what they teach with that is that everybody is born into this world they can't even believe. It's impossible for them to even put their faith in God. It's impossible for them to do anything good at all and then this teaches that basically God elects certain people to be saved from the foundation of the world and it has nothing to do with any type of condition. So unconditional means no condition right. So now the counter view to this is what we believe. Now again if you were to look up this term conditional election you may get some varying ideas as far as what they mean by that because the Armenians will say they believe in conditional election but they also believe you can lose your salvation. They believe that you can do something to where you would go to hell after you believe on Christ. We don't believe that. We believe that once you're saved you're always saved but we also believe that you have free will choice to believe and that that is a condition. There is a condition to get saved and that's by faith. So the counter view to unconditional election is conditional election. The belief that God chooses for eternal salvation those whom he foresees will have faith in Christ. Now that's what I'm going to be preaching on this morning as far as this idea of what these verses mean when we're talking about predestination and it says this belief emphasizes the importance of a person's free will. So when you get to unconditional election in the Tulip what you're getting to is that people don't have free will. Calvinists as a whole and when you get into the hyper Calvinists or just the people that say we're Calvinists most of the time they don't believe we have free will. That God is a puppet master up there basically forcing everybody to do everything from good and evil. And I pin people down like James White and other people have too where I say what about a child molester? Is God forcing that person to molest a child? And he'll hem haul around it but in the end he's just like yeah. I mean he basically believes that God is doing that and that is wicked doctrine my friends. God cannot even look upon iniquity let alone do it. Jesus says in him is no sin. God is found in his mouth and to think that he's the one puppet mastering everything and this is where you get into the term sovereign. Has anybody heard the term sovereign? You know God is a sovereign God. Nowhere in the Bible that term is found. Not once do you find the term sovereign. So if you don't hear me saying it there's a reason why. Now do I believe God is all powerful? Of course. But he also can't do certain things. Do you know that it's impossible for God to sin? Do you know it's impossible for God to lie? It says in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie prompts before the world began. There are things that God can't do because of who he is. Now let's look at Ephesians chapter 1 and I don't want to get off on rabbit trails because I'm trying to make my sermons shorter. So I've been trying to make my sermons more like three pages instead of four because I just go too far and it goes too long. And I know attention spans are only so long. So let's just dive into this. Now Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 are the only two places, there's only two places in the Bible where the term predestination is mentioned. So let's go to those places and see what it's talking about. And this is a big thing with Calvinists is that we were predestinated from the foundation of the world to be saved. False. You've got to look at what's being predestined. I remember when I debated James White on his program and people were just like, oh he's saying predestination, he doesn't even know how to say it. I'm like, yeah look it up in the Webster's dictionary it's predestination because that's how it says it in the King James Bible. And I'm not saying it's wrong to say predestined but predestination is the right way to say it. Now in Ephesians 1 and verse 3 here notice what it says. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing and heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. So here's where we're getting he chose us from the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now, did it say that he chose us to be saved? Did it say that he chose us to believe there? Now unless you think that being holy and without blame is how you get saved then we got other issues. Because it's by grace through faith that we're saved, right? Not by works, not by being holy and without blame. So he's choosing us from the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted and the beloved. Now when you first read this you don't really see the condition necessarily as far as how you get this. How are you predestined from the foundation of the world? But I'll say this. I can answer this. So from verse 3 to 6 it's all one sentence. Do you see that? All one sentence. From verse 7 down to 14 or I'm sorry verse 7 down to verse 12 all one sentence. So what's said from verse 3 to verse 6 is the thought that's trying to be put across. From verse 7 down to verse 12 is reiterating that same thought but giving more information. Does that make sense? And the Bible does this a lot where it'll say something but then it'll reiterate it but kind of filling in the blanks, kind of giving you a little more information about what he's trying to get across. So you'll see predestination or predestinated twice. One in this first sentence, the next in the next sentence, okay? But I'll say this. Having predestinated us to the adoption of children, they'll say, well see you were predestinated from the foundational world to become a child of God. Yeah, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on his name, you're missing the prerequisite to the fact of how you become a child of God. How you get that adoption. Now, let's look at verse 7 down to 12 and you're going to see what that condition is. And I remember when I debated James White on this, we were in Romans 8 which we're going to go to and I kept going back to Ephesians 1. And he's like, you need to stay in Romans 8. I'm like, it's talking about the same thing. Comparing scripture with scripture, you don't like that? You know why he didn't like it? Because he doesn't like this verse right here that I'm going to get to. Notice what it says in verse 7. It says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. That's a great verse. We're saved by the blood of Christ by grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Notice this. Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Do you see that? That you were predestinated from the foundation of the world, but you first trusted in Christ to be predestinated from the foundation of the world. Now I'm going to explain how that works because obviously we're like 6,000 or so years since the world was created, right? But the idea is that when you trusted in Christ, that's how he determined the predestination from the foundation of the world. And Romans 8 is going to explain how he knows that you're going to trust in him. Now, so do you see that? That predestination is predicated on trusting in Christ. Trusting in Christ is how they were predestinated from the foundation of the world to be conformed to his image, I'm getting ahead of myself, to basically have the adoption, to have these promises, to have the inheritance, all this stuff is predicated on you trusted in Christ. Notice what it says in verse 13. A great verse to have memorized right here. It says, You know what that person's possession is talking about? His body. Which we still, none of us have received yet. But when Jesus Christ comes back, the dead in Christ are going to rise first and we which are alive are going to be caught up together with him in the clouds and our vile bodies shall be changed to be like unto his glorious body. That's the purchased possession that we're waiting for that we still don't have yet. But do you see clearly that you trust in Christ? That means that he predestinates you from the foundation of the world to all these different inheritances, to be to the praise of his glory, to be holy and without blame, all these different things that he's saying that he's predestinating to, but it's predicated on you trusting. And trusting was predicated on the fact that you heard the word of God, you heard the gospel, and you believed it. Does that make sense? So this all fits hand in glove with how salvation works. Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall the preacher accept to be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Do you see how there's this progression? Like, you gotta go out and preach the gospel. They gotta hear the gospel. When they hear the gospel, they have a choice. Am I gonna believe it or not? And when you say, that's right, I believe that's true, you can put your trust in Christ. And when you put your trust in Christ, that means that you are predestinated from the foundation of the world to be conformed to his image and all that. Now, what I'm gonna get to is how does that work? Because in our mindset, we're like, how can we be predestinated from the foundation of the world to do all these things if we haven't trusted until like thousands of years later, right? We weren't even born yet. Well, here's why. Go to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And here's what it comes down to. You can't blame God for being God. You can't blame God for knowing what's gonna happen in the future. You can't blame God for basically being outside of time. Did you know that God created time, space, and matter? He created the universe. Did you know that God never had a beginning? You know that he's from everlasting to everlasting? So, that means that from the foundation of the world, he already knows what everything was gonna happen. He knew everybody was gonna believe in him. He knows how it ends. He wrote a whole book called Revelation, how it's going to end and how we're gonna go on for eternity with him and the new heaven, new earth. He already knew that from the foundation of the world. So, look, this is your, we're gonna be getting to your memory verse, but look at verse 28 because this is a great verse to know as well. It says, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, it's a great verse and a lot of people use this and I think they miss a point there. This does not say that all things work together for good for saved people, for people that believe. This says that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called. There's two things that are mentioned there. So, if you're saved, you're the called according to his purpose. Very simple. You are the called according to his purpose. You have been chosen. You have been elect because you put your faith in Christ. But, that doesn't mean you love God. If you love me, keep my commandments. So, if you want everything to work together for good, yeah, being saved is part of that, right? You're a child of God. You're going to heaven. You have eternal life. That's all great. But, in this life, if you want everything to work together for good, then you need to love God, too. Okay? So, just know that with that verse. But, notice in verse 29 here, it says, for whom he did for know, notice this, for whom he did for know, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, in whom he called, them he also justified, in whom he justified, them he also glorified. So, get this. The predestination, obviously in our time and in our thinking, predestination happened before we even believed. Right? But, the thing that people are missing is that God foreknew who would believe and predestinated those people that he knew would believe to be conformed to his image. Does that make sense? That, from the foundation of the world, he knew that brother Charles was going to put his trust in him. He knew that brother Jason was going to put his trust in him. And, from the foundation of the world, since he knew that, he says, you're going to be conformed to my image, you're going to have a spiritual body, you're going to have all these inheritances based off the fact that I know you're going to trust in me. Okay? But, anywhere do you see where it says, he predestinated them to believe. Do you see that anywhere? That he predestinated them to believe. That's what Calvinists believe. That he predestinated them to be saved. No, he predestinated us based off of the fact that he knew we would believe. Go to 1 Peter chapter 1, we'll see the same kind of language used. Okay? And what they'll say, you know, we're talking about unconditional election, we're talking about being the elect. And what it comes down to is, God chooses those that believe on him to be saved. Very simple. Bottom shell. God chooses those that believe in him to be saved, from the foundation of the world. That's how simple it is. And what people don't get is that God is outside of time, God knows the future, he knows what's going to happen, and you know, it's as simple as that. Now, in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1 here, it says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, that a stranger scatters throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Now notice that you're not talking to Jews here. Okay? I want to make a very good point here that the elect are Jews or Gentiles. No difference, right? It's just whoever believes on him, you're God's elect, you're the chosen. Okay? You're a chosen generation, it says in the next chapter. That's a side point. We're not preaching about Zionism necessarily right now. This is Calvinism. Verse 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So, you're chosen, but it's according to his foreknowledge. He knows, God knew back at the foundation of the world who was going to trust in him, but it says, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling in the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. So what's he talking about with this obedience and sprinkling in the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied? Well, Jesus hadn't come yet, had he? The foundation of the world, you know, Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet. None of that stuff, he hadn't risen from the dead yet. But, God foreknew that he would. Okay? That's why he's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And later on in the chapter, we're going to get to that point, but it says that he was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifesting these last times for you. Meaning that, to God, Jesus had already died on the cross and rose again. Why? Because he foreknew that he would accomplish that. That was going to happen. So if you know that God, you know, can't break his promise, can't go against his word, then if you were there in Jesus' time, there's no doubt it was going to happen. Okay? He was going to perform it, and God already knew it was going to happen, and he recognizes the blood of Christ from the foundation of the world. You know what? Adam was saved by the blood of Christ. Abel was saved by the blood of Christ. Noah was saved by the blood of Christ. Abraham was saved by the blood of Christ. Everybody's saved by the blood of Christ, even before he had physically in our timeline done it. Okay? Because he's speaking of those things. He calls those things to be not as though they were. And to him, it's as if it already happened. And to him, at the foundation of the world, he knows who's going to believe, and to him, we've already put our trust in him, even though we weren't even born yet. Now, that doesn't mean he's forcing us to believe on him. That's where Calvinists come in. They say, well, you know, he is the reason you believe, he forced you to believe, and these other people, he just doesn't allow to believe. Okay? Now, that's where you get into limited atonement, and it gets into what I believe would not be a righteous God. And here's the thing with