Today’s Bible Verse:
Romans 10:9; “"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Encouraging Word:
This is one topic that separates a lot of very good Bible scholars. Unless you take the verses in the Bible that seem to support predestination, and read them in the context in which they are written, I can see how people could believe that we are predestined as to where we spend eternity. I’m going to share verses in the Bible that support free will. There are, however, a few verses in the Bible, that if taken out of context, can really confuse the average reader. Keep in mind, every time you read the word predestine or some form of the word in the King James version of the Bible, refer to Romans 8:29-32. It always refers to Gods foreknowledge of who would receive Jesus and who would reject Jesus. According to the King James version of the Bible, the word predestine, or some form of the word is in the Bible only four timers. Let me start out by saying this, we all have a choice as to where we will spend eternity, but God knows in advance according to His foreknowledge whether or not we will accept Jesus or if we will be reject Jesus as our Lord and Savior, therefore, we have the choice as to where we will spend eternity. See, God knows the beginning from the end, and everything in between that is going to take place before it happens. This is most obvious because of Bible prophecy. Everything that was prophesied from the beginning of creation up to now, has been fulfilled to 100% accuracy. So, someone had to live outside of our time domain to know all this in advance, and I think we should all know who that is. It is the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no other. A good scholar once put it this way, there are sixty six books, written by over forty authors and yet, when you read and understand the Bible, you have to come to the conclusion that it had to be inspired by someone outside of our time domain! This is very hard for us to comprehend, so I’ll give you an example that might help you understand. Let’s say that you are watching a parade. If you are on the ground, you will see each float as it comes by one at a time, but if you are in an airplane, then you can see the beginning of the parade all the way to the end of the parade in one view. This is how God sees everything from the beginning to the end. There is nothing you can do to surprise Him.
First I’m going to share the verse that without a doubt, proves that we all have free will. The main one that I am referring to is found in John 3:16, A verse that we all should have heard at one time or another.
John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
This verse would not be in the Bible if we were all predestined for heaven or hell. What does it say? It says, “that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “Whoever was predestined to go to heaven should have everlasting life. This verse alone should close the door on predestination. We are all a whoever!
Today’s Bible verse, Romans 10:9; is again, concrete evidence that we all have free will. It doesn’t say, if you are predestined and “you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." No, this verse includes everybody, nothing to do with predestination.
Based on the verse that I read in John 3:16; If God had predestined all of us to either go the heaven or hell, why would He have allowed His Son, Jesus Christ to be put through the most horrific death known to man, if it didn’t matter either way? If Jesus didn’t go through with the crucifixion, and He didn’t pay for the sins of the world, and we would go to heaven based on how good we were, then I could believe in predestination. All we need to do, is to think things through. Quite often, the answer to most of our questions is right in front of our nose.
If we have all been predestined to go to heaven or hell, then there would be no reason to read the Bible or Evangelize to others. Let me explain why believing in predestination is so dangerous. If you believe that you are predestined to go to heaven or hell, then why would you worry about how you live your life now. If you tell someone that they are going to hell because they were predestined to go there, how do you think they would live their life. Obviously, they would live to serve the flesh, because they would grab all the gusto they can while they are alive. They would have no reason to reach out to God and what would be the reason to live a Godly life if they were already chosen to go to hell.
We read in Jeremiah 17:9; “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Since this is true, if there was no reason to serve God, our hearts would be deceitfully wicked, and we would all be evil.
Do you see why this is so dangerous? Our loving God would never create someone to go to hell. If they go to hell it is because that is the choice that they made. I’m going to share a verse that is very controversial, but when read in the right context, it makes perfect sense.
We read in Romans 8:29-32; “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. 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. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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?
God did not predestine us to go to heaven or hell, but because of His foreknowledge, He knew who would receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and who would reject Him. This happens to be way out of our area of understanding, because we don’t have any idea what lies ahead for us tomorrow, let alone hundreds of years from now.
