(I Tim. 2:4) [God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth .
Another bit of “The Bible says this, but really means that.”
No thank you.
GOD CHOSE YOU (in the beginning) -
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Eph 1:4 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:
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
Titus 1:1-2 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, (2) in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,
2Tim 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Revelation 13:7-8 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. (8) All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Deuteronomy 10:14-15 “Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. (15) “The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
YOU DIDN’T CHOOSE GOD, GOD CHOSE YOU -
Exodus 6:7 ‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I [am] the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Deut 7:6 For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that [are] upon the face of the earth.
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (13) who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 15:16 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 whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
GOD DRAWS YOU TO HIM -
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
John 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
John 15:16 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 whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Rom 10:20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
Romans 11:7-8 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (8) Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
Psa 65:4 Blessed [is the man whom] thou choosest, and causest to approach [unto thee, that] he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, [even] of thy holy temple.
Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
John 17:1-2 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, (2) “as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 9:29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
The Arminian Big Three (Matt 23:37, 1 Tim 2:4, 2 Pet 3:9)
http://www.objectivegospel.org/the-big-three
Reprobation means that those left to ones own desires and folly, falling further and further into increasing sin with the chance of repentance. The only problem being that they like the Elect, before the Elect know God, are "Dead in Trespasses and sins" alienated in their minds to God. The Reprobate are given the general graces of the witness of God in Creation and their conscious so that they are without excuse and that God is just (Romans 1).
Also God says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." (Exodus 33:19, Romans 9:15). And God is just dealing with the "Dead in Trespasses in sins" having mercy and compassion upon whomever He chooses. For He has chosen to lavish His love (1 John 3:1), mercy and compassion upon the elect and is just to do so for those undeserving it.
For none of us deserved it.
We do not know who the Elect truly are, nor the Reprobate save for evidence of faith or not. Therefore we are to preach the Gospel of Christ to all nations, peoples, tribes and tongues. Those we think never would come to Christ sometimes do (think Saul of Tarsus and Roe of Roe V Wade). Some will repent while unable to speak on their deathbeds.
IMHO: Many do not want to consider the word "predestined" when it occurs 6 times in the New Testament, nor the word "elect" when it occurs 25 times. To those who have problems with Predestination and Election, I ask what do those Biblical words mean in your church or to you?
If folks have no answer, I refer them to the best teacher of all Scripture - The Holy Spirit who teaches us all things of regarding Christ, Righteousness and Truth.
When we first believe we think our choice gained us Salvation unless we are warned off such pride. For pride goeth before a fall.
When we are mature Christians, we understand God's calling in our lives is His calling, not our own. We understand His unmerited choice of folks like us is for humble service and not for boasting (Ephesians 2:9).
Romans 8:29,30 "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
The word "predestined" is used twice here and "foreknew" is used once. They are two different words with two different meanings. It does not say foreknew by their choice. It simply says whom God "foreknew".
And the Calling, of folks like us, is wrapped up in these words so they are not so easily dismissed.
I didn't read the first installment that Tim Staples refers to in the article because it wasn't posted, but here he distorts and misrepresents the doctrine of predestination.Calvin’s ideas of election and double predestination are virtually indistinguishable. Double Predestination, as we saw before, is the teaching that claims God to have determined from all eternity who will go to heaven and who will go to hell giving to man no real choice in the matter…" [emphasis yours]
R.C. Sproul offers a corrective to Staples' caricature:
The Reformed View of PredestinationIn sharp contrast to the caricature of double predestination seen in the positive-positive schema is the classic position of Reformed theology on predestination. In this view predestination is double in that it involves both election and reprobation but is not symmetrical with respect to the mode of divine activity. A strict parallelism of operation is denied. Rather we view predestination in terms of a positive-negative relationship.
In the Reformed view God from all eternity decrees some to election and positively intervenes in their lives to work regeneration and faith by a monergistic work of grace. To the non-elect God withholds this monergistic work of grace, passing them by and leaving them to themselves. He does not monergistically work sin or unbelief in their lives…[snip]
Thus, the mode of operation in the lives of the elect is not parallel with that operation in the lives of the reprobate. God works regeneration monergistically but never sin. Sin falls within the category of providential concurrence.
Another significant difference between the activity of God with respect to the elect and the reprobate concerns God’s justice. The decree and fulfillment of election provide mercy for the elect while the efficacy of reprobation provides justice for the reprobate. God shows mercy sovereignly and unconditionally to some, and gives justice to those passed over in election. That is to say, God grants the mercy of election to some and justice to others. No one is the victim of injustice. To fail to receive mercy is not to be treated unjustly. God is under no obligation to grant mercy to all—in fact He is under no obligation to grant mercy to any. He says, “I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy” (Rom. 9). The divine prerogative to grant mercy voluntarily cannot be faulted. If God is required by some cosmic law apart from Himself to be merciful to all men, then we would have to conclude that justice demands mercy. If that is so, then mercy is no longer voluntary, but required. If mercy is required, it is no longer mercy, but justice. What God does not do is sin by visiting injustice upon the reprobate. Only by considering election and reprobation as being asymmetrical in terms of a positive-negative schema can God be exonerated from injustice.
“Double” Predestination by R.C. Sproul
Cordially,
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He desires all men be Saved but He is aware that just isn’t going to happen.
The question is whether God always gets what He desires. Can Man thwart God’s will?