Calvinism. It always comes down to this, is the fact that I believe Jesus died for everybody. When I say everybody, I mean everybody. Okay? Not all the, everyone that's elect. Okay, so what they'll say is like, well, he died for all the elect. Okay? All those that believe on him, he died for them, but everybody that doesn't believe in him, he didn't die for them. Hogwash. The Bible says that he's not willing to any should perish, but it all should come to repentance. He will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He's the savior of all men, especially those that believe. So, and when I get to limited atonement, you're like, you're already hitting on it. I don't care. The thing is, these things are like really linked. Okay? The unconditional election is very well linked with their limited atonement, irresistible grace and all that garbage that they teach. Okay? The only one that has like this bit of truth to it, really, is the total depravity, where you either have to believe everybody's born into this world totally depraved, or someone could become totally depraved. Okay? So, but when it comes to unconditional election, not true. It's false. And what they try to say is like, well, it's predestination. I showed you all the verses. Those are all of them that say predestination. Did you see anywhere where it says you're predestinated to believe? Actually, what you saw, right, is that you're predestinated who first trusted in Christ. Right? So the trusting was not what you were predestinated for. The trusting is what caused you to be predestinated from the foundation of the world. Okay? And I know this is a little deep, obviously, because we're trying to think of God outside of time and the fact that how does He know what's going to happen in the future? Right? Because to us, you know, that's impossible. You know, we can't know what's going to happen in the future. We don't know what everybody's going to do, but God does. And, now, when it comes to trusting in Him, you know, or knowing, it says, whom He did foreknow. Now, this was a thing that was brought up to me when I was, like I said, kind of going back to James White, because he's a prominent Calvinist. Okay? Very prominent Calvinist. And there's other prominent Calvinists out there. But with these heretics, they always try to somehow maneuver around that. You know, the foreknow. He foreknow. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. And what he said with this is that he said, well, see that foreknow there, that's an intimate know. That's like Adam knew his wife, Eve, know. I'm like, and, you know, when I was talking to him, I didn't even hear that, like, because I was like, kind of, you know, trying to, like, obviously answer things. And he would ask like five different questions. Like, he would bring up five different points. And then if you only answer one, then it looks like you didn't know the answer to the rest. Because that's how these debaters work. Okay? That's why it's not really smart to debate people. Because these people know how to win a debate even if they're wrong. Okay? Because it's perceived as if they're right. Right? So, someone that even has the truth, it may even look like they lost the debate because this person is so crafty with how he even says things. So, it would be like, well, this, this, this, this, and this. And then you pick, and then you're like, alright, well, I'm going to answer that last point. And then everybody's like, well, he didn't answer all those other ones he mentioned. You see? And so, he mentioned that and then he mentioned something else. But, I'm like, that's weird. Like, afterwards, I'm like, that is really strange. So, you're saying that he's talking about knowing us like a man would know his wife? Now, when it says Adam knew his wife, Eve, she conceived. Okay? So, let's get real close to what that's talking about. But, and what he meant with this is that he's not talking about knowing someone's actions. Okay? When it says that I, he foreknew, right? Whom he foreknew, then he also predestinated. And, by the way, that's a euphemism that's used in the Bible. You know, to know, like, you know, so and so knew his wife and then, you know, so, it's the same word that you would use for, like, I know this person, you know, I know brother Jim, you know, like, I know brother Charles, you know. It's the same term, but you obviously use it euphemistically when you're talking about that act when you're trying to be discreet. Okay? But, let me give you some verses on this. Go to Nahum 1, verse 7. Meaning that when it says he foreknew, whom he did foreknow, that he's talking about he knew who would trust in him. Now, when you couple Romans 8 with Ephesians 1, don't you see that, though? Don't you see the fact that we were predestinated but it was who first trusted in Christ? What came first? The predestination or the trusting? Trusting. Okay? So, to God, what comes first? We trusted in him and then he predestinated us from the foundation of the world. Then he calls us to get saved. Then he justifies us after we believe on him and then we're glorified because that's the inheritance, right? You know, we're glorified with him. And so, predestination in our mindset comes first but to God, the trusting came first. Because he knew who would believe. Okay? So, that's the first thing that happens is we trust in him, he predestinates us, then he calls us to be saved so that we can trust in him, right? And, Nahum 1, verse 7 here. Great verse. Should memorize it. It's a good verse. It says, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that what? Trust in him. So, when we're talking about God, you know, when Jesus said, I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity, what's he talking about? Did he not know who that person was? Right? Does not God know who everybody is? So, everybody's in hell. Do you think God didn't know like, I didn't know that person existed? Right? No. He's saying, I never knew you, because he's talking about something specific. Because the whole thing that's mentioned in that passage when it says, I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity, it says, you didn't do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, and it says, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone would see it the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up the last day. So, what was he saying when he says, I never knew you? I know you didn't trust in me. Okay? Now, what what the Calvinists will say, well, you know, show me a place in the Bible where it says that he knew somebody and had to do with their actions, like what they were going to do, or what they were going to believe. Okay? Alright, well go to Genesis chapter 18. And some of you have already seen this because I've already preached on this before. But, go to Genesis chapter 18, I'll show you one in the Old Testament, I'll show you one in the New Testament, where God says, I know you, and it's talking about something that they do or have, right? It's not just talking about knowing that they exist. Okay? Or even knowing them on an intimate level, okay? As far as like, and even if you don't obviously if you take away that that's really weird, and you just say on a father-child relationship, right? As far as intimate, you know, like knowing, like I know my children more than I know like the stranger down the street, right? But, notice what it says in Genesis 18 verse 17. And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. So, if you get the story, okay, this is before he goes, he sends his two, so there's three men that meet up with Abraham, okay? One of them's God, one of them's the Lord, which I believe is a, you know, basically pre-even Old Testament appearance of Jesus, basically he was walking here on the earth and looked like a man, okay? Sermon for another day, but basically there's two other men with him and they ended up being angels because these are the two men