I always like to do the best I can to put things into layman’s terms, so let me give this a shot. Let’s try to put ourselves in Gods shoes, which is impossible to do in the first place. But if you were to create a race of humans, and you knew beforehand which ones would love you and which ones would hate you no matter what you would do, which ones would you predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son. God didn’t predestine you to go to hell, but He knew that was the choice that you would make. It would be like choosing Satan from the foundation of the world to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ when He knew that wouldn't be the case. God knew how evil Satan would be from the beginning. I know that is a little extreme, but He also knew that Satan and the fallen Angels would be evil, so that would have been out of the question. God didn’t predestine Satan to be evil, Satan made that choice all on His own. In the same way, God has chosen those that would accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We weren’t created to go to hell, but God knew beforehand, those that would reject His Son and therefore, would choose to go to hell.
Let me make this personal. If I was predestined to go to hell, why would I continue to share the Word of God with all who will listen, it would be a waste of my time. If I was predestined to go to heaven, why would I share the gospel with anyone if it really didn’t matter. Again, it would be a waste of time. It would be like saying, I don’t need to preach to you, you’re going to heaven anyways. Do you see where this is going? God told us to share the gospel with all the world as we read in the following verse.
Mark 16:15; “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Would God tell us to go out into the world and preach the gospel if He had already predestined us to go to hell? No, He just knew which ones would accept it.
Let me share a few more verses that make it obvious that we have free will to choose what we will.
Revelation 3:20; "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me."
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door. Again, are you an anyone, of course you are, so if you hear His voice and open the door, then you are saved. And by the way, God does speak to all of us, but if you aren’t listening for His voice, you won't hear Him.
We read in Matthew 7:13-14; “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Read what it says, “few will be that find the way.” Those that don’t find the way are those who aren’t listening for His voice and never looked for the way. God knew all these people in advance that would fall into this category.
Jesus said in, John 14:6; “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Here is the problem, people haven’t chosen to go to the Father though Jesus Christ, they have decided to try to earn their way to heaven instead. God knew in advance who would choose good works over grace.
Another verse that should make it clear that God would not predestine us to hell is found in; 1 Timothy 2:3-4; “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This is saying that God desires that we would all be saved, but once again, it is up to us whether or not we are willing to come to the knowledge of the truth. I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but God knew before the foundation of the world who would be willing to come to the knowledge of the truth. Are you starting to see why I believe in free choice.
We read in the next verse where God is warning us of what we should be aware of in the end days, Romans 12:2; "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
If you are aware of what is taking place in our world, you would see that the majority of the human race is conforming to the world and all the evil that it possess. We are now living in a world where evil has pretty much taken over every aspect of our lives, just as the Bible said would happen in the end days.
Isaiah 5:20-23; “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man!”
Unless you are blind, you have to see this happening on a grand scale. The world is doing just that, they are trying to take away justice from the righteous man. If you were born before the sixties, you would definitely know what I am talking about. If you were born after the sixties, you never really knew what good was like. I thank God that I was able to live in our world when there was peace for the most part, and Christianity was flourishing. In the world that we live in today, Christianity is being looked down at and even mocked by most of the world. We were still pretty good here in America, until the last few decades.
We read in the following Bible verse where once again, Gods foreknowledge warned us about what is taking place.
1 Timothy 4:1; “ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”
See, God knows everything in advance of what is going to take place. God did not predestine the world to go to hell in a handbasket, He just knew in advance that this would take place. God knew that the wickedness of man would eventually take over. Do you know why He would warn us about all these things to come. I’ll answer that with the words from God, Himself.
John 14:29; “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.”
I have to say, when people tell me that I am wasting my time studying Bible Prophecy, because it has no bearing on today’s world, I get quite upset because of the ignorance of the person making such a ludicrous statement. The Bible is comprised of about 30% Prophecy. Do you think God put prophecy in the Bible just to take up space. No! As the scripture above says, And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.” This was Gods way of proving He is who He said He was to those that would be skeptical.
If we were all taught Bible prophecy, we would all be perfectly aware of what is going on in our world today and where it is headed, and you would be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that God truly exists. All the prophecies of the Bible that came to fruition from the beginning of time, came with 100% accuracy. Coincidence? I think not! Only a fool would believe this is all a coincidence.
Just a little side note: There are more prophecies about the days that we are heading into, than the days before Jesus’s first coming. Why are so many people ignoring the truth. I can give you the biggest reason, it’s because the churches of today don’t believe the prophecies of the Bible and how they relate to today. If you attend a church that ignores Bible prophecy, you will be caught off guard with all that God has warned us about. You won’t be ready for what is coming.