that went into Sodom and Gomorrah and then they reveal themselves, we're angels, we're sent to destroy this city and they lead Lot out, right? So, basically God, the Lord is talking to these angels and basically saying, shall I hide this from Abraham? You know, what I'm about to do? And this is where Abraham and God are going to have this back and forth like if there's 50 righteous, spare the city. If there's 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, right? And he goes down the list here. But, notice what it says here in verse 19. This is what God says. For I know him, okay? So there we got our I know him, right? I know him that he will command his children. Now, we'll read the rest of this, but that's an action, right? I know him that he will command his children, okay? Command his children in his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he had spoken of him. So, when it says I know him, you know what that encompassed? I know him and what he means by that, I know he's going to do these things, okay? Now, we're not talking about eternal salvation here. We're just talking about the fact that that phrase, I know him, right? Now, we know from Nahum 1, 7, he knows them that trusted him. And even in New Testament, it says, he knoweth them that are his, right? And it talks about this idea of knowing us because it's based off what he knows we're going to do or he knows that we're going to believe on him or he knows that we have believed on him. But go to John 5. John 5, another place where Jesus is saying I know you, but it's based off something they either have or don't have, right? It's not based off like this relationship necessarily between him and them. John 5, verse 39, it says search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor for men, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. You see that he knows Abraham that he's going to do something. He knows these guys that they don't have the love of God in them, right? So when God says he foreknew whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Well, look at the only other place in the Bible where it talks about predestination and what's the thing that he would have to foreknow? Who trusted in him. Who believed on him. Now, people are like, well, you can't you have to go to other passages. Yeah, it's called comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. It's called that's what the Apostles all did. I mean, read the Epistles. They're constantly pulling other stuff to prove other points. I mean, read the book of Hebrews. The first chapter is just Psalm, Psalm, Psalm, Psalm, Psalm, Psalm, Psalm. And they're all different Psalms. And it's all talking about the same point, but he's pulling from all these different other passages. Look at Jesus. Have you not read the scriptures? And then he would point out all these different passages to prove his point. Well, why can't you just know from the book of Matthew? Why can't you just know what he's saying? He's pulling out other passages to prove the point. And, you know, the idea to say, well, I'm in this one passage, and you can only prove your doctrine from that one passage. That is faulty. Okay. It's faulty because even in some passages, you know, Paul is saying, I have no need to write unto you because you already know this. You know, he's talking about the coming of the Lord and he's like, but the times and seasons, I have no need to write unto you. It's like, okay. And even in 2 Thessalonians, he says, you know, when I was with you, didn't I not tell you of these things? And he's pointing out, like, you don't need this. And I'm not going to tell you all this other stuff because you already know it. So, the idea that each book, you got it, you know, you can just know everything that's being said in there just from that one book, that's ridiculous. Okay, that's just not the way the Bible works. The Bible is to be taken holistically, and if your doctrine is contradicted by another passage in the Bible, you got the wrong doctrine. Okay, so if what your interpretation is, if it just messes up everything else in the Bible, then you're wrong. Okay, so your interpretation should match up with everything in the Bible. And that's how it's going to work. Okay, now, go to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, very famous verse that we use all the time. And what I want to make a point is that there is a condition for salvation. What they're teaching is that there's no condition. Okay, it's unconditional. Okay, and you kind of think of the term unconditional love, right? Unconditional love would mean like, to get that love, there's no condition on your part to get that love, right? But unconditional election is what we're talking about here, okay? I'm not saying that God you know, that we don't get his love even though we don't deserve it. Okay, because obviously we love him because he first loved us. But when we're talking about unconditional election, we're talking about the fact that you get the election and there's no condition to get it. Okay, it's just because who he wants. Well, if it's who he wants, then everybody would be saved. Because he's not willing to manage to perish. He will have all men to be saved and if you believe in the sovereign God that basically if he wills it, it will happen, then everybody's getting saved. We don't even need to go out soul winning. Why are we preaching the gospel? Everybody's going to get saved if he's this puppet master sovereign God that picks who he wants to be saved or he wants everybody to get saved. So, how does that work? Acts chapter 16, I'm going to show you that there is a condition. There is something you have to do. Okay, Acts chapter 16 and verse 30. And it says, and brought them out and said, what must I do to be saved? Do you notice this question? What must I do to be saved? Okay, it's not what, what must God do to be saved? It's not like you correct them, it's like nothing you do man, you can't do anything. It's God that's going to do it for you. Okay, let's see what their answer is. Okay, it says, verse 31, and they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. So what's the condition for salvation? There's only one, by the way. It's not going to church. It's not living a good life. It's not stop sinning. It's not repenting of your sins. It's not after you get saved, live a good life and don't mess up so you don't lose your salvation. No, it's believe. Believe is the only condition. But it is a condition. Okay, it is a condition. Go to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. There is a prerequisite to being the elect. There is a prerequisite to being predestinated and that is to trust. To believe. That has to be there. And it's your own belief. Remember we went to Habakkuk and it says the just shall live by his faith. There's other passages in the Bible where Jesus says thy faith hath made thee whole. Right? When Jesus is talking to the gentleman that got healed or the woman that got healed, it says thy faith. He didn't say my faith hath made thee whole. Right? Because that's what Calvinists believe. It's not your faith. It's God giving you that faith. It's really God's faith that's saving you. No, it's your faith that's saving you because there's something you personally have to do. Okay? And the only thing is to believe. But it says in verse 9 there. Romans chapter 10 verse 9 it says that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness what the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So what is that first few words there? It says if or that if thou shall. Right? So if you ever heard of an if then statement, I'm not a computer programmer nor do I want to be. Okay? But I do use Excel. And I use Excel sheets and stuff like that and you do this if then statement. Right? If this, then this is going to happen. Okay? So if you say if thou shall confess, what's the then? Be saved. Right? So the condition is to confess, believe. Right? Now confess is like calling upon the name of the Lord and I've talked about this before that when we're talking about that, you can believe that's how someone gets to heaven. You could, I could show you the gospel and be like yep, Pastor Robinson, that's what the Bible teaches. I believe that's how someone gets to heaven but I don't want it. And you say, who would say that? I've had people say that. I've been out soul winning and they're very nice and they'll say, yeah, you're right. That's what the Bible teaches. I believe that's how someone gets to heaven but I just am not ready to put my faith in it. Okay? That's where the confessing and the calling come in where okay, you can believe that's how you get to heaven but are you putting your faith in it? Are you trusting in it? And I like it enough to pull in the trigger, if you will. Right? You know, there's a time, now's the accepted time, now's the day of salvation. You have to say I need this. I believe in this. That's when you get saved. It's a moment in time. It's not this osmosis where you just somehow like, you know, didn't even know you got saved. You know, I got tricked into being, no one gets tricked into being saved. So don't just pray with people when you go out soul winning and just be like, I got them because I prayed with them. It's like, well, if they didn't believe, it doesn't mean anything. Right? How should they call on them whom they did not believe? But you see here that there is a condition and what they want to say is that, well, there's no condition because no one has free will. And I've actually had people say the Bible never mentions free will. Okay? Which is funny because it does. Okay? The problem is that when you search this up in your search engine, you're putting free will as two words, aren't you? So people that said this probably really thought that the Bible never says free will, but in the Bible it puts it as one word. Sometimes it does this. You know, like, and you'll see that in other like, later on, English kind of separated those words. Okay? But free will is one word and it's mentioned 27 times in the Bible. Okay? Let me go through some and I'm not going to go through all the 27. But let's look at this. Okay? Now, first of all, go to Revelation chapter 22 because I want to make this point at the very beginning. That God is saying whosoever will. Now, if we don't have free will, that wouldn't make sense. Okay? Because that should say whosoever I will. Right? If God is, if it's God's will and that's what's getting us saved and we don't have free will, shouldn't it say whosoever I will will be saved? Right? But notice what it says in Revelation 22 and verse 17. So not only do you have the fact that this person has his own will and he's saying whosoever will let him take it. That means you have the free will choice to take it or not. Okay? Salvation's free, but God's not going to force it. And by the way, this whole idea of no free will is ridiculous. That's why, if there was no free will, there wouldn't be a fall of man. Okay? The reason there's a fall of man to begin with is because he gave us free will. You say, well, why did he give us free will even though he knew that we would fall? Because he doesn't want robots to worship him. Do you want your wife to just be a robot, to be like, she doesn't free will. It's not by her own volition that she loves you. She's forced to do it. She's programmed to do it. And listen, you think I'm crazy, but there's literally stuff now that where people are dating robots and like dating like these virtual things, marrying these things. Okay? And I use that loosely. Okay? But you know, that's not true. Oh, this robot loves me. She was programmed to say nice things to you. She was programmed to do all these things, right? So Calvinists basically believed there were a bunch of robots with no free will. So the reason that there's even a fall of man is because there's free will. And why did he let it be that so? Because by free choice, by our own voluntary will, we believe on him and we love him. Right? Isn't that the way you want your kids Do you want your kids to love you because you're forcing them to or do you want them to love you because they actually love you and want to love you? Do you want your spouse to love you because they're forced to do it? You know, if I said to my wife, listen, I only love you because God told me to love you. Man, that's going to be an awesome marriage, right? She's going to really feel loved, isn't she? Okay? And, or if I said, you know, honey, I don't even need that commandment. I love you so much that, you know, I don't need someone to command me that to love you. You know, like, I love you, you know, because I want to love you. Right? That's different than, like, being forced. Now, the commandment's there to remind you that you are commanded to love them because that's the fulfilling of the law and you should love your spouse and all that, okay? But, go to Ezra chapter 3. So, I'm going to give you some other places, or I'm going to give you some places, it mentions free will, but I'm going to give you places where it says other things. Now, you know, people will say, well, it says free will and they try to sidestep things. And what it comes down to, when you talk to Calvinists, there's nothing that will convince them in most cases. I mean, if God says, listen, I do not like Calvinism, okay, is that what we're taking? Well, they'll be like, well, we're not going to call it Calvinism anymore. Or if he said, well, you have free will, I want everybody to be saved. I mean everybody. I wanted Cain to be saved, I wanted these people to be saved, I wanted everybody to be saved to be like, well, you know, and they would try to dance around it. There's literally nothing that would be said to where they would agree with you on this, because they're so deep into it. Now, some people get out of it, don't get me wrong, but I'm just saying that when you try to talk to Calvinists in a lot of cases, you'll show them this stuff, and I want you to, when I read these verses, I want you to come out and just be like, yeah, the Bible doesn't teach there's free will. Yeah, the Bible teaches that we don't have any choices of our own. Okay, notice what it says in Ezra 3, verse 5. Ezra 3 and verse 5, it says, And afterward offered the continual burnt offering both the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and everyone that willingly offered a free will offering unto the Lord. Okay, just a, you know, it's kind of like, well, it would also be willingly, because it's free will, right? It's a free will offering. But, but see, they're like, well, that's just the name of the offering, right? It's just called a free will offering. Doesn't mean it's by their own free will. I mean, why would that make sense? You know. But he's saying, they willingly offered the free will offering, and you'll find that, and I'm not going to show you all the places, but that free will offering is mentioned a lot in the Bible, okay? Now, look at Ezra chapter 7, verse 13. Ezra chapter 7, verse 13. Ezra 7, verse 13, it says, I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Alright, so now he's saying they're minded of their own free will. Not only does it say free will, it says their own free will. Okay? Is that enough? No, probably not. So, we'll go to Leviticus chapter 1, and I'm going to read to you that this isn't just talking about free will offerings like an animal sacrifice, but even just, they'll talk about free will offerings talking about our mouth, like the blessings that are thanksgivings that we give to God. It says in Psalm 119, 108, accept thy beseech thee the free will offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. So, it's not just talking about like these free will offerings that they did in the Levitical priesthood, but also, even now, you can give a free will offering. Listen, if you thank God for things that you give Him, shouldn't that be of your own volition, of your own free will that you're giving these offerings up to God? Notice what it says in Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 3. Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 3. It says, if His offering be a burnt offering of the herd, let Him offer our male without blemish. He shall offer it of His own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. Alright, so now it doesn't even say free will, it says voluntary will. It's like, how many different ways do you want Him to say it? Of your own mind, that you're going to go up of your own free will, that you willingly offered a free will offering, that your own voluntary will, your own voluntary will to go up to Jerusalem. I think He forced them to go up there. God forced Him to go up there, and it was not His own will. What are you reading? What are these people reading to where they come up with that? I don't get it. What are you reading? How do you answer these verses? And go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, the last one I want to show you here. The only thing I can think that they would say is that, well, yeah, it says that, but it's only because God gave them their own will that lines up with His will. I'm telling you, they'll talk around it six ways a Sunday, and it's like beating your head against the wall. You're just like, there's nothing the Bible would say, right? It's just like some people, when you try to show them that salvation is by faith and not by works, and they just always have a go around where they're just like, they're bobbing and weaving. You're trying to give them a left jab of John 3.16, and you give them a right hook of John 5.24, and then you're like, give them all these verses, and they're just bobbing and weaving. They're like, what about this? What about that? They just try to twist around all the different stuff. That is what you're dealing with when you're dealing with a Calvinist. These hardcore Calvinists. They end up doing verse 18, and their big thing is, here's their defense. You're just uneducated. You just don't know, man. If you just weren't that backwoods Baptist, you just don't understand all the details about his general call and his effectual call, and all these different theological, high ivory tower terms that they use. But, you know what? There's this simplicity that's in Christ. When it comes to the gospel, it's simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Of your own voluntary will. Whosoever will, let him take up the water of life freely. That's simple. Imagine trying to explain this to a six-year-old. You know, the total depravity of man, the unconditional election. You can't even believe on him. They'd be like, what? You're telling me to believe, though. How am I supposed to believe if you're saying I can't believe? We don't even know if he died for you because it's limited atonement. We don't even know if you're the elect. By the way, you'll never find a Calvinist that's not the elect. It's funny how that works. But, I have you in Colossians 2 and verse 18. It says, Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels. Now he's rebuking them. Now, there's two ways to look at this. Actually, there's only one way to look at this. It's a voluntary humility. But, the way they would have to say this is that God is forcing them to have a voluntary humility, which doesn't make sense. It's an oxymoron, right? He's forcing you to volunteer. Then you're not volunteering. It's like when you go to things that are like, you know, it's only donation based. You only have to give a donation. Then it's not a donation, okay? Stop saying it's a donation. It's like, you want to go see these lights up here? Give a donation. Now, I don't mind, you know, giving money to go see Christmas lights or, you know, drive around like they do the ones up here. I'm not here to preach against them, but I'm like, don't say it's a donation. Just say it's a $20 cover charge or whatever the case may be. Whoever's in your car, don't tell me it's a donation if I can't just drive through without paying it, okay? Then it's a donation. But, it's like that, it's like, you can't have both ways. You can't say it's voluntary humility, but it wasn't voluntary because it was forced, okay? Now, keep reading there. It says, in worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, and creaseth with the increase of God. So, you're basically saying, you know, you shouldn't be worshiping angels like this voluntary humility to angels, right? You're basically of your own free will, like, humbling yourselves to these angels, right? He's basically saying, don't do that. Then it goes on to say in verse 20, it says, Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men? So, he's basically saying, you know, why are you holding yourself to all these doctrines of men where you can't eat things, you can't touch things, right? And he's basically saying, you know, these are doctrines of men, you know, these aren't things that we're telling you to do, right? I don't even believe he's talking about, like, Old Testament customs. I believe he's just talking about, like, hey, these are things they're telling you not to do, right? But then it says, verse 23, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship. Now, he's rebuking them, saying, why are you doing all this stuff? But he's saying that, you know, it shows will worship. Now, what is that? It shows that you have will power. You know, we talk about this when we're talking about dieting, you know, do you have some will power? So, if you can diet, lose weight, and, like, stop eating all the donuts, and stop eating all the sweets, or, you know, all the stuff that's over here, you know, that we've brought, that the ladies make, you know, it takes will power, okay? So, if you cut yourself off from something, it shows a type of will worship, like, you know, if you say to God, you know, I don't suggest do this, necessarily, but you say, well, I'm going to stop eating this for you, Lord, just to show you that I I'm going to bring in my will for you, right? But the idea there is that, you know, you don't need to do that, okay? That, um, you know, it says, will worship, in will worship and humility, neglecting of the body, not in any honor to satisfying the flesh. He's basically saying, yeah, it shows this type of will power that you're putting over the flesh, like, he's giving them that, but he's like, why are you subjecting yourself to that, you know, what's the point? You know, yeah, you're showing that you have will power, and you're showing kind of that will worship, if you will, like, will power worship to the Lord by denying the flesh physically, but, you know, so, in the New Testament, it talks about having free will, Old Testament definitely talks about having free will, voluntary will, your own free will, minded of your own free will. How would he have to say it? That's what a lot of times when I think about this, I'm like, what would he need to say? Just tell me what would need to be said for you to believe it, for you to believe that there's free will. You know, and it wouldn't matter, okay? When you get to that point, when you show, listen, if you show a Calvinist all these verses, and they still don't want to believe it, there's nothing that they would see that would make them believe it, okay? Until they just put down their pride and just let go of their pride about how they're wrong on this, then, I don't know what to tell them. Now, what's the election of God? Or what's the election, what is that talking about? Go to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, I'm going to try to blow through this real quick here. I wanted to give you a couple of their arguments, okay? Kind of already hit one on last week, but again, these are all intertwined, so it's kind of hard to just separate them completely. Romans 11 verse 5, it says, even so then, at this present time, also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Okay, so what is this election of grace? Meaning you're elected by grace, right? It says, Romans 11, 6, and if by grace, then is it no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. That means that salvation is by grace and not by works at all. And here, you notice that the election is the election of grace, but how do you get it? How do you get that election? How do you get that grace? It says in Romans 5 that we have access into this grace by faith. It says in Ephesians chapter 2, it says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and not of works as any man should boast. So, the election is based off grace, not by works. You're not elected or chosen based off what you do, you're chosen by grace. And how do you get that grace? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's how. Pretty simple, right? And go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and this is one they'll bring up, where they'll try to bring up some verses to say that they were chosen to be saved, okay? Meaning that they were chosen like they didn't have any choice in it and all that. But I just want to explain this verse. It says in verse 13, it says, but we are bound to give thanks all way. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to do salvation. Now, did he just stop there? Did he just stop there? Now, if he stopped there, you know, that could still be true, right? Because you know that he chose us to salvation who first trusted in Christ, right? That we're elected, you know, and chosen from the foundation of the world, but it's predicated on who first trusted and his foreknowledge of who trusted, and you can see that. But even in the same verse, it shows you that he had chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, right? So, the belief of the truth, it was through that that we're chosen from the beginning to salvation. Okay? So, it's not like that's not there. But see, they don't understand that. They're not grasping the fact that it's based off God's foreknowledge of who's going to believe. Therefore, yeah, you could say that we are chosen from the foundation of the world to salvation. But listen, the whole world was chosen from the foundation of the world to salvation by belief in the truth, and the problem is that not everybody believes. From the foundation of the world, he wanted everybody to get saved. From the foundation of the world, he chose salvation to be by grace, through faith, in his son. That's the way it's always been. That's the way it always will be. So, there's nothing wrong with saying that. And if you're talking to a group of Christians, if I said you're chosen from the foundation of the world to salvation, you'd be right. But it's through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, right? Because when you believed on him, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, weren't you? You were purified, your soul was purified by the Spirit of God. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So, what started that, though? Faith. Believe. Trusting in him. That's what made us be washed, you know, by the renewing and regeneration of the Holy Ghost. That's what gave us the Holy Spirit of promise that we're sealed with until the day of redemption. That's what caused God to, from before the foundation of this world, to look forward and say, he trusted in me. I'm predestinating him to be conformed to my image. I'm predestinating him to have the adoption of sons. He's going to rise with me. You know, his body's going to be like my body when he raises from the dead. All the inheritances are given to him from the foundation of the world. Why? Because he first trusted in me. That's, that's, that's the conditional election that the Bible teaches. And I can go through other ones. One, okay, so I want to go through, I'm going to go through these real quick. Okay, these are some of their arguments. I'm going to go through another one tonight because we're going to, or afternoon. We're going to be in Malachi, so I'm going to hit on the one they love to go to is Romans 9, okay, with Esau and Jacob, okay. But I'm already going to be in Malachi, so just wait until that sermon. Okay, but in John 15 and verse 14, John 15 and verse 14, this is one they'll use. The verse is, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Okay. Now, if you just isolate that, okay, you can make it say whatever you want. Right? But what's the context? Is he talking to unbelievers in this passage or is he talking to believers to bring forth fruit? And the true matter is that he's talking to his disciples and he's saying that if you want to be my disciples you need to bring forth fruit. He didn't say if you want to be saved or go to heaven. He's just talking about the fact that, you know, you want to be fruitful, you need to abide in me, you need to do all this stuff if you want to be fruitful. Okay. But notice what it says in verse 14. So John 15 verse 14, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Did he say you're saved going to heaven if you do whatsoever I command you? Did he say that you're a child of God if you do whatsoever I command you? No. Nothing like that. He said you're my friends. Okay. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Notice verse 16, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whosoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Now when it says that he chooses somebody for something, does it always talk about salvation? Okay. Well, go to John chapter 6. Go back to John chapter 6 and I'll prove this without a shadow of a doubt, that when it says he chooses somebody, it doesn't always mean he's talking about salvation. Okay. Because riddle me this, how did Judas get chosen? Because that's what I'm going to show you, because he's obviously in hell, he obviously was a devil and he never believed on Christ. He was an infiltrator, he was an imposter. Notice what it says in John 6 and verse 70. So to give some context, so who is he talking to? I mean he says ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Because you remember, did the disciples come up to him a lot of times or did he come up to them and say hey, come follow me? Right. He would go up to Peter and Andrew and then he went up to John, James and John and says hey come follow me and they left their nets and left and followed him. Right. He chose them and particularly he chose the twelve. Okay. Now look what it says in John chapter 6 and verse 70. Jesus answered them have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him being one of the twelve. So he knew that Judas was a devil. He said in this same passage, he says he knew from the beginning who didn't believe in him. Okay. But he chose these twelve and Judas was one of them. So when he says you have not chosen me but I have chosen you, who is he talking about? His disciples. Okay. And he chose certain disciples and he chose twelve particularly to be apostles. It says and you don't have to turn it over to Luke 6 verse 17 or verse 13 it says and when it was day he called unto him his disciples and of them he chose twelve whom also he named apostles. Okay. So what it says is that you know I've chosen you, I've ordained you. That's not always talking about eternal salvation. It's not always talking about being chosen from the foundation of the world. You know it's talking about like I chose you twelve. One of you is a devil. Right. One of you is a devil. So you see how silly that is to use that passage and just rip it out of context to say that we don't choose him. It's interesting because in Deuteronomy it says this and you don't have to turn there but Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 it says I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and I seed may live. I thought you couldn't choose anything. Right. But now in another place you know and you say well that's talking about the twelve. Is this passage