Now, the reason that I mentioned all these things is so you will understand why it is obvious that we have not been predestined for heaven or hell. We are all responsible for the choices that we make, it’s just that God already knows everything about you and every choice that you will ever make. God knows exactly what tomorrow will bring, you may get up, take a shower, have your cup of coffee, and head out for work. You may have a good day, or you may have a bad day, God knows exactly what kind of day you will have, but He did not predestine tomorrow for you, He just knows in advance what tomorrow will bring for you. This applies to each and every one of us.
This is why if you give your life over to Jesus Christ, you will know that whatever your day brings, it will be working out for the good. Let me once again share my number one memory verse.
Romans 8:28; “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
What a comfort it is to know that whether I have a good day or a bad day, it is working out for the good according to the Word of God. If you do not receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you are under the control of Satan, and if you knew how much Satan hates you, it should concern you very much.
If I was talking to you, and I asked you to give your life to Jesus Christ and you rejected this offer, it would be your choice, not Gods. Do you think God would predestine you to say No! What did Jesus say in the following verse again, 1 Timothy 2:3-4; “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
If He desired all people to come to the knowledge of truth, what makes you think He will hold you back. If you believe that God would do that, then you don’t know the God of the Bible. And why don’t you know the God of the universe! Because you have chosen not to know Him. Once again, your choice, not Gods choice. And once again, it’s because of His foreknowledge that He knew what you would choose from the foundation of the world.
Just a thought, if I knew that one year from now, you would hate me for some reason, would I predestine you to be my friend next year, knowing that wouldn’t happen. No, I wouldn’t, so why would God predestine anybody to go to heaven that He knew in advance would hate Him. Those that God knew would love Him because of His foreknowledge, He predestined to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Why would God predestine someone to be transformed into the image of Jesus, if He knew in advance that, that that person would reject Jesus? He doesn’t control out decision making. If He did, we would all be robots with no minds of our own and we would obey His every command. Look around the world, does it look like everyone is obeying His commandments? Doesn’t look that way to me, as a matter of fact it is quite the opposite.
So, it boils down to two words, foreknowledge or predestination. Foreknowledge is knowing in advance of what is going to take place and when. Predestination is someone intervening in your life to bring you to your final destination without any choice of yours. God would not create someone to put in hell. As a matter of fact, God did noy create hell for man, He created it for Satan and His fallen Angels.
We read this truth in Matthew 25:41; “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, (Speaking of those that rejected Jesus Christ)‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”
His intentions were that all would come to the knowledge of God. But when Man fell in the Garden of Eden, that is when sin came into the world, man fell out of fellowship with God, and hell was open to those that would reject Gods propitiation for their sins. That is when God came to the world in the flesh as Jesus Christ, lived a sinless life, and then took the sins of the world on His shoulders and paid a price that we all owe. If you did not accept His free gift of grace, you would remain in your sins and be judged accordingly at the “White Throne Judgment” All we need to do to is believe on Him who the Father has sent, and receive the free gift of Grace offered to all who would accept it. It is 100% your choice! No predestination, just foreknowledge.
I’ll end with this, There are quite a few Bible verses, if taken out of context, could make you believe in predestination, but based on the proof that I gave in this message, I think it’s obvious that we are not predestined, we have free choice, and that choice is yours.
You may believe as you wish, but be careful what you believe. Even more so, be careful who you trust.
Just as I was ready to end this blog, The Holy Spirit put another verse on my heart as He always does. It comes from, 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
This verse is clear evidence that God would not predestine anyone to go to hell. God is making it perfectly clear that He is patient with us not wanting anyone to perish, However, the day will come when His patience will run out and His wrath will come down on an unbelieving world. My friends, we are on borrowed time. That day is closing in on us fast. Don’t assume that God will wait much longer, He is giving us clear signs that He is coming back soon.
So now, in conclusion, hear what Joshua has to say, Joshua 24:15; “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
And as for me and my house, I have chosen to serve that Lord! Jesus knew in advance, what my choice would be, so God predestined me to conform into the image of His Son because of His foreknowledge.
So, give your life over to Jesus Christ today and let God the Father transform you into the image of His son, Jesus Christ. It is your choice!
And Now!
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
And may God continue to bless you in everything that you do, and take care!
Comments