not talking to us at all? Well in 2 Timothy I want you to go to Philippians. The last point I'm going to make is Philippians chapter 1. But in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 3 it says thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier. So guess what? We're not just chosen for salvation but see the chosen is based off what? Faith. The election is based off what? Faith. Trusting. It's a condition. Okay. And then once we're elect, once we believe on him he chooses you know us to be a soldier. He chooses us to be a disciple. He chooses us to do these different things and you know what? Some people aren't chosen for certain aspects. Right. Not everybody's chosen to be a pastor or you know whatever the case may be. And don't take that stuff too far too. Be like well I wasn't called you know. Well God didn't tell me to become a pastor either. Okay. You know I just saw the need and did it. But this one's funny to me. Okay. This is where only a Calvinist could show me this and it would make it somehow make it say this. Okay. I want you to read this and I know I'm preaching on Calvinism but I want you to try to figure out what they're trying to say here. Okay. Philippians 1 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me and out here to be in me. Now can you guess what they're trying to say this is saying? Now when I read this, what I read is that he not only wants us to believe on him and be saved but he also wants us to suffer for his sake. Isn't that what you read when you read that? That listen he doesn't want us just to get saved but he also wants us to be a disciple. He wants us to live for him. You know even Ephesians 2 8 9 has Ephesians 2 10 where it talks about the fact that he has ordained us unto good works that he has before ordained that we should walk in them. So yeah I mean he wants us to do a lot of things not just believe on him but what they say is that that faith that belief was given by God. Okay. Do you see how ridiculous that is? Now let's think about it. Let's give him that. Let's say this verse which it doesn't say let's say this verse says that Christ gave you not only that faith but he also gave you persecutions? What? So he's saying they're saying that the things that were given to you that you didn't have to begin with was faith but also suffering for the cause of Christ. Right? So I guess suffering for the cause of Christ is a gift that's handed down from God. Does that make any sense at all? That persecution now listen you ain't all that will live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions but would you say that's a gift? Would you say that man just thank you for now we say because we know that what that brings forth right persecutions will bring forth you know patience temperance it'll bring forth rewards in heaven but listen the persecution itself that's like saying that when a person is persecuting it's God that's giving it to you. That is ridiculous. When you're persecuted for the cause of Christ that's not God doing that to you. That's other people doing it to you but God rewards you if you suffer through it and you live for him and you keep going right but it's not God that's giving you that persecution. Now what this really means and listen I know it's kind of a more high end language it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for him right or for his sake he's basically just saying it's like it's not only something it's not only something that pleases him is that you believe on him but it's also that you suffer for him right it's just like when it comes to faith without works is dead you know the idea is that you know what God of course he wants you to believe and be saved but he also wants you to be his friend so don't just be the person that just believes on the Lord Jesus you know Abraham believed God and is imputed on him for righteousness that's great but it's also given unto you to keep his commandments right it's also given in the behalf of Christ to keep his commandments and then it says and the scripture was fulfilled which said Abraham believed God and is imputed on him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God why because he did the works too okay but to say that this verse is saying that he gives you faith then you have to say that he's given you sufferings as well he's given you sufferings of Christ no in me you shall have peace in the world you shall have tribulation that's what the bible says God's not the one that's giving us persecution and dealing out tribulation to us he's saying in me you have peace but in the world you have tribulation but be of good cheer I've overcome the world yea and all that will live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution okay we're going to have tribulations trials and all that but listen it's not God the one that's dealing that out to us it's the world that's doing it it's those that are against us it's the enemies of the gospel that are doing it to us not God he's not the one giving us that but if you believe in this all encompassing sovereign God that there's no free will then I guess you could believe that right if you have this Calvinist mind that he's even doing the persecutions to you and that's a gift then that's how the mind gets warped into this Calvinism stuff where that verse right there you're saying that that's a gift from God that you suffer for the cause of Christ and it just doesn't make any sense and when they said that I'm just like wow I've never looked at it that way never in a million years would I have looked at that and thought that this was saying that he gives me faith and he gives me persecutions no he's just saying that listen you're not only supposed to believe on him you're also supposed to suffer for him too okay you're not only supposed to be saved and give eternal life you're also supposed to do the good works and all that stuff not to be saved not to go to heaven but listen we should do it because we love him we should do it you know because you know that's what we're here still here for right if I if God didn't want me to go and you know preach the gospel if he didn't want me to go do great things for God or or to live for him then why don't I just go home now why don't I just go to heaven now why am I down here just suffering through this life if that's all that needs to be done but I'm still here because still there's a lot of people that still need to hear the gospel there's a lot of people that still need to get saved and there's a lot of work that needs to be done so don't just believe and that's it believe and also do the works but see the unsaved people think that those are that's how you get to heaven believe and do the good works no we're saying believe you're saved no matter what never lose your salvation but listen let's not stop there let's keep going let's let's let's let's do great things for God let's suffer for the cause of Christ and in the end you will not you will not regret it so let's end with a word of prayer to Heavenly Father we thank you for today thank you for your word and thank you for all these passages and just so much insight into what you did to save us but also just to think about the fact that you knew us before the foundation of the world you knew that we trust in you and that you predestinated us to all these different inheritances Lord and we thank you for that and just pray that you be with us throughout the rest of the day we love you and pray also in Jesus Christ's name Amen so by the day we'll come and sing one more song and that will be dismissed Alright take your song books and turn to song 143 song 143 and if you would stand we'll sing blessed assurance song 143 blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine heir of salvation purchase of God born of his spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long perfect perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my side descending bring from above echoes of mercy